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Selected News Items For Sep 5 – Sep 11

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news items we might otherwise miss.

To make the articles as readable as possible, please stick to the format described here.

  • Only post ‘hard news’ from established media outlets.
  • Avoid editorials and ‘thought pieces,’ unless they are truly newsworthy.
  • Eschew ‘major news’ items that most people will likely have seen elsewhere.
  • Articles that fit under the topic of a recent thread should be posted as a comment there.

  • Always post less than a third of the original article.

Posts of articles that do not follow these guidelines are susceptible to being edited or deleted.

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This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

55 Responses to “Selected News Items For Sep 5 – Sep 11”

  1. canary
    September 5, 2009 at 2:49 am

    The Miami Herald: Bin Laden aide’s Guantánamo conviction appealed
    BY CAROL ROSENBERG crosenberg@MiamiHerald.com Sept 2 2009

    Accused al Qaeda propagandist Ali Hamza al Bahlul waves a boycott sign at his May 7, 2008 arraignment on war crimes charges at Camp Justice, the military commissions complex, at the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as shown in a courtroom sketch submitted to U.S. military scrutiny before release. At his right is a Pentagon paid translator. Pentagon defense lawyers this week appealed the war crimes conviction of Osama bin Laden’s media secretary at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on free speech grounds.
    They argued that filmmaker Ali Hamza al Bahlul of Yemen was denied several constitutional protections at his military commission trial, which found him guilty of three war crimes on Nov. 3.

    “Mr. al Bahlul is not a sympathetic defendant. He embraces an ideology that glorifies violence, justifies terrorism and opposes constitutional democracy,” said the 50-page appeal, filed Tuesday with the U.S. Court for Military Commission Review.

    “As offensive as it may be, [Bahlul's film work] is speech that falls within the core protections of the First Amendment, which forbids the prosecution of `the thoughts, the beliefs, the ideals of the accused.’ ”

    But a four-member attorney team argued in their appeal that the video “provides a valuable window into the anxieties and grievances of a substantial number of Muslims inside and outside the United States.

    “It is a political argument on what has proven to be the dominant political debate of the past decade,” they wrote. “If nothing else, it warrants the protection of the First Amendment so that Americans can have the information they need. . . .”

    Bahlul, sentenced to life in prison, is currently the lone convicted war criminal at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba. Two earlier convicts — David Hicks of Australia and Salim Hamdan of Yemen — served short sentences and are now free in their native countries.

    It was unclear whether Bahlul had authorized the attorneys to file the appeal, which is automatically required under the rules that created military commissions in 2006.

    The Yemeni captive has consistently refused to work with the U.S. military attorneys who were assigned to defend him during his seven years at Guantánamo.

    Once convicted, Bahlul was segregated from the other detainees at Guantánamo under an interpretation of the Geneva Conventions that forbids convicts from being held with war prisoners.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/new.....14739.html

  2. canary
    September 5, 2009 at 3:03 am

    UPI: U.S. extends Blackwater task in Iraq Sept. 3, 2009 at 11:21 AM

    The U.S. State Department says a controversial U.S. private security company claimed to have been enlisted in a CIA hunt for al-Qaida members will continue its armed presence and task of shielding U.S. diplomats in Iraq.

    Formerly known as Blackwater, Xe Services will retain an aviation service — mainly helicopter escorting of U.S. officials because the company hired to replace it was not yet ready to take over, the Trade Arabia Web site reported Wednesday.

    The contract, ending Sept. 3, was the company’s last remaining deal with the U.S. State Department after revelations in June that the CIA enlisted Blackwater for an unknown role in a secret program designed to take out high-value members of al-Qaida.

    …the decision was taken after the new company, DynCorp, was in need of additional time to prepare for its assignment because of a shortage in equipment.

    When the Blackwater hit squad plan was reveal by The New York Times, congressional leaders lashed out against the CIA and for not informing them.

    In addition, the agency’s director, Leon Panetta, pulled the plug on the program, maintaining that no hit missions had been launched and that no militants had either been located or captured.

    About 1,000 Blackwater staff members were used to guard U.S. government personnel in Iraq following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, making it among the largest security companies operating in this country.

    In 2004 the company drew scrutiny when four of its employees were killed by an angry mob in Fallujah, then a stronghold for Sunni Arab insurgents.

    The bodies were mutilated, fanning a monthlong assault on Fallujah that left 36 U.S. soldiers, 200 insurgents and 600 civilians dead.

    Bent on shedding its tarnished reputation, the North Carolina-based company renamed its operations it to Xe Services.

    http://www.upi.com/Security_In.....251991265/

  3. canary
    September 5, 2009 at 3:20 am

    AP: U.S. Embassy Guards In Afghanistan Fired
    NPR Sept 5 2009

    Eight security guards at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan have been fired following allegations of lewd behavior and sexual misconduct at their living quarters,…

    The Kabul senior management team of ArmorGroup North America, the private contractor that provides the guards for the State Department..

    Their names and nationalities were not released.
    The statement said all 10 appeared in photographs that depicted guards and supervisors in various stages of nudity at parties flowing with alcohol.

    The scandal surfaced this week when an independent watchdog said guards were subjected to abuse and hazing by supervisors.

    .. the situation had led to a breakdown in morale and leadership that compromised security at the embassy in Kabul, where nearly 1,000 U.S. diplomats, staff and Afghan nationals work.

    ….brought in prostitutes..In other instances, members of the guard force drew Afghans into activities forbidden by Muslims, such as drinking alcohol, it said.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....amp;f=1003

  4. Rusty Shackleford
    September 6, 2009 at 1:16 am

    Divided Venezuelans march for, against Chavez

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....ela_chavez

    By Andrew Cawthorne Andrew Cawthorne – Sat Sep 5, 5:51 pm ET

    CARACAS (Reuters) – Thousands of Venezuelans marched on Saturday in protests against President Hugo Chavez while thousands of his supporters held their own rallies, a sign of the sharp split in the OPEC nation over the socialist leader’s policies.

    Chavez remains popular with the poor and workers after living standards rose during an oil boom. But other Venezuelans are fiercely opposed to the leftist leader who has nationalized much of the economy and this year clamped down on opposition politicians and the media.

    Many are also angry about a new education law that boosts the government’s control over schools and universities. Venezuelan children return to school next week after the summer break.

    “I am fighting for my daughter and all the children of Venezuela because they have no future with this man,” said a demonstrator in Caracas named Elian who declined to give her last name because she works at a government ministry.

    Opponents are also angry at the government for shutting dozens of radio stations last month. On Saturday, Infrastructure Minister Diosdado Cabello said 29 more will be closed soon.

    There have been a number of marches this year, and anti-government protesters often scuffle with police. But the tension is not nearly as high as it was in 2002, when huge protests ended in a several deaths and a coup that briefly ousted Chavez.

    —–Please note that the news article curiously refers to Chavez as a socialist. A few weeks ago, wasn’t Obama in support of El Guapo? That is, at least in regards to his FCC chief of diversity ‘czar’ appreciating the suppression of free speech on the radio in Venezuaela.

    http://www.traditionalvalues.o.....p?sid=3733

    And, if my algebra is correct, two things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.

    So, if Obama’s views=diversity czar’s views and diversity czars views = Chavez views…then….Obama’s views=Chavez views, no?

  5. BillK
    September 6, 2009 at 4:36 am

    Chuck Hagel reveals once again why people don’t trust Republicans, even RINOs.

    From his OpEd in the Washington Post:

    The Limits Of Force

    Iraq and Afghanistan Aren’t Ours to Win or Lose

    By Chuck Hagel

    The other night I watched the film “The Deer Hunter.” Afterward, I remembered why it took me so many years to be able to watch Vietnam movies.

    It all came tumbling back — the tragedy, the innocent victims, the waste. Too often in Washington we tend to see foreign policy as an abstraction, with little understanding of what we are committing our country to: the complications and consequences of endeavors. It is easy to get into war, not so easy to get out. Vietnam lasted more than 10 years; soon, we will slip into our ninth year in Afghanistan. We have been in Iraq for almost seven years.

    When I came to the Senate in 1997, the world was being redefined by forces no single country controlled or understood. The implosion of the Soviet Union and a historic diffusion of economic and geopolitical power created new influences and established new global power centers — and new threats. The events of Sept. 11, 2001, shocked America into this reality. The Sept. 11 commission pointed out that the attacks were as much about failures of our intelligence and security systems as about the terrorists’ success.

    The U.S. response, engaging in two wars, was a 20th-century reaction to 21st-century realities. These wars have cost more than 5,100 American lives; more than 35,000 have been wounded; a trillion dollars has been spent, with billions more departing our Treasury each month. We forgot all the lessons of Vietnam and the preceding history.

    No country today has the power to impose its will and values on other nations. As the new world order takes shape, America must lead by building coalitions of common interests, as we did after World War II. Then, international organizations such as the United Nations, NATO, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and GATT (now the World Trade Organization) — while flawed — established boundaries for human and government conduct and expectations that helped keep the world from drifting into World War III and generally made life better for most people worldwide during the second half of the 20th century.

    Our greatest threats today come from the regions left behind after World War II. Addressing these threats will require a foreign policy underpinned by engagement — in other words, active diplomacy but not appeasement. We need a clearly defined strategy that accounts for the interconnectedness and the shared interests of all nations. Every great threat to the United States — whether economic, terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, health pandemics, environmental degradation, energy, or water and food shortages — also threatens our global partners and rivals. Accordingly, we cannot view U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan through a lens that sees only “winning” or “losing.” Iraq and Afghanistan are not America’s to win or lose. Win what? We can help them buy time or develop, but we cannot control their fates. There are too many cultural, ethnic and religious dynamics at play in these regions for any one nation to control. For example, the future of Afghanistan is linked directly to Pakistan and what happens in the mountains along their border. Political accommodation and reconciliation in this region will determine the outcome. …

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....02856.html

    See, big ol’ bad America is clueless and we need to learn from the Holy Grail, Vietnam:

    The president and his national security team should listen to recordings of conversations that President Lyndon B. Johnson had with Sen. Richard Russell about Vietnam, especially those in which LBJ told Russell that we could not win in Vietnam but that he did not want to pull out and be the first American president to lose a war. Difficult decisions with historic consequences are coming soon for President Obama.

