Selected News For Sep 12 – Sep 18

120 Responses to “Selected News For Sep 12 – Sep 18”

1. Rusty Shackleford

   September 12, 2009 at 12:35 am

   From the “Here comes another crisis” department….

   Obama launches push for financial regulatory reform

   *sigh* He really is getting annoying.

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....DMQ–

   By Jeff Mason and Deborah Charles Jeff Mason And Deborah Charles – Fri Sep 11, 7:53 pm ET

   WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is launching a broad push for action on financial regulatory reform, returning to a key legislative priority even as the debate over healthcare consumes the U.S. Congress.

   President Barack Obama’s speech in New York on Monday, a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers led to a worldwide financial crisis, will push for further measures to safeguard the financial system, officials said.

   The president has put most of his domestic policy focus on the healthcare debate in recent months, drawing criticism from some who believed the regulatory reforms he proposed earlier this year were being shunted to the background.

   Administration officials sought to counter that impression and indicated the Lehman anniversary would mark a roll-out of a new push to achieve reform this year.

   “We believe that this is the year, after what has happened, to overhaul the system of financial regulation and put in place a structure that can respond to the contemporary challenges,” Obama’s top economic adviser, Larry Summers, told reporters.

   The reform would “lay a basis for the kind of recovery and economic expansion that the president is seeking to create,” Summers said, adding lawmakers could work on the measures simultaneously while hammering out a healthcare deal.

   The ambitious plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulation is bogged down in Congress. Proposed changes call for tighter regulation of banks and capital markets to better protect consumers.

   ——I don’t have the time to decode all the crap that he speaks. Suffice to say…put on your opposite hats once again and sift through it that way. When he says, “To protect the consumer”, it really means “to control and screw the free-market system in every and any possible way so that NOBODY can get any money from the banks who isn’t approved by me, personally”

   Log in to Reply
2. BillK

   September 12, 2009 at 12:49 am

   From Fox News:

   Black Publishers Cry Racism Over Wilson Outburst, Join Boycott of South Carolina

   A group of black newspaper publishers on Friday charged Republican Rep. Joe Wilson with racism for yelling, “You lie,” at President Obama during his nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress.

   The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has canceled a planned January conference in South Carolina, where Wilson is a representative, and joined an economic boycott of the Palmetto State started 10 years ago by the state NAACP in protest of the confederate flag waving from the Statehouse grounds.

   Wilson shouted his accusation Wednesday night in response to Obama saying that his health care reform plan would not cover illegal immigrants. Wilson, who drew sharp criticism from both sides of the political fence for the breach in decorum, immediately apologized to Obama and the president accepted. But House Democrats are pressing Wilson to apologize on the House floor or face disciplinary action.

   The latest fallout from Wilson’s outburst, however, is the first time race has been injected into the controversy.

   “As African-American newspaper publishers we stand in solidarity with the NAACP and fully support the economic boycott of South Carolina,” NNPA Chairman Danny J. Bakewell Sr. said. “Rep. Wilson’s remarks were racist, disrespectful, and a disingenuous violation — not only of President Obama — but to the institution of the presidency and only solidified our position and the importance in not spending black dollars where black people are not respected.

   “The continued public and blatant disrespect of President Barack Obama by members of Congress will not be rewarded with our dollars nor will a state that continues to uphold America’s shameful past by flying the Confederate flag,” he added. …

   http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....-carolina/

   Proving yet again that groups like this and the NAA(L)CP have no connection to reality whatsoever.

   Log in to Reply
   • canary

     September 12, 2009 at 2:10 am

     Former President Bush boo’ed at State of Union Speech in 2005. double standards?

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBxmEGG71PM
   • texaspsue

     September 12, 2009 at 9:58 am

     Me thinks this staged outrage is payback for Van Jones gettting fired.

     Isn’t it getting old that the groups that scream “racist”, all of the time, are the real racists? THEY are the only ones judging people by the color of their skin. I am so tired of all of the hypocrites.
   • 12 Gauge Rage

     September 12, 2009 at 10:19 am

     How can it be construed as racist to disagree with the POTUS? My father hated Bill Clinton and called him all sorts of vulgar names. And they were both the same skin color. It’s so easy to play the race card because it paints the defendant into a corner so that no matter what they say someone interprets it the wrong way.
   • Rusty Shackleford

     September 12, 2009 at 12:08 pm

     12G, it’s quite simple really, though you question is, of course, rhetorical. The one thing that any group hates to do is admit they were wrong and they will argue to the very last, using any empty, vaccuous angle they can.

     Yes, they are the racists. They are the ones who continue to use it to gain some sort of advantage. But truth and good sense must never cave into their whining. It is not racist to say, “I dislike you”. Nor is it racist to say “I really dislike your actions, your attitude, your demeanor, your personality, anything about you”.

     By using the racist argumment, they find it a free pass to act poorly and get away with it.

     I don’t put up with it.

     We will soldier on and whenever you find yourself in that position, tell it like it is, don’t back down and you know you won’t be the lesser for it.
   • caligirl9

     September 12, 2009 at 1:50 pm

     A person with white skin is not allowed to disagree with another person of different skin color or ethnic origin. If you do, obviously you are a racist of the worst kind. However, blacks and Hispanics and Muslims are encouraged to disagree with whitey, that’s just expressin’ themselves. Disagree with violence is okay, too. As long as you are disagreeing with white people. Or a color other than yourself (I’m thinking of black versus Hispanic gangs, who bring out some of the worst violence against each other.).

     Funny how the double-standard works, isn’t it? It’s okay to have a Miss Black America, but a Miss White America is racist. Teaching black history is okay, but white history is racist. I had an ethnic studies teacher in my journalism program tell me the difference is that everything is white man-centric, so it’s only fair and good that people of color have their own organizations that exclude whites. But you better let people of color join your “whitey” organization.

     That, in my opinion, is how to keep racism going.
   • proreason

     September 12, 2009 at 3:26 pm

     New definition of Racist: the name you are called when it is clear that you have won the argument
   • Rusty Shackleford

     September 13, 2009 at 12:53 am

     “New definition of Racist: the name you are called when it is clear that you have won the argument”

     THERE IT IS!!!

     We have a winner.

     Thanks Pro. That about sums it up.
   • 12 Gauge Rage

     September 13, 2009 at 8:46 am

     I just came home from the night shift. Thanks everyone for the insight. Racist is definitely what people call you when they’re losing the argument. Especially when you’ve refuted everything they’ve said with the facts. Experience has taught me that people who call you a racist have already walked into the argument with a chip on their shoulder.
   • pdsand

     September 14, 2009 at 7:51 pm

     I was going to say, great, boycotting South Carolina, that’ll work out as well as it did a couple of years ago when the NAACP boycotted South Carolina over the confederate flag. But then I see that that decade old boycott is still going on. It’s too hilarious.
     I remember when they boycotted Georgia over the confederate flag the state’s tourism haul actually increased, but nonetheless.
3. BillK

   September 12, 2009 at 12:53 am

   From the Associated Press, protectionism is the next piece of Obama’s agenda to copy FDR’s destructive economic policies:

   China Deems Obama’s Tariffs on Tires ‘Protectionism’

   WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has slapped punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires entering the United States from China in a decision that China says it strongly opposes.

   The Ministry of Commerce says the measures set a bad precedent in light of the global economic crisis and China reserves the right to react.

   A statement posted Saturday on the ministry Web site says “China strongly opposes this serious act of trade protectionism by the U.S.”

   Obama had until Sept. 17 — next week — to accept, reject or modify a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that a rising tide of Chinese tires into the U.S. hurts American producers. A powerful union, United Steelworkers, blames the increase for the loss of thousands of American jobs.

   The federal trade panel recommended a 55 percent tariff in the first year, 45 percent in the second year and 35 percent in the third year. Obama settled on slightly lower penalties — an extra 35 percent in the first year, 30 percent in the second, and 25 percent in the third, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday.

   “The president decided to remedy the clear disruption to the U.S. tire industry based on the facts and the law in this case,” Gibbs said.

   By taking “this unprecedented action, the Obama administration is now at odds with its own public statements about refraining from increasing tariffs above current levels,” said Vic DeIorio, executive vice president, GITI Tire (U.S.), the largest manufacturer of tires in China.…

   http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....o-imports/

   Guess I have to vow never to buy a US-made tire again, either.

   Thanks, Mr. Obama, for making my buying decisions easier:

   * No US Tires
   * No GM
   * No Chrysler

   Keep it coming.

   I guess the Chinese could have said Obama lied, but that would have been racism.

   Why did Mr. Obama do this? Why else?

   Rep. Louise M. Slaughter of New York, who chairs the House Rules Committee, said that although the 35 percent levy was less than the 55 percent recommended in July by the ITC, it was still a significant statement of administration support for organized labor.

   Log in to Reply
4. BillK

   September 12, 2009 at 12:57 am

   From Fox News – I can’t believe there isn’t a deeper reason for this, as normally the NEA wouldn’t care:

   NEA Reassigns Communications Director Following Uproar Over Obama Initiative

   The National Endowment for the Arts has reassigned its communications director following his participation in a controversial conference call last month, FOX News has learned.

   But the organization isn’t saying what job Yosi Sergant now holds.

   “Can’t comment on that at this point,” spokeswoman Victoria Hutter told FOXNews.com on Friday. She declined to confirm that he was reassigned as a result of the controversy.

   “We’ll have more to say about that later,” she said.

   Sergant was one of several officials on an hour-long conference call on Aug. 10 hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement and United We Serve, a nationwide initiative launched by President Obama to increase volunteerism.

   Patrick Courrielche, one of roughly 75 artists, musicians, writers, poets and others on the hour-long call, said Sergant was among those who encouraged the artists to create works in their respective fields that would show support for Obama’s domestic agenda in areas such as health care, energy and the environment.

   But, in a statement to FOXNews.com, the NEA said the conference call was not intended to promote legislative agendas.

   “This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false,” the statement read. “The NEA regularly does outreach to various organizations to inform of the work we are doing and the resources available to them.”

   White House spokesman Shin Inouye told FOXNews.com that the conference call was not a “means to promote any legislative agenda,” and “the White House did not ask for [Sergant] to resign.”

   “It was a discussion on the United We Serve effort and how all Americans can participate,” Inouye wrote. …

   http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....nitiative/

   You know, the same type of “how Americans can participate” activities they tried to get into the schools this week.

   Log in to Reply
   • canary

     September 12, 2009 at 1:43 am

     continued…

     Inouye confirmed that the president had received a letter from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, calling for congressional hearings into the NEA’s role in the call.

     “I urge you to make clear that your administration will never allocate taxpayer dollars to artists based on their support for administration policy initiatives,” Cornyn wrote. “Further, I respectfully request that you take the necessary steps to ensure that the NEA — and the American arts community it supports — remain independent from political manipulation by the White House.”

     During the call, Courrielche said the ubiquitous Obama “Hope” poster by artist Shepard Fairey and musician will.i.am’s “Yes We Can” song and music video were offered as “shining examples” of the artist group’s clear impact on Obama’s landslide election.

     “What I heard was a well thought-out pitch to encourage artists to create art on these issues,” Courrielche told FOXNews.com last month. “We were told we were consulted for a reason, and they specifically stated those issues as the issues we should focus on, to plant the seed. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what they’re attempting to do.”

     Courrielche, who first wrote about the experience on the blog Big Hollywood, said unidentified members of the press were also on the call.

     “I felt like I needed to say something about it,” he said last month. “Now I think if [a piece of art] comes out, you have to question it, did it come from this meeting? This is the exact argument for why an agency like this shouldn’t exist.”
5. wardmama4

   September 12, 2009 at 7:07 am

   But come on Canary – You got to hand it to our Community Organizer in Chief – by stuffing infiltrating every single ‘Organizing’ Group out there – Our Community Organizer in Chief gets a kickback and a fast, easy breezy way to nudge one more American sector toward his tyrannical end game.

   So what I’m reading from this – Mr. Won(derful) was convinced he couldn’t win an election on his wonderfulness alone so he sent Union & ACORN minions out to get Mickey Mouses to vote in every single state (Vote Early, Vote Often) many, many times (and please don’t forget those bench living homeless who put him over the top here in OH, thank you very much), and is too feminized to stand up for himself so he gets the NAACP (and race baiters like Al & Jesse) to scream racism every time someone disagrees and has to put his minions into every single other Group he can to ’spontaneously’ and with ‘grassroot’ felt emo come with these ‘heartfelt’ (and don’t forget spontaneous) predetermined shows of love and adoration???

   If I got all that right – The Won does not even have no clothes – he isn’t The Won – but a fake, empty suited characture of a politician.

   Log in to Reply
6. canary

   September 12, 2009 at 9:25 am

   wardmama4/what has come to my mind in regards to Obama and his life-time, low life friends is a variety of “trash” poluting the green earth and air we breath. Aside the hatred of America, he discovered with rev. Wright, and the muslim connection they shared, leading to their ministering to sex offenders,…well, obviously they failed at any redemption. No recovery rate, but the building of a whore house named after a tree nut.
   A clan of trashy people that no amount of scrubbing could clean. Birds of a feather, flock together. And Obama is the leader.

   Log in to Reply
7. beautyofreason

   September 12, 2009 at 12:39 pm

   Extremely biased reporting by the AP:

   UK troubled by violent anti-Islam protests

   By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer Raphael G. Satter,

   LONDON – Violent clashes between anti-Islam demonstrators and Muslim counter-protesters in English cities are worrying the government, with one British minister comparing the disturbances to 1930s-era fascist incitement.

   The violence that has hit Luton, Birmingham and London in the last few months has involved a loose collection of far-right groups — such as the previously unknown English Defense League — on one side and anti-fascist organizations and Muslim youth on the other.

   In an interview published Saturday, Communities Minister John Denham accused the anti-Islam protesters of deliberately stirring up trouble

   “The tactic of trying to provoke a response in the hope of causing wider violence and mayhem is long established on the far-right and among extremist groups,” Denham was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper…

   British media have traced recent clashes to Luton, an ethnically mixed town north of London which in March was the site of a small but widely covered protest against the British Army. Bearded Islamists picketed a homecoming parade for British soldiers returning from Iraq, holding up signs accusing the men of being “butchers” and “baby-killers.”

   Tensions boiled over in May, when a demonstration by a far-right group calling itself United People of Luton led to South Asian businesses being attacked and cars being smashed.

   In August the group’s successor, the English Defense League, tried to mount a protest in Birmingham, where they clashed with anti-fascist demonstrators. This month, the League’s second attempt at a Birmingham protest quickly descended into violence, with some 200 people — many of them of South Asian descent — seen fighting, throwing projectiles and running from riot police. Police made 90 arrests.

   On Friday, an openly Islamophobic group, Stop Islamification of Europe, promised a evening protest outside a northwest London mosque to coincide with the eighth anniversary of Sept. 11 and with Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.

   Only a handful of demonstrators showed up — and they were vastly outnumbered by Muslims coming to defend the mosque.

   Police hustled the protesters away from the angry crowd. But television footage showed Muslim youths racing through the streets shouting “Allahu Akbar!”, waving Islamic banners and throwing glass at riot police. Scotland Yard reported 10 arrests…

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....m_protests

   It’s official. If you oppose Islamic law you must have a phobia. And if you throw glass at the police while screaming Allah Akbar, you must be an anti-fascist merely responding to insult.

   Notice how the Islamic youth and those in favor of Shariah law (Britain has 60+ shariah courts) are sugar coated to no end as an incited minority, while all blame is pinned on the far right groups, who are considered fascists and Nazis. Perhaps this kind of bias explains why Michael Savage and Geert Wilders were banned from the U.K.

   Log in to Reply
   • canary

     September 12, 2009 at 6:41 pm

     AP posted headline misquoting the leader
     “Obama: We’ve Go to do Something on Health Care”

     when Obama actually repeated “We got to do something…” “We got to do something…”

     At this Minneapolis rally, it showed Obama doing the small step
     shuffle, both arms down at side with both fists curled behind him.”

     Van Jones underestimated Obama’s uppity-ness.
8. canary

   September 12, 2009 at 7:36 pm

   King: ACORN Video Confirms Need For Congressional Investigation
   September 10 2009

   WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Steve King today reacted to a tape released by an independent filmmaker showing Baltimore-based ACORN workers assisting a man and a woman claiming to be involved in a prostitution ring. According to FOXNEWS, “Officials with the controversial community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service and providing guidance on how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents.”

   “Taxpayers should be outraged that their money has gone to an organization that, in addition to facing charges of voter fraud and tax violations, is willing to facilitate prostitution,” King said. “As this video confirms, ACORN continues to operate as a criminal enterprise. Nancy Pelosi, John Conyers, Barney Frank and other Democrats on Capitol Hill continue to protect and fund ACORN while blocking Congressional hearings on ACORN’s operations and finances. Shielding ACORN from oversight ensures that this partisan criminal enterprise will continue its shady practices while collecting taxpayer funds.”

   About ACORN:
   - In June, the Washington Times reported that House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers “backed off his plan to investigate wrongdoing by the liberal activist group ACORN, saying ‘powers that be’ put the kibosh on the idea.”

   - ACORN is under investigation in at least 14 states.
   - ACORN as an entity was charged with voter fraud in Nevada.
   - ACORN has admitted to over 400,000 fraudulent voter registrations in the 2008 election cycle.
   - ACORN has received a minimum $53 million in taxpayer dollars since 1994.
   - ACORN is eligible to receive as much as $8.5 billion more in federal tax dollars.
   - ACORN played a role in the mortgage meltdown by pressuring banks to make bad loans and by brokering them.
   - ACORN and its approximately 300 affiliates use the same accounting firm and same mailing address in New Orleans, Louisiana.

   http://steveking.house.gov/ind.....1dc106d5e0

   King was on Hannity and said he felt that Obama could very well be responsible for the denials to have Acorn investigated, and that Obama was deeply involved with Acorn.

