" THE SYNTHESIS " 8-26-2011: RESTORING FISCAL SANITY AND ECONOMIC STABILITY, UNLIKE OBAMA AND DEMOCRATS, THE TEA PARTY HAS A PLAN AND WE’RE NOT AFRAID TO PUT IT ON PAPER... HOW OBAMA IS TAXING US EMOTIONALLY BEYOND REASON, HOW MUCH IT’S COSTING US, AND WHAT WE’RE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT !!! EXPOSING WHY WASTING $9 TRILLION WAS DUBBED “TREACHEROUS AND TREASONOUS”...
RESTORING FISCAL SANITY: “THE 2011-2012 TEA PARTY-CONSERVATIVE STRATEGY AND DETAILED PLAN TO ECONOMIC STABILIZATION” http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&¬e_id=10150289004771225
 ****ALSO HEREBY KNOWN AS “THE TEA PARTY RECORDER”by: AJA BROOKS, 2011 TEA PARTY CHIEF http://www.facebook.com/teapartychief OFFICIAL INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM VOLUNTEER FOR THE BLACK RIBBON OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN AGAINST MEDIA BIAS AND FORMER 2009-2010 GA LOBBYIST FOR “LIFE AND LIBERTY” |
RESTORING FISCAL SANITY: “THE 2011-2012 TEA PARTY-CONSERVATIVE STRATEGY AND DETAILED PLAN TO ECONOMIC STABILIZATION”
“Efficiency of state governments is impaired as they relinquish and turn over to the federal government responsibilities which are rightfully theirs.” -Calvin Coolidge
Contrary to the most recent sound bites from Obama’s Campaign Advisor David Axelrod and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, our economic issues have nothing to do with: the Arab Spring, Japanese earthquakes, or the European debt crisis. Such travesty when the issue is the $14 trillion dollar deficit; $9 trillion obligated by Obama, up to and by the 2010 budget and the 2011 budget unwritten: from unfunded mandates, programs, and Obama’s constituent lobbying and empty promises of payouts indebting taxpayers. The way to govern is not to expand government, or misappropriate, by levying debt onto states and individual taxpayers to finance a bogus and unlawful agenda against the will of the American people.
While we anxiously await Obama’s impeachment, and while many of us thought this was the only way to rectify at least half of the deficit, by kicking him out, this is still necessary because Obama has treated the national debt as his own personal tab of taxpayers’ dollars, (which is treacherous and treasonous).
During the legal process of criminal investigations against Obama for fundraising fraud with Tony Rezko and purchased property, voter election fraud 2008 (dead people and Mickey Mouse voted but Clinton did not press another ballot as long as she became Secretary of State), corruption allegations that he was the #2 highest recipient of Fannie Mae contributions, and numerous indications that the birth certificate is indeed a forgery, we still worked and continued to push for cuts.
When proposing cuts did not work but to accomplish exhausting debate, the House introduced various measures that passed: repeal of H.R. 4872, nearly passed Cut, Cap & Balance and pushed for a Balanced Budget Amendment, and the House even completed negotiations on emergency legislation to reduce the interest from the debt supercycle of bumping our head on the debt ceiling by making cuts and compromising. Yet we still have had repeal legislation for an entire year https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jK6-kGCB_Dbb5K98YSS9o9kSNBwLJsSb7XQ5GQSvTks/edit?authkey=CIS_je8I&hl=en_US, that has not been brought to the floor, simply because the debt ceiling debate and finding the funds to run the federal government had usurped our entire time working together since March. This instability has contributed to a roller coaster market and investor uncertainty; heck, if the government can’t pay their bills or afford the interest on their loans, surely the private sector would have never recovered and we would be stuck in the same ditch Obama touted, that he spun his wheels in and dug us even deeper in debt by $9 trillion all by himself.
Still want Obama in the driver seat and Harry Reid as Senate copilot? I don't think so!
All of the hard work and compromise in the House of Representatives was met with retraction from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid since losing super majority power in 2010 by the replacement of 59 seats:
despite court rulings against H.R. 4872, despite nearly 1,500 waivers being filed to opt-out of H.R. 4872 with half the states rejecting the levying of debt for an unconstitutional health insurance program and suing the federal government, despite the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling 2 to 1 that H.R. 4872 poses issues that violate the Constitution, especially the individual mandate clause http://www.wsbtv.com/politics/28848345/detail.html -- it is not the Tea Party, the GOP, or the majority of the American people failing to see futility and fiscal insanity this has created, only Obama, Senator Reid, and about seven Democrats.
Most working class Americans, those that comprise the Tea Party as middle class, have watched their 401K’s lose the entire value that they have paid in all this year, due to the uncertainty that H.R. 4872 created over taxation and business practices, along with Democrats refusing to acknowledge the seriousness of the deficit, continuing to charge their will on the taxpayers’ dime; no matter the consequences regarding interest, the debt ceiling, sinking the recovery, and sabotaging the stock market, and stinting our future, according to the Democrats they are still not to blame even though they have obligated $9 trillion unwisely.
The Tea Party which now claims 59 seats in the House is the rising Independent third party for 2012 representation, and we are tired of being exploited for the government machine. Additionally, we are bewildered with being placated, lied to, and stolen from from a small handful of corrupt Democrats abusing their power in the Senate, and by a President who is not even a citizen, let alone someone who we respect as a leader. Since government is supposed to be for the people and by the people, we intend to financially take control back of our country. If that takes an election of replacing 250 seats, or if that takes eradicating 10% of the federal government to invest in the private sector, or permanently doing away with those seats by not funding those positions and permanently striking them, we will do all three if that is what it takes.
The Holy Grail of the Tea Party, in partnership with the Balanced Budget Amendment, is limited government. We revile the abuse of power of Senator Harry Reid and others, and as taxpayers, we refuse to be subject to his whims as Obama’s right hand. Therefore, we will continue to iron out these plans and see to their implementation in some form or fashion, as we certainly can not afford to have bad leadership ruin our country by refusing to do anything but wait for them to do the right thing that they should have done in the first place!
#1 the primary strategy is DECENTRALIZATION. While many states have already studied and have began enacting "THE RESTORE AMERICA ACT OF 2012" also known as the '2011-2012 6pt. Tea Party Deficit Reduction Strategy': http://t.co/p63iYHk as appropriate to their own state, it has not been enough to sustain the market, reduce unemployment, and generate revenue, without making necessary and long overdue cuts to federal spending. While we know what we want to cut http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150234787261225 and https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150175476096225
LIST A LIST B
Restore America Act of 2012: Barbones Budget Strategy Cuts:
(plan developed for states) (5,000 participated on Facebook on what to cut)
1) Defund H.R. 4872 1) DFACS
2) Impeach Obama 2) SNAP
3) Reform Social Security 3) Public Broadcasting
4) Pension Reform 4) Housing Assistance
5) Medicare/Medicaid 5) Unemployment Checks
6) Food Stamps/TANF 6) DMV, Post Office, other services
7) Federal employees
8) Planned Parenthood
9) FDA, Inspectors, streamlining agencies
10) Congress
11) WIC
12) Law Enforcement
We are still having trouble at HOW to go about achieving these goals. While we have done #1, #4, and started #6 in GA, we are not totally there or even close to accomplishing half of our goals at state level. Nor can it not be said enough that we need to reduce federal spending in our state, cut services, and reduce the total size of GA government until it equals 10%. We then show where we’ve given government loans in the private sector to businesses to hire employees, since banks aren’t loaning the money. The government needs the revenue, and banks need to be reminded that they’re too fat.
On the federal level, we have done #3, decreased #4, increased #2 and #5, just now cut #6, and we aren’t even close to attaining 25% of our goals. Here is the scary part: we will have to do all of this by March of next year, or we will be in the same spot we were with 8-2 being the death knell to the economy with interest eating us alive because our debt is so high for refusal to cut Obama’s programs, or any programs substantially for that matter.
This is why I’m pressing for #10. We are preparing for the next election cycle for 2012, and it will be separating the wheat from the tares. Congress seems to be unwilling to go without vacations and make sacrifices in pay for the fact that a $14 trillion dollar deficit exists, so we need to rid ourselves of or shed 250 seats. These seats are based on roll calls votes of those who voted against Cut, Cap&Balance or various measures related to sane budgeting. #4, #5, #7, and #8 must go immediately. We are still working on judicial reform and matters related to Homeland Security until 9/11/2011. After that, we will cut accordingly from #12 through Thanksgiving. That still leaves #1, #2, #6, and #9.
I pray that as we break this down with Super Congress of the 12, that we can prioritize our cuts and decision-making judiciously between now and Thanksgiving. I do realize that if agreements can’t be made to reasonable degree that spending cuts will automatically be triggered like during the Clinton Administration, which I am grateful that call was heard. While the Path to Prosperity is great, we must act upon its principles, and those automatic triggers while a safety net to keep us from being imperiled in March is great, we really need to give the succeeding President something to work with other than Obama’s red Chinese cents, and of course, remove such disgrace.
MANY OF US HAVE FELT AS CONSERVATIVES THAT WE HAVE BEEN FIGHTING A WAR AGAINST OBAMA’S DEBT FOR 3 YEARS NOW, AND THE STIMULUS, BAILOUTS, AND COMPROMISES HAVE NOT YIELDED JOBS OR ECONOMIC STABILIZATION.
IN FACT, BANK FAILURES ARE ON PAUSE, THE MORTGAGE CRISIS WILL WORSEN AGAIN IF WE DON’T MAKE CUTS TO CREATE JOBS, AND WE WILL BE EXACTLY AT THE SAME PLACE WE WERE ON 8-2’S SCHEDULED DEFAULT IN MARCH... AGAIN -- IF WE DO NOT MAKE CUTS AND RESTRUCTURE GOVERNMENT BACK TO ITS ORIGINAL DESIGN.
THE DISCLAIMER:YOU ARE ON THE TIPPY-TIPPY TOP OF MY SH-T LIST: JOHN KERRY, DAVID AXELROD, MAXINE WATERS, JOE BIDEN, OR DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ.... I DON’T WANT TO READ YOUR NEWSLETTER, WAA-WAA --- ALSO, NO ONE CAME TO YOUR OFFICES WITH A GUN AND HELD ANY OF YOU HOSTAGE, BUT WE WILL VOTE YOU OUT OR HAVE YOU REMOVED FROM OFFICE FOR TALKING NOTHING BUT SH-TTY RHETORIC AND DISPLAYING WHAT IS HEREBY KNOWN AS “WHAT FLOATS TO THE TOP” OF THE CESSPOOL OF CONGRESS!WHAT IS "THE SYNTHESIS"? (THE MOST BOOTLEG POLITICAL NEWSLETTER IN THE WORLD!) The synthesis is an objective analysis of political journalism, an assessment of the perception of the facts, a political digest for the common man. DISCLAIMER: IF YOU'RE IGNORANT, A HYPOCRITE, OR NOT A FAN OF RAW JOURNALISM, THIS MAY NOT BE FOR YOU, AND YOU SHOULD JUST STOP READING NOW AND DELETE THIS, NOT SEND ME AN EMAIL BACK WHINING ABOUT IT, BECAUSE YOU'RE JUST GOING TO GET IT FORWARDED BACK TO YOUR OWN BOX --- just ask Carolyn Cary of "The Citizen" Fayette Edition! There are no spam laws in GA, and just because I use my freedom of speech in a way that challenges you doesn't necessarily mean anything in a court of law, or by you threatening to send me a summons in the mail just because your sensibilities are different than mine: it doesn't make me "scum"; it just makes your political philosophy as stale and decrepit as your existence and attitude....(if you're curious, see the archive at the end of this edition.) I have even found that those in law enforcement are seemingly oblivious to our current laws and how the laws are supposed to be interpreted properly by and through the Constitution, so I encourage you to exercise your rights, before they disappear from American culture. You don't have to write a newsletter like this one, but you surely can forward it to your friends, and you can even talk about it around the water cooler!! This publication is brought to you by people like us, who seek out the truth, an online collaboration of discussion topics for your perusal. *If you're being threatened with legal action for telling the truth, you're on the right side of the law*. |
Morning Bell: Never Quit
Ericka AndersenAugust 18, 2011 at 9:23 am
Next month, America will honor the anniversary of September 11, 2001, when terrorists killed nearly 3,000 of our fellow citizens. In the days after 9/11, Americans stood together as one, setting aside partisan fervor and recognized a common enemy in Islamist terrorist groups, particularly al-Qaeda. National security was rightfully restored as our nation’s highest priority.
Ten years later, Osama bin Laden is dead, delivering to victims’ families and the rest of America a bit of justice for the heinous acts we all witnessed. But one terrorist’s death does not justify returning to the national security mindset that existed prior to that day.
As Thomas Paine said, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
That notion is ever true. Thanks to important policies put into place after 9/11, America has been able to thwart at least 41 publicly known terrorist attacks. Such vigilance saved lives and will continue to do so moving forth. As Heritage’s Matt Mayer wrote days after bin Laden’s death:
In terrorist hideouts across the globe, many men with similarly warped views are eager to become the next bin Laden. They know the path to that title [lies] in successfully attacking us domestically and causing substantial death and destruction.
The global war on terror that began as a result of 9/11 continues, and brave men and women risk their lives daily to protect America and prevent future acts of terrorism. As soldiers return from Afghanistan and Iraq after third or fourth tours of duty, we’re reminded that a clear and present danger remains.
Unfortunately, President Obama isn’t taking the threat seriously enough. The embattled debt ceiling policy outcome proved this, delivering a bitter pill of $500 billion in cuts to our national security.
Heritage’s Baker Spring writes of the policy:
…the policy established by the debt ceiling law will strip the military of its ability to secure the vital interests of the United States. The law, unless it is altered or repealed, will do irreparable harm to the United States military.
… History has repeatedly shown that these kinds of reductions in defense are penny wise and pound foolish, because they often serve to increase the likelihood of conflict. And weakness that invites war is much more expensive than deterring our enemies by maintaining an adequate defense budget all along.
Without the necessary security, America’s position as a world superpower will begin to decline. And still, President Obama and congressional liberals press on, putting our national security in jeopardy. Defense spending is far below its historical average, while money spent on unsustainable entitlement programs eats up two-thirds of the federal budget. America’s budgetary priorities are badly mismanaged, and our readiness suffers as a result.
Heritage’s Mackenzie Eaglen writes:
No military service has been immune from wear and tear over 10 years of constant combat and other operations. According to General Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, Jr., two-thirds of non-deployed Marines are not at acceptable readiness levels. This means they’re unable to respond to unforeseen crises if needed.
America’s military requires the ability to respond forcefully and effectively, and it relies on Congress and the President to provide the necessary resources.
As Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address, “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”
As the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 approaches, it’s important to honor the victims and the heroes of that day by not only remaining on guard, but promising we will never quit this important fight until the threat no longer exists.
Leading up to September 11, The Heritage Foundation will be hosting a series of events and releasing critical research and analysis designed to educate America on the remaining threat and offer the right policy course to keep us safe.
We will also be asking Americans to join us in a display of unity once again. On Sunday, September 11, 2011, we hope that every neighborhood across the nation is flooded with American flags celebrating the lives of those we lost in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania and the heroism we witnessed, while also reminding each other that the fight to prevent another attack is not over.
Please continue to check in with us here on The Foundry, at Heritage.org and on Facebook and Twitter over the next four weeks. On Twitter, send us pictures of your flag flying by using the hashtag #Flag911 in your tweet to offer your own remembrances and encourage others to join with us.
We must remember how we stood as a nation with a shared purpose and intensity on September 12, 2001 and in the days following. That collective and eternal vigilance is still essential. Never quit.
Quick Hits:
- Fatal attacks were launched on a passenger bus near the Israeli border of Egypt today.
- A Gallup poll released Wednesday says 71% of people disapprove of how President Obama is handling the economy.
- Yesterday, Politico defended its reporting of Vice-President Biden calling tea-partiers “terrorists” against a “fact-check” from the Washington Post.
- A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the White House must make visitor logs public and subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA.)
- A new report says 1 in 5 U.S. children is poor but many are misinformed about what that classification actually means in America.
Posted in Protect America, The Morning Bell
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F.B.I. Focusing on Security Over Ordinary Crime
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: August 23, 2011
WASHINGTON — Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigationhave been more likely to be hunting for potential threats to national security than for ordinary criminals in recent years, but much of the time found neither, according to newly disclosed internal information.
Data from a recent two-year period showed that the bureau opened 82,325 assessments of people and groups in search for signs of wrongdoing. Agents closed out most of the assessments, the lowest-level of F.B.I. investigation, without finding information that justified a more intensive inquiry.
Separately, the bureau also initiated 1,819 assessments during the period to identify any possible threats within particular geographic districts. That activity ranged from looking for the presence of particular organizations, like gangs or terrorist groups with definable characteristics, to evaluating other potential vulnerabilities, like a university with classified research and many foreign students.
The data, obtained by The New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act, offers a panoramic view of the bureau’s activities toward the end of a decade-long effort to transform the F.B.I. from a law-enforcement agency focused on solving crimes to a domestic intelligence agency whose mission is to detect potential threats before they can reach fruition.
The disclosure, covering March 25, 2009, to March 31, 2011, focused on assessments, which an agent may open “proactively or in response to investigative leads” and without first having a particular factual basis for suspecting a target of wrongdoing, according to the F.B.I. manual. Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey issued guidelines for the bureau creating that category in 2008.
During an assessment, agents may use a limited set of techniques, including searching databases about targets, conducting surveillance of their movements and sending a confidential informant to an organization’s meetings. But to use more intrusive techniques, like secretly reading e-mail, agents must open a more traditional “preliminary” or “full” investigation. Such inquiries require agents to first have a greater reason to start scrutinizing someone: either an “information or allegation” or an “articulable factual basis” indicating possible wrongdoing.
According to the data, during the 2009-11 period agents opened 42,888 assessments of people or groups to see whether they were terrorists or spies. A database search in May 2011 showed that 41,056 of the assessments had been closed. Information gathered by agents during those assessments had led to 1,986 preliminary or full investigations.
The data also showed that agents initiated 39,437 assessments of people or groups to see whether they were engaged in ordinary crime. Of those, 36,044 had been closed, while 1,329 preliminary or full investigations had been opened based on the information gathered.
Michael German, a former F.B.I. agent who is now with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the high number of assessments relative to the number that developed into more intensive investigations was cause for concern. He noted that the F.B.I. retained the data it collects about a target, even if the person or group turns out to be innocent.
“It’s clear the F.B.I. is casting its investigative net too broadly,” Mr. German said. “And remember that only a small proportion of ‘preliminary’ investigations become ‘full’ investigations, and only a small percentage of full investigations result in criminal charges. This data makes it clear that the ‘assessment’ authority granted in the attorney general guidelines is far too broad.”
But Valerie E. Caproni, the F.B.I. general counsel, said that the data showed that agents had been able to dispose of about 96 percent of the low-grade reasons they might have had for suspecting someone of wrongdoing, like a vague tip or some other ambiguous lead, using “low intrusion techniques” rather than by opening a potentially more invasive preliminary investigation.
The new investigation standards, Ms. Caproni said, “end up being privacy protective because previously, without a well-developed, robust assessment category, many if not most of those would have been opened as preliminary investigations.”
The newly disclosed data roughly matched a far more limited disclosure earlier this year about assessments of people and groups generated in late 2008 and early 2009, but the latest data covered a longer period and included additional detail. The data also bolsters the F.B.I.’s assertion that since the Sept. 11 attacks, the bureau has taken low-grade tips about national security threats more seriously than similarly vague and seemingly implausible leads about possible criminal activity. The 39,437 criminal assessments were based on 73,303 complaints received by the F.B.I., indicating that about half of the time, agents merely filled out a complaint form but saw nothing worth following up on.
In contrast, the disclosure did not offer a separate number of national security complaints, suggesting that some were not followed up with an assessment. The bureau says its policy calls for every national security-related tip, no matter how dubious, to be investigated. Still, Ms. Caproni cautioned that the assessment data did not offer a complete view of the F.B.I.’s activities. For example, she said, if the Central Intelligence Agency told the bureau that an overseas source had provided a specific claim about a terrorist cell operating inside the United States, agents would immediately open a more intensive investigation rather than starting with an assessment.
She also cautioned that some details about the numbers might be fuzzy. In the past, for example, the F.B.I. has noted that one assessment may uncover information that leads to more than one preliminary investigation. At the same time, agents may occasionally have neglected, when opening a preliminary investigation, to record the fact that it developed out of an assessment.
The new data also showed that while the agency has opened fewer assessments looking for broader intelligence about possible threats and vulnerabilities within a district, a category it calls Type 3 assessments, it has been slower to close them. Of the 1,819 it had opened during the period, 1,056 were open by May.
Those figures covered Type 3 assessments generated both by national security programs — like domestic and international terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and counterintelligence — and criminal programs, like civil rights, gangs, organized crime, violent crime and white-collar crime. The F.B.I. censored the specific breakdown for each category. The data release comes as the F.B.I. is preparing to issue agents a new version of its manual, the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, that will relax some rules about the techniques allowed at the assessment stage. Ms. Caproni said the new rulebook is at the printer now, and a partly redacted version is likely to be released to the public at the same time it takes effect around mid-October.
A version of this article appeared in print on August 24, 2011, on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: F.B.I. Focusing on Security Over Ordinary Crime.
BP oil spill fund: $5 billion in claims paid out
By Catherine Clifford August 23, 2011: 4:50 PM ET
The BP oil spill fund for the Gulf of Mexico has paid out $5 billion of $20 billion set aside for recovery, claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg says.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The fund to compensate Gulf Coast businesses and residents for damages from last year's BP oil spill says it has paid out $5 billion of the $20 billion set aside for recovery.
The Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which took over the claims process from BP (BP) in August 2010, has approved 38% of the 947,892 claims submitted, according to an executive summary it released Tuesday.
The fund, which has employed as many as 3,000 people, has received claims from all 50 states and 36 countries.
The vast majority of the claims paid have gone to five states. Florida residents and businesses have been paid $2 billion, more than any other state. Louisiana recipients have been paid $1.5 billion. Recipients from Alabama, Mississippi and Texas round out the top five, respectively.
The historic environmental disaster was the worst oil spill in U.S. history, claiming 11 lives and spewing over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf.
The spill had wide-ranging economic consequences in the region. Businesses such as fishing, oyster harvesting and charter fishing boats, were impacted directly by oil in the water. Restaurants, hotels and rental properties that depend on tourism money saw a drop-off in sales, even in cases where there was no oil visible on the beaches.
"It is interesting to point out the different nature of the claims coming from Florida, largely tourism, as opposed to Louisiana, largely commercial fishing," said Kenneth Feinberg, the head of the fund and the former administrator of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund.
As the leader of the fund, Feinberg has taken heat from both BP for beingtoo generous in his payments and from the government for being too stingy in his payouts.
One year after the BP spill, this family business is still reeling
Many of the claimants who were denied payouts say the process was unfair. The U.S. Coast Guard, which has reviewed more than 1,000 claims from unhappy claimants, has sided with Feinberg's decisions.Also, for the sake of full transparency, the fund has agreed to be independently audited by the U.S. attorney general by the end of the year, according to the executive summary.
The Gulf Coast Claims Facility will continue to process claims until August of 2013.
To write a note to the editor about this article, click here.
First Published: August 23, 2011: 12:14 PM ET
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BP oil spill claims: Many complaints, few changes
Gulf oil spill victims offered 3 years' damages
BP claims: Get paid 'quick' if you don't sue
Feinberg paying oil spill claims faster than BP did
I TRULY BELIEVE THAT EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE NUMEROUS ISSUES OF DESIGN FLAW THAT BP WOULD HAVE BEEN FINED FOR ANYWAY, (BEING THAT THEY COULD NOT PULL THIS OFF GIVEN THAT THIS WAS THE BIGGEST STORE OF OIL AND THE PRESSURE IT WAS UNDER WHERE THEY DRILLED), THEY SIMPLY BYPASSED REGULATIONS AND OPERATED UNDER A CLOUD OF SECRECY SO AS NOT TO TIP OFF THE ARAB MARKET THAT WE WERE GOING TO GET OUR OWN OIL.
YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS THEN, STUFF STARTS BLOWING UP.
SOMETHING AS SMALL AS A SPARK OR A CIGARETTE COULD HAVE EXPLODED THE RIG, AND ACTUALLY CONSIDERING THE INSANE AMOUNT OF PRESSURE BP INTENTIONALLY USED INFERIOR DEVICES TO RELEASE SOME OF THAT TRAPPED GAS AS THEY DIDN’T THINK THE SEAL WOULD HOLD ANYWAY, BUT IT HAD DEADLY CONSEQUENCES TO SAFETY AND RIG SECURITY, AND THE PRESSURE COULD NOT BE CONTROLLED, ANOTHER OFFSHORE RISK INHERENT TO THE BUSINESS.