    Ah yes. We could not win in Vietnam despite being tantalizingly close to victory before we gave up and abandoned the South VIetnamese the same way we abandoned the Iraqis fighting for their own freedom at the end of Desert Storm.

    It’s time America learns it’s once again time to give up and retreat in the face of our enemies.

    After all there’s no such thing as “winning,” right?

  6. BillK
    September 6, 2009 at 7:59 am

    Here we go again.

    From Fox News:

    Soap Actress Says She Was Fired Because of Religious Beliefs

    By Lauren Green

    If you tuned in to the soap “One Life to Live” this week, you may have noticed there’s been a change of character. One character in particular.

    Actress Patricia Mauceri says she was fired and abruptly replaced for objecting to a gay storyline because of her religious beliefs.

    Mauceri played the recurring role of Carlotta Vega on “OLTL” for the last 14 years. But when she objected to how the writers wanted her deeply religious character, a Latina mother, to handle a storyline involving homosexuality, she objected. And for that she claims she was fired.

    Mauceri, 59, a devout Christian, told FOX News that character Vega’s gay-friendly dialogue was not in line with the character she helped create by drawing on her own faith.

    “I did not object to being in a gay storyline. I objected to speaking the truth of what that person, how that person would live and breathe and act in that storyline,” she said. “And this goes against everything I am, my belief system, and what I know the character’s belief system is aligned to.”

    Mauceri said she was replaced despite offering changes to the script and hoping for a compromise.

    An ABC spokesperson said they were not aware of any such claims by Mauceri, adding such claims “would be frivolous.”

    When asked why Mauceri is no longer playing Carlotta Vega, the spokesperson said the show does not comment on personnel matters. The scene in question was scheduled to air Friday afternoon. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,546720,00.html

    Thou shalt not speak out against the agenda or you will suffer the consequences.

    Remember as always, speech is only free if it agrees with the left.

    All else is bigoted hate speech.

  7. Rusty Shackleford
    September 7, 2009 at 9:36 am

    Teardrop Memorial–A gift from the Russian people to commemorate Sept 11, 2001.

    A very interesting piece in American Thinker: http://www.americanthinker.com....._drop.html

    The article has a link to the website about the memorial. But here is one you can click now: http://www.911monument.com/

    To be honest, I had no idea this monument existed and blame our ever-vigilant MSM for squelching it from our gaze. I can only surmise they feared upsetting the muslim quadrant, or perhaps inciting inspiration towards the republican party. In any case, it’s a huge omission on their part for not letting us know about it. Andy Rooney mentioned it on 60 Minutes and I have to say that this time, he made his point quite clear.

  8. Rusty Shackleford
    September 7, 2009 at 10:21 am

    From a slobbering, adoring Associated Press

    ‘He’s the only 1 we’ve got’; Obama at 8 months

    By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 39 mins ago

    WASHINGTON, Pa. – They’ve heard it all before — the tanking economy, the bleeding of jobs, the creeping hardship that never seems to ebb. And the desperate hope that hangs over everything and whispers that maybe, just maybe, tomorrow might be a tiny bit better.

    In the river valley where Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia meet, the anticipation of change never really goes away. Because of that, it seems, people still are willing to give Barack Obama a chance as he maneuvers through the murkiness of a nation in transformation.

    “No one is feeling satisfied with the state of the country,” Derek Duffee says from behind his coffee bar’s counter in Pennsylvania’s Washington. “I don’t know if what he’s doing will work, but he’s trying,” says Miyoshi Braxton, an Obama fan smoking on a park bench outside her downtown apartment building in Steubenville, Ohio.

    And this from antique dealer and Obama skeptic Bob Yocum in Wheeling, W.Va., who is sticking with the president for now: “He’s the only one we’ve got.”

    In a country of deep divisions and ideological extremes, impressions of Obama around here fall somewhere in the middle. Eight months into his presidency, he’s not the hero who will fix all the problems, nor is he the villain who caused them. Instead, he is seen as a bridge that leads toward the country’s next era — a guide into the new unknown.

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

    —–I will go be sick now. But if you read the rest of this crapola, please look carefully and you will note that even in the quotes of the “average schmuck” that they don’t have a lot of confidence in the president.

    • proreason
      September 7, 2009 at 10:48 am

      The real story in the article is how many people refuse to take personal responsponsibility for their lives.

      It’s all on government’s shoulders.

      We need 2 America’s. One that believes in itself, and another that doesn’t. Then the Warren Buffets and Bill Gates of the world can move to Helpless America and dedicate themselves to a lifetime of wiping the asses of perpetual children.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      September 7, 2009 at 11:09 am

      “The real story in the article is how many people refuse to take personal responsponsibility for their lives.”

      Agreed, but historically I think that’s always been the case. Though much has been said about “the good ol’ days”, where grandpa made him a house out of logs and mud and all by himself and so on…and that’s what we like to call the “American Ideal” but there are plenty of stories where people felt they weren’t getting “their due”.

      Perhaps it’s more obvious now due to our access to information. But I think it’s always been there.

      What’s different is the complicity that the media has in such a reinforcement kind of way. Everyone’s a victim. Jeez.

      But there already are those two Americas of which you speak…and there probably always will be. But also, I think that the ones who want their asses wiped is growing in numbers. The mind takes the path of least resistance and as we have discussed in the past, critical thinking is always the first casualty of liberal influence. It’s easier to say “I can’t” when your house is blown down and there’s no gubmint support to give you a new one.

      However, the basis for it all comes to learned behavior,as you well know. My parents taught me to look hard at myself, not ot complain about what I cannot do but to capitalize on what I can do…like many people who participate here. And, somewhere along the line, we’ve mis-attributed the word “discipline” with the word “cruelty” and though the differences can be subtle, they are far, far different from one another.

      So, with kids coming up, it’s a double-edged sword where the kid is frustrated because the particular exercise is “too hard” and the adult who is unwilling to let him suffer through it to achieve a positive goal. Something that has transcended through the ages for literally tens of thousands of years…and yet in a few short generations, the US has managed to screw that up as well.

      Yes, to create a whole population of needy-types who turn to intellectuals for “guidance”.

      Sorta makes ya sick, don’t it?

    • proreason
      September 7, 2009 at 11:28 am

      “historically I think that’s always been the case”

      Well, there are no absolutes in life, but America has had an extremely strong tradition of self-reliance and it might well be the key to four centuries of amazing success. Consider the Pilgrims and the Jamestown settlers. What courage. It’s simply amazing. Follow that through to the Founding Fathers and pioneers who settled Ohio/Tennesse/Kentucky and later the Great Plains and the West. Few of us today could do it. That attitude was still strong, even after the Great Depression, when the country mobilized in a few short years to defeat the greatest military juggernaut of all time.

      We agree, I’m sure, that such amazing self-reliance is gone.

      You don’t even hear about it anymore.

      It’s partly due to the complexity of modern life. Everybody has heard the story of the pencil. 18 some techologies being required to build a writing implement that is basically free. Carry that through to Mobile Phone technology where you have a satellite GPS device in your hand. The creator of Dick Tracy would be blown away.

      So nobody can be completely self-reliant in the modern world. In some ways, it takes more courage to live today than 200 years ago. We are so specialized that if a disaster really happens and we have to go back to growing our own food and building our own shelter, many would persish because we wouldn’t know how.

      But we also agree, I’m sure, that the world will be immensely better off if more of us would at least acknowlege that ultimately, our lives are on our own shoulders. The type of stifling nanny-state control the Statists push like crack cocaine cannot possibly be good for humanity. It’s a death sentence.

      As alway, the libwits are not just wrong. They are 100% wrong.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      September 7, 2009 at 1:55 pm

      Yes, I see your point. If faced with the opportunity to “go west, young man” or wait for that welfare check, I suppose I’d have to say the young man in question would sit and wait.

      However, there again, you account for the paradigm shift from then, to now. In 200 years, if the planet still exists, will there be people in utter awe of the fact that we actually “had to get in a vehicle to go somewhere” while they just hop in the teleporter and are there?

      I think that there were people who simply “did” because they had to or they’d starve. Granted, given the same sets of variables, many would starve today. I am reminded of the term I used to note in books written in the period, “Well-tended place”. I guess that was in reference to a home or farm that was in order, cared for, maintained, versus the implication that a place that wasn’t was the property of the “n’er do wells”.

      However, your point is well taken. And in the here and now, I do have to say that it’s as challenging as ever to figure out what you’re good at and to capitalize on it. We are given many skills and I happen to believe that our education system only encourages a narrow band of skills. Or, to take it one step further, encourages those skills in a narrow way. That is to say, suppose a kid was a good writer but the teachers encourage him to write in the school newspaper, thus nurturing his talent for fiction, rather than write about something that required a more clinical approach.

      I ran into that very thing in technical report writing in college of all things. The professor was a hack with no writing skills at all.

      I consistently got bad marks. I tried to tailor my work to her tastes but because I was a 26 year old and not a 19 year old, and had actually read many a technical report, I was utilizing what I had learned in the real world…of which she had no experience. So I had to dumb it down. It was a frustrating ordeal.

      But I digress.

      My earlier point in saying “that’s always been the case” was that in any society throughout history, there have been the panhandlers, the beggars, the needy and so on. Granted, most of them in those days were probably the genuine article in need of some sort of help. But I think we will always have those who try to game the system and so on. Something my granddad called “their comfort-zone”. Striking out for adventure and to find one’s fortune is risky and scary. So, you will find many who will talk a good game but when the hurricane hits the levees, they instead sit there and expect help.

  9. canary
    September 8, 2009 at 12:01 am

    AP: Trainer spills secrets of Michelle Obama’s arms
    By Associated Press Writer Darlene Superville Mon Sep 7, 2009

    WASHINGTON – At last, the secret to first lady Michelle Obama’s sculpted arms? Tricep pushdowns and hammer curls.

    So says Cornell McClellan, Mrs. Obama’s longtime personal trainer, who described the workout routine of his famous client in the October issue of Women’s Health magazine. She began working with McClellan in 1997 at his Chicago fitness studio.