   Log in to Reply
9. canary

   September 12, 2009 at 8:41 pm

   U.S. soldier shot by Afgan policeman, for drinking water during Ramadan.

   AP: 5 U.S. troops among 50 killed in Afghan violence
   By AP Writers Rahim Faiez And Noor Khan Sept 12 2009

   KABUL – …. Five American soldiers died in two attacks using roadside bombs…The attacks Friday and Saturday reached a broad swath of the country, demonstrating the spread of the Taliban insurgency,

   A roadside bomb and gunfire attack in western Afghanistan killed three Americans,while another roadside bomb killed two Americans in the east, said Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo, a spokesman for the U.S. military command in Kabul…The raid did not appear to be connected with the kidnapping of a New York Times reporter…

   In Kabul, the capital, an American service member and an Afghan police officer got into an argument

   because the American was drinking water in front of the Afghan police, who are not eating or drinking during the day because of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan,…

   The police officer shot the American and seriously wounded him,

   while other American troops responded and seriously wounded the police officer, Zemari said.

   Lt. Robert Carr, a U.S. military spokesman, confirmed an incident between Afghan police officers and a U.S. police mentoring team…

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....tbw–

   It appears there was a ban on reporting the loss of 3 U.S. soldiers on Sept 11, 2009.
   Our troops being wounded and killed during Ramadan while Obama celebrates it, just as he wrote at a young age he and his mother celebrated it.

   Log in to Reply
10. canary

    September 12, 2009 at 9:59 pm

    ‘We’re pinned down:’ 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush
    Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers Sep. 08, 2009

    GANJGAL, Afghanistan — We walked into a trap, a killing zone of relentless gunfire and rocket barrages from Afghan insurgents hidden in the mountainsides and in a fortress-like village where women and children were replenishing their ammunition.

    “We will do to you what we did to the Russians,” the insurgent’s leader boasted

    …, we waited more than an hour for U.S. helicopters to arrive, despite earlier assurances that air cover would be five minutes away.

    U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren’t near the village.

    “We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We’ve lost today,” Marine Maj. Kevin Williams, 37,…for helicopters.

    Four U.S. Marines were killed Tuesday, the most U.S. service members assigned as trainers to the Afghan National Army to be lost in a single incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

    The Marines were cut down as they sought cover in a trench at the base of the village’s…. Much of their ammunition was gone. One Marine was bending over a second, tending his wounds, when both were killed, said Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer, 21, of Greensburg, Ky., who retrieved their bodies.

    The operation, proposed by the Afghan army and refined by the U.S. trainers, … to discuss the establishment of police patrols. The elders had insisted that Afghans perform the sweep. The Americans were there to give advice and call for air and artillery support if required.

    Small teams of Afghan troops and U.S. trainers headed to ridges on the valley’s southern and northern sides,…unbeknownst to us, into the killing zone.

    …The ethnic Pashtun villagers pride themselves on their rejection of official authority,…

    A possible clue to what was to come occurred when the lights in Ganjgal suddenly blinked out… toward the village.

    …quickly swelled into a furious storm of gunfire that we realized had been prepared for our arrival.

    Several U.S. officers said they suspected that the insurgents had been tipped off by sympathizers in the local Afghan security forces or by the village elders, who announced over the weekend that they were accepting the authority of the local government.

    “Whatever we do always leaks,” said Marine Lt. Ademola Fabayo, 28, a New Yorker who was born in Nigeria and is the operations officer for the trainers from the 3rd Marine Division. “You can’t trust even some of their soldiers or officers.”

    Lt. Fabayo and several other soldiers later said they’d seen women and children in the village shuttling ammunition to fighters positioned in windows and roofs…

    … The responses came back: No helicopters were available.

    “This is unbelievable. We have a platoon (of Afghan army) out there and we’ve got no Hotel Echo,” Swenson shouted above the din of gunfire, using the military acronym for high explosive artillery shells. “We’re pinned down.”

    “What are you going to do?” Maj. Talib, the operations officer of the Afghan army unit, asked Maj. Williams through his translator.
    “We are getting air,” Williams replied.
    “What are we going to do?” Talib repeated.
    “We are getting air,” Williams replied again, perhaps knowing that none was available but hoping to quiet Talib.

    “They don’t have any smoke. They only have Willy Pete,” Swenson reported, referring to white phosphorus rounds that spew smoke.

    The two officers raced back to join us. Everyone jumped up and ran for the next stone wall. Everyone but me. Afraid that too many people were jammed together as they raced, offering easy targets, I waited behind for a break in the gunfire, an Afghan border police officer crouched next to me.

    …. My companion decided that it was time to go and bolted away across the wash, but the gunfire grew too intense, and again I pulled my body into the dirt and rocks.

    I wasn’t as terrified as I was angry: angry at the absence of air support, angry that there was no artillery fire, angry that Williams’ interpreter had been killed, angry at the realization that the operation had obviously been betrayed and angry at myself for not bolting with the others.

    …a gaggle of Afghan soldiers pounding through the boulders past me, their commander, a bright 26-year-old lieutenant named Ruhollah, hopping between two of them, a bullet wound in his groin.

    … I sprang and ran, trying to weave as bullets kicked up dust around me.
    I reached the next wall and plunged behind it, nearly falling on top of Swenson, Fabayo and several badly wounded U.S. soldiers.

    As Fabayo cracked off rounds, Swenson lay flat on his back, clasping a pressure bandage to the shoulder of one soldier with one hand and holding the microphone of his radio in the other,….

    …crashed back up the way we’d just fled to retrieve the bodies of the dead Marines and any other casualties they could find.

    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227.....ni_popular

    Log in to Reply
    • Rusty Shackleford

      September 12, 2009 at 10:05 pm

      Shades of Vietnam, now. Makes me nauseous, and very very angry.
    • canary

      September 13, 2009 at 1:27 am

      Since the day Obama stepped foot in the oval office, our U.S. soldiers, namely Marines in Afganistan, have been under attack by “civilians” to include women and children. There is no way he did not know this. He is too busy traveling and apologizing, doing interviews, talking cars, health care, parties, dinners, teleprompters, college talks. He will have blood stains on his hands that won’t scrubb. Gates and his new General will have them as well, plus the brown waste on their noses.
11. Rusty Shackleford

    September 13, 2009 at 12:43 am

    http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/bl.....ten,189028

    Serena Williams berates official, loses match for conduct violation

    By Chris Chase

    Rain gave way to bedlam tonight at the U.S. Open.

    Defending champion Serena Williams was charged with a point penalty on match point after yelling at a line judge for a calling a foot fault on her previous serve. The ruling gave Kim Clijsters a 6-4, 7-5 victory in their semifinal match, which had been delayed 32 hours because of rain.

    After the line judge called the foot fault with Serena serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, the youngest Williams sister intimidatingly stared her down before screaming at the official with a jabbed finger. After a few seconds, Serena turned back around to serve, thought better of it and resumed the badgering. The chair umpire then called over the line judge to ask what Serena had said, rules officials were summoned, a brief summit occurred at the net and it was determined that Serena would be assessed a point penalty for a conduct violation. The point gave Clijsters the match.

    The initial foot fault that began the fireworks was a terrible call. It was unconscionable. It cannot be made at the end of any match, let alone in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. This isn’t because a foot fault is a ridiculous call at that juncture (even though it is). It’s because it wasn’t a foot fault. The replays show that Serena’s foot was behind the line when she served. You could make the argument that it was close but not close enough to make the call.

    That being said, that’s no excuse for Serena to berate an official. Wrong as the official may have been, there’s a line that to be crossed and Serena did it pretty early on in her diatribe by saying, “I’m going to shove this ball down your f—— throat”.

    ——So, this begs the question: Was the line judge simply being a racist?

    —–I am starting a countdown to see how long it takes for that card to be played.

    —–Regardless of the fact that Serena Williams, great tennis player though she may be, was about to lose the match anyhow.

    —–But that fact will now be one of many clouded by poor behavior on the party in question.

    Log in to Reply
    • Colonel1961

      September 13, 2009 at 1:51 am

      Asian judge. I can’t remember the pecking order?
    • Liberals Make Great Speedbumps

      September 13, 2009 at 3:00 am

      I think both of the Williams sisters should hook up with Caster Semenya and see if they all can get a group rate on some gender testing.
12. canary

    September 13, 2009 at 2:10 am

    AP: Fmr. Blagojevich adviser dies, days before prison
    By AP Legal Affairs Writer Mike Robinson Sept 13, 2009

    CHICAGO – A former chief fundraiser for ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich died Saturday, just days before he was to begin serving at least eight years in federal prison for fraud that included using his company’s money to pay gambling debts and claiming it as a business expense.

    Christopher G. Kelly, 51, was apparently found Friday night in a lumber yard parking lot in Country Club Hills, a town just southwest of Chicago, where police and the FBI searched for clues Saturday night, Mayor Dwight Welch said.

    Illinois State Police spokesman Juan Valenzuela told The Associated Press his agency’s investigators also were helping to process the scene, near corn fields and two interstates.

    Kelly was taken to Oak Forest Hospital at 11:15 p.m. Friday, said Marcel Bright, a spokesman for John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital in Chicago. He was later transferred to Stroger for further treatment. Kelly arrived there by ambulance at 5:15 a.m. Saturday and was pronounced dead at 10:46 a.m., Bright said.

    A cause of death was not immediately available. The Cook County medical examiner’s office planned to do an autopsy Sunday.

    Kelly raised millions of dollars for Blagojevich’s campaigns and was among his closest advisers. He had pleaded not guilty to charges included in the federal indictment alleging Blagojevich sought to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat.

    Kelly, who admittedly loved to gamble and ran up big debts at Las Vegas casinos and elsewhere, was part of Blagojevich’s tight inner circle along with convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko. Rezko is believed to be cooperating with federal prosecutors after being convicted of taking part in a $7 million payoff scheme.

    Prosecutors clearly hoped Kelly would try to reduce his mounting federal prison time by agreeing to cooperate and tell them what he knew about corruption in state government under Blagojevich.

    But he remained grimly silent as his situation got worse and worse.

    He was to be sentenced to nearly five years in prison.

    Associated Press writers Tammy Webber and Caryn Rousseau contributed to this report.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....iser_death

    Strange Blagojevich was on Huckabee’s show, Sat, Blagojevich was bragging how he was going to “”"subpoena Obama”"”" and Rezco and blow the lid off a major huge scandle. What timing, and strange place to be found.

    Foster was found ‘moved’ to a park, correct? At least Obama enjoyed the day.

    Log in to Reply
13. BillK

    September 13, 2009 at 9:56 am

    We support your rights, just not the ability for you to exercise them.

    From the San Mateo County Times:

    Lawmakers pass gun show ban at Cow Palace

    By Neil Gonzales

    DALY CITY — The days of gun shows at the Cow Palace appear numbered.

    On a 45-33 vote, the California Assembly on Wednesday passed legislation banning the sale of firearms and ammunition at the state-owned entertainment venue.

    The Assembly’s vote came three months after the state Senate approved the bill, which is expected to head to the governor’s desk in the next few weeks.

    If signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate Bill 585 would take effect Jan. 1, stipulating that no more than five gun shows may be held at the Cow Palace during the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. By Jan. 1, 2013, there would be no gun shows permitted there at all.

    The bill is “about respecting local values and local standards,” said Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who wrote the legislation. Those who live near the Cow Palace “do not want gun shows there,” he said.

    According to Leno, 44 percent of the homicides and more than 30 percent of the guns seized in San Francisco have happened in the Visitacion Valley, Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhoods and the Mission District since 2005.

    The bill also is a response to residents’ calls and resolutions passed by the counties of San Francisco and San Mateo to end gun shows in their neighborhoods, Leno said.

    Residents and community groups have asserted that illegal firearm sales occur in the Cow Palace parking lot whenever the Crossroads of the West gun show is in town.

    Bob Templeton, producer of the traveling show, could not be reached for comment.

    Templeton, however, previously has denied that illegal gun sales happen at the Cow Palace, which is owned and operated by the state Department of Agriculture’s Division of Fairs and Expositions.

    He has also maintained that his event abides by state laws, which mandate background checks and a 10-day waiting period for all firearm buyers. …

    http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_13309237

    So in effect, residents claim, without any proof whatsoever, that illegal sales occur in the parking lots of these gun shows. (Which apparently local law enforcement can’t be bothered with if they are occurring.)

    The Democrats claim it’s “about respecting local values and local standards” but if those local values and standards are against say, gay marriage, why that’s bigoted and the will of the people must be ignored.

    Lest you think it’s just the wacky Bay Area:

    Elsewhere, Alameda, Marin and Los Angeles counties have banned gun shows at county-owned facilities with local ordinances.

    Log in to Reply
    • Liberals Demise

      September 17, 2009 at 10:24 am

      Too bad they can’t do anything about the “GUN” shows in So. Central et al.
14. BillK

    September 13, 2009 at 10:04 am

    Largely unreported in the US media, the UK Telegraph brings us this story of Charlie Sheen being the mouthpiece for the “truthers.”

    Charlie Sheen urges Barack Obama to reopen 9/11 investigation in video message

    By Subhajit Banerjee

    Actor Charlie Sheen has issued a video message urging President Barack Obama to reopen investigation into the 9/11 attacks.

    Sheen had earlier written an open letter to the President in which he claimed that there was cover-up by the Bush administration over the 2001 attacks that claimed the lives of several thousand people.

    The six-and-a-half minute video – released on the eighth anniversary of the disaster – opens with news reports and footage of the incident with Sheen’s voiceover: “The questions Mr President, the questions.”

    He then runs through the various “unanswered questions” such as World Trade Center workers and rescuers claiming the building imploded as if with detonations, sections of the media reporting the collapse before it actually happened and FBI translator Sibel Edmonds claiming Osama Bin Laden was working for the CIA up until 9/11.

    The Two and a Half Men actor is then seen sitting in a garden as he addresses Barack Obama: “Good afternoon Mr President, I come to you today representing the families of the victims of September 11th as well as millions of my fellow Americans.”

    “Hopefully by now you’ve had a chance to read my letter to you – Twenty Minutes with the President – and if not at least had its contents brought to your attention.”

    The letter addresses 20 key points that Sheen feels need to be answered by a truly independent investigation.

    “As my letter chronicles, Sir, 9/11 commission itself says they were lied to, deceived and essentially prevented from carrying out a real investigation.” …

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....ssage.html

    Funny, where are the calls from 9/11 families and others to boycott Two and a Half Men, which has made Sheen amounts of money the left would call for any CEO to burn in Hell over? (He makes $500,000 per episode or $11,500,000 per 23-episode year.)

    Glenn Beck loses sponsors for calling the President a racist, but sponsors trip over each other to fund a truther. No dichotomy there.

    The highest paid actor on US television has also challenged 9/11 debunkers to a live debate.

    Where to hold such a debate? Perhaps at a prestigious higher learning institution? NIST? Ha!

    He called out those who have publicly attacked him for speaking out on 9/11, particularly Meghan McCain, Rush Limbaugh Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, to debate him on CNN’s Larry King Live.

    As if we needed further proof that Larry King would do anything for ratings.

    You can watch Sheen’’s tirade here, if you’ve the stomach for it:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyKR2-A0KPU

    I love quotes such as:

    World Trade Center workers and rescuers claiming the building imploded as if with detonations

    Hmmm, how do you think most laypeople would describe the catastrophic failure of a large building?

    Hint: It looks like a controlled demolition because such failures are exactly what demolitions create… once again people have difficulty separating coincidence and causality.

    Log in to Reply
15. RightWinger

    September 13, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    Well it looks like the AP is finally admitting the truth here! (snicker)

    Dems seek to play down role of public option idea

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....ealth_care

    “WASHINGTON – The White House and its Democratic allies on Sunday tried to play down the role of a government insurance option in health care legislation as the party in power worked to reclaim momentum on President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

    His spokesman described the public option as just one way to achieve Obama’s goal of providing coverage to the estimated 45 uninsured Americans without insurance. His senior adviser contended the White House was ready to accept that Congress would reject the idea, though he, too, said it was an option, not a make-or-break choice.

    Congressional Democrats took care to say the idea, backed by liberals and targeted by conservatives, is not a deal breaker in a debate that has consumed Washington for the summer and shows now sign of abating.”

    Of course the writer had omitted the word “millions”, but deep down if Barry only gets coverage for an additional 45 Americans at the cost of destroying our fine health care system, he’ll still consider that a job well done.

    Of course the only reason this article saw the light of day today was because the Rats are fretting over seeing that 1-2 million lot of real Americans showing up in Washington yesterday. :-)

    Log in to Reply
16. Petronius

    September 13, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    The New York Post

    “Betraying Our Dead”

    by Ralph Peters, 13 Sep 2009

    Eight years ago today, our homeland was attacked by fanatical Muslims inspired by Saudi Arabian bigotry. Three thousand American citizens and residents died.

    We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot.

    We’ve learned nothing.

    Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we’ve excused it.

    Instead of killing terrorists, we free them.

    Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.

    Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil — and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

    Instead of insisting that freedom will not be infringed by terrorist threats, we censor works that might offend mass murderers. Radical Muslims around the world can indulge in viral lies about us, but we dare not even publish cartoons mocking them.

    Instead of protecting law-abiding Americans, we reject profiling to avoid offending terrorists. So we confiscate granny’s shampoo at the airport because the half-empty container could hold 3.5 ounces of liquid.