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Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Arrests Mount As Climate Activists Push Obama
All Terrain: Bill McKibben on the Keystone XL Oil PipelineHuffPost Green
All Terrain: Bill McKibben on the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline
HuffPost Green
First Posted: 8/23/11 08:21 AM ET Updated: 8/23/11 11:14 AM ET
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WASHINGTON -- Waving signs and chanting "Yes we can," scores of protesters were arrested outside the White House Monday as they called on the Obama administration to block approval of TransCanada's Keystone XL oil pipeline.As of Monday night, 162 people had been arrested, detained and released. Organizers say more than 2,000 volunteers have signed up to participate in the sit-ins in shifts, which began over the weekend and are slated to run through Sep. 3. Dozens more are expected to be arrested Tuesday.
Frustrated by the president’s inability to get comprehensive energy and climate legislation through Congress, climate activists are pressuring Obama to take action on the proposed $7 billion pipeline project by refusing to sign-off on a permit for its construction.
If approved, the Keystone XL pipeline would pump 700,000 barrels of heavy crude per day from Canada's tar sands to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast. For perspective: Obama recently released 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over a 30-day period.
Advocates of the pipeline say its construction will create jobs, while critics cite concerns over greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a history of leaks at an existing TransCanada oil pipeline known as Keystone 1.
The White House has emphasized that the decision to issue the permit rests with the State Department, which is expected to complete its review of the pipeline by the end of the year.
"The State Department is assessing the project on behalf of the federal government," said White House spokesman Clark Stevens. "That process is ongoing, including receiving important input from the public and stakeholders."
But author and environmentalist Bill McKibben said activists are holding Obama -- not Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- accountable.
McKibben said protesters "spent a lot of time talking about how one of the last times many of us had been sleeping on the floor was when we'd been out campaigning for Obama and how much we hoped that he would do something to remind us why we were so enthusiastic." McKibben spent two nights in jail after being arrested for civil disobedience on Saturday. "This time [Obama] has a clear shot to do it; we'll see."
The jail time came as a surprise to McKibben and others who expected to be fined $100, not detained for two nights in a cell.
Another protester released Monday was former Army Lt. Daniel Choi, who was previously detained after protesting the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
"It's a small price to pay now rather than a larger consequence in the future," Choi told HuffPost. "We're fighting just as we did with 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'"
With Obama on vacation and the media focused on developments in Libya, some fear the demonstrations won't command much national attention. But McKibben insists the message will be heard.
"The people who've carried this fight for three years are indigenous people on both sides of the border who have a huge stake in it because it's on their land, and farmers and ranchers from places like Nebraska," he said. He called some of the protesters "Johnny-come-latelys," adding, "It wasn’t until I sat down and read Jim Hansen’s analysis of how much carbon was in those things that I understood that this was not just a national issue, it's a global issue of the first order."
OIL IS A PROBLEM BECAUSE OF OBAMA’S ARAB TIES AND BECAUSE OF HIS CONFLICT OF INTEREST WITH GREEN JOBS INITIATIVES THAT HAVE PRODUCED PRACTICALLY ZERO JOBS... NANCY WAS STRIPPED OF HER GREEN JOBS CZAR PROGRAMS BECAUSE OF IT, AND THOSE ARE BEING DEFUNDED. HENCE, PROTESTS. NOT LEGISLATION, NOT PEACEABLE ASSEMBLY, NOT CHANGING THE PROGRAMS TO BE RELEVANT TO CREATE JOBS, BUT PROTEST AND NO SOLUTIONS SEEMS TO BE THE ORDER DU JOUR.
THE REAL PROBLEM IS, OBAMA HAS TIES TO THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD WHO ARE TIED IN WITH HAMAS; HENCE THE WEINERGATE SCANDAL. WEINER WAS SLATED TO BECOME MAYOR OF NEW YORK, AND IN TURN, GIVE OBAMA THE MONEY TO RUN FOR 2012. WEINER’S WIFE HUMA, HER FATHER, IS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AND OBAMA STILL TRIED TO LOBBY THE BROTHERHOOD THROUGH HER FATHER AFTER WEINER WAS TROUNCED TO FULL CONFESSION OF SHOWING HIS WEINER.
History 101: The Hamas-Muslim Brotherhood Connection
The true nature of the relationship of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood is a simple and straight forward one but is largely ignored by the mainstream media and even so-called analystsGlobalSecurity.org provides us with a simple narration of the history of Hamas showing that it was an offshot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"HAMAS, which includes military and political wings, was formed by the late Sheik Ahmad Yasinat at the onset of the first Palestinian uprising or Intifadah in late 1987, as an outgrowth of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The armed element, called the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, conducts anti-Israeli attacks, including suicide bombings against civilian targets inside Israel. Social-political elements engage in "Dawa" or ministry activities, which include running charities and schools, fund-raising and political activities. A Shura council based in Damascus, Syria, sets overall policy. Since winning Palestinian Authority (PA) elections in 2006, HAMAS has taken control of significant PA ministries, including the Ministry of Interior. HAMAS formed an expanded, overt militia called the Executive Force, subordinate to the Ministry."
Source: GlobalSecurity.org
We don't have to go far however in the details of the history of Hamas since from their own words and embedded in their own charter is the true nature of the group that they are the Muslim Brotherhood's arm in Palestine.
The Islamic Resistance Movement's Relation With the Muslim Brotherhood Group:
Article Two:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times. It is characterised by its deep understanding, accurate comprehension and its complete embrace of all Islamic concepts of all aspects of life, culture, creed, politics, economics, education, society, justice and judgement, the spreading of Islam, education, art, information, science of the occult and conversion to Islam.
Source: Mieastweb.org
Now one of the first troubling act and as a could be a sign of things to come happened during the protests in Egypt to oust President Mubarak was when Hamas prisoners in Egypt escaped and returned to Gaza. This story wasn't covered and the Hamas connection was barely mentioned at all by the mainstream media.
WHILE IT IS HARD TO SAY EXACTLY FROM WHICH COUNTRY THIS RETALIATION ORDER COULD HAVE BEEN ISSUED FROM FOR PLANS TO BOYCOTT THEIR OIL, IN FAVOR OF DRILLING OUR OWN OFFSHORE, WE DO KNOW THAT OBAMA’S DONORS ARE INDEED HAMAS THE MILITANT AND VIOLENT, AND MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD THROUGH SOCIAL ORGANIZING, MOSQUES, AND CHARITIES.
BOTH HAVE ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT, BUT THE BROTHERHOOD PRETENDS THAT IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH VIOLENCE, YET IT IS THEIR MONEY THAT STILL WINDS UP IN THE HANDS OF TERRORISTS TO MAINTAIN TRAINING CAMPS AND FINANCE TERROR CAMPAIGNS BECAUSE OF CORRUPTION IN THE CLERIC, CREATED BY UNWILLINGNESS TO PURGE IT FROM THEM.
Muslim Brotherhood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor The Chinese Islamist organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood, see Yihewani.
The Muslim Brotherhood الإخوان المسلمون/المسلمين al-ʾIḫwān al-Muslimūn/Muslimīn | |
 * | |
Leader | |
Founded | 1928 |
Website | |
The Society of the Muslim Brothers (Arabic: الإخوان al-ʾIḫwān/Ikhwan/el-ekhwan, IPA: [elʔexˈwæːn], often simply "The Brotherhood" or MB) is the world's oldest[1] and one of the largest Islamist groups,[2] and is the largest political opposition organisation in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna, and has spread to many other countries. Its slogan is "Islam is the solution".[3]
The Brotherhood's stated goal is to instill the Qur'an and Sunnah as the "sole reference point for ... ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community ... and state".[4] Since its inception in 1928 the movement has officially opposed violent means to achieve its goals,[5][6] and a number of Western authors[who?] have also described it as non-violent.
The Brotherhood's nonviolent stance has resulted in breakaway groups from the movement, and it was attacked by Osama bin Laden for betrayingjihad.[7][8]Wikipedia:Verifiability In Egypt, the Brotherhood has stated that, while it seeks the establishment of an Islamic state, it would not force women to cover up.[9]
The Muslim Brotherhood started off as a religious social organization, preaching Islam, teaching the illiterate, setting up hospitals, and even launching commercial enterprises. As it continued to rise in influence, starting in 1936, it began to oppose British rule in Egypt.[10] Many Egyptian nationalists accuse the Brotherhood of violent killings during this period.[11] After the 1948 Arab defeat in the First Arab-Israeli war, the Egyptian government dissolved the organization and arrested its members; its founder was assassinated.[10] After the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which was supported by the Brotherhood, it was once again banned and repressed.[3]The Brotherhood has been suppressed in other countries, most notably in Syria in 1982, in the Hama massacre.[12] Starting in the 1980s, the Brotherhood entered Egypt's political arena, forming alliances with other parties and fielding "independent"[13] candidates. When in 2005, the Brotherhood won 20% of the seats, Hosni Mubarak cracked down on the group. In 2011, the Brotherhood took an active part in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, although this was somewhat limited by its unpopularity amongst Egypt's youth.[3] Afterwards, the Muslim Brotherhood announced it would set up the Freedom and Justice Party to contest post-revolutionary parliamentary elections.[14]
The Brotherhood is financed by contributions from its members, who are required to allocate a portion of their income to the movement. Some of these contributions are from members who live in oil-rich countries.[15]
1) THE BROTHERHOOD’S GOAL IS TO MAKE THE QU’RAN THE LAW OF THE LAND. THE PROBLEM IS WITH THE LAW OF ABROGRATION AND A PARTICULAR SCRIPTURE, BUT THE INTERPRETATION OF KILLING PAGANS IS EVIDENT AS JUSTIFIED BY IT.
“law of abrogation”
David Warren has a crisp essay that should be read by all Americans. Here’s an extract, dealing with the essence of Islam’s holy scriptures:…let me quote Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, the “traditionalist” Anglican who directs the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity in London. He found himself recently trying to explain the crazy truth to a journalist who asked him about violent passages in the Koran, which Islamists quote constantly. “Is there no part of the Koran which modifies these violent texts in the way that we would say our New Testament modifies the Old Testament?”
Dr. Sookhdeo: “In fact the reverse is true. … All the peaceful passages that are enjoined on Muslims occur in the chapters written at Mecca. They are tolerant toward Jews and Christians. But when Muhammad gets to Medina and sets up his city/religious state, the tone towards other groups changes rapidly. The statements about slaying the pagans and killing the Jews and others occur there. Now in Islamic interpretation, all passages that are revealed later take precedence over those revealed earlier. This is known as the ‘law of abrogation’.”
The short version? Christians and Jews have been at war with Islam virtually since its founding. The only issue is whether we can get a sufficiency of Muslims around the world to abandon their historic Koran and start with some heavy, heavy “abrogation” that transforms the basic scripture of Islam into a true religion of peace.
And not the peace of the grave for non-Muslims. Read Warren’s essay, and remember that he is a Canadian writing in Ottowa — he’s not a neocon member of the Bush administration.
WHO ARE THE PAGANS?? (YOU ASK) CERTAINLY, CHRISTIANS ARE NOT PAGANS OR INFIDELS..... (YOU SAY) ARE THEY?? (YOU ASK)
WHO ARE THE PAGANS?? (YOU ASK) CERTAINLY, CHRISTIANS ARE NOT PAGANS OR INFIDELS..... (YOU SAY) ARE THEY?? (YOU ASK)
WELL, ACCORDING TO THE QU’RAN IN THIS PASSAGE, SURA 5, WE ARE CONDEMNED TO HELL BECAUSE JESUS IS AN IDOL AND WE ARE PAGANS, BECAUSE RADICALS BELIEVE MUHAMMAD WAS THE MESSIAH, NOT JESUS, MODERATES BELIEVE MUHAMMAD TO BE ONLY A PROPHET AND JESUS A PROPHET, NEITHER OF THEM GOD IN THE FLESH:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/thesynthesis/doc/164130506985619/
http://www.submission.info/perspectives/monotheism/idolworship.html
Idol worship is not just restricted to worship of any statues or picture frames, etc. The Quran cites many forms of idol worship.
1. Calf, statues as idols.
[2:51] Yet, when we summoned Moses for forty nights, you worshiped the calf in his absence, and turned wicked.*
[21:51-53] Before that, we granted Abraham his guidance and understanding, for we were fully aware of him.* He said to his father and his people, "What are these statues to which you are devoting yourselves?" They said, "We found our parents worshiping them."
2. Worshipping other gods (is worshipping the devil).
[4:117] They even worship female gods besides Him; as a matter of fact, they only worship a rebellious devil.
3. Jesus as idol.
[5:72] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah himself said, "O Children of Israel, you shall worship GOD; my Lord* and your Lord." Anyone who sets up any idol beside GOD, GOD has forbidden Paradise for him, and his destiny is Hell. The wicked have no helpers.
QURAN TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH:
SURA 5
Today's Christianity Not Jesus' Religion*
[5:72] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah himself said, "O Children of Israel, you shall worship GOD; my Lord* and your Lord." Anyone who sets up any idol beside GOD, GOD has forbidden Paradise for him, and his destiny is Hell. The wicked have no helpers.
*5:72-76 In John 20:17, we see that Jesus taught that he was neither God, nor the son of God. Many theologians have concluded, after careful research, that today's Christianity is not the same Christianity taught by Jesus. Two outstanding books on this subject are ``The Myth of God Incarnate'' (The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1977) and The ``Mythmaker'' (Harper & Row, New York, 1986). On the front jacket of ``The Mythmaker'' we read the following statement: "...Hyam Maccoby presents new arguments to support the view that Paul, not Jesus, was the founder of Christianity....it was Paul alone who created a new religion through his vision of Jesus as a divine Saviour who died to save humanity."
[5:73] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is a third of a trinity. There is no god except the one god. Unless they refrain from saying this, those who disbelieve among them will incur a painful retribution.
[5:74] Would they not repent to GOD, and ask His forgiveness? GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.
[5:75] The Messiah, son of Mary, is no more than a messenger like the messengers before him, and his mother was a saint. Both of them used to eat the food. Note how we explain the revelations for them, and note how they still deviate!
[5:76] Say, "Would you worship beside GOD powerless idols who can neither harm you, nor benefit you? GOD is Hearer, Omniscient."
June 29 at 11:52pm · Like · Subscribe · Report
AS YOU CAN SEE, MANY OF US SEE THIS IDEOLOGY AND OBAMA’S COLLABORATIVE INVOLVEMENT BRINGING AMERICA, OUR PROUD NATION, TO ITS KNEES. WHY CONQUER THE UNITED STATES BY COSTLY YEARS OF WAR AND GIVE AWAY THAT AGENDA TRYING TO ACQUIRE ENOUGH NUKES OR EVEN TRY TO BATTLE OUR STALWART MILITARY, (WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN TRIED AND FAILED) ,WHEN YOU CAN CONVINCE VOTERS OBAMA IS A CENTRIST CANDIDATE: SYMPATHETIC TO THE WORKING CLASS AND PLIGHT OF BLACKS, CHEAT TO GET HIM IN OFFICE, LET HIM RACK UP $9 TRILLION IN DEBT, AND SUBSEQUENTLY SUSPEND THE COUNTRY’S ABILITY TO DEFEND ITSELF BY FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS TO OTHER COUNTRIES??
I MEAN REALLY: ASK YOURSELF, WHY WOULD OBAMA WASTE $9 TRILLION ANYWAY, MORE THAN ANY PRESIDENT IN HISTORY, WITH THE DEBT COSTING EACH TAXPAYER $80,000? CERTAINLY OBAMA CAN NOT BE THIS STUPID, AND I ASSURE YOU WITH HIS TIES TO RADICAL ISLAM AND HIS ACHILLES HEEL TO ACCEPT MONEY FROM ANYONE WHO WILL GIVE IT TO HIM, IT DOESN’T SEEM LIKE DIPLOMACY; BUT GREED, A POWER GRAB, AND AN AMBITION THAT GOES BEYOND THE OFFICE NO MATTER WHO HE STEPS ON:
WELL, ACCORDING TO THE QU’RAN IN THIS PASSAGE, SURA 5, WE ARE CONDEMNED TO HELL BECAUSE JESUS IS AN IDOL AND WE ARE PAGANS, BECAUSE RADICALS BELIEVE MUHAMMAD WAS THE MESSIAH, NOT JESUS, MODERATES BELIEVE MUHAMMAD TO BE ONLY A PROPHET AND JESUS A PROPHET, NEITHER OF THEM GOD IN THE FLESH:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/thesynthesis/doc/164130506985619/
WHY MUSLIMS BELIEVE AMERICA IS AN IDOLATROUS NATION, AND THAT CHRISTIANS AND CATHOLICS ENGAGE IN IDOL WORSHIP:
WHY MUSLIMS BELIEVE AMERICA IS AN IDOLATROUS NATION, AND THAT CHRISTIANS AND CATHOLICS ENGAGE IN IDOL WORSHIP:http://www.submission.info/perspectives/monotheism/idolworship.html
Idol worship is not just restricted to worship of any statues or picture frames, etc. The Quran cites many forms of idol worship.
1. Calf, statues as idols.
[2:51] Yet, when we summoned Moses for forty nights, you worshiped the calf in his absence, and turned wicked.*
[21:51-53] Before that, we granted Abraham his guidance and understanding, for we were fully aware of him.* He said to his father and his people, "What are these statues to which you are devoting yourselves?" They said, "We found our parents worshiping them."
2. Worshipping other gods (is worshipping the devil).
[4:117] They even worship female gods besides Him; as a matter of fact, they only worship a rebellious devil.
3. Jesus as idol.
[5:72] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah himself said, "O Children of Israel, you shall worship GOD; my Lord* and your Lord." Anyone who sets up any idol beside GOD, GOD has forbidden Paradise for him, and his destiny is Hell. The wicked have no helpers.
QURAN TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH:
SURA 5
Today's Christianity Not Jesus' Religion*
[5:72] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah himself said, "O Children of Israel, you shall worship GOD; my Lord* and your Lord." Anyone who sets up any idol beside GOD, GOD has forbidden Paradise for him, and his destiny is Hell. The wicked have no helpers.
*5:72-76 In John 20:17, we see that Jesus taught that he was neither God, nor the son of God. Many theologians have concluded, after careful research, that today's Christianity is not the same Christianity taught by Jesus. Two outstanding books on this subject are ``The Myth of God Incarnate'' (The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1977) and The ``Mythmaker'' (Harper & Row, New York, 1986). On the front jacket of ``The Mythmaker'' we read the following statement: "...Hyam Maccoby presents new arguments to support the view that Paul, not Jesus, was the founder of Christianity....it was Paul alone who created a new religion through his vision of Jesus as a divine Saviour who died to save humanity."
[5:73] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is a third of a trinity. There is no god except the one god. Unless they refrain from saying this, those who disbelieve among them will incur a painful retribution.
[5:74] Would they not repent to GOD, and ask His forgiveness? GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.
[5:75] The Messiah, son of Mary, is no more than a messenger like the messengers before him, and his mother was a saint. Both of them used to eat the food. Note how we explain the revelations for them, and note how they still deviate!
[5:76] Say, "Would you worship beside GOD powerless idols who can neither harm you, nor benefit you? GOD is Hearer, Omniscient."
*June 29 at 11:52pm · Like · Subscribe · Report
Know thy Bible (John 1:1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christians; their New World Translation says "In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God,and the Word was a god." It is a literal translation from Greek to English, which is improper to insert the article [a] in front of the Greek plural LOGOS, which in English is Word. This one letter inserted improperly linguistically with one word changes the entire meaning of the Bible! If Jesus was just like any other god, His sacrifice would not be holy; therefore, he died in vain and there would be no perfect sacrifice for our sins.
June 30 at 12:04am · Like
Aja Brooks For Obama to openly embrace Muslims who find us repugnant as Christians as much as we find idolatry repugnant because they view us as being idolatrous is the Quran's teaching and doctrine that they use to justify killing infidels, known as Jihad.
June 30 at 12:05am · Like
AS YOU CAN SEE, MANY OF US SEE THIS IDEOLOGY AND OBAMA’S COLLABORATIVE INVOLVEMENT BRINGING AMERICA, OUR PROUD NATION, TO ITS KNEES. WHY CONQUER THE UNITED STATES BY COSTLY YEARS OF WAR AND GIVE AWAY THAT AGENDA TRYING TO ACQUIRE ENOUGH NUKES OR EVEN TRY TO BATTLE OUR STALWART MILITARY, (WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN TRIED AND FAILED) ,WHEN YOU CAN CONVINCE VOTERS OBAMA IS A CENTRIST CANDIDATE: SYMPATHETIC TO THE WORKING CLASS AND PLIGHT OF BLACKS, CHEAT TO GET HIM IN OFFICE, LET HIM RACK UP $9 TRILLION IN DEBT, AND SUBSEQUENTLY SUSPEND THE COUNTRY’S ABILITY TO DEFEND ITSELF BY FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS TO OTHER COUNTRIES??
I MEAN REALLY: ASK YOURSELF, WHY WOULD OBAMA WASTE $9 TRILLION ANYWAY, MORE THAN ANY PRESIDENT IN HISTORY, WITH THE DEBT COSTING EACH TAXPAYER $80,000? CERTAINLY OBAMA CAN NOT BE THIS STUPID, AND I ASSURE YOU WITH HIS TIES TO RADICAL ISLAM AND HIS ACHILLES HEEL TO ACCEPT MONEY FROM ANYONE WHO WILL GIVE IT TO HIM, IT DOESN’T SEEM LIKE DIPLOMACY; BUT GREED, A POWER GRAB, AND AN AMBITION THAT GOES BEYOND THE OFFICE NO MATTER WHO HE STEPS ON:
Deven Sharma, Head Of Ratings Agency Standard & Poor's, To Step Down
First Posted: 8/22/11 10:32 PM ET Updated: 8/23/11 01:35 PM ET
255
NEW YORK -- The president of Standard & Poor's is stepping down, a decision coming only weeks after the rating agency's unprecedented move to strip the United States of its AAA credit rating, according to reports published Monday.
The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that Deven Sharma will stay on as an adviser to S&P's parent company, McGraw-Hill Cos., until the end of the year. They said S&P plans to make an official announcement Tuesday before the U.S. financial markets open.
The newspapers cite people familiar with the matter who say Sharma's move was in the works well before S&P downgraded its rating on the U.S. to AA-plus on Aug. 5.
The Financial Times also said Sharma's decision to leave S&P was not due to recent reports that the Justice Department was investigating whether the agency improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis in 2008. It said the move is the result of S&P splitting its data, pricing and analytics business from its ratings business.
Messages were left with S&P spokesmen seeking comment.
S&P's downgrade sent shock waves through global financial markets and was sharply criticized by the Obama administration, which said the agency's analysis was fundamentally flawed. Other major rating agencies have not followed S&P's lead.
Sharma joined S&P in 2006 and was named president the following year. Before that, he was executive vice president, Global Strategy, at McGraw-Hill for five years.
UNTIL SHE COULD ANSWER THAT QUESTION AND EXPLAIN THAT TO AMERICANS, THAT IS WHY SHE LOST IN 2008 AND WHY SHE’LL NEVER BE PRESIDENT:
'It's not time to retreat it's time to reload': Sarah Palin attacks Obama on debt (as she plays it cool on White House intentions)
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Speaking on Fox News last night the former Republican vice presidential candidate also revealed she would announce her intentions for the White House in late August or early September.
During the interview Palin sent a very strong message to fellow Republicans on the debt ceiling crisis, currently the subject of intense White House talks.
'We cannot default, but we cannot afford to retreat right now either,' Mrs Palin said. 'Now is not time to retreat, it's time to reload.'
Palin used the phrase at a Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans last year, saying: 'Don't retreat - reload, and that's not a call for violence.'
Last night she added: 'We reload with reality by giving facts and numbers to the American public so that those of us across the United States can start chiming in and letting our representatives know that we will not capitulate,' she added.
Mrs Palin also took umbrage with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's plan to raise the debt ceiling, which he issued earlier this week.
First Posted: 8/22/11 10:32 PM ET Updated: 8/23/11 01:35 PM ET
255
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APNEW YORK -- The president of Standard & Poor's is stepping down, a decision coming only weeks after the rating agency's unprecedented move to strip the United States of its AAA credit rating, according to reports published Monday.
The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that Deven Sharma will stay on as an adviser to S&P's parent company, McGraw-Hill Cos., until the end of the year. They said S&P plans to make an official announcement Tuesday before the U.S. financial markets open.
The newspapers cite people familiar with the matter who say Sharma's move was in the works well before S&P downgraded its rating on the U.S. to AA-plus on Aug. 5.
The Financial Times also said Sharma's decision to leave S&P was not due to recent reports that the Justice Department was investigating whether the agency improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis in 2008. It said the move is the result of S&P splitting its data, pricing and analytics business from its ratings business.