    McClellan said that at the end of an intense routine of cardio workouts and weight training, Mrs. Obama finishes with the “arm-shaping superset” of tricep pushdowns and hammer curls to tone one of the most commented-upon pair of arms in the world. Mrs. Obama often wears sleeveless outfits.

    How to get arms like Mrs. Obama’s?

    Perform one set of tricep… two or three sets of both exercises have been completed.

    Obama was interviewed by Men’s Health; he also was featured in the magazine last November. Mrs. Obama gave her first interviews to Women’s Health and Children’s Health, a new magazine by Rodale Inc., publisher of the men’s and women’s health magazines.

    Obama is again on the cover of Men’s Health, while his wife graces the cover of Children’s Health. She is joined by some of the Bancroft Elementary School pupils who have been involved with the White House garden.

    Obama said he works out six days a week: two cardio days and four weightlifting days split between the upper and lower body. He also discussed his effort to overhaul the U.S. health care system and his late mother’s bout with cancer.

    “My blood pressure is pretty low, and I tend to be a healthy eater,” he said in the interview. “So I probably could get away with cutting (my workouts) back a little bit. The main reason I do it is just to clear my head and relieve me of stress.”

    “But health and fitness and how we eat and thinking about it has become part of our lives, because of our kids,” she told Children’s Health. “We are their primary role models…
    All three magazines will hit newsstands on Sept. 15.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....5lcnNwaWxs

    Those poor children slaves trodding on human waste sludge. Getting their photos with
    Michelle should compensate for their unhealthy activity.

  10. BillK
    September 8, 2009 at 2:07 am

    From Fox News:

    Defying Critics, Obama Names Another Czar After Resignation of Environmental Adviser

    President Obama’s announcement of his selection of Ron Bloom as “manufacturing czar” follows the weekend resignation of Van Jones, the White House “green jobs czar” who had come under fire in recent weeks for past inflammatory statements.

    As one White House “czar” departs amid a cloud of controversy, an undeterred President Obama is naming a new one to advise him on manufacturing, defying conservative critics who have raised concerns about these advisory positions that do not require congressional oversight.

    Obama chose a Labor Day union picnic on Monday as the backdrop to announce his selection of Ron Bloom, a member of his auto industry task force, as senior counselor for manufacturing policy. Bloom planned to travel to Cincinnati with Obama for an afternoon announcement at the AFL-CIO event.

    The announcement follows the weekend resignation of Van Jones, the White House “green jobs czar” who had come under fire in recent weeks for past inflammatory statements, including one where he called Republicans “assholes,” and his signature on a petition suggesting that the U.S. government played a role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

    Republicans had been calling for Jones to resign and raising concerns about all the czars Obama has appointed –which by some accounts amount to more than 30.

    Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman for the Bush administration, told FOX News that presidents like to appoint czars because it can be hard to get political appointees confirmed by an increasingly partisan Congress.

    “They have skirted around that process so there is no accountability for the czars,” she said Monday. “Nobody has to go up and testify in front of Congress. They don’t have to go through the process.”

    Bloom has already sidestepped congressional approval. He was senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as part of the auto industry task force since February. Bloom, a Harvard Business School graduate, previously advised the United Steelworkers union and worked as an investment banker.

    Bloom will work with the National Economic Council to lead policy development and planning for Obama’s work to revitalize U.S. manufacturing, the White House said. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ay-picnic/

    But I thought “investment bankers” were eeeevillll…

  11. BillK
    September 8, 2009 at 2:20 am

    The Associated Press talks up the economy again. Right.

    New frugality is the new normal, by necessity

    By Ashley M. Heher

    A year after “shop ’til you drop” stopped, the nation fixates on this question: Will consumer spending ever return to pre-recession levels?

    Increasingly, the answer appears to be no. Belt-tightening in bad times is normal. And after every other recession since World War II, penny-pinching quickly fell out of fashion and Americans resumed their demand for houses, cars and everything else.

    This time it’s different. Like the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Great Recession seems destined to turn many Americans into lasting coupon-cutters, scrimpers and savers. Consumers dug a debt hole over the past decade from which there’s no easy climb out. The population segment that drives spending the most _ baby boomers _ faces special pressure: Boomers are running out of time.

    A study by research firm AlixPartners concluded that once a new normal sets in after this recession ends, Americans will spend at about 86 percent of their pre-downturn level.

    In an economy driven by consumption, the implications are far-reaching if that forecast proves correct:

    _ For every kitchen not remodeled, there will be lost sales of appliances and supplies, and fewer jobs for designers and contractors. As homeowners do work around the house themselves, there will be less work for gardeners, plumbers and handymen.

    _ For every shopper who trades down from luxury stores to discount stores, it will mean less profit for retailers and manufacturers. Retailers will continue to offer few product choices and leaner inventories, and they’ll reassess store locations and advertising.

    _ If sales of cars and trucks average closer to the recession level of 10 million a year than the 16 million in boom times, more suppliers will fail and further consolidation among automakers could occur. Taxes not paid on lost vehicle sales will continue to stress budgets of state and local governments.

    Frugality may be good for family budgets, but it’s bad for the national economy. And that has the potential to reinforce and continue the miserly mood. A Gallup survey last month found seven in 10 Americans are cutting weekly expenses _ a number that has been consistent through the summer. …

    http://host.madison.com/busine.....3f736.html

    That’s right, people will never buy again!

    Of course if our President wasn’t so busy trashing our economy and painting a target on every private business, perhaps people wouldn’t feel that way.

    Nah.

  12. BillK
    September 8, 2009 at 2:25 am

    From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    High court’s Clinton movie case could change campaign finance law

    By Diana Marrero

    Washington — A Supreme Court case over a documentary on Hillary Rodham Clinton could significantly weaken one of Sen. Russ Feingold’s signature legislative accomplishments: the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.

    The court is set to hear arguments Wednesday on the case, which centers on “Hillary: The Movie,” a critical film produced by the conservative advocacy group Citizens United. The group sued when the Federal Election Commission barred it from distributing the movie – described by some as a 90-minute attack ad on Clinton as she ran for president – through a video-on-demand service on television, citing election laws that limit such “electioneering communications” by corporations.

    At issue now is whether the Supreme Court should overturn its previous rulings limiting corporate spending in elections, the most recent involving the McCain-Feingold law that bars companies and unions from funding broadcast ads that target candidates right before an election.

    The hearing will give observers their first glimpse into the way newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor acts on the high court and could set the stage for a major overhaul of the nation’s rules governing political spending by corporations. The court’s decision in the case also could have a considerable impact on federal and state elections in the coming years.

    The case is pitting campaign finance reform supporters who argue the case is about the government’s ability to keep corporate influence on elections in check, against conservative groups, unions and free speech advocates who say the case is really about the First Amendment.

    “Anyone who cares about the messages they hear in an election and the power of the speakers of those messages ought to care about the results in this case,” said Nathaniel Persily, a law professor at Columbia University.

    The court’s decision also could have implications for campaign finance rules in Wisconsin, observers on both sides of the debate say. Wisconsin law now prohibits corporations from giving or spending money to influence elections. In addition, the pending case has prompted the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board to hold off on its plans to force the disclosure of donors who contribute to “issue ads” during campaigns.

    Those who advocate for strict campaign finance laws say overruling the court’s precedents could undermine the country’s democracy and change the nature of federal elections.

    “It would empower corporations to have enormous new influence over elected officials on issues across the board,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of the nonprofit Democracy 21.

    But critics of the ban on corporate spending in campaigns say a ruling in their favor could “reinvigorate uninhibited robust debate” during elections.

    “If there’s anything our Constitution protects, it’s citizens exchanging information and opinions with one another at the time of elections,” said Theodore Olson, who is representing Citizens United in the case. …

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/s.....66482.html

    Of course, none of this has stopped George Soros or various other Dem funding groups.

  13. BillK
    September 8, 2009 at 2:32 am

    You’ve got to love entitlement:

    State treasurer takes trip as work piles up

    By Patrick Marley and Stacy Forster

    Madison — As the state treasurer’s office tried to eliminate the biggest backlog of unclaimed property requests in at least a decade, state Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass headed to California.

    Sass spent much of last week at the posh St. Regis Monarch Beach resort in Dana Point, Calif., for the National Association of State Treasurers annual meeting. In addition to attending informational sessions and giving a talk on Wisconsin’s unclaimed property program, Sass went on a two-hour sea-life cruise.

    Sass did not disclose on her state ethics statements that she attended similar corporate-funded conferences in 2007 and 2008. The state’s ethics enforcement agency said it was unclear whether the travel needed to be disclosed, although such disclosure is generally required under state law.

    The trip comes at a time when Sass’ office is rife with tension over the hiring of her niece and other family members for temporary jobs, as well as a wave of job vacancies for permanent positions. The niece spent some of her five-week stint on the job traveling with the treasurer, even though she was supposed to be processing claims and working at the office’s front desk.

    As Sass traveled to California, her aides tried to dig the office out from under a backlog that reached about 2,900 claims for property.

    The problem is exacerbated by five vacancies in the 15-person office – some of which occurred after Sass sparred with employees.

    Sass said it was appropriate for her to attend the conference because she learned new ideas from other state treasurers and experts, and picked up useful material.

    Sass said the backlog emerged because of record claims filed after she promoted the unclaimed property list with annual visits to all 72 Wisconsin countiessince she was elected three years ago.

    To help fill the staff shortage, Sass hired her 20-year-old niece for a summer job staffing the front desk and processing claims. But her niece spent at least some of her time on the road with Sass, even though the treasurer had an aide whose job it was to accompany her on trips.

    Sass said hiring her niece, Amanda Sass, was appropriate and approved by the state Government Accountability Board, which enforces the state’s ethics code.

    “As long as you are not in any other way financially benefiting from the hire, the (state) Ethics Code does not prohibit it,” Jonathan Becker, the state’s ethics director, wrote her in an e-mail. “Whether it is a good idea or not, or how the public would react to your hiring your niece for a job in these tough economic times, is your call.”

    Sass said hiring her niece was needed because it would be hard to find someone else to take the $14-an-hour job for just a few weeks.

    The job description says the niece was to spend about half her time at the front desk and about half the time processing claims for property. The job did not involve travel, but Amanda Sass accompanied her aunt for six out-of-town events during the five weeks she worked there. Four of the events occurred after Sass’ travel aide, Eva Robelia, resigned.