    Instead of insisting that Islamist hatred and religious apartheid have no place in our country, we permit the Saudis to continue funding mosques and madrassahs where hating Jews and Christians is preached as essential to Islam.

    Instead of confronting Saudi hate-mongers, our president bows down to the Saudi king.

    Instead of recognizing the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi cult as the core of the problem, our president blames Israel.

    Instead of asking why Middle Eastern civilization has failed so abjectly, our president suggests that we’re the failures.

    Instead of taking every effective measure to cull information from terrorists, the current administration threatens CIA agents with prosecution for keeping us safe.

    Instead of proudly and promptly rebuilding on the site of the Twin Towers, we’ve committed ourselves to the hopeless, useless task of rebuilding Afghanistan. (Perhaps we should have built a mosque at Ground Zero — the Saudis would’ve funded it.)

    Instead of taking a firm stand against Islamist fanaticism, we’ve made a cult of negotiations — as our enemies pursue nuclear weapons; sponsor terrorism; torture, imprison, rape and murder their own citizens — and laugh at us.

    Instead of insisting that Islam must become a religion of responsibility, our leaders in both parties continue to bleat that “Islam’s a religion of peace,” ignoring the curious absence of Baptist suicide bombers.

    Instead of requiring new immigrants to integrate into our society and conform to its public values, we encourage and subsidize anti-American, woman-hating, freedom-denying bigotry in the name of toleration.

    Instead of pursuing our enemies to the ends of the earth, we help them sue us.

    We’ve dishonored our dead and whitewashed our enemies. A distinctly unholy alliance between fanatical Islamists abroad and a politically correct “elite” in the US has reduced 9/11 to the status of a non-event, a day for politicians to preen about how little they’ve done.

    We’ve forgotten the shock and the patriotic fury Americans felt on that bright September morning eight years ago. We’ve forgotten our identification with fellow citizens leaping from doomed skyscrapers. We’ve forgotten the courage of airline passengers who would not surrender to terror.

    We’ve forgotten the men and women who burned to death or suffocated in the Pentagon. We’ve forgotten our promises, our vows, our commitments.

    We’ve forgotten what we owe our dead and what we owe our children. We’ve even forgotten who attacked us.

    We have betrayed the memory of our dead. In doing so, we betrayed ourselves and our country. Our troops continue to fight — when they’re allowed to do so — but our politicians have surrendered.

    Are we willing to let the terrorists win?

    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/o.....C1UbEdUfsO

    Brilliant.

    Log in to Reply
    • proreason

      September 13, 2009 at 7:31 pm

      “but our politicians have surrendered.”

      Not really.

      They have simply acknowledged who they really represent.
17. sheehanjihad

    September 13, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    If Obama would read this off his teleprompter, then back it up by sacking Congress en masse, and apologizing to the American People for being a tool of organized socialists, THEN we would have a president, and a man. As it is, we have neither.

    That post Petronius put up should be the required reading at schools, and those in the seats of power should have to answer publically why everything above is shamefully true. Selfish prick politicians have allowed Islam to gain a foothold…and they should be forced to answer for their treason some day before a court of Americans.

    I dont know if I am the only one who thinks this, but the fact that there still is a gaping hole at ground zero 8 years later festers like a weeping open wound on the will of our nation, succumbing to the virus and microbes called political correctness and politicians trying to pay back billions in lobbyist’s bribes, and special interest groups trying to make it a site of blathering apology for deserving the attack.

    I would rather have seen, in less than two years, two brand new and identical towers standing tall in the place of the destroyed ones….only these are 120 stories tall, and huge American flags flying from the masts at the top. THAT!!!!!!!!! THAT is the message the world would have respected.

    not the namby pamby scared weakness that passes for leadership we endure now.

    ( if I had my way, both towers would have 100 foot high middle fingers extended, facing mecca, and situated above a huge lit sign stating “WE WILL NEVER FORGET”…. But I cant)

    Log in to Reply
    • wardmama4

      September 16, 2009 at 7:50 am

      I agree with having rebuilt the Towers immediately. I even had a dream about going there and starting to lay bricks and mortar – to make a point.

      These two-faced, backstabbing, money grubbing lying turncoats who are sitting as the Klownposse in Our House in DC deserve to be shot as the treasonous slime they are – but I will settle for out of public office (all, forever) and a few in jail.

      Those (starting in MA) who turned a blind eye to a drunken killer – started this (although, yes I must admit there have been dirty dealers prior to Ted ‘abridgetoofar’ Kennedy – however I believe the majority either were taken out of office and/or did time in jail) – now it is nigh on impossible as everyone up there seems to have some scandal to hide and so provide CYA for each other.

      Meanwhile the US & We The People are ignored, demeaned, threatened and drained of our passion (intentional), our faith (also intentional) and our hard earned finances/property (oh wait that’s intentional too). And I won’t even go to the demeaning, insulting way 3000 innocent American dead were ‘(dis)honored’ last Friday.

      What is missing with the obviously clueless left and stupid masses – if there isn’t a resolution that keeps the US safe, financially viable and culturally the same – it will lead to war – whether from within or from outside. And people who shove their idiot heads into the pc, don’t wanna hear/see/know/speak bad things spineless, gutless girly men and whinny liberalism are going to be the first to go – in either scenario. They will find that money, graft and corruption can not buy you everything – most especially the certain ’something’ that is best defined: ‘ Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ John 15:13
18. BillK

    September 13, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    From FoxNews.com:

    Axelrod Says ‘Tea Party’ Protesters Are ‘Wrong’

    The White House has a message to the tens of thousands of protesters who railed against big government during a rally in Washington Saturday: You’re wrong.

    White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that the protesters, part of the “tea party” movement, do not represent the views of the broader public when it comes to health care reform.

    “I don’t think it’s indicative of the nation’s mood,” Axelrod said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “You know, I don’t think we ought to be distracted by that. My message to them is, they’re wrong.”

    Axelrod said that President Obama has made clear he wants to “build on the system that we have,” dismissing concerns that the president is proposing a large-scale government intervention and claiming broad support for the president’s plan.

    The rally, and others like it, have been billed as “tea parties,” part of a movement that takes its cue from the Boston Tea Party and other imagery from the days of the founding fathers. On Saturday, men wore colonial costumes as they listened to speakers who warned of “judgment day” — Election Day 2010.

    FreedomWorks Foundation, a conservative organization led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, had organized several groups from across the country for the Saturday event, dubbed a “March on Washington.”

    Some demonstrators specifically protested government spending and health care reform plans.

    “I’m Not Your ATM,” one sign said. Another slogan was, “Obamacare makes me sick.”

    Some signs, reflecting the growing intensity of the health care debate, depicted Obama with the mustache of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Many made reference to Obama as a socialist or communist, and another imposed his face on that of the villainous Joker from “Batman.”

    Axelrod suggested Sunday that the more over-the-top demonstrations were representative of a minority view — the kind exhibited at some town hall meetings over the summer. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ers-wrong/

    Wow, the White House is spending a lot of time concentrating on voices that are “representative of a minority.”

    Remember how much time the Bush White House spent responding to Code Pink?

    Neither do I.

    Log in to Reply
19. BillK

    September 13, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    Maureen Dowd jumps on the “Wilson is a racist” bandwagon.

    From FoxNews:

    White House Dismisses Dowd Claim That Wilson Outburst Was Race-Based

    The White House on Sunday dismissed a claim by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd that administration critics like Rep. Joe Wilson, who called President Obama a liar during his health care address to Congress, are motivated by race.

    Wilson, speaking on “FOX News Sunday,” also denied the allegation.

    “No, no,” the South Carolina Republican said when asked if Obama’s skin color was an issue for him. “Hey, I respect the president. … I have a great respect for the Obama family.”

    Dowd wrote in her column that Wilson’s outburst Wednesday — when he shouted, You lie,” at the president for claiming his health care reform plan would not cover illegal immigrants — convinced her that racial angst is the underlying motive among Obama critics like Wilson.

    “I’ve been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer … had much to do with race,” she wrote. “But Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted ‘liar’ at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.”

    Dowd wrote that Wilson “clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber.”

    Asked about the claim, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said race is not the factor.

    “I don’t think the president believes that people are upset because of the color of his skin,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think people are upset because on Monday we celebrate the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse that caused a financial catastrophe unlike anything we’ve ever seen.” …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ace-based/

    I guess Wilson and the GOP should have just booed Obama instead.

    Of course Dowd would have conveniently forgotten the Dems doing such to Bush.

    Naturally by “denying” it the White House has conveniently publicized Dowd’s remarks beyond her miniscule readership.

    No accident that.

    Log in to Reply
20. BillK

    September 13, 2009 at 8:26 pm

    Remember the stories about how Ford and GM were “ramping up production” to “keep up demand?”

    Remember how I and others warned of what would happen when the free money went away?

    Big shock.

    From the Associated Press:

    Car dealers fight slow sales after end of Clunkers ealers fight slow sales after end of Clunkers

    By Tom Krisher

    YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — As Gene Butman Ford opened its doors Saturday, salesmen outnumbered the shoppers looking at a depleted stock of cars and trucks, and it didn’t appear that many customers were ready to buy.

    Like many dealers across the country, the dealership in Ypsilanti Township, Mich., west of Detroit, is suffering from a Cash for Clunkers hangover, and Sales Manager Paul Grahl isn’t sure when it will end.

    “We’re getting some traffic, but my business is a long way from healthy,” said the longtime salesman. “We suspect it’s going to be 90 days before we get back to any kind of normalcy.”

    The clunkers program lured hundreds of thousands of people to dealers in July and August with government rebates of up to $4,500 to trade in older, inefficient vehicles for newer, more fuel-efficient ones.

    While most dealers are grateful for the boost, they’re paying for it now with fewer customers. The government rebates drew people into the market who otherwise would have kept driving their clunkers due to uncertainty over the sputtering economy. Those customers might have made their purchases later in the year.

    “It was good while it lasted,” said Phil Warren, sales manager at Toyota Direct in Columbus, Ohio. “Now we’re a little bit concerned about what happens next. The program may have just taken a lot of people out of the market.”

    Making matters worse, many dealers depleted their stocks with clunker sales, and automakers have been slow to ramp up production to replenish the lots. Grahl says Ford has built the cars he ordered but mysteriously hasn’t shipped them. So the selection isn’t very good for people who do want to buy.

    “We’ve noticed that,” said Amy Whiting, who with her husband, Frank, was shopping this weekend at a Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealer near Butman Ford. “You drive in the lot and it’s gone.”

    The Whitings, who had trouble finding a Toyota Matrix compact, instead bought a used Pontiac Vibe, a General Motors version of the Matrix built at a soon-to-be-shuttered California factory that’s a joint venture between GM and Toyota.

    Dealers across the country reported sparse selections on their lots as inventories shrunk to near record low levels. At the end of August, GM reported 379,000 cars and trucks in its supply, about half of what it had in August of last year. Ford Motor Co. had 243,000 cars and trucks, down from 461,000 a year ago.

    David Kelleher, who owns two Chrysler dealerships in the Philadelphia area, said he sold out of many products.

    Now, because of low inventory and September being a traditionally slow month, the sales pace has returned to where it was before the clunkers program began.

    “We were already in a really mediocre year,” Kelleher said. “We’re just kind of back into that mode again.”

    Kelleher usually has 350 to 400 vehicles at each of his lots, but said the clunkers program reduced that to around 50. He, too, has ordered replacements and is awaiting their arrival.

    “We’re back into that let’s-wait-and-see mode,” he said. “People aren’t 100 percent sure about the economy yet.”

    Some economists are predicting that clunkers and other stimulus programs will pull the economy out of a recession this quarter. Consumer confidence rose from a reading of 65.7 in August to 70.2 in early September as measured by the University of Michigan-Reuters survey.

    Yet employment is still on the decline. Companies shed 216,000 jobs in August and unemployment rose to 9.7 percent, its highest level since 1983.

    So in many ways, the Whitings, in their mid-20s and both secure in their jobs, represent a large chunk of buyers who remain in the market: They had to buy because their 1997 Plymouth Breeze sedan had so many things go wrong that it wasn’t worth repairing.

    “For us it wasn’t a matter of confidence. It was more practicality,” Frank Whiting said.

    The clunkers program brought a drop in rebates and other sales incentives in August from every major automaker but Hyundai Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. Chrysler had the steepest drop, from $4,604 to $3,405, according to the Edmunds.com automotive Web site. But slow September sales could drive them up again.

    Scott Kesel, owner of a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership in Canandaigua, N.Y., near Rochester, thinks the September sales drop is seasonal as vacations end, students return to school and people focus on new routines.

    “That is always a difficult retail period for us. If you see numbers that suggest the market is down in September, it may be absolutely normal,” he said, adding that he isn’t worried about the rest of the year.

    “I think there’s more demand out there yet, and the right dealers and the right products will bring those customers out.”

    Kesel, like many dealers, still hasn’t been paid for most of his clunker sales. …

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....TE=DEFAULT

    As soon as the manufacturers have to start laying off the workers they foolishly called back, I’m sure we’ll see “Return of Cash for Clunkers set!”

    It’s no different than the way manufacturers now have to offer rebates because people now expect them.

    Why would anyone buy a car now when the Government will inevitably pony up the cash again?

    Log in to Reply
    • proreason

      September 13, 2009 at 8:59 pm

      If for some reason you think something the government proposes is a good idea, take care.

      Try to think of something NEW from the government (i.e., not something withdrawn, like taxes or welfare) in the past 40 years that has helped the country.

      Other than Space Exploration, it’s hard to think of one, and even that one is controversial.

      If there are any, I’ll bet they are really small.

      Update: I thought of one, but it started 50 years ago. The interstate highway system. As far as I can tell, the benefit of that effort has outweighed the cost.
21. Rusty Shackleford

    September 13, 2009 at 11:39 pm

    From the “Wow, didn’t see that coming” department:

    Obama lobbying rules having unintended effects: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....a_lobbying

    By Andrea Shalal-Esa Andrea Shalal-esa – Sun Sep 13, 2:58 pm ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s new special interest rules are having unexpected consequences with some lobbyists giving up their formal registrations and finding other ways to influence policy as they try to maintain access to key agencies or hope for future government jobs.

    Congressional aides, industry executives and watchdog groups say the rules have also slowed Obama’s ability to fill key government jobs, eliminated some highly qualified candidates and kept away some others who worry tougher “revolving door” rules could tie their hands in the future.

    “The president’s executive order isn’t working the way they planned,” said one top Washington industry lobbyist, who asked not to be identified, given the sensitivity of the subject.

    He said he personally knew of several companies and non-profit groups who had filed papers with Congress terminating the lobbyist status of people on their payrolls after realizing that they were being shut out.

    Reading the rules narrowly, even he could deregister and leave the actual “lobbying” to others on his staff, said the lobbyist, but quickly added he had no intention to do that.

    Obama’s January 21 executive order on ethics bans lobbyists from working in an agency they previously lobbied for two years, and bans any lobbying of high-level government officials for the rest of the administration if an appointee leaves.

    The administration in May tightened rules that banned lobbyists from speaking with administration officials about specific economic stimulus projects, to include oral communication by anyone, not just lobbyists.

    The White House maintains it has filled more jobs faster than any other administration in recent history and says that its efforts to pry loose the influence of special interests in Washington are starting to show results.

    Norm Eisen, special council to the president for ethics and government reform, says the administration will continue to review lobbying rules and remains convinced that there is always more than one qualified candidate for any job.

    “We’re going to keep working on those loopholes,” he said, although he declined to give any details about further plans.

    —–Yet another “Homer Simpson Moment” from our leaders in Washington DC.

    Log in to Reply
22. Rusty Shackleford

    September 14, 2009 at 12:11 am

    Kanye West Has Truly Lost It This Time http://new.music.yahoo.com/blo.....this-time/
    Posted 11 minutes ago by Billy Johnson, Jr. in Hip-Hop Media Training

    You know that saying, it takes a village to raise a child?

    Apparently, Kanye’s village has failed him. He obviously doesn’t have a real friend in the world. There does not appear to be anyone who can get through to him, to make him understand that he needs to curb his obnoxious behavior.

    I thought it was a joke when Kanye showed up on the MTV Video Music Awards stage next to Taylor Swift, right in the middle of her acceptance speech for Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me.” It was the first Moon Man for the 19-year-old country starlet, who has become an equally huge star in the pop world.

    “I always dreamed about what it would be like to win one of these one day,” Taylor said with surprise. “I never thought it would happen.”

    As Taylor continued, Kanye interrupted, saying he thought Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video was wrongly overlooked. “Hey Taylor, I’m really happy for you, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.”

    Taylor looked humiliated. I felt humiliated for her. The audience booed him, and gave her a standing ovation.

    ——-I…….just don’t know what to say.

    Log in to Reply
    • caligirl9

      September 14, 2009 at 1:22 am

      But it’s okay, it was just an oppressed black man getting even with a little white girl.
      Had this been a white guy interrupting Beyonce, the good reverends and even TOTUS would be calling for his head and a public apology and a donation to the NAACP or ACORN.
      I can’t stand Kanye West’s music anyway. Ick.
    • Liberals Make Great Speedbumps

      September 14, 2009 at 9:35 am

      “-I…….just don’t know what to say.”

      I know what to say…….nigger! He’s a living, breathing definition of one.
    • Liberals Demise

      September 17, 2009 at 10:32 am

      But if a white performer had done that to a black……..OOOOooooo……. the whole of the inner cities would burn!!
23. caligirl9

    September 14, 2009 at 10:51 am

    I received an e-mail from a pet wellness group I subscribe to. That e-mail mentioned that yet another “czar” was oconfirmed, and this one looks like a kook. (Like I’m surprised?)