Messages were left with S&P spokesmen seeking comment.
S&P's downgrade sent shock waves through global financial markets and was sharply criticized by the Obama administration, which said the agency's analysis was fundamentally flawed. Other major rating agencies have not followed S&P's lead.
Sharma joined S&P in 2006 and was named president the following year. Before that, he was executive vice president, Global Strategy, at McGraw-Hill for five years.
FOLLOW HUFFPOST BUSINESS
I ONCE TOLD SARAH PALIN RECENTLY IN HER CONSIDERATION TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT, THAT THE ONLY REASON THAT SHE IS NOT VICE PRESIDENT RIGHT THIS SECOND, IS BECAUSE SHE FAILED TO EXPOSE OBAMA FOR WHO HE REALLY IS. UNTIL SHE COULD ANSWER THAT QUESTION AND EXPLAIN THAT TO AMERICANS, THAT IS WHY SHE LOST IN 2008 AND WHY SHE’LL NEVER BE PRESIDENT:
'It's not time to retreat it's time to reload': Sarah Palin attacks Obama on debt (as she plays it cool on White House intentions)
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Voicing concerns: Sarah Palin has weighed into the deficit debate with her old adage: 'Now is not time to retreat, it's time to reload'
Sarah Palin has weighed into the deficit debate with her old adage: 'Now is not time to retreat, it's time to reload.'Speaking on Fox News last night the former Republican vice presidential candidate also revealed she would announce her intentions for the White House in late August or early September.
During the interview Palin sent a very strong message to fellow Republicans on the debt ceiling crisis, currently the subject of intense White House talks.
'We cannot default, but we cannot afford to retreat right now either,' Mrs Palin said. 'Now is not time to retreat, it's time to reload.'
Palin used the phrase at a Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans last year, saying: 'Don't retreat - reload, and that's not a call for violence.'
Last night she added: 'We reload with reality by giving facts and numbers to the American public so that those of us across the United States can start chiming in and letting our representatives know that we will not capitulate,' she added.
Mrs Palin also took umbrage with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's plan to raise the debt ceiling, which he issued earlier this week.
More...
- 'Gays are part of Satan and their life is bondage': Bachmann's thoughts on homosexuality
- 'This may bring my presidency down but I will not yield': Obama walks out of debt talks warning GOP 'don't call my bluff'
'This plan of McConnell's, I think, makes no sense because it does cede power to our president and takes away that authority that is inherent in Congress to control the economic decisions that have to be made when it comes to debt,' she said.
Mrs Palin then said she believes she could win a campaign against Barack Obama, a sentiment first reported in a Newsweek cover story.
Speculation: Mrs Palin has refused to confirm if she will run for the presidency, but claims she could beat Barack Obama if she did
She would campaign for a candidate with 'good executive experience' and a 'servant's heart' who wasn't so 'obsessively partisan that they can't just do what's right.'
At the moment, though, she says she doesn't see that candidate in the Republican field.
Mrs Palin added she was thinking about offering herself up 'in the name of service,' confident that she has 'common sense, fiscally conservative, pro-private sector policy experience and ideas that can be put to good work for this country.'
The former Alaska governor has said she will announce her intention to run for the White House or not in late August or early September.
Speaking on Fox last night, she said: 'You know, August and September, you do have to start laying out a plan if you are to be one to throw your hat in the ring, so that's basically the time frame.
'I'm not wholly confident that we have that field set yet, that that one individual is in the field.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2014591/US-debt-Sarah-Palin-attacks-Obama-saying-time-retreat.html#ixzz1VuuzN3cW
WHILE IT SEEMS HARSH, IT WAS NOT INTENDED TO BE REBUKE AGAINST SARAH PALIN, BUT TO MAKE HER UNDERSTAND HER PRESENCE AND POWER AS A LEADER AGAINST OBAMA:
THE 2008 ELECTION BROUGHT HER FAMILY CONSIDERABLE HARDSHIP AND DEATH THREATS; LEVI AND BRISTOL’S RELATIONSHIP ERODED IN FRONT OF OUR EYES, AND IT TOOK 3 YEARS TO MEND, AND THE
MEDIA RUBBED SALT IN IT EVERY CHANCE THEY GOT.
THE DEATH THREATS CAME IN HER HOSTING A BENEFIT FOR MILITARY CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS GAVE THEIR LIVES IN SACRIFICE SERVING OUR COUNTRY, AND THE THREATS WERE PROMISED AGAINST HER FAMILY IF SHE DID NOT STOP SPEAKING OUT AGAINST OBAMA. THIS IS SOMETHING WE FELT SO UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT IN THE CONSERVATIVE COMMUNITY, THAT WE DID NOT GIVE IT A STAGE FOR MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT, AND WE DIDN’T WANT PALIN TO BE COMPROMISED IN DISCUSSING IT OPENLY WITH MEDIA FOR THEM SAYING THAT SHE WAS DOING IT FOR PRESS, EVEN THOUGH DEATH THREATS INTENSIFIED AFTER THE GIFFORDS’ SHOOTING:
Death Threats Against Palin Hit New High
THREAT CYCLE SPIRALS AS RHETORIC RISES
By Mary Papenfuss, Newser Staff
Posted Jan 13, 2011 2:19 AM CST | Updated Jan 13, 2011 7:30 AM CST
(NEWSER) – Death threats against Sarah Palin have hit an unprecedented high in the wake of the shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and have so unnerved the former Alaska governor and her staff that they're consulting with private security representatives to beef up protection, reports ABC News. Aides provided no other details, though a recent YouTube video highlighted threats against Palin posted on Twitter. In a growing spiral of violent rhetoric, death threats have mounted as Palin herself has been accused of encouraging deadly attacks by promoting a map marking Giffords' congressional district with crosshairs.
Representatives of other districts marked with the crosshairs have also become death-threat targets. In 2008 the Secret Service warned the Obama family of a spike in death threats against them immediately after Palin accused Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists," reported the Telegraph. Palin is now being slammed for her speech yesterday using the term "blood libel," which many Jewish groups consider anti-Semitic. "Journalists should not manufacture a blood libel that serves to incite the violence they purport to condemn," she said in a Facebook video.
I’M NOT PLAYING PALIN’S SECOND FIDDLE:
I AM TELLING YOU THIS IS THE REALITY OF CORRUPTION THAT HAS MANIFESTED FROM OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION.
NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK OF PALIN,
NONE OF THAT CHANGES WHAT OBAMA HAS DONE, WHO HE IS ALIGNED WITH, AND WHY HE’S FINANCIALLY FUBARRED THE NATION.
SARAH PALIN DOES HAVE A POLITICAL SHINE BRIGHTER THAN ANYONE IN POLITICS IN A LONG TIME:
Governor Palin's Sunny American Optimism Outshines Obama's "Doom & Gloom" America-Bashing
Governor Sarah Palin's speech to the Vanderburgh Right To Life fundraising banquet in Evansville, Indiana reminded many of us why she was chosen to run for Vice President in 2008 and why many, including myself, hope to see her run for President in 2012 or 2016.
Governor Palin's delivery of this speech was heartfelt and real. It was authentic in a way that no other politician of this current time can match. Sarah Palin represents the real deal. A real person seeking to better her state and her nation. A servant-leader in the true Christian definition. She doesn't seek power for power's sake. She isn't obsessed with herself. She isn't fork-tongued. She doesn't go out of her way to alienate her friends in some lame attempt to win favor with the media. She actually seems to like America. She is who she is and that's enough.
What Sarah Palin represents is everything that Mitt Romney lacked in 2008. Romney, who spent millions of dollars in the primary still failed to connect with vast numbers of grassroots conservatives. He has many establishment supporters but he failed to catch fire with the rank and file. Mitt Romney is a good man, but he's a politician first. Sarah Palin represents us. She is us. She walks like us. She talks like us (when she isn't being muzzled by a campaign staff that looks down at her) and it works.
Like Ronald Reagan before her, she also brings a sunny optimism and stage presence. Her shortcomings during campaign 2008 were vastly overshadowed to many of us by her speeches (most notably the GOP convention speech) and her debate performance. Her optimism, however, isn't Barack Obama's brand of poll-driven false optimism. Sure, he trashes America and the economy for weeks on end, and then throws a few bones to those of us who like America because his pollsters say that he is "too negative" so he becomes "more like Reagan."
Ronald Reagan was what the Obama concubine media would call a "right wing extremist" and would be said to be "unelectable" for that reason. In fact, bumbling and squishy moderate Gerald Ford made that very claim regarding Reagan. Many doubted that such a hardcore conservative could be elected. After all, didn't Goldwater lose in a landslide?
It is not the message that fails in cases like that. It is the messenger. Sarah Palin is not perfect. She didn't spend a second pursuing national politics prior to being selected by John McCain to run for Vice President. She didn't spent months, or years studying national issues, because she was too busy focusing on her actual job of running the state of Alaska. In addition to that, the message of 2008 was not her own. Her job was to be the head cheerleader for John McCain.
Sarah Palin spoke of her personal trials and tribulation with candor, grace and authenticity. She wasn't exaggerating things a la scrappy Joe Biden and his fantasy world of landing under sniper-fire and telling off President Bush in the Oval Office. She tells the truth from the heart and it resonates.
Governor Palin also joked openly about her interview problems, her wardrobe "scandal" and the fact that you can see Russia from Alaska with great comic timing and to great effect.
Governor Palin possesses a strong set of political chops. She can take the abstract fuzzy political speak and make it heart-piercing and personal to the listener. She shares this skill with other successful politicians like Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.
She also represents a shot for the people of America to take our government back from the pork-loving, inept, and corrupt political prostitutes that run Washington D.C.
Ronald Reagan was able to defeat Jimmy Carter in 1980 largely because of his communication skills and presentation. He was able to take perceptions about his radical right-wing agenda and past as an actor and change them through his wit, style and grace. Conservative principles will always win elections, but they need to be communicated effectively and genuinely. The genuine sunny optimism of Ronald Reagan and his love of America convinced a large number of Americans to join the Reagan revolution and embrace conservatism over Jimmy Carter's hopelessness.
In many ways, the political winds are shifting to the same pattern found in 1980. In only a few months, Barack Obama has gone on a worldwide apology tour, high-fiving socialist dictators, bowing to Islamic royalty, and insulting our democratic allies. He has taken every opportunity both on our soil and abroad to slam the United States. He has talked down everything from the economy to our role and position in the world. He has revealed himself to he a hallow shell of a politician that can only speak when reading from his buddy the TelePrompter, even going so far as to refuse to answer questions about pirates during a healthcare press conference because he didn't have someone write the answer for him yet.
Sarah Palin represents just the positive, genuine and humble messenger for a new Reagan revolution. Her sunny optimism and cheery wit will bring morning again to America after this long national nightmare that is the Obama administration.
PROBABLY WHY OBAMA IS SO ENVIOUS AND WHY SHE WAS THREATENED, AND IT HAS CAPTIVATED PEOPLE AND OUTLASTED KATIE COURIC’S CAREER--WHICH SUNK WHEN COURIC ENDORSED OBAMA, AND HE TURNED OUT TO BE WAY WORSE THAN BUSH JR., WHEN WE THOUGHT OBAMA WAS MEDIA GOLD!
HAVEN’T YOU NOTICED? EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED OBAMA LOST: OPRAH WENT TO CABLE, COURIC HAD TO LEAVE BECAUSE OF RATING DROPS, AND THIS WAS BECAUSE WE COULD NO LONGER TRUST THEIR MEDIA OPINIONS AS MAINSTREAM. WHAT WAS “CENTRIST”, “AMERICAN MIDDLE”, OR THE NEW “MODERATE” WAS REVEALED AS ACTUALLY BEING LEFT LUNATIC FRINGE. THE MEDIA INDOCTRINATION AWOKE PEOPLE TO A NIGHTMARE....
MAYBE THAT IS MORE OBVIOUS OVER THE PAST TWO WEEKS WITH THE RACIST OUTBURSTS OF REP. MAXINE WATERS BLASPHEMOUSLY CONDEMNING THE TEA PARTY TO HELL AND REP. FREDERICA WILSON SAYING THE REAL ENEMY IS THE TEA PARTY:
Days after Rep. Maxine Waters told her supporters the tea party movement could go “straight to hell,” a fellow House Democrat said the movement is "the real enemy."
"Let us all remember who the real enemy is. The real enemy is the Tea Party," Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., said at a Miami town hall, according to The Hill. "The Tea Party holds the Congress hostage. They have one goal in mind, and that's to make President Obama a one-term president."
Wilson's comments suggest that members of the Congressional Black Caucus may be following a uniform strategy in attacking the tea party. This in spite of frequent calls by Democrats for a move civil tone in political discourse.
“This is a tough game. You can't be intimidated. You can't be frightened. And as far as I'm concerned — the Tea Party can go straight to hell,” Waters, D-Calif., said at a town-hall-style meeting in California.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, also participating in the town hall, compared the modern tea party movement to opposition to the civil-rights movement. "The Tea Party is a new name on an old game," he said. "Dr. King fought a 'tea party' in Alabama."
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Read more on Newsmax.com: Jesse Jackson, Democrats: Tea Party Racists, 'Real Enemy'
ESPECIALLY, WHEN OBAMA ‘COMMANDED’ A NEW ERA OF CIVILITY:
I GUESS IF YOU ARE LEFT LUNATIC FRINGE, CONDEMNING PEOPLE TO HELL FOR NOT AGREEING WITH YOU OR CALLING OUR OWN COUNTRYMEN ENEMIES, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO CUT THE BUDGET, IS THE NEW NORM AND ACCEPTABLE CONDUCT AND PRACTICE OF THE “LUNATIC LEFT FRINGE”:
History can provide a useful map to avoid mistakes of the past. Sen. Barack Obama, campaigning for president in 2008, often looked back at mistakes he said George W. Bush made, and vowed not to repeat them. It proved to be an effective campaign tool that helped sweep him to victory.
But now, three years later, President Obama appears to have forgotten that lesson. He is still aware of history, but only seems to apply it when he wants to chide Republicans for what he sees as their missteps. He can be visually impaired when it comes to applying them to himself. Thus, he is on the verge of repeating a big mistake that a predecessor made with disastrous results.
That predecessor was George H.W. Bush. And the mistake was that while burdened with serious unemployment problems as he faced re-election in 1992, he promised to come up with a new economic plan, not immediately, but in a few weeks. More specifically, he said in December 1991 that he would unveil his new economic blueprint in his State of the Union message in January 1992.
Sound familiar? It should. Obama, faced with more-severe economic problems than the elder Bush, now says he will outline new economic solutions in a televised speech to the nation after Labor Day, still more than two weeks away. Meanwhile, he is on vacation.
On the surface, it might appear to be a good political strategy: gear up the public for a big announcement down the road and maximize attention to it. But in practice, the strategy is fraught with dangers, as the elder Bush found to his regret.
In the period between when Bush said he would unveil a plan and the actual rollout, public expectations for a magic solution skyrocketed to heights that no plan could have reached. After all, if there was some sure-fire cure for the nation’s economic ills, wouldn’t it have been tried by then?
Nonetheless, White House aides and strategists hyped the speech. They leaked hints of what might be coming and floated trial balloons in the news media to see how they might be received. Bush’s Democratic opponents gained tons of media attention criticizing the mythical plan from every angle, even though nothing had been officially proposed.
Inevitably, Bush lost control of the narrative to his critics. So when the much-ballyhooed speech was finally delivered, it crashed of its own weight. Obama could be facing a similar fate.
Here is what James Gerstenzang wrote in the Los Angeles Times on the eve of the 1992 Bush speech. Substitute Obama’s name for Bush’s and you have a textbook case of history repeating itself.
“Facing a pivotal moment in his presidency, George Bush will deliver a State of the Union address tonight that will seek both to help restore his political stature and to convince an increasingly skeptical nation that he has a plan to end its economic trauma.
"Advisers inside and outside the White House say that the President's job, beginning with tonight's nationally televised address to Congress is to demonstrate that he comprehends the pain of the recession and has a growth package to overcome it. . . . The future of his presidency and his prospects for reelection could hang in the balance. . . . The President himself has raised expectations for the speech to unusual levels, fending off questions since December about his economic recovery plan by saying that his answers would be contained in this address to the nation.”
What did Bush propose to lift the country out of recession?
Newspaper editorials, columnists and Bush critics largely deemed them too little, too late. The Washington Post panned it as “A Lollipop Budget.”
And as we know, Bush lost his bid for a second term.
Fast-forward 19 years to Obama. His proposals are likely to be different from Bush’s. But will they be convincing enough to pass Congress and lift a depressed and skeptical American public?
Statistically, Obama’s uphill climb is steeper than Bush’s.
Three weeks after the speech, Bush’s job approval hit a new personal low of 39 percent. If Obama is expecting a boost from his speech, history is not on his side. The only thing he has going for him right now is time. The election is still 14 months away.
REMEMBER OBAMA’S POLITICAL GANGSTERS??
THESE ARE THE ONES WHO OBAMA HAS DO HIS DIRTY WORK TO RAMP UP BIASED PRESS WHILE HE WASTES OUR TAX DOLLARS, SAYING HE’LL “GET AROUND” TO JOB CREATION AFTER WASTING 3YRS. WITH THESE DEMOCRATS, WHO SUPPORTED UNFUNDED PROGRAMS AND MANDATES, THAT OBLIGATED $9 TRILLION ADDED TO THE DEFICIT THAT WE MUST CUT; UP TO THE 2010 BUDGET WITH A 2011 BUDGET NEVER WRITTEN/APPROVED BY CONGRESS...
David Axelrod Joe Biden John Kerry Maxine Waters Debbie Wasserman-Schultz
Obama Fluffer #1 Obama Fluffer VP Obama Fluffer #3 Obama Fluffer #4 Obamacare Advocate
Harry Reid Nancy Pelosi
Majority Fluffer/ Former Interrupter/Obamacare debate squasher
Obamacare Former Green Jobs Czar
battering rammer
WELL, I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT REP. WILSON’S WORDS ARE A RESPONSE TO THE CHARGE THAT OBAMA IS ACTING AS ENEMY WITHIN, AND THE FACT THAT SHE IS ANGRY LOSING HER FLORIDA BASE OVER IT; THAT IS WHAT HAS HER SO ANGRY. SHE IS BLINDED TO THE FACT THAT VOTER BASE IS EVAPORATING FROM ANYTHING TO DO WITH HER CHOICE OF WORDS AND FOR HER FAILING TO RELINQUISH SUPPORT OF OBAMA.
HAVEN’T YOU NOTICED? EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED OBAMA LOST: OPRAH WENT TO CABLE, COURIC HAD TO LEAVE BECAUSE OF RATING DROPS, AND THIS WAS BECAUSE WE COULD NO LONGER TRUST THEIR MEDIA OPINIONS AS MAINSTREAM. WHAT WAS “CENTRIST”, “AMERICAN MIDDLE”, OR THE NEW “MODERATE” WAS REVEALED AS ACTUALLY BEING LEFT LUNATIC FRINGE. THE MEDIA INDOCTRINATION AWOKE PEOPLE TO A NIGHTMARE....
MAYBE THAT IS MORE OBVIOUS OVER THE PAST TWO WEEKS WITH THE RACIST OUTBURSTS OF REP. MAXINE WATERS BLASPHEMOUSLY CONDEMNING THE TEA PARTY TO HELL AND REP. FREDERICA WILSON SAYING THE REAL ENEMY IS THE TEA PARTY:
Political Punch
Political Snark from Sunny South FloridaRACISTS! The Congressional Black Caucus Bashes President Obama
RACISTS! The Congressional Black Caucus Bashes President Obama
Speaking at a town hall in Detroit Michigan, Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)and the mostly African-American audience criticized President Barack Obama for his lousy showing on jobs and for his political bus tour making campaign stops in predominantly Caucasian neighborhoods.
California Rep. Maxine Waters tried to explain to the attendees that she and other members of the Black Caucus that she and her fellow CBC members had to walk a fine line because many in the communities they represent had great love for President Barack Obama, it can be anywhere from difficult to impossible for Waters and the other members to be as critical of the president as she wanted to be. An obvious racist reference to the fact the President’s mother was Caucasian.
The problem, Waters said, is that Obama is not paying enough attention to the problems of some black Americans. The unemployment rate for African-Americans nationally is a little over 16 percent, and almost twice that in Detroit. And yet, Waters said, the president is on a jobs-promotion trip through the Midwest that does not include any stops in black communities.
See what I mean, Waters is objecting to the fact that this President wants to visit with people of his mother’s race also? It seems like a fight between husband and wife over whose family to spend Thanksgiving with.
“The Congressional Black Caucus loves the president too,” Waters said. “We’re supportive of the president, but we’re getting tired. We’re getting tired. And so, what we want to do is, we want to give the president every opportunity to show what he can do and what he’s prepared to lead on. We want to give him every opportunity, but our people are hurting. The unemployment is unconscionable. We don’t know what the strategy is. We don’t know why on this trip that he’s in the United States now, he’s not in any black community. We don’t know that.”
Another racist comment by Waters, she is upset that the President hasn’t shared his strategy with the Black community as if they shouldn’t wait until September like the rest of the country.
I know what many of you are thinking. How on earth can I call any CBC disagreement with the President racism against Caucasian Americans? And how can I indicate frustration with Obama’s policies from a rowdy crowd of voters as the same kind of racism? That my friends I learned from the Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive Democrats who call any criticism by Caucasians as anti-African American racism. Since half of this President’s DNA comes from his White mother, using their logic the opposite must be true also.
Posted by: Political Punch on August 18, 2011 @ 3:03 am
Filed under: Big Government
Jesse Jackson, Democrats: Tea Party Racists, 'Real Enemy'
Tuesday, 23 Aug 2011 09:30 PMDays after Rep. Maxine Waters told her supporters the tea party movement could go “straight to hell,” a fellow House Democrat said the movement is "the real enemy."
"Let us all remember who the real enemy is. The real enemy is the Tea Party," Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., said at a Miami town hall, according to The Hill. "The Tea Party holds the Congress hostage. They have one goal in mind, and that's to make President Obama a one-term president."
Wilson's comments suggest that members of the Congressional Black Caucus may be following a uniform strategy in attacking the tea party. This in spite of frequent calls by Democrats for a move civil tone in political discourse.
“This is a tough game. You can't be intimidated. You can't be frightened. And as far as I'm concerned — the Tea Party can go straight to hell,” Waters, D-Calif., said at a town-hall-style meeting in California.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, also participating in the town hall, compared the modern tea party movement to opposition to the civil-rights movement. "The Tea Party is a new name on an old game," he said. "Dr. King fought a 'tea party' in Alabama."
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Read more on Newsmax.com: Jesse Jackson, Democrats: Tea Party Racists, 'Real Enemy'
ESPECIALLY, WHEN OBAMA ‘COMMANDED’ A NEW ERA OF CIVILITY:
I GUESS IF YOU ARE LEFT LUNATIC FRINGE, CONDEMNING PEOPLE TO HELL FOR NOT AGREEING WITH YOU OR CALLING OUR OWN COUNTRYMEN ENEMIES, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO CUT THE BUDGET, IS THE NEW NORM AND ACCEPTABLE CONDUCT AND PRACTICE OF THE “LUNATIC LEFT FRINGE”:
Obama Repeating Bush 41's Mistake
By Richard BenedettoHistory can provide a useful map to avoid mistakes of the past. Sen. Barack Obama, campaigning for president in 2008, often looked back at mistakes he said George W. Bush made, and vowed not to repeat them. It proved to be an effective campaign tool that helped sweep him to victory.
But now, three years later, President Obama appears to have forgotten that lesson. He is still aware of history, but only seems to apply it when he wants to chide Republicans for what he sees as their missteps. He can be visually impaired when it comes to applying them to himself. Thus, he is on the verge of repeating a big mistake that a predecessor made with disastrous results.
That predecessor was George H.W. Bush. And the mistake was that while burdened with serious unemployment problems as he faced re-election in 1992, he promised to come up with a new economic plan, not immediately, but in a few weeks. More specifically, he said in December 1991 that he would unveil his new economic blueprint in his State of the Union message in January 1992.
Sound familiar? It should. Obama, faced with more-severe economic problems than the elder Bush, now says he will outline new economic solutions in a televised speech to the nation after Labor Day, still more than two weeks away. Meanwhile, he is on vacation.
On the surface, it might appear to be a good political strategy: gear up the public for a big announcement down the road and maximize attention to it. But in practice, the strategy is fraught with dangers, as the elder Bush found to his regret.
In the period between when Bush said he would unveil a plan and the actual rollout, public expectations for a magic solution skyrocketed to heights that no plan could have reached. After all, if there was some sure-fire cure for the nation’s economic ills, wouldn’t it have been tried by then?