    The treasurer’s office also hired Dawn Sass’ cousin and the cousin’s two children to work at the treasurer’s State Fair booth last month. They earned $10 an hour. …

    http://www.jsonline.com/watchd.....66737.html

    Because, you know, with an unemployment rate hovering near 10%, it would be impossible to find someone to take a temp job for $14/hour.

    Or $10/hour.

    Why those aren’t even “living wages!”

    By the way, in case you were wondering:

    Sass earns $68,556 a year. The Democrat took office in 2007 after defeating Republican Jack Voight.

  14. canary
    September 8, 2009 at 3:29 am

    Boston Herald online: Hugo Chavez, Oliver Stone rock movie premier
    September 8, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Celebrity News

    VENICE, Italy – United States-bashing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and left-leaning film director Oliver Stone got the star treatment walking the red carpet together for the premiere of Stone’s documentary “South of the Border” at the Venice Film Festival.

    Hundreds of admirers, some chanting “president, president” and waving Venezuelan flags, gathered yesterday outside of the Casino for the brash South American strongman’s arrival.

    Chavez threw a flower into the crowd and touched his heart and at one point took a photographer’s camera to snap a picture himself. Chavez, who once called President George W. Bush “the devil,” praised Stone’s work for depicting what he said were improvements made across Latin America.

    “Rebirth is happening in Latin America, and Stone went to look for it and he found it,” Chavez told reporters. “With his cameras and his genius, he’s captured a good part of that rebirth.”

    Stone said “South of the Border” is meant to illustrate “the sweeping changes” in South America in recent years as a direct counterpoint to what he sees as Chavez’s depiction as a dictator

    Stone said he didn’t see it necessary to present the opposition’s case in his film. “A dark side? There’s a dark side to everything. Why do you seek out the dark side when the guy is doing good things?” Stone asked.

    Stone concedes that Chavez “says things unnecessary to provoke. I think he doesn’t have to do that.” But he said his opinion of Chavez only improved during the making of the documentary.

    “People forget that he cut the poverty rate by one half,” Stone said. “People in Venezuela are getting an education, they are getting health care and welfare. He actually delivered on what he said he would.”

    Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/tr.....id=1196046
    http://www.bostonherald.com/tr.....ent_bullet

    Oliver Stone is on the Obama pro-Chavez team.

  15. nuthingbettertodo
    September 8, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Premature baby ‘left to die’ by doctors after mother gives birth just two days before 22-week care limit

    By Graham Smith
    Last updated at 5:39 PM on 08th September 2009

    A young mother’s premature baby died in her arms after doctors refused to help because it was born just before 22-week cut-off point for treatment.

    Sarah Capewell, 23, gave birth to her son Jayden when she was 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy.

    Although doctors refused to place the baby in intensive care, Jayden lived for two hours before he passed away at James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, last October.
    Sarah Capewell is fighting for new guidelines on when infants should be given intensive care after her premature son Jayden (right) was refused treatment

    Miss Capewell’s desperate pleas for her tiny son to be admitted to the hospital’s special care baby unit were rejected.
    She is now fighting to establish radical new guidelines on when infants should be given intensive care and has created a website called Justice For Jayden.
    Since the site was set up in January, Miss Capewell has received messages of support from 260,000 women from around the world.
    Miss Capewell, of Great Yarmouth, said: ‘When I asked about my baby’s human rights, the attitude of the doctors seemed to be that he did not have any.

    ‘They said before 22 weeks he was just a foetus.’
    Her campaign is being backed by local MP Tony Wright.
    He said: ‘When a woman wants to give the best chance to her baby they should surely be afforded that opportunity.’
    Short life: Miss Capewell’s son Jayden died two hours after he was born at James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, in October 2008
    Mr Wright has pledged to call for a thorough review of medical guidelines to see if there is a case for changing them.

    Miss Capewell, who has a five-year-old daughter, has a history of miscarriages and after bleeding heavily 12 weeks into her pregnancy with Jayden, she was closely monitored by doctors.
    She was rushed to hospital by ambulance at 21 weeks and her waters broke at 21 weeks and three days.

    She said: ‘Because I had not reached 22 weeks, they did not allow me injections to stop the labour or steroid injections to help mature the baby’s lungs.’

    Miss Capewell was told the baby was likely to be stillborn and as her contractions continued, a chaplain arrived to discuss bereavement and planning a funeral.

    ‘When he was born, he put out his arms and legs and pushed himself over,’ said Miss Capewell.
    ‘A midwife said he was breathing and had a strong heartbeat and described him as a “little fighter”.
    Treasured memories: Pictures of baby Jason’s feet and hands

    ‘I kept asking for the doctors but the midwife said, “They won’t come and help, sweetie. Make the best of the time you have with him.”‘
    Miss Capewell said she had to argue her right to receive birth and death certificates which meant she could have a proper funeral.

    The medical guidance for NHS hospitals, limiting care of the most premature babies, was drawn up by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in 2006.

    The guidelines are clear: no baby below 22 weeks gestation should be resuscitated.

    The latest major study on survival of premature babies shows that at 23 weeks, just 16 per cent will survive – a statistic which has barely changed in a decade.

    But Miss Capewell said: ‘After Jayden’s death, I looked into other cases and I could not believe that one little girl, Amillia Taylor, is perfectly healthy after being born in Florida in 2006 at 21 weeks and six days – and Jayden was heavier than her.
    ‘There are thousands of women who have experienced this.
    ‘The doctors say the babies won’t survive but how do they know if they are not giving them a chance?’
    She said she had heard heartbreaking stories of babies who lived as long as five days in such circumstances.

    ‘Women who went through it 10 years ago have phoned me up in tears. You can’t get past it because no one tried.
    ‘You feel you let your baby down and you are left with that guilt every single day. You feel you should have got out of that bed, you should have gone to another hospital.’
    Justice for Jayden: His mother is campaigning to change the law
    A James Paget Hospital spokeswoman said they could not comment on individual cases.

    She said: ‘We are always sorry when we hear that a patient has concerns.
    ‘In all of these cases, we would encourage the patient to contact us directly so we can discuss any concerns they may have and take further action, wherever appropriate.’
    Pregnancy expert Dr Jane Hawdon, consultant neonatologist at University College London Hospital, said she supported national guidelines but said ‘extreme sensitivity’ was needed to handle such situations.

    Dr Hawdon said: ‘There are reams of evidence to support the guidance. The research has not shown any substantial improvements for births under 23 weeks.’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z0QXGpVrPW

    • caligirl9
      September 8, 2009 at 1:41 pm

      If there is no “substantial research” saying there hasn’t been improvements for births under 23 weeks, they why do we try here? A fetus who has been stressed in utero (like this baby was) responds much differently to the insult of preterm birth than one whose prenatal life was a cakewalk until then. It was that way 25+ years ago when my daughter was born, 21 weeks is tough but it’s been known to happen.
      That poor woman and poor baby, not even given a chance …

  16. canary
    September 8, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    ‘In all of these cases,..”

    that’s socialized medicine for ya.

    “we would encourage the patient to contact us directly so we can discuss any concerns…”

    sounds like the mother contacted them face to face and was ignored.

  17. texaspsue
    September 8, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    Tammy Bruce posted this great video, it’s classic! Urkel (Obama) gets caught in The Dragnet http://is.gd/32BXH

    Amen! :-)

  18. OneAmericanCitizen
    September 9, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    ANOTHER KENT STATE!

    At obscure Kent State, the national Guard opened up on students protesting the invasion of Cambodia killing 4. This deeply divided the nation.

    The Tea Party people are going to arrive in Washington on Saturday. They will be ignored except on Fox.

    Washington is a very liberal place with one of the highest crime rates in the nation. Despite strong gun control the murder rate puts it in the top 5. There is the possibility some of the guys in the hood will prey on the Tea-partiers.

    And there is the potential that the rally will be infiltrated by union thugs and turn violent. Riot police could be called out. Our generation could have a Kent State moment in reverse. The demonstrators will be cast as the Nazi/villains.

    The right wing threat will have been dealt with. Obama and the left will pass all their socialist bills.

  19. OneAmericanCitizen
    September 9, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    2010 Election Will be Fixed! Yes, they can!

    To appease the left, Obama is going to have no choice but go for the slam dunk the health care government option. The polls are going to go far south for the Dems.

    After Obama’s speech tomorrow there is going to be manufactured, astro-turf support.
    Congress will suspend the rules in the Senate to approve HR3200 or a close cousin of the government option health care bill.

    The polls will swing towards the Republicans. What are the Dem’s going to do? They have come too far to turn back now! They have ordered those new jets! What if they are investigated!? What if future Attorney General Ashcroft decides to give Charlie, Harry, Nancy, Barbera, Maxine and Barack the kind of scrutiny that Holder is giving the CIA and Cheney. The Dems are fighting for their lives.

    The first line of attack will be ACORN and their maze of entities. They will be flush with dollars from the U.S. Treasury. They have been hired to administer the 2010 census. There will be a get-out-the-vote campaign like you have never seen before. Every wino, hood rat and ex-con is going to vote. Absentee ballots will be collected for prisoners, old folks in nursing homes and the dead.

    Who is going to to prosecute violators? Eric Holder? The way he went after the New Black Panther’s when they threatened white voters with a night sticks in Philiadelphia. [here]
    They will also be backed up by the American Trial Lawyers who are so very thankful over the absence of tort reform in the health care bill.

    The next line of attack will be the voting machines and ballots. With Holder in the tank, tens of thousands of ACORN/SEIU workers will be working the polls. They will easily overwhelm the Republicans. Electronic voting machines can be easily manipulated. Dummy machines can easily be put into conservative areas. Who is going to know. Who will investigate?

    Third line of attack will be martial law. Some tactics have recently been tested. In Denver, Transgender, Democrat, eco-anarchist Maurice Schwenkler (aka Ariel Attack) vandalized Democrat headquarters. Pat Waak, Democrat Chairwoman immediately blamed Republican, anti-health care reformers. This tactic will be tried again. This time by more professional union thugs.Obama will use the crisis to call for martial law.[here];

    But it may not be necessary, Americans may exuberantly protest the stolen election, giving Obama an excuse to impose martial law – he is not going to want to do it [yeah, right]. There is a bill in the senate sponsored by Jay Rockefeller to give the president control over the internet in case of an emergency.[here] This would give him the ability to cut off the social networking sites that were so effective in helping Iranians protest their stolen election.