    This one is Cass Sunstein, whose title is “Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.” Six Republicans defected to the dark side to confirm the guy.

    Here’s a bit more info on this guy (from Examiner,com)…

    • Will be responsible for reviewing draft regulations and assessing their costs and benefits

    • Is a Harvard Law School professor; prior to that, was a professor at the Univ. of Chicago Law School (1981-2008)

    • Academic specialties: constitutional law, administrative law, and regulatory policy

    • Obama: “Cass is not only a valued advisor, he is a dear friend”

    • Known for advancing a field called “law and behavioral economics” that seeks to shape law and policy around the way research shows people actually behave; though embraced by conservatives, critics say it fails to account for the sometimes less-than-rational aspects of human behavior.

    • In his 2002 book, Republic.com, discussed the drawbacks of limitless choices on the Internet that allow people to seek out only like-minded people and opinions that merely fortify their own views; he talked about the idea of the government requiring sites to link to opposing views. He later came to realize it was a “bad idea.”

    • In his 2004 book, Animal Rights, suggested that animals ought to be able to bring suit, with private citizens acting as their representatives, to ensure that animals are not treated in a way that violates current law.

    • In a 2007 speech at Harvard he called for banning hunting in the U.S.

    http://www.examiner.com/x-1414.....-defectors

    http://www.examiner.com/x-4525.....bama-leans

    So make sure your pet’s food bowl is always full, and the cat’s litter box is clean, or he or she will retain an attorney and sue you. I love my cats, I feed them before I feed myself, but oh brother. Now I gotta worry that they will find an attorney somehow and demand ultra-premium food versus the premium stuff I get for them now.

    It’s very sad what this nation has become in such a short time—a laughingstock.

    Log in to Reply
    • pdsand

      September 14, 2009 at 7:57 pm

      I had a friend who said that in Boulder, CO you have to register as your pet’s legal guardian rather than its owner.
24. Rusty Shackleford

    September 14, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    Jesse Jackson tells SC bailout hasn’t created jobs

    he Associated Press
    Posted: Monday, Sep. 14, 2009
    http://www.charlotteobserver.c.....46979.html

    NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. The Rev. Jesse Jackson has told a South Carolina audience that the federal bailout has failed to create jobs in America.

    The Post and Courier of Charleston reported that Jackson spoke with church members before delivering the sermon at Charity Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston on Sunday.

    The Greenville native says the nation has had a transfusion with the Wall Street bailout, while the job market continues to hemorrhage.

    Jackson says there should be a plan to link bailing out banks with putting America back to work.

    The longtime civil rights leader also said he supports President Obama’s public health-insurance option, which he said would be less expensive than private plans. Jackson says most uninsured Americans can’t afford coverage after paying for food and rent.

    —–Maybe we should cut Barry’s nuts off, now.

    Log in to Reply
25. BillK

    September 14, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    Paperwork delays in Iraq.

    From a disappointed Associated Press:

    Iraq shoe thrower’s release delayed

    BAGHDAD — The brother of the Iraqi reporter jailed for throwing his shoes at former President George W. Bush says the man will not be released Monday as planned due to paperwork processing delays.

    Muntadhar al-Zeidi’s family had gathered at dawn outside an Iraqi army base in central Baghdad where he was expected to be released from prison.

    After waiting more than five hours, his brother Dargham said he received a phone call from al-Zeidi telling him he would not be released until Tuesday because of the delays.

    The family said it will stage a sit-in outside the base Tuesday until he is released, and called for other Iraqis to join them. …

    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/i.....F4piQtDBVO

    The article notes:

    Al-Zeidi’s act of protest last December made the little-known reporter an instant hero across the Arab world.

    Not to mention in the White House, the halls of Congress and to all the loons on HuffPo.

    Log in to Reply
26. Rusty Shackleford

    September 14, 2009 at 3:07 pm

    A little bit o’ diss…and a little bit o’ dat.

    From the staunch and fearless leader of ACORN (Africans Concerned Over Republican Nationals)

    http://acorn.org/index.php?id=.....bb5331a517

    Statement from Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer, ACORN Regarding Recent News Reports
    September 12, 2009

    The relentless attacks on ACORN’s members, its staff and the policies and positions we promote are unprecedented. An international entertainment conglomerate, disguising itself as a “news” agency (Fox), has expended millions, if not tens of millions of dollars, in their attempt to destroy the largest community organization of Black, Latino, poor and working families in the country. It is not coincidence that the most recent attacks have been launched just when health care reform is gaining traction. It is clear they’ve had these tapes for months.

    We are their Willy Horton for 2009. We are the boogeyman for the right-wing and its echo chambers. If ACORN did not exist, the right-wing would have needed to create us in order to achieve their agenda, their missions, their ideal, retrograde America. This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen. I am appalled and angry; I cannot and I will not defend the actions of the workers depicted in the video, who have since been terminated. But it is clear that the videos are doctored, edited, and in no way the result of the fabricated story being portrayed by conservative activist “filmmaker” O’Keefe and his partner in crime. And, in fact, a crime it was – our lawyers believe a felony – and we will be taking legal action against Fox and their co-conspirators.

    —–Funny how when the lefties do it, it’s “social justice” but when the right does it, it’s somehow ” a crime”.

    —–Oh boo freakin hoo.

    Log in to Reply
27. canary

    September 14, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    Pakistan ignoring terrorist group’s new base
    Even as the government battles militants in northwest, it overlooks a 4.5-acre compound in the south.
    By Saeed Shah McClatchy Newspapers 09/13/2009

    BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan — A Pakistani terrorist group that’s allied with al-Qaida and sends jihadists to Afghanistan to fight U.S. and government troops is building a huge new base in full view of the authorities in Pakistan’s most heavily populated province, according to locals and officials.

    Jaish,…already has a headquarters and a seminary in the town’s center. … new facility, surrounded by a high brick-and-mud wall, has a tiled swimming pool, stables for more than a dozen horses, an ornamental fountain, and swings and a slide for children.

    ….jihadist inscriptions painted on the inside walls…”Jaish-e-Mohammad will return,”…implying further attacks against the Indian capital.

    Riding is symbolically appealing for jihadists, who romanticize about riding into battle on horseback. Another inscription inside the compound says, in Urdu, “When God was about to create horses, he told the wind: ‘I’m going to create a creature which will help my friends and bring disaster to my enemies.’ ”

    … After the attack on Mumbai last year, it emerged that the terrorists had undertaken extensive water training.

    Jaish — and Pakistani officials — said the facility is simply a small farm to keep cattle.

    … targets are abroad: in the West, in Afghanistan or in Pakistan’s archenemy, India.

    Western militants of Pakistani origin have joined Jaish, including Rashid Rauf,…key contact between al-Qaida and the men behind a 2006 plot to blow up airliners; Shehzad Tanweer, one of the 2005 bombers of the London transport system; and Omar Sheikh, who was convicted of the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

    Bahawalpur also serves as a safe “RR” stopover for jihadists battling in Afghanistan, Western intelligence officers said.

    …The officer, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Jaish never should have been allowed to buy the land.

    http://www.twincities.com/nati.....source=rss

    Using children as shields, or we could just bomb it. Just read an view by
    an India’s war expert in Japan’s news, heavily critizing Obama’s weakening U.S. military weakening in winning with Obama’s new game rules “bribe, rebuild, and run”.

    Log in to Reply
28. canary

    September 14, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    Al-Qaida Cell Takes Responsibility for Lebanese Rocket Sept 14 2009

    (IsraelNN.com) The Zayid al-Jarrah division of the Abdallah Azzam brigades took responsibility Monday morning for the firing of Katyusha rockets from southern Lebanon into Israel over the weekend. The terror group is a branch of al-Qaida…

    The organization claims that it fired the rockets in protest of Israel’s “siege on Gaza” and it protests Israel’s prevention of worshippers to pray at the al-Aska mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

    The terrorist organization is named after Zayid Samir Jarah, the Lebanese-born terrorist who hijacked and piloted a plane which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.

    http://www.israelnationalnews......spx/171020

    Log in to Reply
29. canary

    September 14, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    AP Al-Qaida Web sites down ahead of 9/11 anniversary Sept 09 2009

    – A U.S.-based group monitoring militant Web sites said Friday that jihadist forums have been experiencing technical problems on the eve of Sept. 11, finally going offline a day before the 8th anniversary of the al-Qaida attack on the U.S.

    According to SITE, members of other jihadist forums expressed annoyance and “confusion” at the inability to access the Web sites and forums where they share updates and messages.

    The group over the years also has appeared to increasingly turn toward online forums,…

    … al-Qaida’s media arm as a powerful tool for rallying the network’s followers and sympathizers, churning out videos and audiotapes even though the top leadership is mostly out of touch, hiding in the mountainous border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

    The videos have grown in technical sophistication, featuring computer animations and clips from international television media.

    The Arabic-language sites also have an extensive online following of would-be jihadis who discuss various topics, including the best ways to carry out attacks and which techniques are religiously permissible.

    http://www.physorg.com/news171955961.html

    Log in to Reply
30. canary

    September 14, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    WASHINGTON — Law enforcement agents have raided residences in New York City as part of a terrorism investigation, and are preparing to brief Congress about the investigation.

    New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne confirms that searches were conducted in the borough of Queens on Monday by agents of a joint terrorism task force. He would not discuss the matter further.

    Separately, federal authorities planned to brief senior lawmakers in Congress on the case later Monday.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ism-probe/

    Log in to Reply
    • proreason

      September 14, 2009 at 5:08 pm

      They better not be mean to anybody
    • canary

      September 16, 2009 at 4:07 am

      They are saying Capital Hill gave out leaks, and blew their surveilance, so they acted before they wanted. They need to find out who on Capital Hill gave out the “leaks” (plural) and course that part of the news was scrubbed.
31. canary

    September 14, 2009 at 5:17 pm

    FOXnews Third Videotape Reveals ACORN Assisting ‘Pimp,’ ‘Prostitute’ in Brooklyn, N.Y. Monday , September 14, 2009

    Days after the release of hidden-camera videos led to the firing of four ACORN workers in Baltimore and Washington who assisted an independent filmmaker posing as a pimp to apply for an illegal housing loan for a brothel, a third video has surfaced showing ACORN workers offering the same kind of assistance at the organization’s office in Brooklyn, N.Y.

    As in their previous undercover stings, filmmaker James O’Keefe, 25, and partner Hannah Giles, 20, who posed as a prostitute, received advice from ACORN workers on how to launder their earnings and avoid detection from law enforcement officials while running a prostitution business.

    “You have to find another name for it,” an ACORN employee tells the pair seeking a mortgage in the Brooklyn office. “Honesty is not going to get you the house. You can’t say what you do for a living.”

    In the video posted on BigGovernment.com, which was shot on Aug. 4, O’Keefe tells two ACORN workers that Giles — scantily dressed as a prostitute named “Eden” with partially-exposed undergarments — earns up to $10,000 a month “performing tricks” and tries to obtain housing in the purportedly 18-year-old woman’s name.

    “This is going to be her business, it’s all cash,” O’Keefe says. “She’s gonna have this business in the house with a bunch of girls coming and doing these things, you know, performing tricks and she’s gonna give me the money so I can pay the mortgage. That’s how we want to work it potentially. But no one has to know where the money is coming from.”

    “No,” an ACORN employee responds as another shakes her head in approval.

    The ACORN employees suggest that the purpose of “Eden’s” business remain a secret as they seek to obtain financing.

    “You know, what goes on in the house, we don’t care,” an ACORN worker says on the video. “We just help you with the mortgage.”

    Later on the video, an ACORN worker tells Giles that she needs to say she is a “freelancer” to establish a legitimate line of credit, and she advises the woman to open multiple bank accounts in which she should deposit no more than $500 a week to avoid raising suspicion.

    “Don’t say that you’re a prostitute thing or whatever,” the woman says on the tape, later suggesting that Giles hide her money in a tin buried beneath the home. ” … And you don’t tell a single soul but yourself where it is.”

    Another ACORN worker reminds the pair that prostitution is illegal, but stops well short of showing the duo the door.

    “Don’t get caught,” the ACORN staffer says on the tape. “It’s against the law what you’re doing and there’s a chance you’ll get caught.”…..

    The organization’s chief organizer, Bertha Lewis, released a statement on Saturday saying that while she could not defend the actions of the terminated workers, O’Keefe may have committed a felony during the sting operation. She also threatened legal action against FOX News, which has aired the videos.
    …..,” Lewis said. “And, in fact, a crime it was — our lawyers believe a felony — and we will be taking legal action against Fox and their co-conspirators,” she said.

    O’Keefe said he was merely trying to hold the ACORN offices accountable…

    “If they making money and they are underage, then you shouldn’t be letting anybody know anyway,” the ACORN staffer said, and laughed. “It’s illegal…You talk too much. Don’t give up no information you’re not asked.”

    Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., saying the videos suggest multiple incidents of tax fraud, has called for a hearing to investigate ACORN’s tax filing assistance programs.

    “In light of the apparent flagrant and willful attempts to suborn tax fraud, I … (am seeking) a hearing of the Oversight Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee as soon as practicable to investigate ACORN’s activities,” he said Friday.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0.....0000:b0:z0

    Log in to Reply
    • Liberals Demise

      September 14, 2009 at 5:32 pm

      WHY……O…..WHY………does the criminal organization continue to run under the guise of a 501c3 Tax Exempt status?

      Where in the HELL is the Justice Department? Where have all the ADULTS gone?
    • Rusty Shackleford

      September 14, 2009 at 5:34 pm

      I’ll bet Bertha is just as ticked off as a community organizer can get…and quite possibly wondering “How menny mo’ of deez videos day gots?”

      Oh it doesn’t bode well for HATECORN.
    • canary

      September 14, 2009 at 6:34 pm

      I also heard today on FOX that Public Schools have been giving money to ACORN, but not sure of the specifics.
32. Rusty Shackleford

    September 14, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....86027.html

    Michael Moore: Newspapers ‘Slit Their Own Throats’

    Filmmaker Michael Moore — who’s been touring the world promoting his new film, “Capitalism: A Love Story” at several international film festivals — argued on Monday that U.S. newspaper publishers have no one to blame but themselves for their declining financial health.

    “These newspapers have slit their own throats,” he said. “Good riddance.” From The Wrap:

    Moore said that newspapers, bought up by corporations in the last generation, have pursued profits at the expense of news gathering. By basing their businesses on advertising over circulation, newspaper owners have neglected their true economic base and core constituency, he said. [...]

    Moore cited newspapers like those in Baltimore or Detroit, his home town, with firing reporters that cover subjects that affect the community.

    —–Of course, the fact that the newspapers only print that which furthers the left agenda has nothing to do with it.

    Log in to Reply
33. Rusty Shackleford

    September 14, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    From the financially adroit AP:

    Obama warns Wall Street not to block tighter regs

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_.....DMQ–

    By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer – 4 mins ago

    NEW YORK – Lecturing Wall Street on its own turf, President Barack Obama warned financial leaders not to use the recovering economy to race back into “reckless behavior” that could cause a new meltdown. He declared that a bailout-weary public will not break their fall again.

    Obama insisted Monday that there is an urgent need for tighter financial regulation, and he cautioned his audience not to try to block it. He spoke on the first anniversary of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and a stark reminder of the financial crisis that spread into a deep recession despite huge federal bailouts of major companies.

    “It is neither right nor responsible after you’ve recovered with the help of your government to shirk your obligation to the goal of wider recovery, a more stable system, and a more broadly shared prosperity,” Obama said in a stern bid to boost his regulation proposals.

    The president’s speech reflected public sentiment that taxpayers were immeasurably harmed from last year’s financial collapse — and that, barring change, it could happen again. As investment giants return to profit, millions of Americans are still coping with unemployment, home foreclosures and retirement portfolios that got washed away in the storm.

    For symbolic emphasis, Obama spoke from venerable Federal Hall on Wall Street.

    “Unfortunately, there are some in the financial industry who are misreading this moment,” Obama told a quiet audience of leaders from the investment sector.

    “So I want them to hear my words,” Obama said. “We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis. … Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences.”

    ——Yes, yes, I hear your words, and I translate them thus: “I want to control the banks, all the money and you”.

    —–PS (Don’t tell Barney about that “reckless behavior and unchecked excess” thing)

    Log in to Reply
34. canary

    September 14, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    ACORN Workers Face Charges of Alleged Voter Registration Fraud in Florida
    The FBI and state authorities were making arrests Wednesday of workers hired to register voters by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
    Cristina Corbin FOXNews.com September 09, 2009

    Federal and state authorities in Miami are still searching for five of the 11 people suspected of falsifying information on hundreds of voter registration cards — including registering the name of the late actor Paul Newman — the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told FOXNews.com Thursday.

    Six people were taken into custody Wednesday as arrest warrants were issued for 11 workers hired by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — or ACORN — on charges of voter registration fraud.

    Florida state attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle said the 11 workers hired to register voters by ACORN in Homestead, Fla., submitted 888 fraudulent names — which included names of people who were already registered voters, fictitious names, and the name of the late actor Paul Newman, who died in Sept. 2008….

    Bell added that the government should do more to modernize the voter registration system, saying ACORN would “prefer that Florida and the United States adopt a more modern voter registration system where getting everyone on the rolls is the government’s job and mission.”

    … under fire in 2007 when Washington State filed felony charges against several paid ACORN employees and supervisors for more than 1,700 fraudulent voter registrations… March 2008… Pennsylvania was sentenced for making 29 phony voter registration forms.