Nonetheless, White House aides and strategists hyped the speech. They leaked hints of what might be coming and floated trial balloons in the news media to see how they might be received. Bush’s Democratic opponents gained tons of media attention criticizing the mythical plan from every angle, even though nothing had been officially proposed.
Inevitably, Bush lost control of the narrative to his critics. So when the much-ballyhooed speech was finally delivered, it crashed of its own weight. Obama could be facing a similar fate.
Here is what James Gerstenzang wrote in the Los Angeles Times on the eve of the 1992 Bush speech. Substitute Obama’s name for Bush’s and you have a textbook case of history repeating itself.
“Facing a pivotal moment in his presidency, George Bush will deliver a State of the Union address tonight that will seek both to help restore his political stature and to convince an increasingly skeptical nation that he has a plan to end its economic trauma.
"Advisers inside and outside the White House say that the President's job, beginning with tonight's nationally televised address to Congress is to demonstrate that he comprehends the pain of the recession and has a growth package to overcome it. . . . The future of his presidency and his prospects for reelection could hang in the balance. . . . The President himself has raised expectations for the speech to unusual levels, fending off questions since December about his economic recovery plan by saying that his answers would be contained in this address to the nation.”
What did Bush propose to lift the country out of recession?
- A moratorium on new government regulations on business.
- A cut in the capital gains tax.
- A tax credit for first-time home buyers. Elimination of many federal spending programs.
- A health-insurance tax credit for poor families.
Newspaper editorials, columnists and Bush critics largely deemed them too little, too late. The Washington Post panned it as “A Lollipop Budget.”
And as we know, Bush lost his bid for a second term.
Fast-forward 19 years to Obama. His proposals are likely to be different from Bush’s. But will they be convincing enough to pass Congress and lift a depressed and skeptical American public?
Statistically, Obama’s uphill climb is steeper than Bush’s.
- Unemployment in January 1992 was 7.3 percent and inching downward. Unemployment is currently 9.1 percent, up 0.1 percent from a month ago.
- Bush’s recession was only about a year old. Obama’s has been around for nearly three years.
- Bush, going into his speech, had a job approval rating of 46 percent in the Gallup Poll; Obama is at 40 percent.
Three weeks after the speech, Bush’s job approval hit a new personal low of 39 percent. If Obama is expecting a boost from his speech, history is not on his side. The only thing he has going for him right now is time. The election is still 14 months away.
Richard Benedetto is a retired USA Today White House correspondent and columnist. He now teaches for The Fund for American Studies at Georgetown University and politics & journalism at American University.
REMEMBER OBAMA’S POLITICAL GANGSTERS??
THESE ARE THE ONES WHO OBAMA HAS DO HIS DIRTY WORK TO RAMP UP BIASED PRESS WHILE HE WASTES OUR TAX DOLLARS, SAYING HE’LL “GET AROUND” TO JOB CREATION AFTER WASTING 3YRS. WITH THESE DEMOCRATS, WHO SUPPORTED UNFUNDED PROGRAMS AND MANDATES, THAT OBLIGATED $9 TRILLION ADDED TO THE DEFICIT THAT WE MUST CUT; UP TO THE 2010 BUDGET WITH A 2011 BUDGET NEVER WRITTEN/APPROVED BY CONGRESS...
David Axelrod Joe Biden John Kerry Maxine Waters Debbie Wasserman-Schultz
Obama Fluffer #1 Obama Fluffer VP Obama Fluffer #3 Obama Fluffer #4 Obamacare Advocate
Harry Reid Nancy Pelosi
Majority Fluffer/ Former Interrupter/Obamacare debate squasher
Obamacare Former Green Jobs Czar
battering rammer
WELL, I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT REP. WILSON’S WORDS ARE A RESPONSE TO THE CHARGE THAT OBAMA IS ACTING AS ENEMY WITHIN, AND THE FACT THAT SHE IS ANGRY LOSING HER FLORIDA BASE OVER IT; THAT IS WHAT HAS HER SO ANGRY. SHE IS BLINDED TO THE FACT THAT VOTER BASE IS EVAPORATING FROM ANYTHING TO DO WITH HER CHOICE OF WORDS AND FOR HER FAILING TO RELINQUISH SUPPORT OF OBAMA.
Pat Delany Resigns Over Wife Jennifer Delany's Carl Lewis Email
First Posted: 8/23/11 08:40 AM ET Updated: 8/23/11 11:21 AM ET
(AP) TRENTON, N.J. — A freshman Republican lawmaker resigned because his wife sent "an offensive and racist" email to the Democratic state Senate campaign of nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, a GOP official acknowledged Monday.
Pat Delany stepped down from the state Assembly this month and said he wouldn't seek a full term in November because of his wife's missive to Lewis' campaign, Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton said. Delany originally cited an unspecified family issue as the reason for his abrupt resignation.
Delany and his wife, Jennifer Delany, are white. Lewis, a political novice who's among the greatest athletes of all time, is black.
Jennifer Delany's email to Lewis' campaign said, in part, "Imagine having dark skin and name recognition and the nerve to think that equaled knowing something about politics."
Layton said Pat Delany decided to leave office to shield his three children from "a hurtful and embarrassing public spectacle involving their mother."
"Former Assemblyman Pat Delany's wife inexplicably sent an offensive and racist email in response to a routine email from Carl Lewis' campaign; her actions were inexcusable," Layton said.
Delany said in a statement that he and his wife don't share the same racial views. He said he was sorry.
"On behalf of my family, we sincerely apologize to Mr. Lewis for any pain this caused him," he said.
Neither the Delanys nor Lewis could be reached by telephone for comment Monday.
Lewis is running for state Senate in New Jersey's 8th Legislative District. Delany was part of the opposing GOP Assembly slate in the district.
Lewis and Republicans have been fighting over whether he meets the state's four-year residency requirement for state Senate candidates. He grew up in Willingboro, a middle-class town between Philadelphia and Trenton, but recently has lived in California, where he owns a home.
He went to Texas for college and in 1984 moved from track star to celebrity when he won four gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics. Over the next 12 years, he would collect five more golds at the Olympics.
New Jersey's top elections official, Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, ruled Lewis ineligible to run for office this spring, and this month she declined to certify his name for the November ballot.
Lewis, 50, challenged the ruling in federal and state courts.
A federal appeals court allowed Lewis' name to appear on June primary ballots, and he won his party's nomination with 2,418 votes in an uncontested race. Republican Sen. Dawn Addiego won her uncontested party primary with 4,350 votes, and the two would face off in the GOP-leaning district in November, if the courts allow.
Lewis contends he moved back to New Jersey in 2005, when he bought homes for himself and his mother. He has been a volunteer high school track coach since 2007 and has had a valid New Jersey driver's license since 2006.
However, records show that he voted in California through 2009, which Republicans contend made him a legal resident of that state.
Lewis exhausted his appeals in state court when the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The issue before the federal court is whether the state's residency requirement for state Senate candidates violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment as applied to Lewis.
Lewis contends that he knows the issues facing the district and that voters know who he is.
Written on AUGUST 22, 2011 by THE GODFATHER
Let me see if I understand. Vice President Biden declared that the Tea Party is made up of “terrorists” and United States Congresswoman Maxine Waters told a group of SEIU members that the Tea Party can “go straight to hell.” Waters raised the stakes in her latest tirade, “I Intend to Help Them Get There.” And if you believe the liberal left at the insistence of the Democrat Party, the Tea Party is holding America hostage.
At the same time that the peaceful actions of United States citizens exercising their constitutional rights are being condemned in the most intemperate tones, the President of the United States is praising the efforts of the violent overthrow of a sovereign nation declaring that the rule of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi “is over.” The supporters of this overthrow are in the streets shooting off automatic weapons and riding in trucks outfitted with what would be illegal here in the United States. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of dictators; it’s just the inconsistency of liberals that I object to. While it’s OK to force a ruler out of office with violence, it’s un-American to stop unconstitutional measures by following the rule of law.
The Tea Party is abiding by the basic principles of the Constitution set forth in the First Amendment to “petition the government for a redress of grievances” by voting (the 2010 election) and lobbying present members of Congress to vote in terms of the oath they took to uphold the Constitution so we can save our Republic.
Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, who lead the Tea Party Patriots, said the following in a recently published statement: “The president and all leaders of the Democratic Party, who have called for civility in the past, are neglecting to censure their own. Is civility only required from their opponents? . . . Perhaps it’s time for a new-NEW era of civility. … The president’s silence on these latest violations of civility has been deafening, but not surprising.”
Read more: Tea Party Terrorists v. Libyan Freedom Fighters | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/653/tea-party-terrorists-v-libyan-freedom-fighters/#ixzz1VvLpNA3d
Get AP Mobile for your phone at APnews.com
JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli military says its aircraft have struck two Gaza militants who had fired mortars at southern Israel.
It says the militants were hit Wednesday shortly after the mortar attacks. There was no immediate word from Gaza on casualties.
Earlier Wednesday, a separate Israeli airstrike killed a militant from the Islamic Jihad faction, according to Hamas security officials.
The Israeli military says the man had smuggled weapons into Gaza and was involved in militant activity in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, near Israel's southern border. It didn't elaborate.
A militant incursion into Israel from Sinai last week killed eight Israelis. That was followed by Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes that have not stopped despite a cease-fire reached on Sunday.
© 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Listening to the rhetoric from the left lately has been interesting, very interesting. It’s nothing new, same old same old as they say
First, one has to realize what it is the liberals fear most. Liberals always focus their actions and words against what it is that threatens their hold on power. It they don’t perceive it as a threat, they simply just leave it be.
Liberals always try to make what they fear the most, what they feel threatened by seem vile and they craft their rhetoric to emphasize that viewpoint in hopes of rallying their base toward some sort of action.
Liberals resort to name calling. It’s the last resort of discourse for many and a non starter for most capable of using truth and fact to make their point but for liberals, it’s often the first volley.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: gaddafi, libya, Obama, Tea Party
Posted in Constitution and Amendments, Craig Andresen, Liberals, Progressives, Socialists, Military and Wars, Obama,Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
First Posted: 8/23/11 08:40 AM ET Updated: 8/23/11 11:21 AM ET
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BY ANGELA DELLI SANTI(AP) TRENTON, N.J. — A freshman Republican lawmaker resigned because his wife sent "an offensive and racist" email to the Democratic state Senate campaign of nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, a GOP official acknowledged Monday.
Pat Delany stepped down from the state Assembly this month and said he wouldn't seek a full term in November because of his wife's missive to Lewis' campaign, Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton said. Delany originally cited an unspecified family issue as the reason for his abrupt resignation.
Delany and his wife, Jennifer Delany, are white. Lewis, a political novice who's among the greatest athletes of all time, is black.
Jennifer Delany's email to Lewis' campaign said, in part, "Imagine having dark skin and name recognition and the nerve to think that equaled knowing something about politics."
Layton said Pat Delany decided to leave office to shield his three children from "a hurtful and embarrassing public spectacle involving their mother."
"Former Assemblyman Pat Delany's wife inexplicably sent an offensive and racist email in response to a routine email from Carl Lewis' campaign; her actions were inexcusable," Layton said.
Delany said in a statement that he and his wife don't share the same racial views. He said he was sorry.
"On behalf of my family, we sincerely apologize to Mr. Lewis for any pain this caused him," he said.
Neither the Delanys nor Lewis could be reached by telephone for comment Monday.
Lewis is running for state Senate in New Jersey's 8th Legislative District. Delany was part of the opposing GOP Assembly slate in the district.
Lewis and Republicans have been fighting over whether he meets the state's four-year residency requirement for state Senate candidates. He grew up in Willingboro, a middle-class town between Philadelphia and Trenton, but recently has lived in California, where he owns a home.
He went to Texas for college and in 1984 moved from track star to celebrity when he won four gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics. Over the next 12 years, he would collect five more golds at the Olympics.
New Jersey's top elections official, Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, ruled Lewis ineligible to run for office this spring, and this month she declined to certify his name for the November ballot.
Lewis, 50, challenged the ruling in federal and state courts.
A federal appeals court allowed Lewis' name to appear on June primary ballots, and he won his party's nomination with 2,418 votes in an uncontested race. Republican Sen. Dawn Addiego won her uncontested party primary with 4,350 votes, and the two would face off in the GOP-leaning district in November, if the courts allow.
Lewis contends he moved back to New Jersey in 2005, when he bought homes for himself and his mother. He has been a volunteer high school track coach since 2007 and has had a valid New Jersey driver's license since 2006.
However, records show that he voted in California through 2009, which Republicans contend made him a legal resident of that state.
Lewis exhausted his appeals in state court when the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The issue before the federal court is whether the state's residency requirement for state Senate candidates violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment as applied to Lewis.
Lewis contends that he knows the issues facing the district and that voters know who he is.
Written on AUGUST 22, 2011 by THE GODFATHER
Tea Party Terrorists v. Libyan Freedom Fighters
Filed underCONSTITUTION, POLITICS
COMMENTS (17)Let me see if I understand. Vice President Biden declared that the Tea Party is made up of “terrorists” and United States Congresswoman Maxine Waters told a group of SEIU members that the Tea Party can “go straight to hell.” Waters raised the stakes in her latest tirade, “I Intend to Help Them Get There.” And if you believe the liberal left at the insistence of the Democrat Party, the Tea Party is holding America hostage.
At the same time that the peaceful actions of United States citizens exercising their constitutional rights are being condemned in the most intemperate tones, the President of the United States is praising the efforts of the violent overthrow of a sovereign nation declaring that the rule of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi “is over.” The supporters of this overthrow are in the streets shooting off automatic weapons and riding in trucks outfitted with what would be illegal here in the United States. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of dictators; it’s just the inconsistency of liberals that I object to. While it’s OK to force a ruler out of office with violence, it’s un-American to stop unconstitutional measures by following the rule of law.
The Tea Party is abiding by the basic principles of the Constitution set forth in the First Amendment to “petition the government for a redress of grievances” by voting (the 2010 election) and lobbying present members of Congress to vote in terms of the oath they took to uphold the Constitution so we can save our Republic.
Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, who lead the Tea Party Patriots, said the following in a recently published statement: “The president and all leaders of the Democratic Party, who have called for civility in the past, are neglecting to censure their own. Is civility only required from their opponents? . . . Perhaps it’s time for a new-NEW era of civility. … The president’s silence on these latest violations of civility has been deafening, but not surprising.”
Read more: Tea Party Terrorists v. Libyan Freedom Fighters | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/653/tea-party-terrorists-v-libyan-freedom-fighters/#ixzz1VvLpNA3d
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Israeli military: Aircraft strike Gaza gunmen
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Published: 21 minutes agoJERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli military says its aircraft have struck two Gaza militants who had fired mortars at southern Israel.
It says the militants were hit Wednesday shortly after the mortar attacks. There was no immediate word from Gaza on casualties.
Earlier Wednesday, a separate Israeli airstrike killed a militant from the Islamic Jihad faction, according to Hamas security officials.
The Israeli military says the man had smuggled weapons into Gaza and was involved in militant activity in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, near Israel's southern border. It didn't elaborate.
A militant incursion into Israel from Sinai last week killed eight Israelis. That was followed by Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes that have not stopped despite a cease-fire reached on Sunday.
© 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
 * | As Dictators Fall, Who Should Be Worried Now?By Craig Andresen on August 23, 2011 at 5:19 am |
Listening to the rhetoric from the left lately has been interesting, very interesting. It’s nothing new, same old same old as they say
First, one has to realize what it is the liberals fear most. Liberals always focus their actions and words against what it is that threatens their hold on power. It they don’t perceive it as a threat, they simply just leave it be.
Liberals always try to make what they fear the most, what they feel threatened by seem vile and they craft their rhetoric to emphasize that viewpoint in hopes of rallying their base toward some sort of action.
Liberals resort to name calling. It’s the last resort of discourse for many and a non starter for most capable of using truth and fact to make their point but for liberals, it’s often the first volley.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: gaddafi, libya, Obama, Tea Party
Posted in Constitution and Amendments, Craig Andresen, Liberals, Progressives, Socialists, Military and Wars, Obama,Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
 * | Obama’s “working” Vacation Photo AlbumBy Craig Andresen on August 22, 2011 at 11:12 am |
With Obama hard at work on his vacation, The National Patriot is proud to share his candid photo album with our readers.
We will add to this album each day!
Tags: Economy, martha's vineyard, Obama, plan, vacationPosted in Conservative, Craig Andresen, Economy, Obama, Tea Party | 2 Comments »
 * | Palin’s Pedicures Permeate Pundit PontificationsBy Patty Ewing Robichaud on August 22, 2011 at 8:19 am |
*In 2009, there were photos of Sarah’s feet sporting a playful pedicure peeking out from open-toed shoes. Big deal. Harmless.Why do liberals obsess over things like the toes of a conservative woman? I thought this was a recent obsession – but found out this has been ongoing for years … evidenced by Letterman in June 2009 (months after the election) by saying she was shopping at Bloomingdale’s to update her “slutty flight attendant” look.
Letterman went on to tastelessly hurt Palin’s family as well:
One awkward moment though during the game, maybe you heard about it, maybe you saw it on one of the highlight reels. One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked-up by Alex Rodriguez.
Really? This woman was a visitor in New York – and this is the reception she and her family received. NICE!Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Media and Communications, Patty Ewing Robichaud, Sarah Palin
CERTAINLY, WHILE WE HAVE BANGED OUR HEADS AGAINST THE WALL ABOUT THIS, WE DIDN’T THINK OBAMA NOT BEING A CITIZEN WAS THAT~ BIG A DEAL YET YOU SEE THE ISSUES GO BEYOND PERJURY AND BREAKING THE OATH OF OFFICE....
Private Investigator Susan Daniels: Obama's Bogus Connecticut Social Security Number
Tue Aug 23 2011 00:40
Private Investigator Susan Daniels: Obama's Bogus Connecticut Social Security Number --- 8/22/2011 --- VIDEO HERE
Private Investigator: Obama's Fraudulent Social Security Number & Selective Service Registration
We Have a Criminal and Forger in the White House! 20110627 issue Wash Times Natl Wkly pg 5
(EXCEPT IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR A VERY GOOD REASON, TO PROTECT US FROM INNER HOSTILITY AND TYRANNY OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS TO NOT HAVE A NON-CITIZEN AT THE HELM), AND WHEN WE SAW HOW OBAMA HANDLED FOREIGN POLICY WITH ISRAEL, OUR WORRIES INCREASED THAT HE SOLD THE COUNTRY OUT TO OUR ENEMIES. PACKAGED IT ALL UP WITH A $14 TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT AND NWO BOW, AND CHARGED IT TO OUR TAB:
DEBT SLAVES, THAT IS: ALL DIFFERENT COLORS, ALL DIFFERENT KINDS, ALL DEMOGRAPHICS... THE NEW WHITE IS GREEN, AND NONE OF US HAVE ANY MONEY!!
OBAMA’S NEW ERA OF ARROGANCE MEANS THAT HE HAS NOW FORGOTTEN THE SHADY MUSLIMS WHO FUNDED HIM ANYWAY, AND HE DOESN’T NEED THEM OR THEIR MONEY WHEN HE HAS THE CHINESE, AND HU’S GENETICALLY ENGINEERED TERRACOTTA ARMY OF EXPENDABLE FEMALE SOLDIERS:
UNLIKE HITLER, HU ACTUALLY ACHIEVED THE ARMY HITLER ONLY WISH HE HAD BY DOMINATING THE FEMALE RACE WITH ABORTION AND GENETIC TESTING, UNTIL HE ENGINEERED AN ANGRY WARRIOR RACE OF CHINESE SAMARAI ASSASSINS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP33K72nmDo&feature=related
THEY HAVE NOT ONLY COPIED EVERYTHING GREAT ABOUT THE UNIFORM AND MILITARY PRESENCE OF OUR MILITARY, THEY HAVE FULFILLED THE PROPHECY OF THE TERRACOTTA ARMY:
View of Pit 1, the largest excavation pit of the Terracotta Army.
There are four main pits associated with the terracotta army.[22][23] These pits are located about 1.5 km east of the burial mound and are about 7 metres deep. The army is placed as if to protect the tomb from the east, where all the Qin Emperor's conquered states lay. Pit one, which is 230 metres long and 62 metres wide,[23] contains the main army of more than 6,000 figures.[24] Pit one has 11 corridors, most of which are over 3 metres wide, and paved with small bricks with a wooden ceiling supported by large beams and posts. This design was also used for the tombs of noblemen and would have resembled palace hallways. The wooden ceilings were covered with reed mats and layers of clay for waterproofing, and then mounded with more soil making them, when built, about 2 to 3 metres higher than ground level.[25] Pit two has cavalry and infantry units as well as war chariots and is thought to represent a military guard. Pit three is the command post, with high ranking officers and a war chariot. Pit four is empty, seemingly left unfinished by its builders.Some of the figures in pit one and two showed fire damage and remains of burnt ceiling rafters have also been found;[26][27] these, together with the missing weapons, have been taken as evidence of the reported looting by Xiang Yu and its subsequent burning. The burning is thought to cause the collapse of the roof which crushed the army figures below, and the terracotta figures presently displayed have been reconstructed from fragments of crushed figures.
A large number of other pits which formed the necropolis have also been excavated.[28] These pits may lie within or outside the walls surrounding the tomb mound. These accessory pits variously contain bronze carriages, terracotta figures of entertainers such as acrobats and strongmen, officials, stone armour suits, burials sites of horses, rare animals, and labourers, as well as bronze cranes and ducks in an underground park.[29]
Biden Tells Chi-Coms Forced Abortion Is Good
Tue Aug 23 2011 08:21
Let me get the application process right: tar THEN feathers. Joe Biden was in Communist Red China the other day bringing into full view the image of America through its second in Command. And what did he tell them? Change your ways? Free your people? Embrace liberty? Give credit to God for your blessings?
Nope. He acknowledged the wisdom of their "one child" per family policy, you know, the forced abortion approach to the "right to life" so popular with the FRICKING COMMUNISTS!!!!!!!!Yesterday, during remarks at Sichuan University yesterday, Joe Biden said:
Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I’m not second-guessing — of one child per family. The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable.
Forced abortion. Fully understandable, in the words of our Scranton-born, rosary-clutching vice president? [National Review]
In an earlier time he might be paraded around on a cart with more feathers on him than hair plugs.
Contact: Joe Hack (202) 225-6365Forbes Again Calls on DoD to Release China Military Power Report After 175 Day Delay
Washington, D.C., Aug 22 -Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04), Chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee and co-Chair of the Congressional China Caucus, announced today that he has sent letters to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon, requesting for a second time this year that the Department of Defense release the Annual Report to Congress on the Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China. Pursuant to Section 1202 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, the Department of Defense is legally required to submit the report to Congress no later than March 1 each year; as of today, the report is 175 days overdue, though it is rumored to be finally released in the coming weeks.
"The Department of Defense, State Department, and National Security Council continue to search for ways to effectively collaborate on a single report assessing China's military strength while disregarding the importance of the report's timeliness. This annual report provides vital information to Congress on China’s intentions and capabilities as it begins the national defense authorization process each spring. Although I value interagency cooperation, I do not believe it is an appropriate justification for flouting legal deadlines set by Congress. Moreover, the continued failure to provide the report paints the picture that the Departments' dithering is a direct result of the Administration's diplomatic calendar rather than any interagency or analytical challenges," said Forbes.
Congressman Forbes' letter to Secretary Panetta is available here.
Congressman Forbes' letter to Secretary Clinton is available here.
Congressman Forbes' letter to National Security Advisor Donilon is available here.
On May 6, 2011, Congressman Forbes called on Secretary Gates to comply with the legal deadline for submitting the “Annual Report to Congress on the Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China.” Under Secretary of Defense Michèle Flournoy responded on May 23 that the "...the development and completion of this report also entail close interagency coordination. This adds time to the process, but yields a more thorough and useful report."
Congressman Forbes' letter to Secretary Gates is available here.
Under Secretary of Defense Michèle Flournoy's response is available here.
Print version of this document
OBAMA DOESN’T NEED GADDAFI EITHER....
Rebels: Gadhafi compound overtaken
8:16 PM, Aug 23, 2011 | comments
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NBC News
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An explosion near Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli. (AP)
TRIPOLI, Libya -- Rebel forces fought their way into Moammar Gadhafi's fortified Bab al-Aziziya compound in Libya's capital Tuesday, news agencies reported.
The compound, which has been heavily damaged by NATO airstrikes, had emerged as one of the last centers of government resistance.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the compound's green gates were blasted open and hundreds of rebels poured into the complex, some driving golf carts as the area resounded with celebratory gunfire.
It was not immediately clear whether Gadhafi or members of his immediate family were in the compound when it was breached by the rebels, but the ferocity of the battle led many to speculate that the maverick leader may have been inside.
Abdel-Aziz Shafiya, 19, walked down one of the main roads of the compound with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in one hand and a Kalashnikov in another. The teenager, from the embattled city of Misrata, said he felt "an explosion of joy inside."