    This is the only way the Democrats are going to stay in power if they pass the government-option healthcare reform, cap and trade, Jay Rockefeller’s cyber-security bill and immigration reform – yes – the new citizens will be also voting.

    And for 2012 it even looks bleaker. The ACORN census has been moved from the Department of Commerce to Rahm Emanual’s office. Why? Liberal states have been under counted. Raising the number of people in blue states will mean more congressional districts in these states; particularly in the more urban areas where liberals are strongest.[here] Suppose they add two districts in LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose, Seattle, NYC, Chicago, Philly, Baltimore, Northern NJ, Detroit, St Louis,and one more in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Portland, Pittsburgh and Miami that would be a huge 31 congressional seat liberal swing.

    When does the District of Columbia’s congressmen get to vote? Surely that is coming soon. And all the illegals will be voting by then. And all the new government workers will be Democrats – but it is not fair to add them – they were Democrats before they got the job. But the will be richer Democrats with more money to give and time to serve.
    Let’s face it. The line has been crossed. The wagon riders are going to demand more and more from the wagon pullers. They out number us. More regulations and more taxes for less healthcare will be our lot. We are going to be worked like a rented mule then put on the morphine drip when we can no longer pull our share.

    And for the wagon pullers: We shall not overcome!

    • proreason
      September 9, 2009 at 5:21 pm

      OAC……your scenario could happen.

      But here’s how I look at it.

      Without people like us, there would be no cars, planes, telecomunications, or medical miracles. Humanity would still be “at one” with nature, and wiping their asses with banana leaves.

      So I don’t see why Acorn should be able to overcome a motivated conservative population. Hell, without “organizers”, their troops can’t even find their way to transportation, no matter the polls.

      Unless we give up.

  20. Rusty Shackleford
    September 10, 2009 at 12:15 am

    Tehran Targets Opposition in Raids and Strategic Arrests

    Time

    By ANDREW LEE BUTTERS Andrew Lee Butters – Wed Sep 9, 1:30 pm ET

    For weeks, hard-line elements in Iran’s government have been calling for the arrest of the country’s opposition leaders, especially defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Now it appears that the government has raised the ante. On Sept. 8, Iranian authorities raided offices connected to the two men and arrested top opposition aides.

    In particular, Tehran appears to have targeted the opposition’s ongoing strategy of charging the government with abusing the opposition demonstrators who were detained in the violence that followed Iran’s contested presidential election in June. Security forces raided offices belonging to Karroubi – who has led the effort to collect evidence of abuse by security forces – and confiscated documents related to the charges. (See pictures of people around the world protesting Iran’s election.)

    Rest of article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599192112200

    —–Don’t let Barry see this…he might get ideas.

  21. canary
    September 10, 2009 at 5:11 am

    AFP Muslim women get pig-free cosmetics
    by Ola Galal September 10 2009

    DUBAI (AFP) – For Muslim women who feel they are violating Islam’s teachings by using skin creams with alcohol and pig residues, Layla Mandi has the answer..

    The Canadian makeup artist who converted to Islam is marketing cosmetics called OnePure, which she says have the luxury feel of international brands minus the elements banned under Islamic law.

    Under the concept of halal — which means “lawful” in Arabic — pork and its by-products, alcohol and animals not slaughtered according to Koranic procedures are all forbidden.

    “Muslims don?t want to go around and pray five times a day having pork residues on their body,” said Mandi,

    According to Mandi, fatty acids and gelatin used in moisturisers, shampoos, face masks and lipsticks as well as other items are often extracted from pigs.

    … I plan to launch a line for men but for now, it?s just women,” Mandi said.

    “I feel it?s more about marketing,” said Noura Hamdi, marketing manager at a Body Shop boutique in Dubai.

    “We are not using any animal products in our products anyway,” said Hamdi, adding that the alcohol contained in the cosmetics and skin-care products sold in her shop “is not pure alcohol.”

    “The customer is not going to drink it. It?s something to apply on your body or clothes so it?s not related to halal or haram or religion,” Hamdi said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20.....ncosmetics

  22. OneAmericanCitizen
    September 10, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    Things are moving so swiftly… It is hard to see how we can catch up. We don’t have but a few (Beck, Rush, Sean & Palin) on our side.

  23. OneAmericanCitizen
    September 10, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....48420.html

    BEST OF THE WEB TODAYSEPTEMBER 10, 2009
    My Mother the Car

    By JAMES TARANTO

    Most criticisms of ObamaCare have focused on its cost in terms of money and lives, but it’s worth noting that in exchange for spending trillions of dollars in taxpayer money to set up a system that will inevitably ration care, President Obama proposes a fundamental curtailment of your individual freedom.

    In his speech to a joint session of Congress last night, the president offered what presumably was meant to sound like an innocuous, or at least reasonable, analogy:

    “Unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek–especially requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions–just can’t be achieved. And that’s why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance–just as most states require you to carry auto insurance.”

    In fact, no state requires individuals to carry auto insurance. The owner of a car, which may be either an individual or a corporate entity, is required to carry insurance as a condition for a government permit allowing the car to be driven on public roads. Individual drivers, of course, are also required to obtain a government license, which requires fulfilling other conditions.

    Driving is such a central part of most Americans’ lives that the cliché that “driving is a privilege” seems a bit nonsensical. It feels like a right. There even is a constitutional right to travel–an unenumerated one, but one whose existence is not in serious dispute. Yet here is how Justice John Paul Stevens described that right in Saenz v. Roe (1999):

    The “right to travel” discussed in our cases embraces at least three different components. It protects the right of a citizen of one State to enter and to leave another State, the right to be treated as a welcome visitor rather than an unfriendly alien when temporarily present in the second State, and, for those travelers who elect to become permanent residents, the right to be treated like other citizens of that State.

    The right to travel is not a right to drive, but if a state were to require visitors to provide proof of insurance when arriving by train, plane or bus, on foot, or as a passenger in a private car, this would clearly violate the first two components of the right to travel.

    Obama’s proposal to coerce all Americans into buying health insurance is even more intrusive than our hypothetical state requirement would be. The ObamaCare mandate would violate not only the right to travel but the right to remain at rest. The implication of the auto-insurance analogy is that the president believes Congress has the authority to require Americans to obtain a government permit to live.

    The one consolation of losing our freedom is that if the ObamaCare mandate passed, it would be fun to see the look on all those silly young voters’ faces when they realize that the guy they so fervently supported is going to force them to turn over a large share of their meager earnings to insurance companies.

    Speaking of which, Obama spent a lot of time in his speech last night demonizing insurance companies as cruel and money-hungry, while also calling for a law mandating the purchase of their product. Politicians have said similar things about, say, the tobacco industry. But so far as we know, no one has ever proposed forcing every American to smoke two packs a day.

    9/11 and 9/9–II
    Last week we noted the oddity of a wartime president, at a time of military and political peril in the war, summoning Congress into joint session to deliver a speech on domestic policy. We wondered if he would even mention Afghanistan in his address. He did:

    Now, add it all up, and the plan I’m proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years–less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration.

    This is worse than not having mentioned it at all. Obama has claimed to be committed to victory in Afghanistan, yet he has now reduced that effort to a trope, a justification–and a complete non sequitur at that–for obscene new levels of government spending.

    Be Civil, You Damn Liar
    Were we alone in being put off by the president’s tone last night? He came across at petulant and thin-skinned. “We did not come to fear the future,” he said toward the end of the speech. “We came here to shape it.” And how dare anyone stand in our way?

    Here are some more excerpts:

    “Some of people’s concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.
    There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. . . .
    I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than to improve it. I won’t stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what’s in this plan, we will call you out.”

    He also said, “I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility.” Physician, heal thyself.

    For the past few weeks Obama has been under fire from the Angry Left, for being “weak.” It got to the point that there was even some loose talk of a Howard Dean primary challenge in 2012. (Which would be a hoot, but don’t get your hopes up–the talk was very loose.) Last night’s address ought to restore the loyalty of those people, whose fundamental error is to mistake distemper for strength. It seems to us, however, that railing against your opponents and calling them “liars” is unlikely to win over skeptics of the policy.

    The president was not the only man in the chamber who behaved disagreeably. At the point when he stated that illegal aliens would not be covered–a highly dubious claim, as we noted last month–someone in the audience heckled him: “You lie!”

    The heckler turned out to be Joe Wilson. No, not the blowhard husband of the lady we dare not name for fear of revealing her supersecret desk job at CIA headquarters. This Joe Wilson, as we noted in 2004, is a Republican representative from South Carolina. CQ Politics reports that “House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, a fellow South Carolinian, said Wilson’s heckling was more damaging to South Carolina’s reputation than the exploits of Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, who admitted to having an extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman.”

    Clyburn did not say if it was more or less damaging than Rep. Preston Brooks’s caning of Sen. Charles Sumner on the Senate floor, or than secession.

    “Later,” the Associated Press reports, “Wilson was contrite”:

    “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me,” he said in a statement. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”

    Three jeers to Wilson for jeering and one cheer for his contrition.

    Barack Obama, meanwhile, has yet to apologize.

    ObamaCare State U
    The president last night did not repeat his comparison of the so-called public option–a government-run insurance company–to the post office. He did, however, introduce a new analogy:

    “By avoiding some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits and excessive administrative costs and executive salaries, [government insurance] could provide a good deal for consumers, and would also keep pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable and treat their customers better, the same way public colleges and universities provide additional choice and competition to students without in any way inhibiting a vibrant system of private colleges and universities.”

    [Profits and executive salaries and adminstrative costs are expenses not overhead. Overhead is capital costs and cost of infrastructure.]

    This is a more emotionally resonant comparison than the post office, inasmuch as it appeals to everyone’s pride: state U grads’ in having gone there, Ivy Leaguers’ in not having gone there.