    Click here to read an arrest affidavit.
    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....d-charges/

    Log in to Reply
35. canary

    September 14, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    Breaking: Senate votes to cut off federal funding for ACORN; Update: Child-Whoring Pimp Assistance 7 identified;
    September 14, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
    Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) introduced an amendment to the HUD and Transportation appropriation bill to strip ACORN of all federal funding. A week ago, Johanns wouldn’t have gotten the amendment to the floor. Today, however, after three straight days of BigGovernment.com’s video exposés of ACORN offices in Washington DC, New York City, and Baltimore offering assistance to pimping, tax evasion, and trafficking in underage Salvadorean girls, Johanns not only got his vote — but he got an impressive bipartisan showing. The Senate passed the Johanns amendment 83-7.
    At the beginning of the vote, it appeared that Democrats might resist. Initially, a half-dozen Democrats cast votes in opposition to the amendment. A few more cast votes against it as the rest of the Senate voted, but the tide appeared to shift. More and more Democrats signed onto the amendment, and votes started changing. One male voice could be heard in the chamber saying, “I want to change my vote!” Among those who changed their votes: Tom Udall (D-NM), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Herb Kohl (D-WI).
    The big question will be whether the House follows suit. Nancy Pelosi may not be inclined to let an amendment come to the floor, but James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles may not be done yet, either. A few more of these videos and even Pelosi will have little choice but to slam the door on ACORN. The big test will be whether the Johanns amendment survives a conference committee. This isn’t over yet.
    Update: Thanks to Sean Hackbarth, we have the list of seven nays on the amendment so that the Child-Whoring Pimp Assitance 7 can be publicly identified:
    Dick Durbin (D-IL)
    Roland Burris (D-IL)
    Robert Casey (D-PA)
    Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
    Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
    Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
    Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
    So can we assume that Illinois and Vermont are especially sympathetic to child-whoring pimp assistance?

    A spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said ACORN’S tax status as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization should also be probed.

    Update (Ed): The vote has been posted and can be found here.
    http://hotair.com/archives/200.....for-acorn/

    Log in to Reply
    • Liberals Make Great Speedbumps

      September 15, 2009 at 12:04 am

      The vote changers must have been told by their staff that Andrew Breitbart announced on Fox News that there are even more damning videos yet to come. Glenn Beck is featuring one on his show later today.
36. Petronius

    September 14, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    London Daily Mail

    A Million March to US Capitol to Protest Against “Obama the Socialist”

    by David Gardner, 14 Sep 2009

    As many as one million people flooded into Washington for a massive rally organised by conservatives claiming that President Obama is driving America towards socialism.

    The size of the crowd – by far the biggest protest since the president took office in January – shocked the White House.

    Demonstrators massed outside Capitol Hill after marching down Pennsylvania Avenue waving placards and chanting ‘Enough, enough’. …

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ation.html

    The Daily Mail estimates the September 12th crowd at one million tea-party protesters. Why do we find that, again and again, the British press is on top of US news stories that American journalists ignore / get wrong / gloss over / cover up? Hmmmm?

    Log in to Reply
37. canary

    September 14, 2009 at 7:48 pm

    FoxNews:Obama to Speak on Service at Texas A&M, Home of George H.W. Bush Library
    By Meagan O’Toole-Pitts, The Battalion, Texas A&M Uwire Sep 14 2009

    COLLEGE STATION, Texas — President Obama will hold a presidential forum on community service at Texas A&M University in the George Bush Presidential Library Center Oct. 16. The forum will be hosted by former President George H.W. Bush and the Points of Light Institute.

    “It is a tremendous honor to have the sitting President of the United States on the Texas A&M campus for the second time in less than a year,” Texas A&M Interim President R. Bowen Loftin said… “This speaks volumes…

    According to a White House press release, the event builds upon President Obama’s “United We Serve” call to service, which challenges all Americans to help lay a new foundation for growth in this country by engaging in sustained, meaningful community service.

    … Bush created The Daily Point of Light Award in 1989 honoring volunteer groups around the country.

    “We salute President George H.W. Bush for his continuing dedication to the ‘thousand points of light’ …” Loftin said.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....latestnews

    Log in to Reply
38. Rusty Shackleford

    September 14, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    Senate panel seeks end to F-22 export ban

    http://www.reuters.com/article.....JU20090910

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate panel urged the Air Force on Thursday to start developing an export model of its F-22 Raptor, the most advanced U.S. fighter jet, even as it voted to end U.S. purchases.

    Japan, Israel and Australia have shown interest in buying the supersonic, radar-evading F-22 Raptor, designed to destroy enemy air defenses in the first days of any conflict and clear the way for other missions.

    Foreign sales were banned by a 1998 law aimed at protecting the “stealth” technology and other high-tech features said to have made the F-22 too good for money to buy.

    If enacted, the measure adopted by the Senate Appropriations Committee would let the Defense Department prepare a modified F-22 that protects classified and sensitive information, technologies and U.S. war fighting capabilities.

    “The committee urges the Air Force to start this effort within the funds appropriated in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force, for the F-22 aircraft,” a report accompanying the bill said.

    Neither Lockheed Martin nor the Air Force had any immediate comment.

    Creating an export version would preserve U.S. jobs and an option to buy more F-22s later, without having to pay the full cost of restarting production.

    The U.S. Air Force has estimated Japan would have to spend as much as $2.3 billion for development of its own version of the Raptor. For years, Tokyo has sought to buy two squadrons of the F-22, possibly 40 planes, a request that has become more compelling amid tensions with neighboring North Korea.

    The bill, adopted 30 to 0 in 15 minutes without debate, largely backed program cuts sought by President Barack Obama. Overall, it provided $636.3 billion for defense in fiscal 2010, which starts October 1.

    The measure would kill a combat search-and-rescue helicopter, a presidential helicopter and a missile-defense project called Kinetic Energy Interceptor.

    It includes $128.2 billion for “overseas contingency operations,” primarily to keep fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    The legislation would cap the U.S. F-22 “Raptor” fleet at 187, down from an original Air Force Cold War-era plan to buy as many as 750 of the air-superiority fighters.

    Defense Secretary Robert Gates, announcing plans to terminate the F-22 on April 6, said doing so was “not a close call.” He said the military should gear up more for wars such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    The bill, which must be reconciled with the House of Representatives’ version, provided no funds for a second, interchangeable engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

    The alternate engine, which Obama considers wasteful, would be veto bait, the White House has said. In July, the House approved $560 million for the second engine development as part of its 2010 defense appropriations bill, despite the veto threat.
    General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Group PLC, partners in the second engine, have said they are confident a House-Senate conference committee will preserve competition for the F-35 engine.

    Sen. Daniel Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat who chairs the appropriations committee and its defense subpanel, told reporters he did not know how the second engine’s fate would play out.

    “Apparently the Senate is not for it, so we’ll go into conference on that basis. But as always, my mind is open,” he said.

    The Senate panel put rival United Technologies Corp’s Pratt & Whitney unit, maker of a fully funded engine for the F-35, a step closer to a monopoly over a projected $100 billion market.

    At issue is the engine and its aftermarket for three variants of the F-35, a single-engine Lockheed Martin fighter in early stages of production. It would replace at least 13 types of warplanes, initially for 11 nations.

    The Senate committee, in sync with recommendations made Wednesday by its defense subpanel, broke with Obama on Boeing Co’s C-17 cargo plane. It added $2.5 billion to sustain the production line by buying 10 more in 2010. The administration wants to end the C-17 program without further purchases.

    The House approved $674 million in its defense appropriations bill to buy three more C-17s.

    The full Senate could vote on the defense bill as early as next week. House and Senate representatives then meet to mesh their legislation before it is sent to the White House. The House-Senate conference is on track to take place by the end of this month, said Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the Senate panel’s top Republican.

    (Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Andre Grenon)

    Log in to Reply
39. BillK

    September 14, 2009 at 11:17 pm

    From the terrorist sympathizers at Reuters:

    New York homes raided over suspected al Qaeda link

    By Edith Honan

    NEW YORK, Sept 14 (Reuters) – New York City police and the FBI raided homes in the borough of Queens early on Monday as part of an investigation that has tracked a man suspected of sympathizing with al Qaeda, officials said.

    NYPD and FBI officials provided few details, calling it part of an ongoing investigation by a joint terrorism task force, but members of U.S. Congress briefed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was no imminent danger.

    Authorities launched the raids after a suspect they had under surveillance met with people in Queens, the ethnically diverse borough across the East River from Manhattan.

    Neighbors at one apartment building, where the home of five Afghan men was searched, described an operation in which heavily armed FBI agents arrived in a phalanx of unmarked vehicles and stormed the building in the early morning hours.

    “It was scary. I wasn’t going to stop the FBI and ask them what was going on,” said Melissa Khan, 28.

    At another building, agents took away four Bosnians — a couple and their two adult children — from an apartment they have shared for three years, said John Choe, an aide to City Councilman John Liu and a candidate for the seat in Queens that Liu is vacating.

    At least two of the Bosnians appeared to have returned home by Monday night. A man who answered the door there refused to speak to reporters. A neighbor who identified herself as Carol Lechner said she believed a son of the couple, a student at Queens College, remained in detention.

    At the home of the five Afghanis, a man who identified himself as Amanulla Akvari, a 30-year-old taxi driver, said the FBI raided the apartment at 2:30 a.m. (1630 GMT)

    He was brought in for questioning and released and said he had no idea why his home was targeted, adding that he believed one of his roommates was arrested.

    “There was nothing imminent, and they (investigators) are very good now at tracking potentially dangerous actions and this was preventive,” said Charles Schumer, a U.S. Senator from New York who was among those briefed by FBI officials. …

    http://www.reuters.com/article.....8020090915

    But wait – if there was “nothing imminent” and this was “preventative” haven’t their civil rights been somehow violated?

    Expect the ACLU to be all over this by the morning…

    Log in to Reply
    • Rusty Shackleford

      September 14, 2009 at 11:23 pm

      BUSH’s FAULT!!!!!!
40. BillK

    September 14, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    Update on the China tire trade dispute I reported above, a blatant payoff to the AFL-CIO.

    China has now started to retaliate.

    From the New York Times (sorry…):

    China Moves to Retaliate Against U.S. Tire Tariff

    By Keith Bradsher

    HONG KONG — China unexpectedly increased pressure Sunday on the United States in a widening trade dispute, taking the first steps toward imposing tariffs on American exports of automotive products and chicken meat in retaliation for President Obama’s decision late Friday to levy tariffs on tires from China.

    The Chinese government’s strong countermove followed a weekend of nationalistic vitriol against the United States on Chinese Web sites in response to the tire tariff. “The U.S. is shameless!” said one posting, while another called on the Chinese government to sell all of its huge holdings of Treasury bonds.

    The impact of the dispute extends well beyond tires, chickens and cars. Both governments are facing domestic pressure to take a tougher stand against the other on economic issues. But the trade battle increases political tensions between the two nations even as they try to work together to revive the global economy and combat mutual security threats, like the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

    Mr. Obama’s decision to impose a tariff of up to 35 percent on Chinese tires is a signal that he plans to deliver on his promise to labor unions that he would more strictly enforce trade laws, especially against China, which has become the world’s factory while the United States has lost millions of manufacturing jobs. The trade deficit with China was a record $268 billion in 2008.

    China had initially issued a fairly formulaic criticism of the tire dispute Saturday. But rising nationalism in China is making it harder for Chinese officials to gloss over American criticism.

    “All kinds of policymaking, not just trade policy, is increasingly reactive to Internet opinion,” said Victor Shih, a Northwestern University specialist in economic policy formulation.

    Eswar Prasad, a former China division chief at the International Monetary Fund, said that rising trade tensions between the United States and China could become hard to control. They could cloud the Group of 20 meeting of leaders of industrialized and fast-growing emerging nations in Pittsburgh on Sept. 24 and 25, and perhaps affect Mr. Obama’s visit to Beijing in November.

    “This spat about tires and chickens could turn ugly very quickly,” Mr. Prasad said.

    China exported $1.3 billion in tires to the United States in the first seven months of 2009, while the United States shipped about $800 million in automotive products and $376 million in chicken meat to China, according to data from Global Trade Information Services in Columbia, S.C.

    For many years, American politicians have been able to take credit domestically for standing up to China by taking largely symbolic measures against Chinese exports in narrowly defined categories. In the last five years, the Commerce Department has restricted Chinese imports of goods as diverse as bras and oil well equipment.

    For the most part, Chinese officials have grumbled but done little, preferring to preserve a trade relationship in which the United States buys $4.46 worth of Chinese goods for every $1 worth of American goods sold to China.

    Now, the delicate equilibrium is being disturbed.

    China’s commerce ministry announced Sunday that it would investigate “certain imported automotive products and certain imported chicken meat products originating from the United States” to determine if they were being subsidized or “dumped” below cost in the Chinese market. A finding of subsidies or dumping would allow China to impose tariffs on these imports.

    The ministry did not mention the tire dispute in its announcement, portraying the investigations as “based on the laws of our country and on World Trade Organization rules.”

    But the timing of the announcement — on a weekend and just after the tire decision in Washington — sent an unmistakable message of retaliation. The official Xinhua news agency Web site prominently linked its reports on the tire dispute and the Chinese investigations. …

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09......html?_r=1

    As long as the Unions get their payoff, who cares what happens to the balance of the economy?

    Log in to Reply
41. BillK

    September 14, 2009 at 11:35 pm

    From the New York Times, the headline is a classic:

    U.S. Is Finding Its Role in Business Hard to Unwind

    By Edmund L. Andrews and David E. Sanger

    WASHINGTON — When President Obama travels to Wall Street on Monday to speak from Federal Hall, where the founders once argued bitterly over how much the government should control the national economy, he is likely to cast himself as a “reluctant shareholder” in America’s biggest industries and financial institutions.

    But one year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers set off a series of federal interventions, the government is the nation’s biggest lender, insurer, automaker and guarantor against risk for investors large and small.

    Between financial rescue missions and the economic stimulus program, government spending accounts for a bigger share of the nation’s economy — 26 percent — than at any time since World War II. The government is financing 9 out of 10 new mortgages in the United States. If you buy a car from General Motors, you are buying from a company that is 60 percent owned by the government.

    If you take out a car loan or run up your credit card, the chances are good that the government is financing both your debt and that of your bank.

    And if you buy life insurance from the American International Group, you will be buying from a company that is almost 80 percent federally owned.

    Mr. Obama plans to argue, his aides say, that these government intrusions will be temporary. At the same time, however, he will push hard for an increased government role in overseeing the financial system to prevent a repeat of the excesses that caused the crisis.

    “These were extraordinary provisions of support, not part of a permanent program,” said Lawrence H. Summers, director of the National Economic Council at the White House. “You’re seeing a process of exit every day. It’s a process that’s going to take quite some time, but the prospects are much brighter today than they were nine months ago.” …

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09.....ig.html?em

    Riiiight.

    Does anyone really believe Democrats will give up top-down control of these businesses no matter how heavy the legislation they put into effect?

    You need to read the balance of the article to read guffaw-provoking lines like:

    Far from eagerly micromanaging the companies the government owns, Mr. Obama and his economic team have often labored mightily to avoid exercising control even when government money was the only thing keeping some companies afloat.

    Only New York Times reporters could write this sentence with a straight face, and even then they were probably howling at the terminal as they typed it…

    Obama didn’t micromanage companies. Of course not.

    Ask Rick Wagoner.

    Log in to Reply
    • Rusty Shackleford

      September 15, 2009 at 12:01 am

      Bill, you’ve struck upon one of the only truths left in our nation when it comes to things like this. That truth being that the newsies, no matter how slanted they are, cannot resist lending their 9th grade creative writing skills to a story that actually tells it like it is. No real filtering is required, just word omission here and there and get rid of the flowery speech and you’ll end up with the truth. Therefore, “Far from eagerly micromanaging the companies the government owns, Mr. Obama and his economic team have often labored mightily to avoid exercising control even when government money was the only thing keeping some companies afloat.”, becomes “Micromanaging the companies the government owns, Mr Obama and his team exercise control when government money keeps companies afloat”.

      It’s quite simple, really and something my (very good) English teachers used to do to my writing to make it better.

      By simply inserting color and fluff, the sentence becomes longer, and for some writers, they think it is more interesting that way. But they are often incorrect and only serve to wear out a computer keyboard.

      So, the MSM has been constantly feeding us crap, and whether they care to admit it or not, they know it and yet consider themselves some green-tinted, visor-wearing newshound who is working under the strict regime of Lou Grant and making the world a better place.

      But, I fall back on one of my all time favorite lines, “I may not be the sharpest guy on the planet but I know crap when I hear it.”

      You’re right, it makes you wonder if it even sounded right in their head before it went to their fingers. They obviously never had parents who said, “Do you even HEAR yourself? How can you believe it?”

      There used to be great reporters…people I used to love to read, even if I didn’t like the story they wrote, or them personally. But they had literary skills, talent and even flair. Nowadays, we run into run-on sentences, non-sequiturs, dangling participles, and the spelling errors…well.

      Thanks for finding that article. And the funniest part is that it took TWO of them to write it.
42. Rusty Shackleford

    September 15, 2009 at 12:11 am

    Rules on Wilson’s outburst open to interpretation

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....e_heckling

    By BEN EVANS, Associated Press Writer Ben Evans, Associated Press Writer – 52 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – Republican Rep. Joe Wilson may have violated good taste when he yelled “You lie!” at President Barack Obama last week, and Democrats are moving forward with a resolution scolding him for it. But did he break any specific House rules?

    The answer is more complicated than it seems, and the rules that some initially cited don’t appear to apply.

    The House generally requires its members to abstain from personal insults during debate. Over the years, the institution has developed a long list of precedents deemed out of order, including insults directed at the president.