"I lost friends and relatives, and now I can walk into Gadhafi's house," he said. "Many of my friends have died and now all of that meant something."
NBC's Richard Engel - reporting from a rooftop near the compound - said rebels attacked the site from at least two positions.
Earlier Tuesday, Russian chess federation chief Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said that Gadhafi had told him by telephone that he was still in Tripoli, alive and well, and had no plans to leave the city.
Ilyumzhinov, who has visited Libya during the NATO bombing campaign and met Gadhafi, said the leader's eldest son Mohammad had called him by telephone on Tuesday afternoon.
"He gave the phone to his father, who said that he is in Tripoli, he is alive and healthy and is prepared to fight to the end," Ilyumzhinov told Reuters by telephone.
The fierce fighting at Gadhafi's compound erupted hours after his son turned up free at a hotel housing foreign journalists, dashing rebel claims he had been captured.
Seif al-Islam's sudden - even surreal - arrival at the hotel threw the situation in the capital into confusion. His appearance underlined the potential for the longtime Libyan leader to strike back even as his grip on power seemed to be slipping fast.
"We broke the back of the rebels," Seif al-Islam said. "It was a trap. We gave them a hard time, so we are winning."
The leadership's spokesman, Sadeq al-Kabir, could not confirm whether Seif al-Islam escaped rebel custody. He did say that another captured Gadhafi son, Mohammed, had escaped the house arrest that rebels had placed him in a day earlier. On Monday, the rebels had said al-Islam was captured, but did not give details on where he was held. The Netherlands-based International Criminal Court - which indicted Seif al-Islam and his father - said Tuesday it had never received official confirmation of the arrest from the rebels.
With a full beard and wearing an olive-green T-shirt and camouflage trousers, Seif al-Islam turned up early Tuesday morning at the Rixos hotel, where about 30 foreign journalists were staying under the close watch of regime minders.
"We are here. This is our country. This is our people, and we live here, and we die here," he told AP Television News. "And we are going to win, because the people are with us. That's why were are going to win. Look at them - look at them, in the streets, everywhere!"
Riding in a white limousine amid a convoy of armored SUVs, he took reporters on a drive through parts of the city, saying, "We are going to hit the hottest spots in Tripoli."
'Take up arms today'
The tour covered mainly the area that was known to still be under the regime's control - the district around the Rixos hotel and nearby Bab al-Aziziya. The tour went through streets full of armed Gadhafi backers, controlled by roadblocks, and into the Gadhafi stronghold neighborhood Bu Slim.
At Bab al-Aziziya, at least 100 men were waiting in lines for guns being distributed to volunteers to defend the regime. Seif al-Islam shook hands with supporters, beaming and flashing the "V for victory" sign. This compound later reportedly fell into rebel hands.
"Take up arms today, take up arms today," he told loyalists. "Inshallah (God willing) we will attack the rats today."
When asked if his father was safe and well in Tripoli, Seif al-Islam told journalists: "Of course."
Gadhafi himself has not been seen in public for several weeks before the rebels arrived in the capital at the weekend. World leaders urged the 69-year-old to surrender to prevent more bloodshed and appealed for an orderly transition of power.
Rebels say they control most of Tripoli, but were still fighting pockets of fierce resistance from regime loyalists firing mortars and anti-aircraft guns. Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman said the "danger is still there" as long as the elder Gadhafi remains on the run. He warned that pro-Gadhafi brigades are positioned on Tripoli's outskirts and could "be in the middle of the city in half an hour."
In Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital hundreds of miles east of Tripoli, the head of the rebel National Transitional Council said the rebels have no idea where Gadhafi is or whether he is even in Tripoli.
"The real moment of victory is when Gadhafi is captured," Mustafa Abdel-Jalil said on Monday. An White House official said the U.S. had no indication that Gadhafi had left Libya.
President Barack Obama said on Monday the situation in Libya reached a tipping point in recent days after a five month NATO-led bombing campaign. However, he acknowledged that the situation remained fluid and that elements of the regime remained a threat.
Saying the conflict was not over yet, Obama cautioned rebels against exacting revenge for Gadhafi's brutal rule. "True justice will not come from reprisals and violence," he said.
Scud fired
Gadhafi's forces fired off a short-range Scud missile Monday near Sirte, his hometown and one of the few remaining cities still under his control, said U.S. military officials told The Associated Press, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. It was unclear where the missile landed or if anyone was hurt.
It was only the second Scud missile fired during this year's conflict. On Aug. 15, Libyan government forces launched one near Sirte that landed in the desert outside Brega, injuring no one.
Outside of Tripoli, almost all of eastern and western Libya is now under rebel control. The east of the country from the Egyptian border to Benghazi fell into rebel hands at the beginning of the uprising. In the weeks leading up to Sunday's lightning advance on Tripoli, the rebels consolidated control of the western Nafusa mountain range near the border with Tunisia. It was from there they staged the run on the capital. Most of the rest of the country was quickly falling into their hands.
On Saturday rebels said they gained control of the oil refineries and airport at the oil terminal of Brega, on the road heading out of Benghazi west toward Tripoli.
The rebels' startling breakthrough on Sunday, after a long deadlock in Libya's 6-month-old civil war, was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels, NATO and anti-Gadhafi residents inside Tripoli, rebel leaders said. Rebel fighters from the west swept over 20 miles in a matter of hours, taking town after town and overwhelming a major military base as residents poured out to cheer them. At the same time, Tripoli residents secretly armed by rebels rose up.
Libyan state television was off the air Monday amid reports it had been seized by rebels.
The first signs emerged of moves to begin restoring oil production that has been the foundation of the economy and a source of hope for Libya's 6 million, mostly poor, people. Staff from Italy's Eni arrived to look into restarting facilities, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Tuesday.
Italy, Libya's nearest European neighbor and the colonial power until World War II, is a big customer for Libyan energy. But it will face stiff competition from others seeking a share of Libya's wealth - a competition some fear could test the ability of untried rebel leaders to hold the country together.
U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News they believed they could learn a great deal about the country's terrorist activities from a "treasure trove" of material in the Libyan intelligence archives - not only the Lockerbie bombing, but also its support for the Irish Republican Army, Palestinian groups and terrorists like Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the notorious Carlos the Jackal.
So far, the U.S. has spent nearly $890 million on its part of the NATO air campaign, a senior defense official told NBC News. If operations continue at the same pace until the mandate expires at the end of September, the cost to the U.S. will be more than $1 billion.
(msnbc)
WHY DO YOU REALLY THINK CONGRESS TRIED TO BRING HIM UP ON THE WAR POWERS ACT, <GASP> TREASON! THAT IS WHY JOHN MCCAIN WAS QUOTED AS THUNDERING OBAMA IS A MURDEROUS TYRANT.
IT’S NOT JUST BECAUSE HE’S UPSET OBAMA CHEATED: THERE IS SOMETHING FAR MORE SINISTER AMOK. AN ELECTION YEAR ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE WHEN THE SH-T HITS THE FAN.....
FOR AWHILE, IT IS A BLACK STREAK THAT GOES UNNOTICED BECAUSE IT GOES BY SO FAST, AND IT SPINS IN A CIRCLE, WITHOUT MUCH CHANGE, 
UNTIL IT BEGINS TO SQUEAK LIKE A FAN THAT’S RAN FOREVER BLOWING THE STENCH EVERYWHERE, UNTIL NEARLY 3YRS. GO BY AND YOU REALIZE: 
OBAMA HASN’T GIVEN US HOPE, BUT DESPAIR!
OBAMA HASN’T CHANGED ANYTHING, EXCEPT MAKING IT WORSE!
AND THEN LIKE THE BLACK STREAK ON THE FAN, YOU REALIZE IT WAS ONLY SH-T ON THE FAN THAT HYPNOTIZED YOU INTO THINKING IT WAS SOMETHING ELSE....
Written on AUGUST 23, 2011 by DA TAGLIARE
Who’s the Real Racist?
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POLITICS Share
This past week, some liberal members of the media started leveling charges of racism against Presidential candidate Rick Perry. No evidence or source was given, but nonetheless, Perry was labeled a Southern white racist.
Leading the media attacks was MSNBC, the network that has repeatedly demonstrated that they have no moral standard or code by which to operate by. I once knew a complete moral degenerate who had more integrity than the staff at MSNBC.
For example, MSNBC host Ed Schultz, aired a clip of Perry saying, “that big black cloud that hangs over America — that debt, that is so monstrous.” Only when the clip aired, Schultz edited out “that debt” to purposely make Perry out to sound like a racist.
Now it appears the Obama campaign organization is behind the racist attacks on Rick Perry.
What galls me is the whole issue of race. When Obama was running for the Presidency, everyone in his organization kept saying that race had nothing to do with his campaign. Yet once elected, all we heard from them was race and how he was the first black President.
In fact, Obama is not really that much of a black man. His mother was white and his father was part black and part Arab. Obama is more white than he is black. He only plays his race card when it suits him. And then he has the audacity to charge others with being racist.
I wish they’d all learn that we’re all the same race, the human race. Skin color has nothing to do with race, only the amount of pigment in one’s skin. In my experience, the people that point fingers and holler racist the loudest are the ones guiltiest of being a racist.
Read more: Who’s the Real Racist? | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/659/whos-the-real-racist/#ixzz1VvJ5vHul
Cathleen Falsani
Writes for Religion News Service in Washington, D.C.
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166The Trouble With Christian Labels
Posted: 8/16/11 05:47 PM ET
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(RNS) A week or two after the 2004 election, I was dining with some friends in New York when the conversation turned to religion and politics -- the two things that you're never supposed to discuss in polite company.
George W. Bush had just been re-elected with the help of what was described in the media as "evangelical voters." And knowing that I am an evangelical Christian, my friends were terribly curious.
"What, exactly, is an evangelical?" one gentleman asked, as if he were inquiring about my time living among the lowland gorillas of Cameroon. I suddenly found myself as cultural translator for the evangelical mind.
"As I understand it," I began, "what 'evangelical' really means is that a person believes in Jesus Christ, has a personal relationship with him and because of that relationship feels compelled to share their experience of God's love with other people.
"How they choose to share that 'good news' with others is entirely up to the individual. Beyond that, the rest is details and style."
Most of my friends knew evangelicalism only through the big, bellicose voices of TV preachers and religio-political activists such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Chuck Colson. Not surprisingly, my friends hadn't experienced an evangelicalism that sounded particularly loving, accepting or open-minded.
After eschewing the descriptor because I hadn't wanted to be associated with a faith tradition known more for harsh judgmentalism and fearmongering than the revolutionary love and freedom that Jesus taught, I began publicly referring to myself again as an evangelical. By speaking up, I hoped I might help reclaim "evangelical" for what it is supposed to mean.
With the 2012 presidential race upon us, the "evangelical" question is once again front and center, chiefly with the campaign of Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman and Tea Party darling who proudly wears the evangelical label.
As I read the recent profile of Bachmann in The New Yorker, it was painfully clear that the what-is-an-evangelical question remains largely unanswered for many who live outside the born-again bubble.
The piece, titled "Leap of Faith," delved into Bachmann's rise to public and political prominence, focusing particularly on her religious and philosophical beliefs. The story was well-researched and eloquently written, but I was struck by the author's use of the terms "evangelical," "born-again" and "fundamentalist."
It seemed they were employed interchangeably, as if their definitions were synonymous. In popular culture, those terms are shorthand for "staunchly conservative," "small-minded," and "mean-spirited." It's a matter of semantics, but it is spiritually significant.
The word "evangelical" comes from the Greek "evangelion," meaning "the good news" or "the gospel." During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther adopted the word to describe his breakaway church; for hundreds of years thereafter, "evangelical" meant, simply, "Protestant."
Today, in American society the term is used in three ways, according to the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College:
-- Theologically, it is an umbrella term for Christians who believe in the need for conversion, the command to spread the gospel, the inerrancy of the Bible, and the primacy of Jesus Christ's atoning death on the cross.
-- Stylistically, "evangelical" also describes a kind of religious practice as much as a set of doctrines. This is where you really see the diversity of evangelicalism: Mennonites, African-American Baptists, Southern Baptists, Catholic charismatics and Dutch Reformed all fall under the "evangelical-as-a-style" umbrella.
-- Politically, "evangelical" describes a coalition of Protestants (including evangelist Billy Graham) who used the term in an attempt to distance themselves from the "Christian fundamentalist" movements of the 1920s and '30s. Fundamentalism's hallmarks were (and to a certain extent remain) anti-intellectualism, anti-modernity and a belief that the church should not engage with culture. Mainstream evangelicals, by contrast, sought to actively be a part of culture in order to transform it.
"Evangelical" and "fundamentalist" are not one in the same. They are in many ways opposites. In fact, Christian fundamentalists have more in common with fundamentalists from other religions than they do with other Christians: a siege mentality and distrust of the "other," topped with a liberal dose of ardent legalism.
"Born-again," meanwhile, is a colloquialism derived from Jesus' own words in the New Testament, that describes a conversion experience where a person encounters God and is spiritually transformed. Not all evangelicals and fundamentalists use those words to describe themselves, but many in each group do.
The Bachmann profile describes the late evangelist and thinker Francis Schaeffer, a figure nearly as legendary in evangelical circles as Graham, as one of the "exotic" influences on the congresswoman's worldview, which has been "shaped by institutions and people unfamiliar to most Americans."
Pollsters and scholars estimate that evangelicals comprise roughly 30 percent of the U.S. population. A minority to be sure, but hardly an obscure one.
If the New Yorker piece is any indication, apparently we evangelicals remain an elusive, vastly misunderstood lot -- 30 years after evangelicals became a potent political force. In the popular imagination at least, evangelicalism is an ideological monolith.
Those of us in the media would do well to treat evangelicals as neither homogenous nor uncommon, and choose our words more carefully.
The Idiocy of Government Work
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POLITICAL HUMOR, POLITICS
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.
The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?”
Bud looks at the man, who obviously is a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, “Sure, why not?”
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop® and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany .
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot® that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and says, “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”
“That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,” says Bud.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then Bud says to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, “Okay, why not?”
“You’re a Democratic Congressman for the U.S. Government,” says Bud.
“Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?”
“No guessing required.” answered the cowboy. “You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter you are than I am; and you don’t know a thing about how working people make a living – or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.
Now give me back my collie.
Read more: The Idiocy of Government Work | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/643/the-idiocy-of-government-work/#ixzz1VvLUsJNk
- AUGUST 22, 2011, 9:39 P.M. ET
Ryan Shuts Door to Presidential Run
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BY NEIL KING JR.
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan ended weeks of speculation over a possible presidential bid by announcing Monday that he wouldn't make a late entry into the 2012 race.In announcing his decision, Mr. Ryan acknowledged the pressure he has been under from an array of prominent Republicans to consider joining the GOP nomination fray.Among those urging him to run were political adviser Karl Rove, ex-Reagan aide William Bennett and Indiana Gov. ...
Rob Woodall takes flak for debt-ceiling vote
5:00 pm August 23, 2011, by jgalloway
U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, the freshman Republican from Lawrenceville, ran into some flak last night over his vote to approve the debt-ceiling deal reached by Congress this month.
Woodall was one of three Georgians to vote “aye” – the others were U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, and Johnny Isakson.
From Blake Aued of the Athens Banner-Herald, who was at the town hall meeting:
Paul Leslie of Winder likened it to driving a bus off a cliff, then opening a parachute.“Some things you can’t compromise on,” he said. “You can’t compromise with evil.”Woodall, R-Lawrenceville, said he understands that viewpoint, but stood by his vote.“I’m proud of that vote,” he told the crowd.“We’re not,” one man called out.Aued’s piece closes with this odd exchange:
Woodall defended global free trade, saying that it promotes U.S. exports. The strength of U.S. manufacturing is quality, and Americans should not try to compete on low wages with China and Mexico, he said.More banking regulations aren’t needed, but the Justice Department should enforce the laws on the books, he said, prompting boos from the audience.Woodall’s town hall experience underlines the wisdom of the joint appearances that U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson have been making across the state this month. They’ve got one planned for next Tuesday in Young Harris.
Chambliss voted against the debt plan. Isakson, as stated above, voted for it. So far, each senator has resisted the temptation to rip the lungs from the chest of his colleague – thus setting a moral example for audiences to follow, and furthering the cause of civil discourse.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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Social Security’s Disability Program Faces an Empty Trust Fund
David C. John
August 23, 2011 at 8:11 am
With continuing unemployment problems driving more and more Americans to seek Social Security disability benefits, that program’s already weakened trust fund faces a bleak future. Just as unemployed older workers have been forced to apply for Social Security retirement benefits much earlier than they expected, thousands of other unemployed people who have disabilities, or hope that they might qualify, are applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.
SSDI benefits are somewhat more generous than retirement benefits and turn into retirement benefits once the recipient reaches full retirement age. In addition, SSDI benefits allow the recipient to qualify for Medicare after two years, regardless of what age the individual has reached at that time.
The influx of new recipients is draining SSDI’s trust fund much faster than expected. Last year, the program spent $127.7 billion in benefits, but only received $104 billion in SSDI payroll taxes. Since starting to run deficits in 2005, the SSDI trust fund has steadily declined, and it is expected to run out in 2017 or 2018. Assets could be transferred from the slightly healthier retirement and survivors program, but doing so would weaken a part of Social Security that faces its own crisis.
To make matters worse, SSDI has a history of significant administrative problems, and applicants face long delays in getting a decision—even longer delays if they go through the appeals process—and differing standards for approval depending on what state they live in. About 40 percent of initial applications are denied, and while an appeal can be heard in Delaware a mere 10 months later, that same appeal may not be heard for 20 months in Ohio. Despite the continued efforts of the past several Social Security commissioners, it still takes more than 400 days (down from more than 500) to get a decision, and their success in reducing wait times is likely to be overwhelmed by the thousands of new applicants.
Fixing the problem does not mean raising payroll taxes or spending more. SSDI is filled with picky bureaucratic requirements that delay decisions and tie the hands of appeals judges or bias their decisions. Really reforming the program is not simple, but it is not impossible.
In July, Senator Tom Coburn (R–OK) issued a comprehensive program to reduce federal spending that includes detailed proposals (starting on page 532) for fixing SSDI, reducing overpayments, and making it easier for applicants to get an accurate decision in an acceptable time period. The latest news on SSDI confirms what we already knew—like its sister program, Social Security, it should be fixed through comprehensive reforms.
Posted in Entitlements, Featured
Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit
postedYesterday at8:05pm(AP photo)
It's conventional wisdom in Washington to blame the federal government's dire financial outlook on runaway entitlement spending. Unless we rein in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the conventional wisdom goes, the federal government is headed for disaster.That's true in the long run. But what is causing massive deficits now? Is it the same entitlements that threaten the future?
Yes, say some conservatives who favor making entitlement reform a key issue in the 2012 campaign. "We're $1.5 trillion in debt," Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol said Sunday, referring to this year's projected deficit. "Where's the debt coming from? It's coming from entitlements."
There's no doubt federal spending has exploded in recent years. In fiscal 2007, the last year before things went haywire, the government took in $2.568 trillion in revenues and spent $2.728 trillion, for a deficit of $160 billion. In 2011, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the government will take in $2.230 trillion and spend $3.629 trillion, for a deficit of $1.399 trillion.
That's an increase of $901 billion in spending and a decrease of $338 billion in revenue in a very short time. Put them together, and that's how you go from a $160 billion deficit to a $1.399 trillion deficit.
But how, precisely, did that happen? Was there a steep rise in entitlement spending? Did everyone suddenly turn 65 and begin collecting Social Security and using Medicare? No: The deficits are largely the result not of entitlements but of an explosion in spending related to the economic downturn and the rise of Democrats to power in Washington. While entitlements must be controlled in the long run, Washington's current spending problem lies elsewhere.
A lot of the higher spending has stemmed directly from the downturn. There is, for example, spending on what is called "income security" -- that is, for unemployment compensation, food stamps and related programs. In 2007, the government spent $365 billion on income security. In 2011, it's estimated to spend $622 billion. That's an increase of $257 billion.
Then there is Medicaid, the health care program for lower-income Americans. A lot of people had lower incomes due to the economic downturn, and federal expenditures on Medicaid -- its costs are shared with the states -- went from $190 billion in 2007 to an estimated $276 billion in 2011, an increase of $86 billion. Put that together with the $257 billion increase in income security spending, and you have $343 billion.
Add to that the $338 billion in decreased revenues, and you get $681 billion -- which means nearly half of the current deficit can be clearly attributed to the downturn.
That's a deficit increase that would have happened in an economic crisis whether Republicans or Democrats controlled Washington. But it was the specific spending excesses of President Obama and the Democrats that shot the deficit into the stratosphere.
There is no line in the federal budget that says "stimulus," but Obama's massive $814 billion stimulus increased spending in virtually every part of the federal government. "It's spread all through the budget," says former Congressional Budget Office chief Douglas Holtz-Eakin. "It was essentially a down payment on the Obama domestic agenda." Green jobs, infrastructure, health information technology, aid to states -- it's all in there, billions in increased spending.
As for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP -- it has no specific line in the budget, either, but that is because it was anticipated to pay nearly all of its own cost, which it has.
Spending for Social Security and Medicare did go up in this period -- $162 billion and $119 billion, respectively -- but by incremental and predictable amounts that weren't big problems in previous years. "We're getting older one year at a time, and health care costs grow at 7 or 8 percent a year," says Holtz-Eakin. If Social Security and Medicare were the sole source of the current deficit, it would be a lot smaller than it is.
The bottom line is that with baby boomers aging, entitlements will one day be a major budget problem. But today's deficit crisis is not one of entitlements. It was created by out-of-control spending on everything other than entitlements. The recent debt-ceiling agreement is supposed to put the brakes on that kind of spending, but leaders have so far been maddeningly vague on how they'll do it.
This issue could be an important one in the coming presidential race. Should Republicans base their platform on entitlement reform, or should they focus on the here and now -- specifically, on undoing the damage done by Obama and his Democratic allies? In coming months, the answer will likely become clear: entitlements someday, but first things first.
Byron York, The Examiner's chief political correspondent, can be contacted at byork@washingtonexaminer.com.
NATION
Photos: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Is Unveiled in Washington
By: MADISON GRAY
Topics: DR. KING, LEI YIXIN, MARTIN LUTHER KING, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.,MARTIN LUTHER KING MEMORIAL, MEMORIAL, MLK, NATION, PUBLIC ART,STATUE, WASHINGTON D.C.
1 OF 4
Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images
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The 'Stone of Hope'
Washingtonians and visitors are now able to see the memorial dedicated to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which will sit in the nation's capital, flanked by memorials to Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.
Hundreds of people came early Monday to catch a first glimpse of the granite statue said to be inspired by his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, and a 450-foot granite wall with quotes from King inscribed in it.
The King Memorial is the first on the National Mall to honor an African-American and the first to honor a person who did not serve as president.
(PHOTOS: Martin Luther King in His Own Words)
(PHOTOS: Rare Photos of Martin Luther King Jr. at Home)
(PHOTOS: Life Magazine Archive: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)
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READ OTHER RELATED STORIES ABOUT THIS:
- Visitors moved by first look at MLK Jr. Memorial (USA Today)
- Memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. opening on National Mall (CNN)
- Martin Luther King Memorial details in one spot (Washington Post)
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/08/22/photos-martin-luther-king-jr-memorial-is-unveiled-in-washington/#ixzz1Vw2aguD6
Poll: Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech unfulfilled
Barely more than a third of African Americans see the United States as having realized the vision outlined inMartin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech — down from nearly two-thirds just before President Obama’s inauguration in 2009. It’s a return to the levels from early 2008, erasing a big uptick — among both blacks and whites — following with the election of the country’s first black president.
Fewer than half of African Americans who say the United States hasn’t yet reached King’s goal say it one day will reach it, a new low point in terms of optimism. | Washington Post Poll: Complete data
This Washington Post poll was conducted in two waves, July 28-31 and Aug. 4-7, 2011, among a total random national sample of 1,089 adults, including users of both conventional and cellular phones. The results from the combined surveys have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, eight percentage points for the sample of 187 African American respondents, four points for the 743 white respondents.Sampling data collection and tabulation by Princeton Survey Research Associates International of Princeton, N.J. The Washington Post. Published on August 22, 2011, 9:43 p.m.
National Debt grows by $3 Mill a minute
- Posted by Asst Natl Dir Mellie B on August 23, 2011 at 12:27pm in General, Town Hall
- View Discussions
New national debt data: It's growing about $3 million a minute, even during his vacation
August 23, 2011 | 
Swallow all liquids in your mouth before reading any further.
Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It's now $14,639,000,000,000.
When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS' amazing number cruncher Mark Knollerreports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000.
That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies including China has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days. That's the fastest increase under any president ever.