    But higher-education costs, like health costs, have been skyrocketing for years, and for a similar reason: artificially inflated demand as a result of regulation, subsidies and third-party payments. But can Obama really be ignorant enough to believe that higher ed is an example of competition leading to cost control?

  24. canary
    September 10, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    ACORN Officials Videotaped Telling ‘Pimp,’ ‘Prostitute’ How to Lie to IRS
    Thursday, September 10, 2009

    An employee at ACORN’s Baltimore office advises a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute during a videotaped meeting in July.
    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.

    The videotape was made public Thursday on BigGovernment.com, a political blog launched by Andrew Breitbart as a companion site to his BigHollywood.breitbart.com blog.

    In the videotape, made on July 24, James O’Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as a pimp with a 20-year-old woman named “Kenya” who posed as a prostitute while visiting ACORN’s office in Baltimore. The couple told ACORN staffers they wanted to secure housing where the woman could continue to maintain a prostitution business.

    ACORN — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — bills itself as the nation’s largest community of low- and moderate-income families “working together for social justice and stronger communities,” according to its Web site. The organization has been accused by Republicans and conservative activists with fraud in voter registration drives around the country and has been under fire since last year for its support of President Obama and for its planned participation in next year’s census.

    A spokesman for ACORN, Scott Levenson, when asked to comment on the videotape, said: “The portrayal is false and defamatory and an attempt at gotcha journalism. This film crew tried to pull this sham at other offices and failed. ACORN wants to see the full video before commenting further.”

    On the videotape, “Kenya” can be seen telling an ACORN staffer that she earns roughly $8,000 a month. The ACORN employee then suggests to “Kenya” that ACORN could submit a tax return for 2008 showing that she made $9,600 for the entire year — instead of $96,000 — and that ACORN would charge “Kenya” $50 instead of the usual $150 fee for preparing her taxes.

    ACORN offers tax preparation and benefits application services free of charge during tax season; it charges nominal fees during non-tax season.

    The ACORN staffer can also be seen suggesting that the prostitute list her occupation as a freelance “performing artist.”

    “It’s not dancing, trust me,” the “pimp” says.

    “But dancing is considered an art,” the ACORN staffer replies. “[Exotic dancers] usually go under performing artists, or yeah, they usually go under performing arts, which will be what you are — a performing artist.”

    The “pimp” later says that he and “Kenya” plan to bring up to 13 “very young” girls from El Salvador to work as prostitutes. Although an ACORN staffer points out their plans are illegal, she also suggests that the girls can be claimed as dependents.

    “What if they are going to be making money because they are performing tricks too?” the pimp says.

    “If they making money and they are underage, then you shouldn’t be letting anybody know anyway,” the ACORN staffer says, and laughs. “It’s illegal. So I am not hearing this, I am not hearing this. You talk too much. Don’t give up no information you’re not asked.”

    The “pimp” then asks ACORN staffers to “promise” not to discriminate against his sex worker because of “who she is and what she does,” according to the audiotape.

    “If we don’t have the information, then how are we going to discriminate?” the ACORN staffer replies. “You see what I am saying?”

    If the girls are under age 16, the ACORN staffer says on the tape, then they are not legally allowed to work in the state, regardless of what they do.

    “So it’s like they don’t even exist?” “Kenya” asks.

    “Exactly,” the ACORN staffer replies. “It’s like they don’t even exist.”

    The staffer goes on to suggest that as many as three of the underage girls can be listed as dependents at the home, but a “flag” will be raised if as many as 13 are listed.

    “You are gonna use three of them,” the staffer says. “They are gonna be under 16, so you is eligible to get child tax credit and additional child tax credit.”

    The ACORN workers also appear to be promoting the group’s services to the “pimp” and “Kenya.”

    A second ACORN employee can be heard on the audiotape suggesting that the couple join the organization for an annual cost of $120 prior to attending one of its first-time homebuyer seminars, which are underwritten with taxpayer funds.

    Later, when the “pimp” asks what would happen if the organization is somehow connected to the scheme, the ACORN staffer replies, “First of all, it’s not gonna damage us because we not gonna know. And with your girls, you tell them, ‘Be careful.’ Train them to keep their mouth shut.”

    “These girls are like 14, how can we trust them?” the pimp asks.

    “Just be very, very careful,” the ACORN staffer says. “Whatever you do, always keep your eyes in the back of your head.”

    Reached by FOX News, O’Keefe said he was “shocked” at the level of assistance provided by ACORN staffers.

    “I was prepared for them to call the police, throw me out of the office and be hostile,” he said. “Without hesitation, they helped me every way they could with evading taxes and setting me up with a brothel, with getting around federal tax laws — doing everything they could to help us. I was completely shocked.”

    House Republicans issued a report in July accusing ACORN of engaging in a scheme to use taxpayer money to support a partisan political agenda. California Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, called for a criminal investigation into the group, which dismissed the report as a “partisan attack job.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,548827,00.html

  25. canary
    September 10, 2009 at 11:32 pm

    Tulsa World: Inhofe: Obama ‘eloquent’ but ‘arrogant’ in health care speech

    by: JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau Thursday, September 10, 2009

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, who initially used “superb” and “eloquence” to describe President Obama’s speech to Congress on health care, said Thursday that

    the president was arrogant and even vindictive.

    “It was kind of the way he squinted his eyes and looked up. The look on his face,” the Oklahoma Republican said. “I had not seen that before.”

    Inhofe, who said he was sitting close to Obama, said he noticed the change right after another lawmaker yelled out “You lie.”

    “It was right after that that I saw a change in the voice level and that challenging type of approach,” he said.

    Inhofe singled out one particular line in Obama’s speech in which the president said those who misrepresent what is in the reform package will be called out.

    He said those words and the way the president delivered them were almost defiant. “That doesn’t sell,” Inhofe said. “I think he made really a mistake on that.”

    Still, the senator stood by his initial comments on Obama’s speech.

    “Absolutely. You can be eloquent and arrogant. History’s full of people like that,” he said.

    As to Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., the lawmaker who accused the president of lying, Inhofe said Wilson’s remark was inappropriate.

    “I was shocked. I think it was in very poor taste. I don’t think he should have done it,” he said.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news.....SHIN649207

    what a shame Jim Inhofe did not support Joe Wilson, especially in light of his observation of a menacing look on Obama’s face. God Bless Joe Wilson.

    INHOFE RESPONDS TO OBAMA HEALTH CARE SPEECH September 9, 2009

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) this evening made the following remarks in response to President Obama’s health care speech to Congress:
    …….
    In my years in office, I have never seen the level of outspoken opposition and energy that this issue has generated among so many Americans.

    “If the President had listened to those Americans, he would have dropped his proposed ‘public option’ all together. Instead, he continues to advocate for at least some form of a public option. The American people and I will not support any such attempt at socialized medicine.

    “ This speech was billed as unveiling the President’s detailed proposal for health care reform. However, in an effort to build consensus, he seemed intent on refocusing the American people and Congress away from details.

    As we all know, his big picture approach will only go so far, because the devil is in the details…..”

    entire statement
    http://inhofe.senate.gov/publi.....2682e587b8

  26. BillK
    September 11, 2009 at 1:48 am

    The left finally gets their wish.

    From the Wall Street Journal:

    Income Gap Shrinks in Slump at the Expense of the Wealthy

    By Bob Davis and Robert Frank

    The deepest downturn in the U.S. economy since the Great Depression may finally shrink the gap between the very best-off Americans and everyone else.

    If so, it won’t be by lifting up the bottom. It will be by pulling down the top.

    Over the past 30 years, chief executives, Wall Street bankers and traders, law-firm partners and such amassed ever-greater incomes, while the incomes of factory workers, teachers, office managers and others in the middle grew much more slowly. In 2007, the top 1% of U.S. families accounted for 23.5% of all personal income in the U.S., according to economists Emmanuel Saez of the University of California at Berkeley and Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics. That was a level not seen since the Roaring Twenties.

    The top 1%’s share appears to be falling fast. Mr. Saez and other economists expect income going to the top 1% of taxpayers — currently, those with about $400,000 a year — will drop to somewhere between 15% and 19% of all income by 2010. That still would leave income distribution more top-heavy in the U.S. than in many other countries.

    One early indication: Median chief-executive pay at companies in the S&P 500 fell 15% in 2008 (to $7.3 million), according to University of Southern California pay expert Kevin Murphy.

    “Based on past experience, it looks like inequality will go down and change the long-term trend of America becoming a less egalitarian society,” says Ariell Reshef, a University of Virginia economist and another student of the equality issue.

    This is among several potentially far-reaching changes wrought by the bursting of the housing and credit bubbles and the deep recession that ensued. Finance is likely to claim a smaller share of the nation’s talent and make up a smaller part of the economy. The relationship between employers and employees may shift, and some workers will never fully recover from the blows they have suffered. Borrowing will be harder for many, and in any case, reducing debt instead of increasing it will hold new priority, possibly for a long while. In time, the past two years may be seen as a watershed in Americans’ behavior and the nation’s economic life.

    At the same time, the income gap, after narrowing during the 1991 and 2001 recessions, quickly widened again later. That could happen again. New York University economist Edward Wolff says that if efforts in Washington to rein in executive pay, impose new regulations and raise tax rates on capital gains don’t succeed, investment and CEO riches could snap back.

    Still, the recession that began in December 2007 has been of a different animal from those of 1991 and 2001, in that it followed a credit bubble that had sent incomes of finance executives soaring far above those of other engineers and other highly skilled people. The finance and insurance industries, which accounted for 5.9% of gross domestic product in 1990, rose to 8.1% in 2006, according to Moody’s Economy.com. That fell to about 7.5% of the economy in 2008, the firm says; it estimates the figure will slip to 7.2% this year.

    New York University economist Thomas Philippon and Virginia’s Mr. Reshef estimate 30% to 50% of the extra pay received by finance-industry workers reflected a bubble in the sector.

    Less income flowing to the top could have broad effects, from the amount of revenue the government collects to the kinds of cars piling up on dealers’ lots. For instance, the top 1% of earners will pay 36% of all federal individual income taxes this year, according to an estimate from the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. If their income softens, so will federal revenue, making budgets harder to meet.