    Some are downright odd: You can’t call the president “a little bugger” or refer to any alleged sexual misconduct, for example. Others are more predictable: Don’t call the president a liar or accuse him of lying.

    Democrats initially cited the latter precedent in saying Wilson’s outburst was a violation.

    But Wilson, R-S.C., could get off on a technicality on that score because Congress was meeting in a special joint session for Obama’s speech on Wednesday, not under the House’s normal rules of debate.

    “It doesn’t violate House rules because the House wasn’t in (normal) session,” said Donald Wolfensberger, director of the Congress Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

    Wolfensberger noted that under regular rules, House lawmakers wouldn’t be allowed to stand and cheer as they frequently do at presidential speeches before Congress.

    House Parliamentarian John Sullivan agreed that the House’s rules on debate probably don’t apply to the incident. But he and others said the House has wide latitude in interpreting its general code of conduct that says “a lawmaker shall conduct himself at all times in a manner which shall reflect creditably on the House of Representatives.”

    A lawmaker doesn’t have to violate a specific rule to get scolded.

    “This probably is not a question of decorum in debate as much as a question of decorum generally,” Sullivan said.

    Wilson, a conservative who won a 2001 special election to earn his seat in Congress, apologized to the White House and in a written public statement shortly after hurling the insult last week. But he has refused to apologize on the House floor.

    At first, Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that everyone just move on. But Pelosi changed her mind after many Democrats insisted that Wilson apologize directly to the House, saying the outburst was at least a general breach of decorum. They argued that allowing it to stand without some formal rebuke would create a bad precedent.

    Pelosi and other party leaders confirmed Monday night that they would proceed with a resolution. Democratic aides said it probably would be introduced Tuesday afternoon, with a vote later in the day. Aides initially said it would be introduced by fellow South Carolinian Rep. James Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House, but officials said later Monday it was undecided who would introduce the measure.

    The aides said the resolution would focus broadly on Wilson’s conduct. The aides spoke anonymously because no public announcement had been made.

    Wilson meanwhile, has accused Democrats of playing politics with the incident, and House GOP leaders are backing him. Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he would vote against the measure.

    Wilson’s unusual outburst came as Obama said illegal immigrants would not be eligible for low-cost health care.

    —–In point of fact, Wilson was correct. Obama was lying. So Wilson simply called a spade a spade.

    Log in to Reply
43. canary

    September 15, 2009 at 4:23 am

    Here is a pretty good Youtube on Washington 9/12 March. Shame Bristish news reported up to 2 million protesters.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related

    I am looking forward to Sweetness n Light bloggers telling us more.

    My states largest Tea Party I guessed about 5000 (some claimed more) and only a couple of hundred protested against us, but there were democrats on the 9/12 er’s side. Course media did hatchet job just as they did at the first.

    Log in to Reply
44. canary

    September 15, 2009 at 4:32 am

    The NEA contributed over 13 million dollars to ACORN. It is illegal to give teacher’s dues to political organizations, though teachers can send “separate donation” for politicans. Doubtful, teachers will do anything about this, do to fear of retaliaton

    http://www.washingtonexaminer......79227.html

    Log in to Reply
45. canary

    September 15, 2009 at 4:52 am

    Obama Calls Kanye West a ‘Jackass’ President lashes out at the hip-hop artist during an interview after uproar at MTV awards

    FOXNews.com Tuesday, September 15, 2009

    President Barack Obama called hip-hop musician Kanye West a “jackass” on Monday in an off-the-record comment during an interview with CNBC, an ABC News anchor reported on Twitter.

    Obama was apparently weighing in on an interruption that occurred the night before during the MTV Video Music Awards where West grabbed the microphone from teen country singer Taylor Swift during her award acceptance speech to announce his belief that Beyonce had a better music video.

    “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential,” “Nightline” co-anchor Terry Moran wrote Monday evening… the Internet quickly became abuzz over the stunning remark published on the microblogging site.

    An ABC spokesperson said, “In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview,” Politico reported. “This was done before our editorial process had been completed…We apologize to the White House….”

    The White House had no immediate comment on the matter, Politico reported.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....t-jackass/

    Great to know the news gives Obama alot of doctoring and scrubbing.
    Obama, Kanye, Van Jones, define “uppity”. Hey buster, stay away from our kids

    Log in to Reply
    • Eagle334th

      September 16, 2009 at 12:21 am

      A bit more info on how that ‘comment’ was come-by..

      http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32.....ite_house/

      Excerpt:

      “Harwood had sat down with the president to tape an interview following his appearance on Wall Street on Monday. Although they are competitors, CNBC and ABC share a fiber optic line to save money, and this enabled some ABC employees to listen in on the interview as it was being taped for later use.”

      Interesting!
46. canary

    September 15, 2009 at 5:10 am

    God Bless Sweetness n Light’s Steve Gilbert, who was the first to report and expose ACORN. Steve prevailed in leading America to a needed change, in making America a better and safer place.

    Log in to Reply
    • Steve

      September 15, 2009 at 11:30 am

      Thank you, Canary. Of course it was a group effort here.

      And you contributed as much as anyone.
47. Rusty Shackleford

    September 15, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    Police: Bus camera shows attack on Belleville West student was racially motivated

    http://www.bnd.com/news/crime/story/923680.html

    BY MARIA BARAN AND RICKEENA J. RICHARDS – News-Democrat

    BELLEVILLE — Police are calling the Monday morning attack of a Belleville West High School student on a school bus racially motivated.

    Two black juvenile suspects are in custody after they allegedly beat a white student on a bus heading to Belleville West, police and school officials said.

    The 17-year-old victim was one of just a few white students on the crowded bus about 8 a.m. A surveillance video from a camera mounted inside the bus shows the victim being choked and punched by two other students, ages 14 and 15.

    “By watching the video, it looks like it was racially motivated,” Belleville Police Capt. Don Sax said. “It stands out to me.”

    According to a news release, the victim sat on a bus seat next to one of the suspects, and the suspect told the older student not to sit there. There were few open seats available on the bus.

    In the video, one of the suspects attempted to push the older student out of his seat and began punching the victim in the face and choking him.

    Many of the students stood up and began cheering on the fight. The bus driver can be heard telling the students to “sit down.” After the fight broke up, the victim put in his ear phones and sat in the seat alone.

    A couple minutes later, another student started verbally taunting the victim. That suspect began striking the victim in the face, knocking off his glasses and cutting his face. Once again, many students stood and cheered.

    Log in to Reply
48. Rusty Shackleford

    September 15, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    Obama supports extending Patriot Act provisions

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....DMQ–

    By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writer – 1 min ago

    WASHINGTON – The Obama administration supports extending three key provisions of the Patriot Act that are due to expire at the end of the year, the Justice Department told Congress in a letter made public Tuesday.

    Lawmakers and civil rights groups had been pressing the Democratic administration to say whether it wants to preserve the post-Sept. 11 law’s authority to access business records, as well as monitor so-called “lone wolf” terrorists and conduct roving wiretaps.

    The provision on business records was long criticized by rights groups as giving the government access to citizens’ library records, and a coalition of liberal and conservative groups complained that the Patriot Act gives the government too much authority to snoop into Americans’ private lives.

    As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama said he would take a close look at the law, based on his past expertise in constitutional law. Back in May, President Obama said legal institutions must be updated to deal with the threat of terrorism, but in a way that preserves the rule of law and accountability.

    In a letter to lawmakers, Justice Department officials said the administration supports extending the three expiring provisions of the law, although they are willing to consider additional privacy protections as long as they don’t weaken the effectiveness of the law.

    —–But….you know……Bush was wrong to do it. *sigh*

    Log in to Reply
    • canary

      September 16, 2009 at 10:23 am

      yes…..*sigh*…..and Obama won’t just extend it, he’ll expand it.
49. canary

    September 15, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    GlennBeck just showed 4th ACORN video in California. The aid, admits to former murder. The ACORN aid, after being told 12-15 year olds just got off the ship, tells the supposed hooker and pimp, to take them with them and she will help them set up tricks with Banking Presidents. The aid also says, she would not be surprised if her ACORN boss does the same thing. She also tells twice, of how she went a picked up a gun, and said “bleep you” to her husband and shot him dead. He dropped down dead. And how she loved Farrah Faucett’s Burning Bed, and Heidi Fiess was her hero, etc. If you can walk over and pick up a gun, you can leave the house. She implied she planned it out, by telling shelters that her husband was abusive, which may or may not be the case. As a self-admittted prostitute, no telling where the bruises came from. But, if she could walk over and pick up a gun, it was not self-defense, and she could have left her husband.
    This is an example of the sex-offenders that Obama wrote his church Trinity Church aided. Let’s add ACORN murderers that Obama worked with to get elected, and aid with federal dollars. Leopards seldom change their spots.

    http://biggovernment.com/

    Log in to Reply
    • wardmama4

      September 16, 2009 at 8:10 am

      Isn’t it surprising that a 25 year old guy and a 20 year old girl – seem to have done what no one (read: investigative, researching journalists) have been able to do – bring down ACORN? (Or at the very least – make public it’s corruption.

      And one wonders Obama ‘carried’ 28 states (McAmnesty 22) if even half of the 14 states where ACORN was accused of election fraud are valid does that not reverse the numbers? Does that not make the 2008 election – fraudulent? And isn’t that important for you & me to know? Or even want to know?

      I’ve always said – Obama’s image/political chops are a house of cards – and all it takes is one of those cards pulled out – perhaps it has happened?
50. Rusty Shackleford

    September 15, 2009 at 10:35 pm

    Rush commented on this yesterday, that the race card will be played in all corners, loudly and repeatedly as this administration fails.

    It’s a sad state of affairs:
    From Politico:

    Dems see race factor for Obama foes

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/27120

    onathan Martin Jonathan Martin – Mon Sep 14, 6:05 am ET

    AUSTIN – Eight months into Barack Obama’s presidency, as criticism of his administration seems to reach new levels of volume and intensity each week, the whispers among some of his allies are growing louder: That those who loathe the nation’s first African-American president, and especially those who would deny his citizenship, are driven at least in part by racism.

    It’s a feeling that’s acutely felt among those supporters of Obama who are themselves minorities. Conversations with Democrats at an otherwise upbeat Democratic National Committee fall gathering here, an event largely devoted to party housekeeping, reflected a growing anger at what many see as a troubling effort to delegitimize Obama’s hold on the office.

    “As far as African-Americans are concerned, we think most of it is,” said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), when asked in an interview in between sessions how much of the more extreme anger at Obama is based upon his race. “And we think it’s very unfortunate. We as African-American people of course are very sensitive to it.”

    Johnson is a somewhat-reserved, nine-term member of Congress, more gracious southern lady than racial bomb-thrower. She enjoyed a warm personal relationship with fellow Texan George W. Bush when he was in the White House and fondly recalled their ability to get along, divergent politics aside.

    But she said the disdain for this president, especially sharp in her home state, had reached a point where it had become necessary to speak out.

    “It’s hurting the spirit of this country,” Johnson said, citing concerns about what the rest of the world may think about a powerful nation where a significant segment of the population does not accept their elected leader as legitimate.

    —–Well, as I’ve said from day one, to my friends and co-workers: So why all the secrecy about your real past from the beginning? An ‘autobiography’ does not a history make. Why are the academic records sealed? Americans are not so stupid, mostly, to buy a pig in a poke. We generally don’t believe something is so simply because we are told it’s so. Just as people of all races have questioned the actions and qualifications of many politicians, so we, a HUGE contingent of the US population have questions about this guy. From where I stand, I have never cared what color he is. However, I care how he represented himself as a “poor black child” when he was raised by “typical white people” and enjoyed a life of privilege and ease that many kids, regardless of race or religion don’t have. He’s a fake in so much else and is blatantly lying at every new page of this saga that we…..the American people…are frankly very sick of it. AND…to top it off, there was a HUGE investigation, thank you Dan “Scoop” Rather about George W’s military service that many blacks would’ve LOVED to use to destroy him.

    Racism? Like I used to tell some of the black guys who tried that on me in the military. “It’s not because you’re black that I don’t like you. I don’t like you because you’re a liar and a jerk.”

    What has truly happened is that the “black” community has effectively hogtied the whites or anyone who would argue against the president, expecting any and all policies to have a free pass. There was a black guy on our local talk radio yesterday who said he has been ostracized by all his friends and even his family for siding against Blammo. The reason is because he wouldn’t vote for him and said so. But when confronted he replied he’d vote for a black man if he agreed with his platform and positions on the issues.

    Unfortunately, the MSM will report this and keep reporting it so that they will, effectively, create a huge divide and unnecessarily pit whites against blacks. And, as Proreason has said, when you play the racism card, it means you’ve lost the argument, except in liberal-speak where the racism card trumps all arguments, regardless of facts.

    Log in to Reply
    • proreason

      September 15, 2009 at 10:47 pm

      Pretty soon, the horror of being called a racist will lose its sting.

      For me, it already has. I couln’t care less. It’s so obvious that Liberals are the real racists that I find it humorous now to be called one. Sticks and stones.

      It will probably be the only good thing the Moron’s administration does for the country.

      Not worth trillions of dollars in debt, but still, something.
    • BillK

      September 16, 2009 at 1:10 am

      “It’s hurting the spirit of this country,” Johnson said, citing concerns about what the rest of the world may think about a powerful nation where a significant segment of the population does not accept their elected leader as legitimate.

      Like every liberal throughout the Bush years?
51. proreason

    September 15, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    Devastating skewering of Tom Brokaw and the Mass Media.

    http://spectator.org/archives/.....m-brokaws/

    Many words but a good read.

    My opinion…… we are probably within a year of Fox’s audience exceeding the networks, but death spirals can happen very quickly when the blood is in the water.

    The Acorn expose could hasten the fall of the arrogant deceitful charlatans in the msm.

    It can’t happen too soon for me.

    Log in to Reply
    • Rusty Shackleford

      September 15, 2009 at 11:01 pm

      OUTSTANDING!
52. Eagle334th

    September 16, 2009 at 12:45 am

    Sung to a familiar old tune.. “One of these names are not like the others…”

    http://news.aol.com/article/ne.....s%2F669467

    Teens Sue Over Minor League Ejection

    By BETH DeFALCO, AP
    posted: 11 HOURS 12 MINUTES AGO

    Trenton, N.J. (Sept. 15) – Three teenagers who say they were tossed from a New Jersey ballpark over their refusal to stand during the song “God Bless America” are suing the minor league Newark Bears.

    The boys argue that their constitutional rights were violated when they were asked to leave Newark’s Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium on June 29 by Bears’ president and co-owner Thomas Cetnar.

    Cetnar acknowledged the boys were asked to leave but declined to say why. He also has denied making some statements attributed to him in the lawsuit.

    The boys — Millburn High seniors Bryce Gadye and Nilkumar Patel, both 17, and junior Shaan Mohammad Khan, 16 — sued in federal court on Friday seeking unspecified damages.

    According to the lawsuit, the boys were seated behind home plate when the song began playing. Once it ended, they say Cetnar approached them yelling.

    “Nobody sits during the singing of ‘God Bless America’ in my stadium,” the lawsuit quotes Cetnar as saying. “Now the get the (expletive) out of here.”

    Cetnar denied saying that: “Never, never did that ever happen.”

    Cetnar said he hasn’t seen the lawsuit, but called the boys’ account “a huge fabrication.”

    The boys are being represented by Bryce Gadye’s father, Ross, who said the boys weren’t protesting the song and no one asked them to stand.

    “The boys weren’t trying to make any political statements, they just didn’t get up,” he said. “No one gave them an ultimatum. The song was sung, it was finished, then they were thrown out.”

    …

    Two of those names were just SCREAMING to be in the article…

    Found the case..

    http://dockets.justia.com/dock.....id-232573/

    Log in to Reply
    • Eagle334th

      September 16, 2009 at 1:01 am

      Found a link to the case..

      http://dockets.justia.com/dock.....id-232573/

      A parent for each are also listed as plaintiffs?
    • Eagle334th

      September 16, 2009 at 1:14 am

      No idea if it’s relevant, but sure caught my eye!

      http://www.cjnj.org/html/sanctions/1999DR09.pdf

      “ROSS M. GADYE
      N.J. (1999)
      of Montville (Morris County)
      Admonition

      Decided: November 29, 1999
      Admitted: 1987

      APPEARANCES BEFORE REVIEW BOARD
      Michael G. O’Brien argued the cause on behalf of the District X (Morris and Sussex
      Counties) Ethics Committee.

      Ross M. Gadye, respondent, argued the cause pro se.

      The Disciplinary Review Board held that an admonition was the appropriate discipline
      for an attorney who, while ineligible to practice in this state, filed an Order to Show
      Cause in Superior Court on one occasion.”

      If this is the same guy, he quit practicing law and went into Real Estate around that same time frame..

      http://www.brownharrisstevens......spx?id=RMG
53. BillK

    September 16, 2009 at 1:03 am

    Careful… just because speech is “free” doesn’t mean the left isn’t logging it.

    From the Washington TImes:

    EXCLUSIVE: Obama W.H. collects web users’ data

    By Audrey Hudson

    The White House is collecting and storing comments and videos placed on its social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without notifying or asking the consent of the site users, a failure that appears to run counter to President Obama’s promise of a transparent government and his pledge to protect privacy on the Internet.

    Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the White House signaled that it would insist on open dealings with Internet users and, in fact, should feel obliged to disclose that it is collecting such information.

    “The White House has not been adequately transparent, particularly on how it makes use of new social media techniques, such as this example,” he said.

    Defenders of the White House actions said the Presidential Records Act requires that the administration gather the information and that it was justified in taking the additional step of asking a private contractor to “crawl and archive” all such material. Nicholas Shapiro, a White House spokesman, declined to say when the practice began or how much the new contract would cost.

    Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for National Archives and Records Administration, said the presidential records law applies to “social media” and to public comments “received by the president or immediate staff.”

    Mr. Obama signed a memo in January stating that his efforts to maintain an open government would be “unprecedented” and “ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation and collaboration.”

    An Obama campaign document on technology pledged that, as president, Mr. Obama “will strengthen privacy protections for the digital age and will harness the power of technology to hold government and business accountable for violations of personal privacy.” …

    http://www.washingtontimes.com.....sers-data/

    Arguably the Obama administration is correct about this being required under the Presidential records act.

    But it’s instructive that they haven’t bothered with a privacy notice letting people know, isn;t it?

    Log in to Reply
    • canary

      September 18, 2009 at 4:00 am

      It’s illegal for federal agencies to use cookies. So, I guess they have brokend along, as Obama’s since entitlement is he owns our computers too.
54. BillK

    September 16, 2009 at 1:06 am

    Sad but not surprising it’s come to this.

    From Fox News:

    Pledge of Confusion? Schools Wrestle With Flag Policy in Classroom

    It’s a new school year, but an old fight is brewing in American classrooms. Teachers and administrators around the country are scratching their heads once again over the Pledge of Allegiance.

    The courts have consistently ruled that students have the right not to recite the pledge in public schools. But now some First Amendmentadvocates are taking it one step further, arguing that the law compels educators to inform kids at the beginning of school that the decision is entirely up to them.

    They’re advocating a “Miranda warning” for the Pledge — an administrative notice to students that they have the right to remain silent.

    “The Pledge of Allegiance creates a constitutional problem. You have to tell students they can opt out,” the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told FOX News.

    New Mexico dealt with this question last month when its education secretary upheld that students are permitted to opt out of the Pledge, but rejected an ACLU-backed amendment that would require schools to inform parents and students that they have the option.

    In Florida, schools have tried to resolve uncertainty by announcing a new policy — students don’t have to participate, as long as they have a letter from Mom and Dad.

    These are just the latest in a litany of challenges to the Pledge and its place in the classroom.

    Americans have recited the tribute to the stars and stripes since the oath was written by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, in 1892. But Bellamy’s pledge did not include the words “under God,” which were added by Congress in 1954 during the McCarthy era, when Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union — an atheist nation — were high in the United States.

    Thirty-six states now have laws requiring that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited daily in public schools. But the oath as it’s written does not sit well with some Americans.

    “The Pledge doesn’t even state the truth. We are not one nation under God,” Lynn said. “I don’t think we should lie to students, and there’s no way we can require them to say it.” …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,550063,00.html

    But forcing students to pledge to help the President? That was very nearly just fine.

    Log in to Reply
55. BillK

    September 16, 2009 at 1:48 am

    From the Wall Street Journal, more details of how the President is harming private businesses:

    How ‘Buy American’ Can Hurt U.S. Firms

    By Peter Fritsch and Corey Boles

    WASHINGTON — On paper, Tom Pokorsky would seem to be a clear beneficiary of the government’s $787 billion economic-stimulus package.

    Mr. Pokorsky runs Aquarius Technologies Inc., a company in Port Washington, Wis., that makes equipment to treat sewage. The stimulus plan earmarks some $6 billion for municipal wastewater projects that are right in his company’s sweet spot.

    But the bill’s Buy American provisions — meant to give U.S. companies a leg up on foreign competition — are causing Aquarius and other U.S. companies a lot of grief with both suppliers and clients in Canada.

    Now that grief has boiled over into a major diplomatic row with the largest U.S. trading partner. Canadian communities angered by perceived American chauvinism have started a Buy Canadian campaign to exclude U.S. bidders from municipal contracts.

    “If that sticks, well, there goes 25% of my business,” said Mr. Pokorsky. “To me, Ontario may as well be Indiana.”

    Halton Hills, a town of 50,000 people about 25 miles west of Toronto, is one of about a dozen Canadian communities forging ahead with plans to amend their procurement policies to freeze out American companies. “We won’t be taking any products from any country that is discriminating against us,” said Mayor Rick Bonnette.

    Officials in Washington and Ottawa are scrambling to avoid an all-out trade war. Even so, Buy American guidelines are complicating life for American companies, muddling municipal bidding procedures and blunting the overall effect of the stimulus.

    To date, the Environmental Protection Agency has disbursed just $77 million of the $5.9 billion it has for municipal wastewater projects, in part because of Buy American provisions. Overall, the government has either spent or committed about $210 billion in stimulus finds, leaving $370 billion still to be doled out. (The rest of the stimulus is made up of tax cuts.)

    Thomas Gavin, a spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, which oversees the Buy American rules, said, “The administration is keenly aware of the economic interests involved” in their implementation. Final guidelines are still under review.

    Aquarius gets a lot of its parts from abroad, particularly from Canada. Such integration became even tighter after the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 joined the U.S., Canada and Mexico in a free flow of goods and services.

    Trojan Technologies Inc. of Ontario, North America’s dominant maker of ultraviolet disinfection equipment for treating sewage, is a key supplier to Aquarius and other companies.

    Because of the Buy American provisions, Trojan has had to shift production to a plant in Valencia, Calif., a move that has resulted in delays and additional costs being passed on to customers, said Trojan executive Christian Williamson. …

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....14135.html

    Who cares if costs are higher, they’re buying American.

    As far as Mr. Pokorsky, it’s his fault for not staffing his business with hundreds of Union employees that donated heavily to Mr. Obama’s campaign.

    When will Americans realize that liberal economic policies are never about growing the economy but are always about protectionism and political payoffs?

    Log in to Reply
56. BillK

    September 16, 2009 at 1:54 am

    A wonderful opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal:

    Obama Is Pushing Israel Toward War

    By Bret Stephens

    Events are fast pushing Israel toward a pre-emptive military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, probably by next spring. That strike could well fail. Or it could succeed at the price of oil at $300 a barrel, a Middle East war, and American servicemen caught in between. So why is the Obama administration doing everything it can to speed the war process along?

    At July’s G-8 summit in Italy, Iran was given a September deadline to start negotiations over its nuclear programs. Last week, Iran gave its answer: No.

    Instead, what Tehran offered was a five-page document that was the diplomatic equivalent of a giant kiss-off. It begins by lamenting the “ungodly ways of thinking prevailing in global relations” and proceeds to offer comprehensive talks on a variety of subjects: democracy, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, “respect for the rights of nations,” and other areas where Iran is a paragon. Conspicuously absent from the document is any mention of Iran’s nuclear program, now at the so-called breakout point, which both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his boss Ali Khamenei insist is not up for discussion.

    What’s an American president to do in the face of this nonstarter of a document? What else, but pretend it isn’t a nonstarter. Talks begin Oct. 1.

    All this only helps persuade Israel’s skittish leadership that when President Obama calls a nuclear-armed Iran “unacceptable,” he means it approximately in the same way a parent does when fecklessly reprimanding his misbehaving teenager. That impression is strengthened by Mr. Obama’s decision to drop Iran from the agenda when he chairs a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Sept. 24; by Defense Secretary Robert Gates publicly opposing military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities; and by Russia’s announcement that it will not support any further sanctions on Iran.

    In sum, the conclusion among Israelis is that the Obama administration won’t lift a finger to stop Iran, much less will the “international community.” So Israel has pursued a different strategy, in effect seeking to goad the U.S. into stopping, or at least delaying, an Israeli attack by imposing stiff sanctions and perhaps even launching military strikes of its own. …

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....69390.html

    This follows the Obama playbook precisely; goad Israel into doing what America should do, and then we can condemn Israel for taking the action we refused to.

    Log in to Reply
    • canary

      September 16, 2009 at 3:21 am

      exactly.
57. BillK

    September 16, 2009 at 1:59 am

    Obama needs more help from his Union thugs supporters:

    From the Wall Street Journal:

    Obama Appeals for Union Support on Health Bill

    By Jonathan Weisman

    PITTSBURGH — President Barack Obama swept into union country Tuesday to rally organized labor behind his push to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, with campaign-style speeches in Ohio and at an AFL-CIO convention urging workers to back him.

    “How much longer are we going to have to wait? It can’t wait,” Mr. Obama said to union leaders in Pittsburgh. The crowd responded with loud cheers and chants of “We can’t wait.”

    In Lordstown, Ohio, he appealed for support from workers at a General Motors Co. small-car factory. “As long as you’ve got an ounce of fight in you, I’ve got a ton of fight in me,” Mr. Obama said. “I’ve said it before: I’m skinny, but I’m tough. So give it for me, guys.”

    After a bruising summer, the president shed some of his nonchalance about the rising and bitter opposition to his policies and proposals. He made a nod to “a lot of stuff” supporters have been hearing “from folks who are not that friendly to me.”

    And he saw his audiences today as a respite from those critics. Outgoing AFL-CIO President John Sweeney hailed Mr. Obama’s decision Friday night to impose stiff tariffs on Chinese car and light-truck tires. That decision has angered some conservatives and raised the specter of a trade war with the nation that Mr. Obama is counting on to finance a record budget deficit and help pressure Iran and North Korea to give up their nuclear programs.

    But it was popular in a region battered by foreign competition and manufacturing imports. Jon Carmichael, 30 years old, of Cortland, Ohio, said he encouraged the president to use tariffs more widely to protect U.S. manufacturers during a closed-door roundtable Mr. Obama held with a dozen GM workers before his speech. Mr. Obama was noncommittal, saying he could only do so much under the rules of the World Trade Organization. Instead, he told the group, he needed to focus on prying foreign markets open to U.S. products.

    The president’s visit to the sprawling Lordstown GM plant marked the first meeting with GM workers since his administration effectively took over the company.

    In a rousing address, Mr. Obama hailed the return of 150 workers here Monday, and the pending return of more than 1,000 more in the next three weeks as the plant gears up to build more Chevrolet Cobalts. Inventories of the small cars were depleted by the “cash for clunkers” program, and the Lordstown plant is preparing to launch the Chevy Cruze, a small, high-mileage car, next year — just the sort of vehicle the Obama administration has hoped GM would embrace.

    Mr. Obama said he hadn’t run for president to run a car company. “It wasn’t on my to-do list. It wasn’t even something on my want-to-do list.”

    But, he said, “for me to just let the auto industry collapse, to vanish, would have done unbelievable damage.” …

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....13081.html

    “The auto industry collapse?”

    I’m sure that would come as a great shock to Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, VW, Alfa, Ferrari, and on and on.

    GM is not “the industry,”

    Even if the UAW thinks so.

    Log in to Reply
    • Rusty Shackleford

      September 16, 2009 at 2:38 am

      “He made a nod to “a lot of stuff” supporters have been hearing “from folks who are not that friendly to me.”

      See, it IS about him. It’s not about the economy, the state of industry, housing, or maybe even healthcare. It’s about his big chance at stardom and being on the “Washington Walk Of Fame”. Like a rookie on the field, he wants to hit all home runs in his first at-bats and be the star, be the star, be the star. Why? Because he’s sucked at everything else he’s done in his life.

      But instead of using phrases that refer to the entire nation, he uses “I”, “me” and “mine” all the time.
58. BillK

    September 16, 2009 at 2:04 am

    The payoffs to Big Labor continue.

    From the Wall Street Journal:

    Specter to AFL-CIO: Card Check Will Pass

    By Melanie Trottman

    Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter said he and a small group of other Democrats have “pounded out an Employee Free Choice Act which will meet labor’s” objectives for an overhaul of labor laws.

    Specter, who spoke at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh today, said the labor federation’s outgoing President John Sweeney has been meeting with him, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and other lawmakers to address labor’s concerns about employer intimidation during organizing drives and the need for binding arbitration for labor contracts.

    Specter wasn’t specific but said, ”<bI believe that before the year is up I will join my colleague Sen. Bob Casey in predicting a passage of an Employee Free Choice Act that will be totally satisfactory to labor.”

    http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/.....will-pass/

    Employer intimidation?

    Funny, I don’t remember employers throwing bricks through windows of those who disagree with them.

    I don’t remember employers having those who disagreed with them killed or threatening their family members.

    But that’s all water under the bridge, right?

    The same water you’ll be in wearing cement shoes if you get in their way.

    Log in to Reply
59. BillK

    September 16, 2009 at 2:17 am

    No indoctrination of our youth. Not in the United States!

    Not so fast…

    From the (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal:

    Bill would require teaching labor history

    By Dee J. Hall

    In a nutshell

    Wisconsin school districts currently are required to teach students about state, national and world history. Assembly Bill 172 and its companion, Senate Bill 135, would expand that mandate to require districts to include “knowledge of the history of organized labor … and the collective bargaining process.”

    Wisconsin’s major labor groups support the proposal, including the state’s teachers’ unions. They argue that Wisconsin children should be taught about the state’s role as a trailblazer for workers’ rights. Opponents include the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators and the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, who say professional educators, not legislators, should determine what’s taught in the classroom. The bill is sponsored in the Assembly by state Rep. Andy Jorgensen, D-Fort Atkinson. The Senate version is sponsored by Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay.

    The case for it

    Wisconsin State AFL-CIO president David Newby has testified that if any state should teach children about the labor movement, it’s Wisconsin. The state has been a leader in protecting workers, including passage of the nation’s first workers’ compensation law in 1911, the first unemployment insurance law in 1932 and one of the first family and medical leave laws in 1988 – all of which were later copied by other states and Congress, Newby said.

    He added that recent editions of textbooks have begun downplaying the role of organized labor in history. “If you look at the dominant American history textbooks, they might have half a dozen paragraphs out of 300 pages on the history of labor and unions,” Newby said.

    The Legislative Fiscal Bureau called the cost of the proposal “minimal.” …

    http://host.madison.com/wsj/ne.....002e0.html

    Why do I suspect that’s likely a half dozen paragraphs more space than those same textbooks give about the role of capitalism and economic freedom in the history of the United States?

    Log in to Reply
60. Rusty Shackleford

    September 16, 2009 at 2:57 am

    From the certifiably insane left AP, and specifically John Kerry, the biggest nutter of all:

    North America backs plan to cut greenhouse gases

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....hhbWVyaWNh

    By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 44 mins ago

    UNITED NATIONS – Small island nations gained North America’s powerful backing Tuesday for a plan to convert the U.N. ozone treaty into a tool for phasing out some of the globe’s most powerful climate-warming gases.

    The Obama administration announced the United States, Canada and Mexico now support using the treaty to require cuts in powerful greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs.

    The treaty, called the Montreal Protocol, is aimed at fixing the globe’s ozone layer. It has been signed by 196 nations, with East Timor announcing its decision to sign early Wednesday. That makes the ozone treaty the first global environmental agreement to achieve universal ratification.

    U.N. officials say they believe there would be millions more cases of cancer and eye cataracts without the treaty. But the treaty’s success is not yet assured; even with such global cooperation, U.N. officials say, the damaged ozone layer is still expected to take another 40 to 50 years to fully recover.

    In its current version, the treaty encourages using HFCs in refrigerators and air conditioners to replace ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which have now been virtually eliminated.

    But in April, Micronesia and Mauritius proposed formally amending the treaty to phase out use of the coolants. They argued that other chemicals would be better for the climate while still helping the ozone layer.

    The U.S. State Department called that plan Thursday “a significant down payment” on efforts to reach a new global climate pact in Copenhagen, Denmark in December. President Barack Obama is attending a U.N. climate summit next week to build momentum.

    “Once adopted, the proposal would make great strides to achieve President Obama’s call to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 as well as contribute to multilateral efforts to reduce global emissions 50 percent by 2050,” the State Department said.

    The U.S. said the proposal “calls on all countries to take action to reduce their consumption and production of HFCs, although developed countries would take the lead in this effort, as they have consistently under the Montreal Protocol.”

    Nations will consider whether to alter the Montreal Protocol at a meeting in Egypt in November.

    Though HFCs account for only about 2 percent of the globe’s climate-warming gases, their share is expected to grow by up to a third of all greenhouse gases by mid-century — mainly because of their promotion under the ozone treaty.

    A global fund affiliated with the treaty has invested billions in creating new markets for HFCs and other chemicals that do not harm the protective ozone layer above the earth.

    But Micronesia has called that promotion “irresponsible,” since HFCs, like CFCs, are powerful climate-warming chemicals — up to 10,000 times more so than carbon dioxide — other climate and ozone-friendly alternatives are available for use.

    The Associated Press first reported in early May that the Obama administration considered HFCs “a very significant threat” to climate change and probably would seek to use the ozone treaty to dramatically reduce HFCs, but not phase them out entirely.

    Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry applauded the Obama administration Tuesday and described the decision as a sign of things to come from the U.S.

    “Anyone who doubted the intentions of the new administration should pay close attention to this announcement and to those of us in the Senate who urged this ambitious action under the Montreal Protocol,” Kerry said. The proposal, he said, “sends another clear signal to the global community that the United States will not remain on the sidelines and will lead efforts to achieve a strong agreement in Copenhagen.’”‘

    It is uncertain whether the Senate will pass climate legislation in time for the Copenhagen climate talks, but Kerry said the ozone treaty was another appropriate tool for tackling the urgency of planetary overheating.

    In April, Kerry and another leading Democrat, Senate Environment Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer wrote Obama calling for using the ozone treaty to phase down HFCs by 85 percent by 2030.

    “The growth projections of HFCs alone better be a wakeup call to anyone still left in Congress who doubts the urgent need to address climate change,” Kerry said. “If allowed to grow, this extremely potent greenhouse gas could counteract global efforts to reduce carbon dioxide.”