Read more at LATimes
Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit
byByron York
(AP photo)
That's true in the long run. But what is causing massive deficits now? Is it the same entitlements that threaten the future?
Read More from the Washington Examiner
Herman’s Weekly Commentary: "Mr. President, You’re Fired"
Filed under: Uncategorized — draftcain2012 @ 2:04 pm
Herman’s Weekly Commentary: "Mr. President, You’re Fired"
Published: Sunday, August 21, 2011
Having served on the Board of Directors of several major corporations over the last twenty years, I have had the responsibility of voting to hire a new CEO, and voting to fire a current CEO many times. In both instances the decision was based on assessed potential and performance.
Directors hold CEOs responsible for results, and the prudent use of company resources such as cash, equity and human resources. Specific metrics are established for both annual and multi-year performance, which are evaluated in making the hire or fire decision.
If a CEO is underperforming and on the brink of being fired, then we look to see if he or she has identified the right problem, and, has established a plan of action to get things back on track. If the plan is convincing and the performance metrics were missed by a reasonable amount, then he or she would be given a specific amount of time to get back on track.
The Board has to decide what’s convincing, what’s reasonable and how much time should be allowed for a course correction. Then take action.
President Obama’s economic policies have failed unreasonably. He has no plan for a course correction. He has promised a plan for focusing on job creation since he has been in office. He has had over two and a half years to get it right, and now he wants a month to write another speech, following a three day bus tour that produced nothing but a bunch of photo-ops. We are not convinced we will hear anything new. A Board’s action would be unanimous.
Mr. President, you’re fired.
I realize that only the voters can fire President Barack Obama in November of 2012. But his performance and his potential plan for serious economic growth are not likely to change anything. The Board of Directors would have no choice.
But America has a choice. Elect Herman Cain president in 2012.
Here’s Phase 1 of my economic growth plan. It’s called the 9-9-9 plan.
- A 9% business flat tax
Gross income less all investments, all purchases from other businesses, and all dividends paid to shareholders.
- A 9% individual income flat tax
Gross income less charitable deductions
- A 9% national sales tax
This significantly expands the tax base which helps everybody.
This plan has the following advantages:
- It is fair, revenue neutral, transparent and efficient
- Zero tax on capital gains and repatriated profits
- Replaces the payroll tax
- Will aid capital availability for small businesses
- Saves taxpayers $430 billion in annual compliance costs
- It eliminates the uncertainty holding this economy down
Current economic conditions call for bold moves to boost and supercharge this economy. If we are in an economic recovery as the administration claims, this economy is still 6 million jobs below the worst recovery since the Great Depression. The latest evidence shows that we are still in economic decline.
This plan is bold and doable. It has been developed and analyzed by some of the best economic minds in the nation. Remember, I surround myself with good people. That’s the key to my success and it will continue to be.
I offer this plan to the president, the Congress and the “super committee”. I could wait until after I am elected president, but America can’t keep waiting.
Struggling businesses and fifteen million unemployed people can’t wait.
We need serious economic growth NOW! Please Mr. President, just do it!
###
If you want to send the clear message to President Obama that Americans want a problem solving leader with Common Sense Solutions, support Herman Cain.
REPUBLICAN PARTY
Has the Tea Party’s Power Peaked?
By ADAM SORENSEN Tuesday, August 23, 2011 | 423 COMMENTS
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Host to one of the purest strains of conservatism in the nation (ranked only behind Mississippi and Wyoming by Gallup), Utah is the perfect Tea Party test tube. Its primary system, which relies on a nominating convention where party delegates get a say before candidates go to a popular vote, distills the purest form of activist sentiment. The state was the site of the first Republican incumbent defeat in 2010, when the brewsters toppled three-term Senator Bob Bennett, a watershed moment in an election cycle that saw not only Mike Lee claim victory over the establishment, but Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Carl Paladino, Ken Buck and Joe Miller as well. Utah was ground zero for the whole thing. But on Monday, something surprising happened.
Jason Chaffetz, the Tea-infused two-term Rep. who won his seat in Congress in 2008 by running to the right of incumbent Chris Cannon (endorsed by no less than George W. Bush himself) and who championed the conservative Cut, Cap & Balance fantasy budget, announced he will not challenge veteran Republican Senator Orrin Hatch in a primary next year.
Citing a desire to avoid a “multimillion-dollar bloodbath,” Chaffetz broke widely held expectations with his decision not to pursue Hatch. While it’s true that the 77-year-old entrenched Senator has spent the better part of a year scrambling right — he seemed to take note of Bennett’s downfall — and filling a formidable campaign warchest, the nominating convention would have given Chaffetz a decent shot at taking down his opponent without ever facing voters. Besides, being outspent would hardly be novel to Chaffetz, who was up against a six-to-one fundraising disadvantage in ’08, and Tea Party types have rarely shied away from fighting above their weight class. Chaffetz’s decision to pass on a Senate run may be a leading indicator that the Tea Party’s most powerful tool isn’t as sharp as it once was.
The Tea Party’s potency, in essence, derives from primary threats. 2010 was the year of the Tea Party not because of health reform protests or Nancy Pelosi’s ouster from the Speakership, but because Republicans like Bennett in Utah, Charlie Crist in Florida, Mike Castle in Delaware and so on paid an electoral price for their perceived apostasies. Though Chaffetz is just one candidate (and Hatch could still face defeat without him in the race), it’s beginning to look as if the Tea Partyers are not the enforcers they once were. Of the eight GOP Senators facing re-election in 2012, six were the subject of Tea Party challenge whispers after last year’s coup: Utah’s Hatch, Maine Rockefeller Republican Olympia Snowe, Massachusetts’ Scott Brown, Dick Lugar in Indiana, and, somewhat marginally, Tennessee’s Bob Corker and Mississippi’s Roger Wicker. With the most credible challenger out of the way in Utah, Hatch is in good shape; Snowe has attracted several fringe challengers, but they look, at this point, poised to fade; nothing has materialized against Brown yet; the same can be said of Corker and Wicker; and while Lugar has found himself in a legitimate knife fight with Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, there’s a possibility that a three-way race might benefit the incumbent.
There are, of course, several important caveats to all this. Chaffetz’s decision might be a one-off. It’s difficult to say what the political environment will be come next November. Effective primary challengers might just emerge from the woodwork. Or not. Wave elections don’t happen every cycle.
But ultimately, the success of the Tea Party can be measured by the policy positions it’s able to force. Whether Snowe wins re-election or not, 2010 put enough of a scare in her that she flipped to supporting an earmarks ban, a major conservative coup. The 2011 budget process was pushed rightward by the Tea Party; deeper, if unsatisfying to many, cuts were won. Summer debt deal negotiations were drawn out by conservatives, but the majority of Tea Partyers in Congress eventually held their noses and voted for the compromise, despite the fact that it was unpalatable to the grassroots. As with Bennett and the toxic TARP vote in 2008, the debt deal might prove to be a catalyst for future Tea Party insurrections. But for now, it seems that threat, along with the Tea Party’s power, has peaked.
Related Topics: Republican Party
More ways to get Swampland
Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/08/23/has-the-tea-partys-power-peaked/#ixzz1Vw4AFPRs
Obamateurism of the Day
POSTED AT 8:05 AM ON AUGUST 23, 2011 BY ED MORRISSEY
PRINTER-FRIENDLY
Barack Obama wants immediate action on three trade deals that he says will create jobs in the US. Congress, Obama says, is dragging its heels on these bills and making it harder for the White House to create jobs. There’s only one problem with this argument, which ABC’s Devin Dwyer points out:
President Obama has touted three pending U.S. trade deals as measures that could immediately spur job growth, if only Congress would approve them to become law. The only problem: the White House has not yet formally sent the deals to Congress for a vote.Besides, the “do-nothing Congress” meme Obama clearly wants to push has anotherproblem: Republicans only control the House. Treaties are ratified in the Senate only, and that’s been controlled by Harry Reid and the Democrats for more than four years. And it’s worth pointing out that these trade deals have actually been languishing for almost that long — since they were originally negotiated and signed by George Bush and not Barack Obama:
All three trade agreements were signed during the George W. Bush administration, but none of them advanced in the Democratic-controlled Congress.So yes, let’s point out that we have a do-nothing Senate, which hasn’t produced its own budget plan for only slightly less long than those treaties — which could have created jobs in the US when we really needed them — got blocked. By Democrats.
Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.
Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!
Top of the Ticket
POLITICAL COMMENTARY FROM ANDREW MALCOLM
Americans downgrade Congress to historic low 13% job approval
August 16, 2011 | 3:14 am
998
Finally, some good news for President Obama, who just scored his own record lowest job approval.
Congress got an even lower grade -- 13% job approval with a record 84% disapproval.
Or put another way, somehow 13% of Americans still approve of Congress.
That would seem to pretty much narrow down the approvers to members' families and staff.
Imagine how bad Congress' job approval would be if it hadn't left town for another month of vacation.
Speaking of which, Obama and Joe Biden are both out of town too. Joe is in Asia. No, seriously. What harm could he do over there?
The president is taking a bus across parts of Iowa and Minnesota and Illinois this week, not for political purposes, you understand, but to explain again how America needs more jobs and creating them is still his top priority.
Gallup reported earlier this week that the Democratic chief executive's job approval had fallen to 39%, its lowest level since he took office 14 trillion seconds ago. No, it only seems that long. Obama's really been living in the White House for 938 days and he still hasn't come up with his own debt reduction plan.
More than two-out-of-three Americans believe the country is on the wrong track for some reason.
This new Gallup Poll on Congress is the first rating since members spent so many rancorous weeks concocting that budget/deficit deal that so impressed the Standard & Poor's credit agency it dropped the federal government's rating to AA+ with a negative outlook.
The previous time Gallup measured Congress' job was early July when 18% of Americans approved. Gallup has only been rating Congress for 37 years. The average approval in that time was 34%. But that number has been dropping in recent years.
Republicans were kind of thinking that with Democrats having to defend 23 of the 33 Senate seats up for election next year, the GOP had a good chance of taking control of that body after having captured the House in last fall's historic midterm turnover.
But they might want to be careful counting their gavels too soon. Americans' disapproval of Congress is a broad-based bipartisan sentiment, meaning any incumbents in either chamber could be in trouble come Nov. 6, 2012.
Independents are the most critical of Congress now, with only 9% approving and 86% disapproving. Among Democrats it's 15-83. And among Republicans it's 17-81.
RELATED:
New polls confirm Obama's base is crumbling
Obama claims his bus tour is official, so taxpayers will cover the costs
Dow plujnges 512 points but don't worry Obama's birthday parties will go on as planned
-- Andrew Malcolm
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Photo: Larry Downing / Reuters (Obama and Biden celebrate someone having a lower job approval than they do).
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More in: 2012, Andrew Malcolm, Budget,Congress, Deficit, Democratic Politics,Domestic policy, Economy, House of Representatives, Jobs, Political History, Polls,Republican Politics, Senate, Vice President Biden
Federal Stimulus Funds for Nevada's Green-Industry Grows Trees, But Few Jobs
By Pete Griffin
Published August 22, 2011
| FoxNews.com
FNC
The Clark County Urban Forestry Revitalization Project was given $490,000 of stimulus money.
A federal stimulus grant of nearly $500,000 to grow trees and stimulate the economy in Nevada yielded a whopping 1.72 jobs, according to government statistics.
In 2009, the U.S. Forest Service awarded $490,000 of stimulus money to Nevada's Clark County Urban Forestry Revitalization Project, aimed at revitalizing urban neighborhoods in the county with trees, plants, and green-industry training. 
The project produced only 1.72 full-time jobs.
According to Recovery.gov, the U.S. government's official website related to Recovery Act spending, the project created 1.72 permanent jobs. In addition, the Nevada state Division of Forestry reported the federal grant generated one full-time temporary job and 11 short-term project-oriented jobs.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/22/taxpayer-union-slams-sti...
The New Patriot Action Network 2.0 is Located Here:www.PatriotActionNetwork.com
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Come and check out the new site! Join all the groups and forums that you have an interest in.
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Make comments, post a blog, join us!
Tags: Barack, China, Debt, Entitlements, Jobs, National, Obama, Spending
Views: 1201
▶ Reply to This
REPLIES TO THIS DISCUSSION
Permalink Reply by JoeV 13 hours ago
- What has caused all this. Look no further then the 535 people sitting in Congress. They cast the votes!
- I agree, we need to look at finding 250 replacements! Suggestions, opinions, or referrals, send them to teapartychief@gmail.com
- Dear Aja Brooks,
- How are you? As you requested, here's some quantitative info to help the Tea Party battle the insanity & spending of the Progressives:
- Here's a non-political, purely mathematical post. Hint: 1+1=2, not magically 9:
- "Out of 310 million Americans, only 236,883 American households earned over $1 million, and 8,274 households earned over $10 million in 2009. Even if we taxed everyone @ 100% who made over $250k, this would only reduce our $50 trillion deficit (including off balance sheet entitlements) by only $2 trillion, leaving a remaining deficit of $48 trillion. Then whose taxes do we raise to pay the remaining $48 trillion? Yours?! Or... is it time to cut spending & put this great country back on a fiscally sustainable path."
- Scott Thompson, MBA
- Attachments:
budgetcontrasts-1.jpg, 195 KB
- ...NOT GOING to do a lot of good, Phoenix, if the Tea Party doesn't engage the public and actually ENDORSE these candidates! THAT'S what was missing in 2010... the Silent Majority responded when we said, "throw out the incumbents," BUT we didn't tell them who to replace them with... SO, as should have been anticipated, and has been witnessed these past months, most of the old rino's were replaced with new rino's. WE HAVE to do better in 2012... WE HAVE to LEARN from that lesson.
- What needs to be done is go through the federal government and start slashing departments....the feds don't need to be in the car business, the banking business, the housing or mortgage business, Wall Street, Education, Consumer business, TSA, EPA, revamp IRS....let's make some real savings and start cutting the enormous overgrown, unnecessary federal departments of the government...then we can move to restructuring our representatives' benefits packages by dumping their retirement into social security and they can get the same amount as we do when they retire and it applies to current and past and future. They can get their own insurance since most of them are wealthy to begin with.
- Ginger, you are so right. I have said the same thing many, many times. But we need to replace the old, and I do mean old, congressmen and women in order to even get this passed. We need Tea Party people to ring in the new and improved government, which actually means getting us back to what our forefathers had intended, not what the progressives have turned this country into.
- We can replace every Republican in congress, but what good will that do? The Dems/Progressives/liberals/Marxists/"useful idiots" will not replace most of their stooges (Barney Franks, etc.; so, we are still confronted with the same scenario.
- That picture of those 3 pigs is enough to gag me till I lose my lunch. They represent the enemy within this country which is a great deal more threatening to our country than any terrorist anywhere in the world. I fear them more than anyone.
-
- ▶ Reply
Permalink Reply by thePhoenix 13 hours ago
<3 your comment! This is exactly what the stock market did when they said that they would default, not cut, or not work out an interest reduction plan, which was the compromise that will only stay us until March. We have to act locally to contain the $10 billion of debt in CA, which that is the micro to the macro federal government debt. We are going to reduce the government to 4 basic entities or umbrellas, and anything that doesn't stand the 10th amendment list will be slated to cut, and if those 250 won't cut, we'll give voters the reasons to replace them and expose their investors !!!
Looking forward to hearing your feedback on RESTORING FISCAL SANITY: DETAILED PLAN TO ECONOMIC STABILIZATION http://t.co/qezu3lL you may email me at teapartychief@gmail.com as I chew on the cud of articles I have selected to sift through for "The Synthesis".
Richard LugarUnited States Senator
Tue Aug 23 2011 08:21
Let me get the application process right: tar THEN feathers. Joe Biden was in Communist Red China the other day bringing into full view the image of America through its second in Command. And what did he tell them? Change your ways? Free your people? Embrace liberty? Give credit to God for your blessings?
Nope. He acknowledged the wisdom of their "one child" per family policy, you know, the forced abortion approach to the "right to life" so popular with the FRICKING COMMUNISTS!!!!!!!!
Yesterday, during remarks at Sichuan University yesterday, Joe Biden said:Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I’m not second-guessing — of one child per family. The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable.
Forced abortion. Fully understandable, in the words of our Scranton-born, rosary-clutching vice president? [National Review]
In an earlier time he might be paraded around on a cart with more feathers on him than hair plugs.
Contact: Joe Hack (202) 225-6365 Forbes Again Calls on DoD to Release China Military Power Report After 175 Day DelayWashington, D.C., Aug 22 -
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OBAMA DOESN’T NEED GADDAFI EITHER....
Rebels: Gadhafi compound overtaken
8:16 PM, Aug 23, 2011 | comments
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TRIPOLI, Libya -- Rebel forces fought their way into Moammar Gadhafi's fortified Bab al-Aziziya compound in Libya's capital Tuesday, news agencies reported.
The compound, which has been heavily damaged by NATO airstrikes, had emerged as one of the last centers of government resistance.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the compound's green gates were blasted open and hundreds of rebels poured into the complex, some driving golf carts as the area resounded with celebratory gunfire.
It was not immediately clear whether Gadhafi or members of his immediate family were in the compound when it was breached by the rebels, but the ferocity of the battle led many to speculate that the maverick leader may have been inside.
Abdel-Aziz Shafiya, 19, walked down one of the main roads of the compound with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in one hand and a Kalashnikov in another. The teenager, from the embattled city of Misrata, said he felt "an explosion of joy inside."
"I lost friends and relatives, and now I can walk into Gadhafi's house," he said. "Many of my friends have died and now all of that meant something."
NBC's Richard Engel - reporting from a rooftop near the compound - said rebels attacked the site from at least two positions.
Earlier Tuesday, Russian chess federation chief Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said that Gadhafi had told him by telephone that he was still in Tripoli, alive and well, and had no plans to leave the city.
Ilyumzhinov, who has visited Libya during the NATO bombing campaign and met Gadhafi, said the leader's eldest son Mohammad had called him by telephone on Tuesday afternoon.
"He gave the phone to his father, who said that he is in Tripoli, he is alive and healthy and is prepared to fight to the end," Ilyumzhinov told Reuters by telephone.
The fierce fighting at Gadhafi's compound erupted hours after his son turned up free at a hotel housing foreign journalists, dashing rebel claims he had been captured.
Seif al-Islam's sudden - even surreal - arrival at the hotel threw the situation in the capital into confusion. His appearance underlined the potential for the longtime Libyan leader to strike back even as his grip on power seemed to be slipping fast.
"We broke the back of the rebels," Seif al-Islam said. "It was a trap. We gave them a hard time, so we are winning."
The leadership's spokesman, Sadeq al-Kabir, could not confirm whether Seif al-Islam escaped rebel custody. He did say that another captured Gadhafi son, Mohammed, had escaped the house arrest that rebels had placed him in a day earlier. On Monday, the rebels had said al-Islam was captured, but did not give details on where he was held. The Netherlands-based International Criminal Court - which indicted Seif al-Islam and his father - said Tuesday it had never received official confirmation of the arrest from the rebels.
With a full beard and wearing an olive-green T-shirt and camouflage trousers, Seif al-Islam turned up early Tuesday morning at the Rixos hotel, where about 30 foreign journalists were staying under the close watch of regime minders.
"We are here. This is our country. This is our people, and we live here, and we die here," he told AP Television News. "And we are going to win, because the people are with us. That's why were are going to win. Look at them - look at them, in the streets, everywhere!"
Riding in a white limousine amid a convoy of armored SUVs, he took reporters on a drive through parts of the city, saying, "We are going to hit the hottest spots in Tripoli."
'Take up arms today'
The tour covered mainly the area that was known to still be under the regime's control - the district around the Rixos hotel and nearby Bab al-Aziziya. The tour went through streets full of armed Gadhafi backers, controlled by roadblocks, and into the Gadhafi stronghold neighborhood Bu Slim.
At Bab al-Aziziya, at least 100 men were waiting in lines for guns being distributed to volunteers to defend the regime. Seif al-Islam shook hands with supporters, beaming and flashing the "V for victory" sign. This compound later reportedly fell into rebel hands.
"Take up arms today, take up arms today," he told loyalists. "Inshallah (God willing) we will attack the rats today."
When asked if his father was safe and well in Tripoli, Seif al-Islam told journalists: "Of course."
Gadhafi himself has not been seen in public for several weeks before the rebels arrived in the capital at the weekend. World leaders urged the 69-year-old to surrender to prevent more bloodshed and appealed for an orderly transition of power.
Rebels say they control most of Tripoli, but were still fighting pockets of fierce resistance from regime loyalists firing mortars and anti-aircraft guns. Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman said the "danger is still there" as long as the elder Gadhafi remains on the run. He warned that pro-Gadhafi brigades are positioned on Tripoli's outskirts and could "be in the middle of the city in half an hour."
In Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital hundreds of miles east of Tripoli, the head of the rebel National Transitional Council said the rebels have no idea where Gadhafi is or whether he is even in Tripoli.
"The real moment of victory is when Gadhafi is captured," Mustafa Abdel-Jalil said on Monday. An White House official said the U.S. had no indication that Gadhafi had left Libya.
President Barack Obama said on Monday the situation in Libya reached a tipping point in recent days after a five month NATO-led bombing campaign. However, he acknowledged that the situation remained fluid and that elements of the regime remained a threat.
Saying the conflict was not over yet, Obama cautioned rebels against exacting revenge for Gadhafi's brutal rule. "True justice will not come from reprisals and violence," he said.
Scud fired
Gadhafi's forces fired off a short-range Scud missile Monday near Sirte, his hometown and one of the few remaining cities still under his control, said U.S. military officials told The Associated Press, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. It was unclear where the missile landed or if anyone was hurt.
It was only the second Scud missile fired during this year's conflict. On Aug. 15, Libyan government forces launched one near Sirte that landed in the desert outside Brega, injuring no one.
Outside of Tripoli, almost all of eastern and western Libya is now under rebel control. The east of the country from the Egyptian border to Benghazi fell into rebel hands at the beginning of the uprising. In the weeks leading up to Sunday's lightning advance on Tripoli, the rebels consolidated control of the western Nafusa mountain range near the border with Tunisia. It was from there they staged the run on the capital. Most of the rest of the country was quickly falling into their hands.
On Saturday rebels said they gained control of the oil refineries and airport at the oil terminal of Brega, on the road heading out of Benghazi west toward Tripoli.
The rebels' startling breakthrough on Sunday, after a long deadlock in Libya's 6-month-old civil war, was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels, NATO and anti-Gadhafi residents inside Tripoli, rebel leaders said. Rebel fighters from the west swept over 20 miles in a matter of hours, taking town after town and overwhelming a major military base as residents poured out to cheer them. At the same time, Tripoli residents secretly armed by rebels rose up.
Libyan state television was off the air Monday amid reports it had been seized by rebels.
The first signs emerged of moves to begin restoring oil production that has been the foundation of the economy and a source of hope for Libya's 6 million, mostly poor, people. Staff from Italy's Eni arrived to look into restarting facilities, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Tuesday.
Italy, Libya's nearest European neighbor and the colonial power until World War II, is a big customer for Libyan energy. But it will face stiff competition from others seeking a share of Libya's wealth - a competition some fear could test the ability of untried rebel leaders to hold the country together.
U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News they believed they could learn a great deal about the country's terrorist activities from a "treasure trove" of material in the Libyan intelligence archives - not only the Lockerbie bombing, but also its support for the Irish Republican Army, Palestinian groups and terrorists like Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the notorious Carlos the Jackal.
So far, the U.S. has spent nearly $890 million on its part of the NATO air campaign, a senior defense official told NBC News. If operations continue at the same pace until the mandate expires at the end of September, the cost to the U.S. will be more than $1 billion.
(msnbc)
IT’S NOT JUST BECAUSE HE’S UPSET OBAMA CHEATED: THERE IS SOMETHING FAR MORE SINISTER AMOK. AN ELECTION YEAR ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE WHEN THE SH-T HITS THE FAN.....
FOR AWHILE, IT IS A BLACK STREAK THAT GOES UNNOTICED BECAUSE IT GOES BY SO FAST, AND IT SPINS IN A CIRCLE, WITHOUT MUCH CHANGE,
UNTIL IT BEGINS TO SQUEAK LIKE A FAN THAT’S RAN FOREVER BLOWING THE STENCH EVERYWHERE, UNTIL NEARLY 3YRS. GO BY AND YOU REALIZE:
OBAMA HASN’T GIVEN US HOPE, BUT DESPAIR!
OBAMA HASN’T CHANGED ANYTHING, EXCEPT MAKING IT WORSE!
AND THEN LIKE THE BLACK STREAK ON THE FAN, YOU REALIZE IT WAS ONLY SH-T ON THE FAN THAT HYPNOTIZED YOU INTO THINKING IT WAS SOMETHING ELSE....
Written on AUGUST 23, 2011 by DA TAGLIARE
Who’s the Real Racist?