    Less income for the wealthy could lead to a reshaping of the luxury-goods economy, what some call the plutonomy. Half of U.S. consumer spending came from the top 20% of earners in 2000, according to economists Dean Maki and Michael Palumbo. Sales of all luxury goods are expected to decline 15% this year, according to consulting firm Bain & Co.

    Among big-ticket items, U.S. sales of Bentleys, Maseratis, Maybachs and Lamborghinis have fallen over 50% this year, much worse than the 26% drop for the broader car market, according to Autodata Corp.

    Another loser: philanthropy. In the brutal second half of last year, the number of charitable gifts of $1 million or more from individuals fell by more than a third from a year earlier, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. …

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....97777.html

    This is exactly what liberals have been dreaming about for decades:

    For one thing, the Obama administration and the Democrats who control Congress are pressing for regulatory changes and tax increases that target the wealthiest and eyeing restraints on corporate compensation.

    In addition, the scaling back in the size of the finance sector, at least in the near term, puts a damper on the kind of riches the industry created over the past decade. Mr. Reshef estimates that 21% of the increase in overall income inequality from 1980 to 2005 was attributable to rising compensation in the finance industry. Generally lower leverage and risk-taking on Wall Street serve to shrink the pot of gold from finance.

    All this would be welcomed by some, particularly on the left. But reduced rewards at the top also “could diminish incentives for talented people and stifle a certain kind of innovation,” says Michael Spence, a Stanford economist and Nobel laureate.

    One member of the top 1%, Charles McDaniel, CEO of a Virginia moving company called Hilldrup Cos., is blunter. “When high-wage earners make less, at some point they’ll say all the policies are stacked against them,” he says. “They won’t take risks [and] you won’t have jobs created or new opportunities.”

    But we don’t need innovation or talent. That’s what top-down control of the economy is all about.

  27. canary
    September 11, 2009 at 3:28 am

    ACORN aided in criminal acts that would lead to 8 Criminal acts, with 5 years sentences each. These are the raw video’s which is much worst than the recent article
    on the outrageous report.
    ACORN advices individuals not to file taxes. (Prehaps, some of Obama’s picks took this advice)
    ACORN assure illegal immigrant prostitute they will help her get a house to use for a house of prostitution
    ACORN worker even tells prostitute she should be proud of her job. Prostitute could not be coded as “recreational work”, but “performing arts” would do.

    ACORN: Baltimore Prostitution Part I
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtTnizEnC1U

    ACORN: Baltimore Prostitution Part II
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....8&NR=1

    http://www.glennbeck.com/conte.....198/30319/

  28. canary
    September 11, 2009 at 4:37 am

    World Tribune: Network aligned with Al Qaida declares holy war on Hamas, Jimmy Carter, Tony Blair

    GAZA CITY — …
    The group, Jaljalat, was believed to have been responsible for a series of attacks against the Hamas regime…”We don’t belong to Al Qaida organizationally, but we follow their ideology,” Jaljalat commander Mohammed Taleb said. “We pray to Allah that we will become part of them. …

    Jaljalat, with an estimated 750 members, has been deemed the largest Al Qaida group in the Gaza Strip. The group, with scores of former Hamas fighters, was believed to be the most dangerous to the Islamic regime.

    a statement on Sept. 6, Taleb also said Jaljalat tried to assassinate at least two Western dignitaries.

    The dignitaries were identified as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Quartet coordinator Tony Blair, who toured the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2009.

    “The hands of Carter and Blair are stained with Muslim blood,” Taleb said. “It was our duty to kill the two.”

    http://www.worldtribune.com/wo....._09_08.asp

  29. canary
    September 11, 2009 at 4:53 am

    WSBT South Bend – Buchanan soldier gravely wounded in Afghanistan
    Originally printed at http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/57760577.html

    BUCHANAN – ….Last Wednesday, the family of Ryan “Bubba” McNeely received the news that he had been wounded in an IED explosion in eastern Afghanistan near Sharana, the forward operating base where he was stationed.

    McNeely, 22, has been in Afghanistan since March as an Army private. He enlisted last summer, going to boot camp in North Carolina and then

    being stationed in Alaska until his unit was sent to Afghanistan.

    “His unit was going to relieve another unit when a roadside bomb went off near them,” she said. “They then came under small-arms fire and an IED exploded. He was in very critical condition. They said on a scale of one to three with three being the worst, he was a three.”

    http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/57760577.html

    strange a pattern of soldiers stationed and employed from Alaska are dealing with such danger.

  30. canary
    September 11, 2009 at 5:09 am

    Former President George Bush boo’ed at State of the Union Speech 2005

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

    There seems to be a double standard

  31. BillK
    September 11, 2009 at 5:40 am

    Our second view of the future of the US from the BBC:

    UK ‘could face blackouts by 2016′

    By Roger Harrabin

    The lights could go out when coal and nuclear power stations are phased out.

    The government’s new energy adviser says the UK could face blackouts by 2016 because green energy is not coming on stream fast enough.

    Ministers have previously denied that the UK is heading for an energy gap.

    But David MacKay, who takes up his post at the Department of Energy on 1 October, says that the public keep objecting to energy projects.

    This, he says, is creating a huge problem, which could turn out the lights.

    Professor MacKay is a researcher at Cambridge University.

    His recent book, Sustainable Energy – Without The Hot Air, won applause for its examination of current government plans to keep the lights on whilst also cutting carbon emissions.

    It concluded that policy is moving in the right direction, but the sums on energy provision simply do not add up – not enough power capacity is being built.

    Speaking unofficially, he told BBC News that this meant that Britain could face blackouts in 2016 – when coal and nuclear stations are phased out.

    Professor David MacKay: “The scale of building required is absolutely enormous”

    “There is a worry that in 2016 there might not be enough electricity. My guess is that what the market might do is fix that problem by making more gas power stations, which isn’t the direction we want to be going in,” he said.

    “So we really should be upping the build rate of the alternatives as soon as possible.”

    Professor MacKay blamed the public for opposing wind farms, nuclear power, and energy imports, whilst demanding an unchanged lifestyle.

    You cannot oppose them all, he said, and hope to have a viable policy on energy and climate change. …

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci.....249540.stm

    This is obviously the future of the US as well.

    Let’s return to a 1910 lifestyle – because after all, isn’t it worth it to “solve global warming?”

    Why worry about what kinds of light bulbs to use when the real question is whether we should have electric light at all?

  32. wardmama4
    September 11, 2009 at 9:15 am

    Never Forget, Never Surrender.


    Eight years later: Remembrance and resolve
    By Michelle Malkin • September 11, 2009 08:24 AM

    Remembrance is worthless without resolve. Resolve is useless without action.

    God bless our troops for doing what’s necessary to combat jihad on the front lines. Here’s how they are marking 9/11 overseas:

    http://tinyurl.com/n2jkrs

    And Never Forget –
    Number of Operations Iraq Freedom and Enduring Freedom casualties
    as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 5139

    Someone’s son or daughter, husband or wife, or father or mother.
    http://www.militarycity.com/valor/honor.html

    Rest In Peace – all 8,136 of you – Some of Us have Not Forgotten and Never Will

    • artboyusa
      September 11, 2009 at 10:20 am

      September 11, 2009…it’s a beautiful clear autumn day where I am, just as it was eight years ago. I went to church. I always do on this anniversary. I just go and sit for a little while and remember, not that the memories are ever very far away. Some years it’s not too bad but some years it’s hard. This year it was hard. The emotions and the memories were really intense, maybe because the weather was so reminiscent of that day.

      I don’t really have a lot of faith (not a good choice of word but I can’t think of a better one right now) in the power of intercessionary prayer but today my prayers were for peace and rest for those who were lost, comfort and strength for their families, wisdom and resolution for the rest of us.

      I hope those prayers are answered, I really do.

  33. Howard Roark
    September 11, 2009 at 10:27 am

    On this hallowed anniversary, read how Time magazine proclaims that al Qaeda is finished (now that a Dem president is in office, it’s safe to sound the “all clear” alert), but that George Bush made al Qaeda stronger: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2.....9192175800

    • proreason
      September 11, 2009 at 10:39 am

      George Bush and Dick Cheney. Thank your for your leadership in keeping this country safe since 9/11.

      To every service man and woman, to every firefighter and EMT, to every Border Security Agent, and to their spouses and families, thank you for the sacrifices you have made to keep this country safe since 9/11.

      To the men and women in our intellignece services, thank you for your genius in overcoming the roadblocks the internal enemies of this country have thrown up to prevent you from keeping this country safe since 9/11.

      And particularly to the families of the heroes who died to keep us safe, and the families of the innocent victims of the atrocity of 9/11, thank you, thank you, thank you. Your loved ones will be forever remembered. Forever.

    • canary
      September 11, 2009 at 10:47 am

      Fox is reporting the coast guard did a training excercise and fired blanks gun shots as Obama drove over the Pontiac bridge to the Pentagon. The timing of doing it 9/11 was insane, and just Obama wanting attention, and getting his kicks, terrorizing people. Footage shows the coast guard boats driving around crazy, with the guard standing holding rifles. Obama’s AF-1 fly over WWTC, caused panick, ( Obama later cracked jokes about on national TV) proof Obama is intentionally frightening unaware citizens. People are tense enough on the anniversary of 9/11 without the Obama show business going on.

    • jasper
      September 11, 2009 at 6:00 pm

      That’s touching, Proreason. Especially considering that you called President Bush a “fool” and “clown” in your post yesterday.

      The Shout Heard Around The World
      proreason
      September 10, 2009 at 4:35 pm

    • proreason
      September 11, 2009 at 6:17 pm

      Jasper, your lips are moving.

      I condemned Bush for being follish about the 787B gift Paulsen conned for his Goldman Sachs buddies and said he was a clown in his fiscal policies. In fact, government spending as a percent of GNP remained level during his terms and only shot up after the Soros triggered the meltdown, so I was probably too harsh on the second point. The first one stands, although his greater foolishness was to pick Democrats as his two top economic advisors. Once that was done, what was he to do when they declaired the sky was falling and only manna from heaven could fix it? He was pinned by his foolish choice of bureaucrats.

      But unlike lockstep, follow the lemming liberals, on the conservative side, we criticize our leaders when they are wrong and praise them when they are right.