    —-So, now that everyone has adjusted to the change in their refrigeration equipment using something less efficient than we had in 1985, we now want to turn the clock back further to 1970 and have our AC units running that much longer. That will, of course require more energy…which will cause the coal-burning plants to produce more CO2…etc etc.

    Climate Change……….y’know, I just got done watching a program that highlighted that the Earth had a temperate climate in the polar regions 225 million years ago. So…..was it HFC’s or CO2 that caused it then? Oh, that’s right, the AP didn’t exist then to tell us; Nor did any whack-job “environmentalists”.

    Since it’s a slow and very-difficult-to-measure process, we should naturally shove legislation through IMMEDIATELY to save the planet from what may be the inevitable.

    But then, I want to know if all the liberals would be happy if we all just “went Amish” all of a sudden.

    Log in to Reply
    • caligirl9

      September 17, 2009 at 9:48 pm

      This fits here … step right up and buy your very own carbon credits. From SF Gate, figures.

      SFO lets flyers buy carbon credits

      Travelers flying out of San Francisco International Airport can be the first in the nation to wipe away some of the damage their flights wreak on the planet by swiping their credit cards.

      Today, the Bay Area’s largest airport unveiled three Climate Passport kiosks with touch screens that determine how many pounds of carbon dioxide a trip will produce, calculate the sum an environmentally conscious traveler should contribute to projects in San Francisco and California that help reduce greenhouse gases, then allow fliers to purchase certified carbon offsets.

      “We realize people are going to fly,” said Steve McDougal, executive vice president of 3Degrees, a San Francisco company that helped SFO develop the program. “This gives them something they can do to reduce their impact. This is just one of many small things people need to do.”

      … Setting up the Climate Passport program cost $190,000 in airport funds, said Kandace Bender, deputy airport director.

      Judging from the reaction of the first two travelers to take a test spin of the touch screens, it’s not clear whether the program will fly.

      Soon after a press conference to unveil the kiosk in Terminal 3 concluded, Shane Johnson, 39, a traveling salesman from Vancouver, B.C., strolled up to take a look.

      … His round trip would produce 1,186 pounds of carbon dioxide, which could be offset with a contribution of $7.26, the computer said. Johnson chose not to tap the “purchase now” button and slide his credit card into the kiosk.

      “I don’t live here, so I prefer to make my donations at home,” he said.

      A few minutes later, Bostonian Ari Peskoe, catching a flight home after a job interview, stopped by the machine and became the first person to purchase a carbon offset at SFO.

      His one-way trip home, the computer concluded, would produce 1,999 pounds of carbon dioxide, which could be offset for $12.24.

      Despite his purchase, Peskoe said he’s a bit skeptical about the concept of carbon offsets. Some critics question whether some of the programs that receive money are effective in reducing carbon dioxide…

      Climate Passport contributions fund the Garcia River Forest, a reforestation project in Mendocino County where redwood and Douglas fir trees are being added to a forest that had been heavily logged. They also go to the SFCarbon Fund,which is steering the money to Dogpatch Biofuels, a bio-diesel fueling station in southeastern San Francisco.

      http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....&tsp=1

      Go ahead, say it. Koo-koo, koo-koo.
61. canary

    September 16, 2009 at 3:35 am

    BeflastTelegraph:Lebanese-born swede gets life for terror camp plot
    Wednesday, 16 September 2009

    A Lebanese-born Swede was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for plotting to open a terrorism training camp in Oregon in 1999 to help al Qaida.

    Kassir, 44, complained about his treatment in US custody, saying that he was subjected to psychological and religious torture. He said he initially was not allowed to have a Koran and was not given food appropriate to his religion. When he refused to eat, he was tied to a chair and a tube was inserted “in a violent fashion”, causing him to feel close to death, he said.

    “In an effort to keep him alive, they force-fed him,” Judge Keenan said.

    Prosecutors said in a statement that for two months in late 1999 and early 2000, Kassir provided men at a Seattle mosque with jihad training ..

    ….he established at least six terrorist web sites between December 2001 and his December 2005 arrest in the Czech Republic.

    Two of Kassir’s co-defendants are detained in the UK and awaiting extradition to the US.

    Prosecutors also said Kassir distributed manuals over the internet that trained militants on how to make bombs, poison people and slit throats.

    Ujaama testified that he had wanted to start the camp to prepare Muslims to go to Afghanistan and fight the Taliban’s enemies, …
    Ujaama is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to providing material support to terrorists by trying to set up the camp.

    In court documents, Kassir…. was extradited to the US after spending roughly nine months in a Czech prison.

    The Swedish Ministry of Justice said Kassir could apply to be transferred to Sweden and complete his sentence there,…

    Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.....z0RFgwaaCS

    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.....html?r=RSS

    Log in to Reply
62. canary

    September 16, 2009 at 3:59 am

    BelfastTelegraph: Insurgents vow to avenge US commando raid in Somalia By Daniel Howden 16 September 2009

    Aid workers in Somalia have been put on high alert after the US killed a senior member of al-Qa’ida in a dramatic raid on the Horn of Africa nation.

    Militants from the Somali al-Shabaab group with suspected links to the terror network yesterday vowed revenge against “any and all” targets with Western links after the death of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.

    Previously, US attacks in Somalia have been confined to air strikes but Monday’s killing appears to have changed the rules of engagement with American troops landing in the country for the first time since their ill-fated mission in 1993, dramatised in the film Black Hawk Down.

    Two of the helicopters are then said to have opened fire, strafing a moving car and killing Nabhan and another unidentified man. The forces then landed near the vehicle and removed the bodies and detained two wounded men.

    The US military has launched several air strikes inside Somalia in the past against individuals, including those blamed for the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. But Monday’s operation, if confirmed, would be the first US boots on the ground in Somalia since the 1993 debacle in which 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somalis were killed in a failed attempt to assassinate the Mogadishu warlord Mohammed Aideed.

    Washington has so far refused to comment on the details of the operation but a Somali government official, citing intelligence reports, said Nabhan was dead.

    Washington has since labelled him a moderate, despite his imposition of sharia law, and sent his forces 40 tonnes of weapons, while the international community has committed more than $200m to train Somali security services.

    Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.....z0RFmZvrIM
    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.....94019.html

    This is a long article, but I excerpted to show the increase of Obama using ground troops

    Log in to Reply
63. canary

    September 16, 2009 at 5:48 am

    AP: President’s opinion of Kanye West sparks debate
    By AP Television Writer David Bauder Sep 16 2009

    NEW YORK – President Barack Obama’s candid thoughts about Kanye West are provoking a debate over standards of journalism…

    ABC News says it was wrong for its employees to tweet that Obama had called West a “jackass” for the rapper’s treatment of country singer Taylor Swift.
    Harwood had sat down with the president to tape an interview following his appearance on Wall Street on Monday. Although they are competitors, CNBC and ABC share a fiber optic line to save money,..as it was being taped for later use.

    During what sounds like informal banter before the interview begins, Obama is asked whether his daughters were annoyed by West’s hijacking of Swift’s acceptance statement, according to an audio copy that was posted on TMZ.com.

    http://www.tmz.com/2009/09/15/.....a-jackass/

    A questioner chimes in, “Why would he do it?”

    “He’s a jackass,” Obama replies, which is met with laughter from several people.

    The president seems to quickly realize he may have gone too far, and jovially appeals to those assembled that the remark be kept private. “Come on guys,” he says. “Cut the president some slack. I’ve got a lot of other stuff on my plate.”

    One was Terry Moran, a former White House correspondent. He logged on to Twitter and typed: “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential.”

    Harwood said there was no explicit agreement with the president that those comments were off the record. But he said it is broadcast tradition that such pre-interview chatter is considered off the record until the formal interview begins.

    “If you’re sitting there with a microphone on, you don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy,” said Kelly McBride, an expert in journalism ethics for the Poynter Institute. “If you’re a governor or president, you know that.”

    She also questioned whether news organizations should be agreeing to go off the record with the president.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_.....vcA–

    Log in to Reply
    • Liberals Demise

      September 17, 2009 at 10:11 am

      Ah yes…….It takes one to know one!
64. Rusty Shackleford

    September 16, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    Gunmen kill 10 at Mexico drug treatment center

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....DMQ–

    By ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press Writer Alicia A. Caldwell, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 12 mins ago

    CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Gunmen burst into a drug treatment center in the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and shot to death 10 people, the second such mass killing this month.

    Police say nine men and one woman were killed in the attack just before midnight Tuesday at the Anexo de Vida center in Mexico’s most violent city. Two people were seriously wounded.

    Enrique Torres, a spokesman for Chihuahua state police, said Wednesday the identities of the gunmen and the motive for the attack have not yet been established.

    But officials have said in the past that drug gangs may be using treatment centers to recruit dealers, or may be targeting them to eliminate rivals.

    Most of the victims are believed to have been recovering addicts staying at the facility.

    “Why? Why them?” said Pilar Macias, weeping after she identified the body of her brother, Juan Carlos Macias, 39. “He was recovering, he wanted to get back on the right track and they didn’t let him, they didn’t give him a chance.”

    “This is going to kill my mother,” Macias said. “She’s very sick and this is going to kill her.”

    Macias said the mother had encouraged her son to enter the facility for treatment of his cocaine addiction three months ago.

    Maria Hernandez also had come to the state prosecutor’s office to identify the body of her 25-year son.

    “He was good, he didn’t hang out with gangs, he didn’t have ‘narco’ friends,” she said. “He just began with marijuana, and then … they killed him.”

    Pools of dry blood and bloodied footprints were visible Wednesday in the courtyard of the drug and alcohol rehab center where the shooting occurred.

    The center is located in a poor neighborhood with dirt streets, some of which were impassable due to recent rains.

    On Sept. 2, gunmen lined patients against a wall at another rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez and then riddled them with bullets, killing 18.

    Five men were killed at another rehabilitation center in June, and in August 2008, gunmen barged into a pastor’s sermon at a rehabilitation center and opened fire, killing eight people. Authorities have not said if any of the attacks are related.

    Ciudad Juarez has seen the worst of the nation’s drug violence, with more than 1,300 deaths this year. The bloodshed has continued despite a buildup in troops since March.

    ——B, b, but Barry gave el presidente all that money to combat this. Yet….it’s seen a marked INCREASE. I wonder, did they use that money on the war against drugs??? Or maybe somethings else.

    Log in to Reply
65. sheehanjihad

    September 16, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    Here’s an SEIU official showing the Union’s colors are more than purple~!!

    SACRAMENTO, CA – A former union official and California Department of Insurance employee was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison after entering no contest pleas to charges of child molestation, possession of child pornography, and manufacturing child pornography.

    Jaime Enrique Feliciano, who served as a chapter president of Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents thousands of Sacramento-area state workers, had previous convictions for child molestation and failure to register as a sex offender.

    http://www.news10.net/news/sto.....mp;catid=2

    Log in to Reply
    • Liberals Demise

      September 17, 2009 at 10:10 am

      Seems the ACORN/SEIU slogan “No criminal turned away” is appearing to be a dominate factor.
66. canary

    September 17, 2009 at 9:40 am

    Water shut off to California farms because of endangered fish!

    Read information below that explains California in its state of emergency because of liberals shutting off water to our food supply just to try and protect a fish from getting caught in our drain pipes.

    Unemployment rates are now 40% because of the water being shut off to farmers. Hundreds of acres of crops are now dead. 1 million acres of fields and orchards also have no aboveground water supply. People have to go to food banks for food. Fruits and vegetable prices have skyrocketed in central California.

    Federal water managers cut off water to thousands of California farms as a result of Water has been cut off since March.

    Environmentalists are tripping over themselves to preserve every
    species that crawls, squirms, swims or flys (sic) but they are content
    to let humans die,” claimed Nunes. ” And now they have a government
    that agrees with them. This Congress and our President have chosen
    fish over people in my state.”

    I think the judges decision is wrong,” claimed Schwarzenegger.

    The drought would cause an estimated $1.15 billion dollar loss in agriculture-related wages and eliminate as many as 40,000 jobs in farm-related industries in the San Joaquin Valley alone,…

    California’s agricultural industry typically receives 80 percent of all the water supplies managed by the federal government – everything from far-off mountain streams and suburban reservoirs. The state supplies drinking water to 23 million residents and 755,000 acres of irrigated farmland.
    Farms supplied by flows from the state would still get 15 percent of their normal deliveries, but the combined state and federal cutbacks would leave more than 1 million acres of fields and orchards with no aboveground water supply, Snow said.

    Water for crops was restricted by court decisions cutting back deliveries that flow through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a freshwater estuary home to the delta smelt, a fish scientists believe is on the brink of extinction.

    http://www.sodahead.com/techno.....og-129611/

    I heard this on news, farmer was crying. Said we’d be importing more food, and that makes it more scary. I’ve been checking food labels more and more.

    Log in to Reply
67. proreason

    September 17, 2009 at 4:33 pm

    Important information you should know about the “Czars” via Hot Air, with a chart from WaPro.

    http://hotair.com/archives/200.....the-czars/

    Key point, Bush created 5 “Czars” in 8 years, 3 of which had National Security Responsibilities which is a Constitutionally declared POTUS’s responsibility.

    The Moron has created 17 additional “Czars” in 7 months, only two of which have any National Security responsibilities.

    The White House is now claiming (surprise!) that Bush did it.

    Hardly.

    Log in to Reply
68. BillK

    September 18, 2009 at 2:23 am

    Wow – Michael Moore and Jay Leno in a lovefest to decry capitalism.

    From an enraptured Madison, WI Capital Times:

    Michael Moore on Leno show: ‘Capitalism is legalized greed’

    By John Nichols

    Americans who didn’t see filmmaker Michael Moore’s appearance on NBC’s “The Jay Leno Show” missed one of those rare moments when the vast wasteland gives way to an oasis of realism.

    Rarely since the days when author Gore Vidal regularly appeared on the “Tonight” show with Johnny Carson has a popular television program on a commercial broadcast channel provided such extended and respectful treatment to a scathing critique of the corrupt status quo.

    Leno hailed Moore’s new movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” as “the best film he’s done.”

    The talk show host described “Capitalism: A Love Story” as “completely nonpartisan” – and he’s right. Moore goes after sold-out Democrats and sold-out Republicans with equal vigor. Then Leno declared: “I was stunned by it, and I think it is the most fair film.”

    Even more meaningful than Leno’s review of a movie he had obviously watched and considered seriously was this exchange:

    LENO: Now it’s one year since Lehman Brothers collapsed. We’ve had all, OK, we’ve handed out. … Is Wall Street any better? Have they learned anything?

    MOORE: No, not at all. It’s, it’s probably worse. They’re still doing these exotic derivatives. They’re now trying to do it with life insurance. They’ve got all these crazy schemes. I mean, that’s what I’m saying about capitalism, it’s like a beast. And no matter how many strings or ropes you try and tie it down with that beast just wants more and more money. And it will go anywhere. It will try to gobble up as much as it can. The word ‘enough’ is the dirtiest word in capitalism, ‘cuz there’s no such thing as enough with these guys. And we haven’t stopped them. We haven’t passed the regulations that President Obama has suggested. I mean, I think he’s really on top of this. And he said yesterday, he told Wall Street, ‘That’s it, boys. No more free ATM machine at the U.S. Department of Treasury.’ And I think that’s something we all support, right?

    The audience responded with enthusiastic and sustained applause.

    The applause rose again when Moore explained: “I’m actually suggesting go back to our roots of this country, democracy. What if we had an economy that you and I had a say in? Right now, we all don’t have much of a say in this economy. What if we applied our democratic principles and said, ‘We, the people, have a right to determine how this economy is run.’ I think we’d be in much better shape than what we’re going through right now.”

    Moore gets credit for stating economic truths that are rarely aired on commercial television. But Moore can usually be counted on to get things right, when he gets a microphone.

    Leno gets credit for something a good deal more remarkable. He provided a forum for an American artist and thinker to describe the current economic order as “insane.” …

    http://host.madison.com/ct/new.....03286.html

    Funny coming from two men making millions of dollars a year.

    Log in to Reply
    • BillK

      September 18, 2009 at 2:25 am

      To be fair, though, his attacks did get the lefties too:

      MOORE: Democrats and Republicans, especially, um, a certain Democratic chairman of the banking and finance committee, Sen. Dodd…

      LENO: Chris Dodd.

      MOORE: …who, as I point out in the film, I have an exclusive interview with the VIP loan manager at Countrywide Loans, the largest mortgage company in the country, was giving sweetheart loans to Sen. Dodd, where he didn’t have to pay fees. They did away with the paperwork for him. He got all things the average person couldn’t get. And he’s supposed to be regulating Countrywide and all these mortgage companies. So, the film really, I think people are going to be surprised.

      That’s more press than Dodd’s sweetheart loans have gotten in the MSM before…
69. canary

    September 18, 2009 at 4:03 am

    LENO owns his giant car collection, and Moore is rich too.

    Log in to Reply
    • BillK

      September 18, 2009 at 5:09 am

      Really – he should realize that were it not for capitalism we’d all be driving Trabants and Yugos.
70. 12 Gauge Rage

    September 18, 2009 at 9:34 am

    So how does Michael Moore justify all his wealth? Was it through the opportunities of capitalism or socialism finally done right? I don’t think Mr. Moore would want to drive a Yugo because his huge girth would get in the way. On the lighter side, my father often joked that the Yugo was the only car he knew of whose bluebook value doubled when you filled the tank full of gas.

    Log in to Reply
71. proreason

    September 18, 2009 at 11:22 am

    House votes to put Student Loans under Fascist Control:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....07269.html

    Just a throwoff for the Moron. Like spittin on the sidewalk.

    Log in to Reply
72. nuthingbettertodo

    September 18, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    Has it been a year already?

    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ca2_1234032281

    Log in to Reply