Filed under
POLITICS Share
This past week, some liberal members of the media started leveling charges of racism against Presidential candidate Rick Perry. No evidence or source was given, but nonetheless, Perry was labeled a Southern white racist.Leading the media attacks was MSNBC, the network that has repeatedly demonstrated that they have no moral standard or code by which to operate by. I once knew a complete moral degenerate who had more integrity than the staff at MSNBC.
For example, MSNBC host Ed Schultz, aired a clip of Perry saying, “that big black cloud that hangs over America — that debt, that is so monstrous.” Only when the clip aired, Schultz edited out “that debt” to purposely make Perry out to sound like a racist.
Now it appears the Obama campaign organization is behind the racist attacks on Rick Perry.
What galls me is the whole issue of race. When Obama was running for the Presidency, everyone in his organization kept saying that race had nothing to do with his campaign. Yet once elected, all we heard from them was race and how he was the first black President.
In fact, Obama is not really that much of a black man. His mother was white and his father was part black and part Arab. Obama is more white than he is black. He only plays his race card when it suits him. And then he has the audacity to charge others with being racist.
I wish they’d all learn that we’re all the same race, the human race. Skin color has nothing to do with race, only the amount of pigment in one’s skin. In my experience, the people that point fingers and holler racist the loudest are the ones guiltiest of being a racist.
Read more: Who’s the Real Racist? | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/659/whos-the-real-racist/#ixzz1VvJ5vHul
Cathleen Falsani
Writes for Religion News Service in Washington, D.C.GET UPDATES FROM CATHLEEN FALSANI
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The Trouble With Christian Labels
Posted: 8/16/11 05:47 PM ETSHARE THIS STORY
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c. 2011 Religion News Service(RNS) A week or two after the 2004 election, I was dining with some friends in New York when the conversation turned to religion and politics -- the two things that you're never supposed to discuss in polite company.
George W. Bush had just been re-elected with the help of what was described in the media as "evangelical voters." And knowing that I am an evangelical Christian, my friends were terribly curious.
"What, exactly, is an evangelical?" one gentleman asked, as if he were inquiring about my time living among the lowland gorillas of Cameroon. I suddenly found myself as cultural translator for the evangelical mind.
"As I understand it," I began, "what 'evangelical' really means is that a person believes in Jesus Christ, has a personal relationship with him and because of that relationship feels compelled to share their experience of God's love with other people.
"How they choose to share that 'good news' with others is entirely up to the individual. Beyond that, the rest is details and style."
Most of my friends knew evangelicalism only through the big, bellicose voices of TV preachers and religio-political activists such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Chuck Colson. Not surprisingly, my friends hadn't experienced an evangelicalism that sounded particularly loving, accepting or open-minded.
After eschewing the descriptor because I hadn't wanted to be associated with a faith tradition known more for harsh judgmentalism and fearmongering than the revolutionary love and freedom that Jesus taught, I began publicly referring to myself again as an evangelical. By speaking up, I hoped I might help reclaim "evangelical" for what it is supposed to mean.
With the 2012 presidential race upon us, the "evangelical" question is once again front and center, chiefly with the campaign of Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman and Tea Party darling who proudly wears the evangelical label.
As I read the recent profile of Bachmann in The New Yorker, it was painfully clear that the what-is-an-evangelical question remains largely unanswered for many who live outside the born-again bubble.
The piece, titled "Leap of Faith," delved into Bachmann's rise to public and political prominence, focusing particularly on her religious and philosophical beliefs. The story was well-researched and eloquently written, but I was struck by the author's use of the terms "evangelical," "born-again" and "fundamentalist."
It seemed they were employed interchangeably, as if their definitions were synonymous. In popular culture, those terms are shorthand for "staunchly conservative," "small-minded," and "mean-spirited." It's a matter of semantics, but it is spiritually significant.
The word "evangelical" comes from the Greek "evangelion," meaning "the good news" or "the gospel." During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther adopted the word to describe his breakaway church; for hundreds of years thereafter, "evangelical" meant, simply, "Protestant."
Today, in American society the term is used in three ways, according to the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College:
-- Theologically, it is an umbrella term for Christians who believe in the need for conversion, the command to spread the gospel, the inerrancy of the Bible, and the primacy of Jesus Christ's atoning death on the cross.
-- Stylistically, "evangelical" also describes a kind of religious practice as much as a set of doctrines. This is where you really see the diversity of evangelicalism: Mennonites, African-American Baptists, Southern Baptists, Catholic charismatics and Dutch Reformed all fall under the "evangelical-as-a-style" umbrella.
-- Politically, "evangelical" describes a coalition of Protestants (including evangelist Billy Graham) who used the term in an attempt to distance themselves from the "Christian fundamentalist" movements of the 1920s and '30s. Fundamentalism's hallmarks were (and to a certain extent remain) anti-intellectualism, anti-modernity and a belief that the church should not engage with culture. Mainstream evangelicals, by contrast, sought to actively be a part of culture in order to transform it.
"Evangelical" and "fundamentalist" are not one in the same. They are in many ways opposites. In fact, Christian fundamentalists have more in common with fundamentalists from other religions than they do with other Christians: a siege mentality and distrust of the "other," topped with a liberal dose of ardent legalism.
"Born-again," meanwhile, is a colloquialism derived from Jesus' own words in the New Testament, that describes a conversion experience where a person encounters God and is spiritually transformed. Not all evangelicals and fundamentalists use those words to describe themselves, but many in each group do.
The Bachmann profile describes the late evangelist and thinker Francis Schaeffer, a figure nearly as legendary in evangelical circles as Graham, as one of the "exotic" influences on the congresswoman's worldview, which has been "shaped by institutions and people unfamiliar to most Americans."
Pollsters and scholars estimate that evangelicals comprise roughly 30 percent of the U.S. population. A minority to be sure, but hardly an obscure one.
If the New Yorker piece is any indication, apparently we evangelicals remain an elusive, vastly misunderstood lot -- 30 years after evangelicals became a potent political force. In the popular imagination at least, evangelicalism is an ideological monolith.
Those of us in the media would do well to treat evangelicals as neither homogenous nor uncommon, and choose our words more carefully.
The Idiocy of Government Work
Filed underPOLITICAL HUMOR, POLITICS
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?”
Bud looks at the man, who obviously is a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, “Sure, why not?”
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop® and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany .
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot® that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and says, “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”
“That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,” says Bud.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then Bud says to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, “Okay, why not?”
“You’re a Democratic Congressman for the U.S. Government,” says Bud.
“Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?”
“No guessing required.” answered the cowboy. “You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter you are than I am; and you don’t know a thing about how working people make a living – or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.
Now give me back my collie.
Read more: The Idiocy of Government Work | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/643/the-idiocy-of-government-work/#ixzz1VvLUsJNk
- AUGUST 22, 2011, 9:39 P.M. ET
Ryan Shuts Door to Presidential Run
MORE IN POLITICS & POLICY »
BY NEIL KING JR.
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan ended weeks of speculation over a possible presidential bid by announcing Monday that he wouldn't make a late entry into the 2012 race.
In announcing his decision, Mr. Ryan acknowledged the pressure he has been under from an array of prominent Republicans to consider joining the GOP nomination fray.
Among those urging him to run were political adviser Karl Rove, ex-Reagan aide William Bennett and Indiana Gov. ...
Rob Woodall takes flak for debt-ceiling vote
5:00 pm August 23, 2011, by jgallowayU.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, the freshman Republican from Lawrenceville, ran into some flak last night over his vote to approve the debt-ceiling deal reached by Congress this month.
Woodall was one of three Georgians to vote “aye” – the others were U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, and Johnny Isakson.
From Blake Aued of the Athens Banner-Herald, who was at the town hall meeting:
Paul Leslie of Winder likened it to driving a bus off a cliff, then opening a parachute.
“Some things you can’t compromise on,” he said. “You can’t compromise with evil.”
Woodall, R-Lawrenceville, said he understands that viewpoint, but stood by his vote.
“I’m proud of that vote,” he told the crowd.
“We’re not,” one man called out.
Aued’s piece closes with this odd exchange:Woodall defended global free trade, saying that it promotes U.S. exports. The strength of U.S. manufacturing is quality, and Americans should not try to compete on low wages with China and Mexico, he said.
More banking regulations aren’t needed, but the Justice Department should enforce the laws on the books, he said, prompting boos from the audience.
Woodall’s town hall experience underlines the wisdom of the joint appearances that U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson have been making across the state this month. They’ve got one planned for next Tuesday in Young Harris.Chambliss voted against the debt plan. Isakson, as stated above, voted for it. So far, each senator has resisted the temptation to rip the lungs from the chest of his colleague – thus setting a moral example for audiences to follow, and furthering the cause of civil discourse.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on Facebook.
Social Security’s Disability Program Faces an Empty Trust Fund
David C. John
August 23, 2011 at 8:11 am
With continuing unemployment problems driving more and more Americans to seek Social Security disability benefits, that program’s already weakened trust fund faces a bleak future. Just as unemployed older workers have been forced to apply for Social Security retirement benefits much earlier than they expected, thousands of other unemployed people who have disabilities, or hope that they might qualify, are applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.
SSDI benefits are somewhat more generous than retirement benefits and turn into retirement benefits once the recipient reaches full retirement age. In addition, SSDI benefits allow the recipient to qualify for Medicare after two years, regardless of what age the individual has reached at that time.
The influx of new recipients is draining SSDI’s trust fund much faster than expected. Last year, the program spent $127.7 billion in benefits, but only received $104 billion in SSDI payroll taxes. Since starting to run deficits in 2005, the SSDI trust fund has steadily declined, and it is expected to run out in 2017 or 2018. Assets could be transferred from the slightly healthier retirement and survivors program, but doing so would weaken a part of Social Security that faces its own crisis.
To make matters worse, SSDI has a history of significant administrative problems, and applicants face long delays in getting a decision—even longer delays if they go through the appeals process—and differing standards for approval depending on what state they live in. About 40 percent of initial applications are denied, and while an appeal can be heard in Delaware a mere 10 months later, that same appeal may not be heard for 20 months in Ohio. Despite the continued efforts of the past several Social Security commissioners, it still takes more than 400 days (down from more than 500) to get a decision, and their success in reducing wait times is likely to be overwhelmed by the thousands of new applicants.
Fixing the problem does not mean raising payroll taxes or spending more. SSDI is filled with picky bureaucratic requirements that delay decisions and tie the hands of appeals judges or bias their decisions. Really reforming the program is not simple, but it is not impossible.
In July, Senator Tom Coburn (R–OK) issued a comprehensive program to reduce federal spending that includes detailed proposals (starting on page 532) for fixing SSDI, reducing overpayments, and making it easier for applicants to get an accurate decision in an acceptable time period. The latest news on SSDI confirms what we already knew—like its sister program, Social Security, it should be fixed through comprehensive reforms.
Posted in Entitlements, Featured
Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit
postedYesterday at8:05pm
(AP photo)It's conventional wisdom in Washington to blame the federal government's dire financial outlook on runaway entitlement spending. Unless we rein in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the conventional wisdom goes, the federal government is headed for disaster.
That's true in the long run. But what is causing massive deficits now? Is it the same entitlements that threaten the future?It's conventional wisdom in Washington to blame the federal government's dire financial outlook on runaway entitlement spending. Unless we rein in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the conventional wisdom goes, the federal government is headed for disaster.Yes, say some conservatives who favor making entitlement reform a key issue in the 2012 campaign. "We're $1.5 trillion in debt," Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol said Sunday, referring to this year's projected deficit. "Where's the debt coming from? It's coming from entitlements."
There's no doubt federal spending has exploded in recent years. In fiscal 2007, the last year before things went haywire, the government took in $2.568 trillion in revenues and spent $2.728 trillion, for a deficit of $160 billion. In 2011, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the government will take in $2.230 trillion and spend $3.629 trillion, for a deficit of $1.399 trillion.
That's an increase of $901 billion in spending and a decrease of $338 billion in revenue in a very short time. Put them together, and that's how you go from a $160 billion deficit to a $1.399 trillion deficit.
But how, precisely, did that happen? Was there a steep rise in entitlement spending? Did everyone suddenly turn 65 and begin collecting Social Security and using Medicare? No: The deficits are largely the result not of entitlements but of an explosion in spending related to the economic downturn and the rise of Democrats to power in Washington. While entitlements must be controlled in the long run, Washington's current spending problem lies elsewhere.
A lot of the higher spending has stemmed directly from the downturn. There is, for example, spending on what is called "income security" -- that is, for unemployment compensation, food stamps and related programs. In 2007, the government spent $365 billion on income security. In 2011, it's estimated to spend $622 billion. That's an increase of $257 billion.
Then there is Medicaid, the health care program for lower-income Americans. A lot of people had lower incomes due to the economic downturn, and federal expenditures on Medicaid -- its costs are shared with the states -- went from $190 billion in 2007 to an estimated $276 billion in 2011, an increase of $86 billion. Put that together with the $257 billion increase in income security spending, and you have $343 billion.
Add to that the $338 billion in decreased revenues, and you get $681 billion -- which means nearly half of the current deficit can be clearly attributed to the downturn.
That's a deficit increase that would have happened in an economic crisis whether Republicans or Democrats controlled Washington. But it was the specific spending excesses of President Obama and the Democrats that shot the deficit into the stratosphere.
There is no line in the federal budget that says "stimulus," but Obama's massive $814 billion stimulus increased spending in virtually every part of the federal government. "It's spread all through the budget," says former Congressional Budget Office chief Douglas Holtz-Eakin. "It was essentially a down payment on the Obama domestic agenda." Green jobs, infrastructure, health information technology, aid to states -- it's all in there, billions in increased spending.
As for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP -- it has no specific line in the budget, either, but that is because it was anticipated to pay nearly all of its own cost, which it has.
Spending for Social Security and Medicare did go up in this period -- $162 billion and $119 billion, respectively -- but by incremental and predictable amounts that weren't big problems in previous years. "We're getting older one year at a time, and health care costs grow at 7 or 8 percent a year," says Holtz-Eakin. If Social Security and Medicare were the sole source of the current deficit, it would be a lot smaller than it is.
The bottom line is that with baby boomers aging, entitlements will one day be a major budget problem. But today's deficit crisis is not one of entitlements. It was created by out-of-control spending on everything other than entitlements. The recent debt-ceiling agreement is supposed to put the brakes on that kind of spending, but leaders have so far been maddeningly vague on how they'll do it.
This issue could be an important one in the coming presidential race. Should Republicans base their platform on entitlement reform, or should they focus on the here and now -- specifically, on undoing the damage done by Obama and his Democratic allies? In coming months, the answer will likely become clear: entitlements someday, but first things first.
Byron York, The Examiner's chief political correspondent, can be contacted at byork@washingtonexaminer.com.
NATION
Photos: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Is Unveiled in Washington
By: MADISON GRAY
Topics: DR. KING, LEI YIXIN, MARTIN LUTHER KING, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.,MARTIN LUTHER KING MEMORIAL, MEMORIAL, MLK, NATION, PUBLIC ART,STATUE, WASHINGTON D.C.
1 OF 4Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images
1 OF 4
The 'Stone of Hope'
Washingtonians and visitors are now able to see the memorial dedicated to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which will sit in the nation's capital, flanked by memorials to Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.Hundreds of people came early Monday to catch a first glimpse of the granite statue said to be inspired by his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, and a 450-foot granite wall with quotes from King inscribed in it.
The King Memorial is the first on the National Mall to honor an African-American and the first to honor a person who did not serve as president.
(PHOTOS: Martin Luther King in His Own Words)
(PHOTOS: Rare Photos of Martin Luther King Jr. at Home)
(PHOTOS: Life Magazine Archive: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)
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- Visitors moved by first look at MLK Jr. Memorial (USA Today)
- Memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. opening on National Mall (CNN)
- Martin Luther King Memorial details in one spot (Washington Post)
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/08/22/photos-martin-luther-king-jr-memorial-is-unveiled-in-washington/#ixzz1Vw2aguD6
Poll: Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech unfulfilled
Barely more than a third of African Americans see the United States as having realized the vision outlined inMartin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech — down from nearly two-thirds just before President Obama’s inauguration in 2009. It’s a return to the levels from early 2008, erasing a big uptick — among both blacks and whites — following with the election of the country’s first black president.
Fewer than half of African Americans who say the United States hasn’t yet reached King’s goal say it one day will reach it, a new low point in terms of optimism. | Washington Post Poll: Complete data
This Washington Post poll was conducted in two waves, July 28-31 and Aug. 4-7, 2011, among a total random national sample of 1,089 adults, including users of both conventional and cellular phones. The results from the combined surveys have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, eight percentage points for the sample of 187 African American respondents, four points for the 743 white respondents.Sampling data collection and tabulation by Princeton Survey Research Associates International of Princeton, N.J. The Washington Post. Published on August 22, 2011, 9:43 p.m.National Debt grows by $3 Mill a minute
- Posted by Asst Natl Dir Mellie B on August 23, 2011 at 12:27pm in General, Town Hall
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New national debt data: It's growing about $3 million a minute, even during his vacation
August 23, 2011 |Swallow all liquids in your mouth before reading any further.
Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It's now $14,639,000,000,000.
When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS' amazing number cruncher Mark Knollerreports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000.
That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies including China has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days. That's the fastest increase under any president ever.
Read more at LATimes
Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit
byByron York
(AP photo)
That's true in the long run. But what is causing massive deficits now? Is it the same entitlements that threaten the future?
Read More from the Washington Examiner
Herman’s Weekly Commentary: "Mr. President, You’re Fired"
Filed under: Uncategorized — draftcain2012 @ 2:04 pm
Herman’s Weekly Commentary: "Mr. President, You’re Fired"
Published: Sunday, August 21, 2011
Having served on the Board of Directors of several major corporations over the last twenty years, I have had the responsibility of voting to hire a new CEO, and voting to fire a current CEO many times. In both instances the decision was based on assessed potential and performance.
Directors hold CEOs responsible for results, and the prudent use of company resources such as cash, equity and human resources. Specific metrics are established for both annual and multi-year performance, which are evaluated in making the hire or fire decision.
If a CEO is underperforming and on the brink of being fired, then we look to see if he or she has identified the right problem, and, has established a plan of action to get things back on track. If the plan is convincing and the performance metrics were missed by a reasonable amount, then he or she would be given a specific amount of time to get back on track.
The Board has to decide what’s convincing, what’s reasonable and how much time should be allowed for a course correction. Then take action.
President Obama’s economic policies have failed unreasonably. He has no plan for a course correction. He has promised a plan for focusing on job creation since he has been in office. He has had over two and a half years to get it right, and now he wants a month to write another speech, following a three day bus tour that produced nothing but a bunch of photo-ops. We are not convinced we will hear anything new. A Board’s action would be unanimous.
Mr. President, you’re fired.
I realize that only the voters can fire President Barack Obama in November of 2012. But his performance and his potential plan for serious economic growth are not likely to change anything. The Board of Directors would have no choice.
But America has a choice. Elect Herman Cain president in 2012.
Here’s Phase 1 of my economic growth plan. It’s called the 9-9-9 plan.
- A 9% business flat tax
Gross income less all investments, all purchases from other businesses, and all dividends paid to shareholders.
- A 9% individual income flat tax
Gross income less charitable deductions
- A 9% national sales tax
This significantly expands the tax base which helps everybody.
This plan has the following advantages:
- It is fair, revenue neutral, transparent and efficient
- Zero tax on capital gains and repatriated profits
- Replaces the payroll tax
- Will aid capital availability for small businesses
- Saves taxpayers $430 billion in annual compliance costs
- It eliminates the uncertainty holding this economy down
Current economic conditions call for bold moves to boost and supercharge this economy. If we are in an economic recovery as the administration claims, this economy is still 6 million jobs below the worst recovery since the Great Depression. The latest evidence shows that we are still in economic decline.
This plan is bold and doable. It has been developed and analyzed by some of the best economic minds in the nation. Remember, I surround myself with good people. That’s the key to my success and it will continue to be.
I offer this plan to the president, the Congress and the “super committee”. I could wait until after I am elected president, but America can’t keep waiting.
Struggling businesses and fifteen million unemployed people can’t wait.
We need serious economic growth NOW! Please Mr. President, just do it!
###
If you want to send the clear message to President Obama that Americans want a problem solving leader with Common Sense Solutions, support Herman Cain.
REPUBLICAN PARTYHas the Tea Party’s Power Peaked?
By ADAM SORENSEN Tuesday, August 23, 2011 | 423 COMMENTSMORE
Jason Chaffetz, the Tea-infused two-term Rep. who won his seat in Congress in 2008 by running to the right of incumbent Chris Cannon (endorsed by no less than George W. Bush himself) and who championed the conservative Cut, Cap & Balance fantasy budget, announced he will not challenge veteran Republican Senator Orrin Hatch in a primary next year.
Citing a desire to avoid a “multimillion-dollar bloodbath,” Chaffetz broke widely held expectations with his decision not to pursue Hatch. While it’s true that the 77-year-old entrenched Senator has spent the better part of a year scrambling right — he seemed to take note of Bennett’s downfall — and filling a formidable campaign warchest, the nominating convention would have given Chaffetz a decent shot at taking down his opponent without ever facing voters. Besides, being outspent would hardly be novel to Chaffetz, who was up against a six-to-one fundraising disadvantage in ’08, and Tea Party types have rarely shied away from fighting above their weight class. Chaffetz’s decision to pass on a Senate run may be a leading indicator that the Tea Party’s most powerful tool isn’t as sharp as it once was.
The Tea Party’s potency, in essence, derives from primary threats. 2010 was the year of the Tea Party not because of health reform protests or Nancy Pelosi’s ouster from the Speakership, but because Republicans like Bennett in Utah, Charlie Crist in Florida, Mike Castle in Delaware and so on paid an electoral price for their perceived apostasies. Though Chaffetz is just one candidate (and Hatch could still face defeat without him in the race), it’s beginning to look as if the Tea Partyers are not the enforcers they once were. Of the eight GOP Senators facing re-election in 2012, six were the subject of Tea Party challenge whispers after last year’s coup: Utah’s Hatch, Maine Rockefeller Republican Olympia Snowe, Massachusetts’ Scott Brown, Dick Lugar in Indiana, and, somewhat marginally, Tennessee’s Bob Corker and Mississippi’s Roger Wicker. With the most credible challenger out of the way in Utah, Hatch is in good shape; Snowe has attracted several fringe challengers, but they look, at this point, poised to fade; nothing has materialized against Brown yet; the same can be said of Corker and Wicker; and while Lugar has found himself in a legitimate knife fight with Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, there’s a possibility that a three-way race might benefit the incumbent.
There are, of course, several important caveats to all this. Chaffetz’s decision might be a one-off. It’s difficult to say what the political environment will be come next November. Effective primary challengers might just emerge from the woodwork. Or not. Wave elections don’t happen every cycle.
But ultimately, the success of the Tea Party can be measured by the policy positions it’s able to force. Whether Snowe wins re-election or not, 2010 put enough of a scare in her that she flipped to supporting an earmarks ban, a major conservative coup. The 2011 budget process was pushed rightward by the Tea Party; deeper, if unsatisfying to many, cuts were won. Summer debt deal negotiations were drawn out by conservatives, but the majority of Tea Partyers in Congress eventually held their noses and voted for the compromise, despite the fact that it was unpalatable to the grassroots. As with Bennett and the toxic TARP vote in 2008, the debt deal might prove to be a catalyst for future Tea Party insurrections. But for now, it seems that threat, along with the Tea Party’s power, has peaked.
Related Topics: Republican Party
More ways to get Swampland
Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/08/23/has-the-tea-partys-power-peaked/#ixzz1Vw4AFPRs
Obamateurism of the Day
POSTED AT 8:05 AM ON AUGUST 23, 2011 BY ED MORRISSEY
PRINTER-FRIENDLY
Barack Obama wants immediate action on three trade deals that he says will create jobs in the US. Congress, Obama says, is dragging its heels on these bills and making it harder for the White House to create jobs. There’s only one problem with this argument, which ABC’s Devin Dwyer points out:President Obama has touted three pending U.S. trade deals as measures that could immediately spur job growth, if only Congress would approve them to become law. The only problem: the White House has not yet formally sent the deals to Congress for a vote.
Besides, the “do-nothing Congress” meme Obama clearly wants to push has anotherproblem: Republicans only control the House. Treaties are ratified in the Senate only, and that’s been controlled by Harry Reid and the Democrats for more than four years. And it’s worth pointing out that these trade deals have actually been languishing for almost that long — since they were originally negotiated and signed by George Bush and not Barack Obama:All three trade agreements were signed during the George W. Bush administration, but none of them advanced in the Democratic-controlled Congress.
So yes, let’s point out that we have a do-nothing Senate, which hasn’t produced its own budget plan for only slightly less long than those treaties — which could have created jobs in the US when we really needed them — got blocked. By Democrats.Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.
Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!
Top of the Ticket
POLITICAL COMMENTARY FROM ANDREW MALCOLM
Americans downgrade Congress to historic low 13% job approval
August 16, 2011 | 3:14 am9
98
Finally, some good news for President Obama, who just scored his own record lowest job approval.Congress got an even lower grade -- 13% job approval with a record 84% disapproval.
Or put another way, somehow 13% of Americans still approve of Congress.
That would seem to pretty much narrow down the approvers to members' families and staff.
Imagine how bad Congress' job approval would be if it hadn't left town for another month of vacation.
Speaking of which, Obama and Joe Biden are both out of town too. Joe is in Asia. No, seriously. What harm could he do over there?
The president is taking a bus across parts of Iowa and Minnesota and Illinois this week, not for political purposes, you understand, but to explain again how America needs more jobs and creating them is still his top priority.
Gallup reported earlier this week that the Democratic chief executive's job approval had fallen to 39%, its lowest level since he took office 14 trillion seconds ago. No, it only seems that long. Obama's really been living in the White House for 938 days and he still hasn't come up with his own debt reduction plan.
More than two-out-of-three Americans believe the country is on the wrong track for some reason.
This new Gallup Poll on Congress is the first rating since members spent so many rancorous weeks concocting that budget/deficit deal that so impressed the Standard & Poor's credit agency it dropped the federal government's rating to AA+ with a negative outlook.
The previous time Gallup measured Congress' job was early July when 18% of Americans approved. Gallup has only been rating Congress for 37 years. The average approval in that time was 34%. But that number has been dropping in recent years.
Republicans were kind of thinking that with Democrats having to defend 23 of the 33 Senate seats up for election next year, the GOP had a good chance of taking control of that body after having captured the House in last fall's historic midterm turnover.
But they might want to be careful counting their gavels too soon. Americans' disapproval of Congress is a broad-based bipartisan sentiment, meaning any incumbents in either chamber could be in trouble come Nov. 6, 2012.
Independents are the most critical of Congress now, with only 9% approving and 86% disapproving. Among Democrats it's 15-83. And among Republicans it's 17-81.
RELATED:
New polls confirm Obama's base is crumbling
Obama claims his bus tour is official, so taxpayers will cover the costs
Dow plujnges 512 points but don't worry Obama's birthday parties will go on as planned
-- Andrew Malcolm
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Photo: Larry Downing / Reuters (Obama and Biden celebrate someone having a lower job approval than they do).
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More in: 2012, Andrew Malcolm, Budget,Congress, Deficit, Democratic Politics,Domestic policy, Economy, House of Representatives, Jobs, Political History, Polls,Republican Politics, Senate, Vice President Biden
Federal Stimulus Funds for Nevada's Green-Industry Grows Trees, But Few Jobs
By Pete Griffin
Published August 22, 2011
| FoxNews.com
FNC
The Clark County Urban Forestry Revitalization Project was given $490,000 of stimulus money.
A federal stimulus grant of nearly $500,000 to grow trees and stimulate the economy in Nevada yielded a whopping 1.72 jobs, according to government statistics.
In 2009, the U.S. Forest Service awarded $490,000 of stimulus money to Nevada's Clark County Urban Forestry Revitalization Project, aimed at revitalizing urban neighborhoods in the county with trees, plants, and green-industry training.
The project produced only 1.72 full-time jobs.
According to Recovery.gov, the U.S. government's official website related to Recovery Act spending, the project created 1.72 permanent jobs. In addition, the Nevada state Division of Forestry reported the federal grant generated one full-time temporary job and 11 short-term project-oriented jobs.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/22/taxpayer-union-slams-sti...
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Tags: Barack, China, Debt, Entitlements, Jobs, National, Obama, Spending
Views: 1201
▶ Reply to This
REPLIES TO THIS DISCUSSION
- What has caused all this. Look no further then the 535 people sitting in Congress. They cast the votes!
- I agree, we need to look at finding 250 replacements! Suggestions, opinions, or referrals, send them to teapartychief@gmail.com
- Dear Aja Brooks,
- How are you? As you requested, here's some quantitative info to help the Tea Party battle the insanity & spending of the Progressives:
- Here's a non-political, purely mathematical post. Hint: 1+1=2, not magically 9:
- "Out of 310 million Americans, only 236,883 American households earned over $1 million, and 8,274 households earned over $10 million in 2009. Even if we taxed everyone @ 100% who made over $250k, this would only reduce our $50 trillion deficit (including off balance sheet entitlements) by only $2 trillion, leaving a remaining deficit of $48 trillion. Then whose taxes do we raise to pay the remaining $48 trillion? Yours?! Or... is it time to cut spending & put this great country back on a fiscally sustainable path."
- Scott Thompson, MBA
- Attachments:
- ...NOT GOING to do a lot of good, Phoenix, if the Tea Party doesn't engage the public and actually ENDORSE these candidates! THAT'S what was missing in 2010... the Silent Majority responded when we said, "throw out the incumbents," BUT we didn't tell them who to replace them with... SO, as should have been anticipated, and has been witnessed these past months, most of the old rino's were replaced with new rino's. WE HAVE to do better in 2012... WE HAVE to LEARN from that lesson.
- What needs to be done is go through the federal government and start slashing departments....the feds don't need to be in the car business, the banking business, the housing or mortgage business, Wall Street, Education, Consumer business, TSA, EPA, revamp IRS....let's make some real savings and start cutting the enormous overgrown, unnecessary federal departments of the government...then we can move to restructuring our representatives' benefits packages by dumping their retirement into social security and they can get the same amount as we do when they retire and it applies to current and past and future. They can get their own insurance since most of them are wealthy to begin with.
- Ginger, you are so right. I have said the same thing many, many times. But we need to replace the old, and I do mean old, congressmen and women in order to even get this passed. We need Tea Party people to ring in the new and improved government, which actually means getting us back to what our forefathers had intended, not what the progressives have turned this country into.
- We can replace every Republican in congress, but what good will that do? The Dems/Progressives/liberals/Marxists/"useful idiots" will not replace most of their stooges (Barney Franks, etc.; so, we are still confronted with the same scenario.
- That picture of those 3 pigs is enough to gag me till I lose my lunch. They represent the enemy within this country which is a great deal more threatening to our country than any terrorist anywhere in the world. I fear them more than anyone.
- ▶ Reply
Looking forward to hearing your feedback on RESTORING FISCAL SANITY: DETAILED PLAN TO ECONOMIC STABILIZATION http://t.co/qezu3lL you may email me at teapartychief@gmail.com as I chew on the cud of articles I have selected to sift through for "The Synthesis".
Richard Lugar
United States Senator
Jobs Plan Outline
FACTS:
Lugar is a farmer and ran his family manufacturing business that earned the first Export Award in the State of Indiana.AWARDS:
Named a “Guardian of Small Business” by the National Federation of Independent Business with a 100% voting record after 16 years in Congress.Received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Spirit of Enterprise Award and 100% vote rating in 2010.Named a “Champion of the Entrepreneur” by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council for the 111th Congress.Received the Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award from the National Association of Manufacturers. Senator Dick Lugar:
Creating Fertile Ground for Our Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Clean Energy Technologies
Hoosier firms and research institutions are at the forefront of innovation in advanced manufacturing, logistics, chemical engineering, and defense and energy research. Indiana now boasts the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi River, the world’s largest clean coal power plant under construction, and the largest geothermal district heat pump systemHealth Care Technology
The Indiana University School of Medicine and firms such as Biomet, Cook Group, Depuy, Eli Lilly, Roche Diagnostics, Zimmer, and many others continue to contribute to both the Hoosier economy and medical progress.High Tech Research Institutions
Lugar supported federal funding that allows Hoosier academics at Purdue, IU, Ball State, Notre Dame, and Rose Hulman to partner with government institutions such as the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health.Agriculture
Hoosier farms sold $8.7 billion of agricultural products last year. Despite being the smallest state west of the Appalachian Mountains, Indiana is the 9th largest agricultural exporting state. Today, 95% of the world’s population lives outside of the United States. As world population continues to grow, Hoosier farms will have tremendous potential to export food and fuel products.Crane, Camp Atterbury, and Muscatatuck
Crane represents nearly $2 million in economic activity in Southwest Indiana every day. Additionally, Crane directly employs more than 4,300 people from nearly every county in Southwest Indiana, with combined earnings of $232 million per year. Lugar helped direct funding to Crane for the construction of modern facilities that will enable the scientists, engineers, and technicians at Crane to meet emerging challenges. We should utilize our assets at Crane, Camp Atterbury, and Muscatatuck Urban Training Center to stimulate private sector growth
PROMOTE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY & SUPPORT BUSINESS GROWTH
Cut Federal Spending
“Bottom line, we need to stop the spending spree and cut as much as possible.”- Make additional strategic cuts to federal programs
- Pass needed entitlement reform
- Repeal the government’s takeover of health care
- Pass a balanced budget amendment
- Institute biennial budgeting to reduce by half the opportunities for budgetary mischief and backroom spending deals
- Create a line-item veto to provide additional opportunities to eliminate wasteful spending and questionable projects
- Create a legislative commission to streamline government and eliminate government waste
- Sell excess federal properties and outdated inventory
- Cut the federal workforce
Increase Investment and Job Creation Through the Tax Code
“America is the envy of the world in countless ways. Our tax system is not one of them. Our tax system is needlessly complicated and far too burdensome on American families and businesses.”- Move towards the FairTax to spur job growth and make taxes more equitable by taxing what we spend instead of what we earn
- Eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax
- Make permanent the capital gains and dividend tax rates to encourage investment
- Reduce business tax rates and simplify taxation rules for corporations to encourage companies to locate here – not abroad
- Completely eliminate or further reduce the death tax
- Extend and make permanent the small business investment tax incentive
- Make permanent the research and development tax credit
Increase Indiana Exports
- Implement pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama to immediately lower market access barriers for U.S. exporters, expand the volume and value of U.S. exports, and directly foster job growth
- Increase the availability of trade financing to help identify new markets for Indiana goods and services
Why the FairTax?
We have an opportunity today to fundamentally change our tax code.And we need to if we want to kickstart our stalled economic engine, create jobs, and move our economy forward.Today’s tax code warps household and business decisions and discourages investment. It is constantly evaded and hard to enforce.Combined with big government spending our current tax code is punching the life out of our economy.The FairTax and a pro-growth tax code are the best way to create jobs.The FairTax will help end this era of low growth and high deficits and instead achieve high growth, while simultaneously exercising fiscal restraint. Lugar first called for scrapping the income tax and the IRS 16 years ago when he ran for President.Stop Job-Killing Regulations
“The Obama Administration and Democrats have used their large majorities in Congress to push through alarming new expansions in the size and scope of government.”- Overhaul regulations to require greater review and mitigation of regulatory burdens facing U.S. businesses
- Rein in the EPA
- Repeal the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill which creates a massive new bureaucracy of at least 17 new offices, agencies, units, and boards
- Block plans for Cap and Trade
- Stop compulsory unionization of our workers through the card check legislation
Empower Entrepreneurs
“People from around the world recognize that the United States is exceptional. This is why so many talented business people want to live and invest in the United States and in Indiana. We should use these assets to our advantage and do all we can to empower entrepreneurs and encourage them to create jobs here.”- Promote local strengths and economic clusters to encourage entrepreneurial innovation and nurture new business ventures
- Attract and retain the best and brightest minds
EMPOWER WORKERS
Focus on Education
“In our dynamic global economy, Hoosier students must be able to compete with their international peers for jobs.”- Prepare our students early for future success by focusing on the basics and helping struggling students
- Support innovative and evidence based local solutions offered by teachers, school administrators, and parents who are best equipped to decide how to address the unique needs of each student
- Cut federal red tape on states and school districts
- Ensure students graduating from high school are college or career ready
- Emphasize science, technology, math, and engineering to ensure students receive the education needed to compete in the global technology dominated economy
Enable Our Workers
“Millions of Americans are out of work, with unemployment still at an unacceptably high level. Despite this reality, employers across the country report they have increasing numbers of job openings left unfilled. The challenge lies in that many of these post-recession job openings are skilled positions. With proper training, individuals without the benefit of college degrees can fill these roles.”- Encourage local job training programs
- Reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to streamline federal workforce development and related programs
ENERGY SECURITY
Improve Our Energy Security
“Our economy is highly vulnerable to oil disruptions due to terrorist attack, natural disasters, local instability, embargoes, or deliberate supply manipulation by oil producing rogue governments. Through innovation, we have to get our economy ready now for the increased global demand for oil.”- Increase domestic production of oil
- Accelerate the development of domestic oil alternatives
- Encourage energy savings in homes, farms, and businesses
- Invest in American innovation to increase competitiveness and our market share of the estimated $1.6 trillion energy investment expected worldwide over the next 15 years
WHILE I AGREE THAT LUGAR HAS A NICE GOP 2012 AGENDA, MOST OF TEA PARTY DIE HARDS READING THIS ARE THINKING, 2 PROBLEMS:
1) NOT ENOUGH CUTS
2) NOT SPECIFIC AS TO WHAT PROGRAMS SHOULD BE CUT
WHILE I WANT FOR THERE TO BE AN OPEN DISCUSSION AND PROGRESS, WORST CASE SCENARIO: AUTOMATIC SPENDING CUTS WILL KICK IN AGAIN AT THE END OF THE YEAR.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUPERCONGRESS, THE 12 DISCIPLES OF BUDGET DISCIPLINE, THEIR CUTS ARE TO BE ANNOUNCED BY THANKSGIVING, SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR, DESPITE THE CHAGRIN.
AND WHILE I AM NOT AS ANXIOUS AS SOME THAT WE’RE GETTING THE RAMROD OVER AGAIN, I DO THINK THAT THE LAST RESORT PLAN IS THIS, AND WE WILL BEGIN CHISELING AWAY AT IT SO IT WILL BE READY IF NEEDED. WE WOULD LIKE TO REPLACE 250 SEATS IN CONGRESS AND REDUCE GOVERNMENT SIZE TO ITS ORIGINAL 4 UMBRELLAS OF PROTECTION FOR TAXPAYERS:
- UMBRELLA #1 NATIONAL SECURITY - SAFETY FIRST
- UMBRELLA #2 JUDICIARY - RULE OF LAW
- UMBRELLA #3 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - ASSISTANCE/DEFENSE - MAINTAINING ORDER
- UMBRELLA #4 PATENTS©RIGHTS - UNDERTAKE PATENT REFORM - GOVERNING APPROPRIATELY
I HAVE A 21 POINT PLAN ON DECENTRALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT, AND I WILL BE ADDING PROGRAMS TO THE CUT LIST THAT DO NOT FALL UNDER THOSE 4 UMBRELLAS. WE WILL ALSO CUT GRANT PROGRAMS OR UNION CONTRACTS. GRANTS WILL BE TAKEN AWAY FROM THOSE 250 SEATS, RESPECTIVE OF THEIR COMMITTEE POWER, LOBBYING&SPECIAL INTEREST, AND AUDITS WILL BE CONDUCTED ON THEM AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION TIED TO MARKETPLACE PILLAGING.
THEY WILL NOT BE RESTORED UNTIL WE AGREE TO CUT, CAP&BALANCE OR THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT. THIS IS LIKE GOING TO THE JUGULAR VEIN OF BIG GOVERNMENT. REMOVE THE ABILITY FOR THE GREEDY ONES IN CONGRESS TO ACQUIRE TAXPAYER MONEY, AND WE HAVE MONEY TO CREATE JOBS. THEY WILL GO HOME DEFEATED, WITH RACIST REMARKS MEANING LITTLE IN LIGHT OF OUR FISCAL TAKEOVER TO ADVANCE THE PRIVATE SECTOR.
Jobs Plan Outline
FACTS:
Lugar is a farmer and ran his family manufacturing business that earned the first Export Award in the State of Indiana.
AWARDS:
Named a “Guardian of Small Business” by the National Federation of Independent Business with a 100% voting record after 16 years in Congress.
Received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Spirit of Enterprise Award and 100% vote rating in 2010.
Named a “Champion of the Entrepreneur” by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council for the 111th Congress.
Received the Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award from the National Association of Manufacturers.
Senator Dick Lugar:
Creating Fertile Ground for Our Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Clean Energy Technologies
Hoosier firms and research institutions are at the forefront of innovation in advanced manufacturing, logistics, chemical engineering, and defense and energy research. Indiana now boasts the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi River, the world’s largest clean coal power plant under construction, and the largest geothermal district heat pump system
Health Care Technology
The Indiana University School of Medicine and firms such as Biomet, Cook Group, Depuy, Eli Lilly, Roche Diagnostics, Zimmer, and many others continue to contribute to both the Hoosier economy and medical progress.
High Tech Research Institutions
Lugar supported federal funding that allows Hoosier academics at Purdue, IU, Ball State, Notre Dame, and Rose Hulman to partner with government institutions such as the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health.
Agriculture
Hoosier farms sold $8.7 billion of agricultural products last year. Despite being the smallest state west of the Appalachian Mountains, Indiana is the 9th largest agricultural exporting state. Today, 95% of the world’s population lives outside of the United States. As world population continues to grow, Hoosier farms will have tremendous potential to export food and fuel products.
Crane, Camp Atterbury, and Muscatatuck
Crane represents nearly $2 million in economic activity in Southwest Indiana every day. Additionally, Crane directly employs more than 4,300 people from nearly every county in Southwest Indiana, with combined earnings of $232 million per year. Lugar helped direct funding to Crane for the construction of modern facilities that will enable the scientists, engineers, and technicians at Crane to meet emerging challenges. We should utilize our assets at Crane, Camp Atterbury, and Muscatatuck Urban Training Center to stimulate private sector growth
PROMOTE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY & SUPPORT BUSINESS GROWTH
Cut Federal Spending
“Bottom line, we need to stop the spending spree and cut as much as possible.”
- Make additional strategic cuts to federal programs
- Pass needed entitlement reform
- Repeal the government’s takeover of health care
- Pass a balanced budget amendment
- Institute biennial budgeting to reduce by half the opportunities for budgetary mischief and backroom spending deals
- Create a line-item veto to provide additional opportunities to eliminate wasteful spending and questionable projects
- Create a legislative commission to streamline government and eliminate government waste
- Sell excess federal properties and outdated inventory
- Cut the federal workforce
Increase Investment and Job Creation Through the Tax Code
“America is the envy of the world in countless ways. Our tax system is not one of them. Our tax system is needlessly complicated and far too burdensome on American families and businesses.”
- Move towards the FairTax to spur job growth and make taxes more equitable by taxing what we spend instead of what we earn
- Eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax
- Make permanent the capital gains and dividend tax rates to encourage investment
- Reduce business tax rates and simplify taxation rules for corporations to encourage companies to locate here – not abroad
- Completely eliminate or further reduce the death tax
- Extend and make permanent the small business investment tax incentive
- Make permanent the research and development tax credit
Increase Indiana Exports
- Implement pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama to immediately lower market access barriers for U.S. exporters, expand the volume and value of U.S. exports, and directly foster job growth
- Increase the availability of trade financing to help identify new markets for Indiana goods and services
Why the FairTax?
We have an opportunity today to fundamentally change our tax code.
And we need to if we want to kickstart our stalled economic engine, create jobs, and move our economy forward.
Today’s tax code warps household and business decisions and discourages investment. It is constantly evaded and hard to enforce.
Combined with big government spending our current tax code is punching the life out of our economy.
The FairTax and a pro-growth tax code are the best way to create jobs.
The FairTax will help end this era of low growth and high deficits and instead achieve high growth, while simultaneously exercising fiscal restraint. Lugar first called for scrapping the income tax and the IRS 16 years ago when he ran for President.
Stop Job-Killing Regulations
“The Obama Administration and Democrats have used their large majorities in Congress to push through alarming new expansions in the size and scope of government.”
- Overhaul regulations to require greater review and mitigation of regulatory burdens facing U.S. businesses
- Rein in the EPA
- Repeal the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill which creates a massive new bureaucracy of at least 17 new offices, agencies, units, and boards
- Block plans for Cap and Trade
- Stop compulsory unionization of our workers through the card check legislation
Empower Entrepreneurs
“People from around the world recognize that the United States is exceptional. This is why so many talented business people want to live and invest in the United States and in Indiana. We should use these assets to our advantage and do all we can to empower entrepreneurs and encourage them to create jobs here.”
- Promote local strengths and economic clusters to encourage entrepreneurial innovation and nurture new business ventures
- Attract and retain the best and brightest minds
EMPOWER WORKERS
Focus on Education
“In our dynamic global economy, Hoosier students must be able to compete with their international peers for jobs.”
- Prepare our students early for future success by focusing on the basics and helping struggling students
- Support innovative and evidence based local solutions offered by teachers, school administrators, and parents who are best equipped to decide how to address the unique needs of each student
- Cut federal red tape on states and school districts
- Ensure students graduating from high school are college or career ready
- Emphasize science, technology, math, and engineering to ensure students receive the education needed to compete in the global technology dominated economy
Enable Our Workers
“Millions of Americans are out of work, with unemployment still at an unacceptably high level. Despite this reality, employers across the country report they have increasing numbers of job openings left unfilled. The challenge lies in that many of these post-recession job openings are skilled positions. With proper training, individuals without the benefit of college degrees can fill these roles.”
- Encourage local job training programs
- Reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to streamline federal workforce development and related programs
ENERGY SECURITY
Improve Our Energy Security
“Our economy is highly vulnerable to oil disruptions due to terrorist attack, natural disasters, local instability, embargoes, or deliberate supply manipulation by oil producing rogue governments. Through innovation, we have to get our economy ready now for the increased global demand for oil.”
- Increase domestic production of oil
- Accelerate the development of domestic oil alternatives
- Encourage energy savings in homes, farms, and businesses
- Invest in American innovation to increase competitiveness and our market share of the estimated $1.6 trillion energy investment expected worldwide over the next 15 years
WHILE I AGREE THAT LUGAR HAS A NICE GOP 2012 AGENDA, MOST OF TEA PARTY DIE HARDS READING THIS ARE THINKING, 2 PROBLEMS:
1) NOT ENOUGH CUTS
2) NOT SPECIFIC AS TO WHAT PROGRAMS SHOULD BE CUT
WHILE I WANT FOR THERE TO BE AN OPEN DISCUSSION AND PROGRESS, WORST CASE SCENARIO: AUTOMATIC SPENDING CUTS WILL KICK IN AGAIN AT THE END OF THE YEAR.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUPERCONGRESS, THE 12 DISCIPLES OF BUDGET DISCIPLINE, THEIR CUTS ARE TO BE ANNOUNCED BY THANKSGIVING, SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR, DESPITE THE CHAGRIN.
AND WHILE I AM NOT AS ANXIOUS AS SOME THAT WE’RE GETTING THE RAMROD OVER AGAIN, I DO THINK THAT THE LAST RESORT PLAN IS THIS, AND WE WILL BEGIN CHISELING AWAY AT IT SO IT WILL BE READY IF NEEDED. WE WOULD LIKE TO REPLACE 250 SEATS IN CONGRESS AND REDUCE GOVERNMENT SIZE TO ITS ORIGINAL 4 UMBRELLAS OF PROTECTION FOR TAXPAYERS:
- UMBRELLA #1 NATIONAL SECURITY - SAFETY FIRST
- UMBRELLA #2 JUDICIARY - RULE OF LAW
- UMBRELLA #3 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - ASSISTANCE/DEFENSE - MAINTAINING ORDER
- UMBRELLA #4 PATENTS©RIGHTS - UNDERTAKE PATENT REFORM - GOVERNING APPROPRIATELY
I HAVE A 21 POINT PLAN ON DECENTRALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT, AND I WILL BE ADDING PROGRAMS TO THE CUT LIST THAT DO NOT FALL UNDER THOSE 4 UMBRELLAS. WE WILL ALSO CUT GRANT PROGRAMS OR UNION CONTRACTS. GRANTS WILL BE TAKEN AWAY FROM THOSE 250 SEATS, RESPECTIVE OF THEIR COMMITTEE POWER, LOBBYING&SPECIAL INTEREST, AND AUDITS WILL BE CONDUCTED ON THEM AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION TIED TO MARKETPLACE PILLAGING.
THEY WILL NOT BE RESTORED UNTIL WE AGREE TO CUT, CAP&BALANCE OR THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT. THIS IS LIKE GOING TO THE JUGULAR VEIN OF BIG GOVERNMENT. REMOVE THE ABILITY FOR THE GREEDY ONES IN CONGRESS TO ACQUIRE TAXPAYER MONEY, AND WE HAVE MONEY TO CREATE JOBS. THEY WILL GO HOME DEFEATED, WITH RACIST REMARKS MEANING LITTLE IN LIGHT OF OUR FISCAL TAKEOVER TO ADVANCE THE PRIVATE SECTOR.
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