      Bush is a great man for what he did for the country after 9/11. For that reason, he will go in the history books as a Truman like president. Not as great as Reagen and Eisenhauer, but clearly miles above any Democrat except Truman himself.

      But his mistake handling the Soros Panic is even more clear now that the fascist vultures have swooped in to pick the country’s bones clean.

      http://blogs.abcnews.com/polit.....ugust.html

      But keep reading my posts Jasper. At some point, they will sink in.

    • Melly
      September 11, 2009 at 7:44 pm

      George W. a/k/a Jasper – you can attempt to compare Bush’s actions to Barry’s but there is such a simple difference between the two administrations.

      Bush’s intentions were to stimulate the economy.

      Barry’s intentions are to enlarge the Federal Government. You have to be a numbnut not to realize that.

      Many people have various opinions of Bush BUT no one can say that his personal goal was to enlarge the Federal Government and to threaten our liberty as Barry is so close to achieving.

  34. canary
    September 11, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    Politicol: Tensions remain after Wilson apology
    By: Josh Gerstein and John Bresnahan September 10, 2009

    Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) … two House Democratic leaders are calling for a formal reprimand if Wilson continues to refuse to make a public statement of contrition on the House floor.

    Wilson told reporters Thursday that at the request of GOP leaders he called White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday night to apologize for shouting “You lie!” after Obama said illegal immigrants would not get insurance coverage through health care reform. But Wilson said he planned no further statement and suggested his error was more one of protocol than a poor choice of words.

    Democrats said a House vote was delayed Thursday so Wilson could apologize on the House floor. GOP aides also said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) had asked Wilson to make such a statement. But none took place.

    The debate over Wilson’s punishment seems likely to carry into next week, an outcome which will delight many Democrats by keeping a media spotlight on what they view as a pattern of offensive behavior by opponents of Obama’s health reform efforts, now symbolized by Wilson.

    …both Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) said they want Wilson to go to the well of the House and do penance for his breach of decorum.

    Clyburn said he would support a resolution reprimanding Wilson, or another punishment called a “resolution of disapproval,” unless the South Carolina Republican took some further step to defuse the majority’s anger. “I said to him that the proper thing to do would be go to the well [of the House] to apologize to his colleagues,” Clyburn said.

    Otherwise, he cautioned Wilson that “there are more than 218 votes on my side” for some kind of sanction against him. “He has no remorse whatsoever.

    Earlier Thursday, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) had also called Wilson’s apology insufficient and said he should face a formal sanction.

    If it does, it will be despite the efforts of groups like MoveOn.org and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which were blasting e-mailing supporters yesterday in an effort to raise money and foment outrage over Wilson’s remarks.

    “Stand against Joe Wilson’s unacceptable outburst,” the DCCC wrote in a message it urged backers to retweet on Twitter.

    The DCCC said that Rob Miller, a Democrat and Iraq war veteran planning to challenge Wilson next fall, had scored more than $350,000 in online donations and pledges after the incumbent’s high-profile exclamation Wednesday.

    Democratic analysts said the controversy provoked by Wilson had drowned out the GOP’s substantive criticism of Obama’s health plan and focused attention on the party’s obstructionist tactics.

    “The White House has handled it beautifully,” said Democratic consultant Steve McMahon.

    “Obama accepted the apology, but Joe Wilson’s behavior is a metaphor for the Republican Congress and many of those who participate in town hall meetings who are loud, ill-informed and not particularly persuasive to most people.”

    Wilson, for his part, continued to press the issue that prompted his outburst — his view that Democratic legislation would give health care benefits to illegal aliens. There are provisions in the Democratic legislation that would deny federal insurance subsidies to illegal aliens, but Republicans say that the bills would not bar illegal immigrants from participation in new health insurance exchanges and that there are inadequate safeguards to keep aliens from signing up.

    “The Congressional Research Service has indicated that indeed the bills that are before Congress would include illegal aliens. I think this is wrong,” Wilson said. “People who have come to our country and violated laws, we should not be providing full health care services [to them].”

    While not defending Wilson’s tactics, Boehner and other Republicans yesterday echoed Wilson’s assertion that illegal immigrants would get new coverage under Democratic plans.

    Boehner said it was “pretty clear” that illegal aliens could buy insurance through exchanges set up under one House bill. And conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh spoke for many conservatives who cheered Wilson’s confrontational approach and derided fellow Republicans for abandoning him.

    “We are in the midst of an administration that is trying to tear down the institutions and traditions that have made this country great. He is lying, President Obama is, from the moment he opens his mouth until he ends the speech. I was shouting, ‘You’re lying,’ throughout the speech at the television,” Limbaugh said. “Joe Wilson simply articulated what millions of Americans were saying.”

    entire article
    http://www.politico.com/news/s.....26985.html

    Democratic analysts said the controversy provoked by Wilson had drowned out the “GOP’s substantive criticism” of Obama’s health plan..

    straight from the Jack, oops donkey’s as..mouth

  35. canary
    September 11, 2009 at 8:11 pm

    Update: coast guard used simulated gunshots for excercise, Gibbs acts like ao.

    Politico: W.H. hits CNN for Coast Guard report
    Carol E. Lee, Jen DiMascio Fri Sep 11, 2009

    White House press secretary Robert Gibbs today criticized CNN — not the Coast Guard — over the panic caused by the agency’s training exercise on the Sept. 11 anniversary….

    Gibbs said he wouldn’t second-guess Coast Guard leadership for holding a Potomac River exercise on the morning of the 9/11 commemoration. But he took a shot at CNN, which initially didn’t know the maneuvers in the Potomac were an exercise…

    Gibbs told reporters that the Coast Guard was holding a news conference to explain the exercise. “Hopefully CNN will go,” Gibbs quipped. …

    The incident also set off a terse exchange between Gibbs and CNN reporter Elaine Quijano over the incident as Gibbs briefed reporters in his office. Quijano asked whether the public should have been informed about a training exercise on the Sept. 11 anniversary.

    She also asked why Gibbs didn’t think the Coast Guard incident was comparable to an Air Force One flyover in New York for a photo shoot in April that set off a panic there. The head of the White House military office, Louis Caldera, resigned in the wake of that incident.
    “If we set aside the media coverage, would you be asking this question?” Gibbs said.

    “She doesn’t do hypotheticals,” another reporter joked, using a response Gibbs likes to give reporters who pose “if” questions.

    “But reports them,” Gibbs said.
    “Well, look,” Quijano said, “I’d like to set that aside for just a minute.”

    “No I understand, and it’s not directed at you, just writ large at CNN,” Gibbs said.
    As Quijano pressed further, Gibbs said, “If anybody was unnecessarily alarmed based on erroneous reporting that denoted that shots had been fired, I think everybody is apologetic about that.”

    CNN, in a statement Friday afternoon, did not express regret for the network’s erroneous report or admit to jumping the gun on the story.

    “Given the circumstances, it would have been irresponsible not to report on what we were hearing and seeing,” the statement read. “As with any breaking news story, information is often fluid and CNN updated the story with the official explanation from the Coast Guard as soon as it was provided.

    The Coast Guard acknowledged at a news conference that its personnel simulated the sound of gunfire

    on an open police radio frequency — which might have caused the confusion.

    “That ‘bang bang’ was verbalized on the radio, but I want to emphasize no shots were fired,”
    said Vice Adm. John Currier, the Coast Guard chief of staff.
    But Currier did not apologize for the training exercise. He did promise the agency would review both the timing of its exercises as well as the way it works with the media.

    “No I am not issuing an apology,” Currier said, adding that he felt the agency’s “normal, low-profile” training activities were blown out of proportion ..

    Asked whether the morning of the Sept. 11 anniversary was the best day for such an exercise — which featured patrol boats making rapid, defensive maneuvers in the Potomac River — Currier said, “We will look at our procedures and the timing of this exercise.” …

    Earlier, the Coast Guard defended the timing by saying the best way to remember the tragic day is by being prepared.

    “The best way that we in the Coast Guard can remember Sept. 11 and our security obligations to the nation is to be always ready, and this requires constant training and exercise,” said Lt. Nadine Santiago in a statement.

    Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) is calling on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to explain the timing of the exercise, which occurred while top officials were attending memorial services for Sept. 11. Homeland Security oversees the Coast Guard.

    “The anxiety caused by this situation on such a solemn day is extremely disturbing,” said Voinovich, a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee…

    The Coast Guard’s Baltimore Sector office signed off on the scheduling decision, Currier said….At the White House, Gibbs defended the importance of such training exercises. “I assume that there’s a training exercise going on somewhere in this country right now….As for holding one on the anniversary of the attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon, Gibbs said, “I tend not to question law enforcement in trying to keep the nation’s capital safe. If they feel like they need a training exercise, I’m not sure that we’re to second-guess.”…Whether the exercise is appropriate is “a decision that’s made by the Coast Guard,” Gibbs said.

    Nia-Malika Henderson contributed to the story

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/politi.....jcg–

    Gibbs isn’t silly, he’s sicko

    • BillK
      September 11, 2009 at 9:26 pm

      OK, I guess it’s just me.

      I seriously don’t know why everyone is so sensitive.

      Personally, I think there’s no better day for a training exercise than 9/11.

      While AF1 buzzing Manhattan was understandably disturbing, reports of gunshots on the Potomac are not exactly reminiscent of 9/11, no matter what their proximity to Obama’s motorcade.

      IMHO this is much ado about nothing, fed by a press that is hyper alert for anything to fill their 24/7 airtime.

      Earlier, the Coast Guard defended the timing by saying the best way to remember the tragic day is by being prepared.

      “The best way that we in the Coast Guard can remember Sept. 11 and our security obligations to the nation is to be always ready, and this requires constant training and exercise,” said Lt. Nadine Santiago in a statement.

      To me, that’s exactly right, and Voinovich is an idiot who is trying to make a big deal out of this for no rational reason I can understand except to perhaps try and blame Obama for something.

    • canary
      September 11, 2009 at 10:35 pm

      Earlier, the Coast Guard defended the timing by saying the best way to remember the tragic day is by being prepared.

      “The best way that we in the Coast Guard can remember Sept. 11 and our security obligations to the nation is to be always ready, and this requires constant training and exercise,” said Lt. Nadine Santiago in a statement.

      I disagree. I saw the footage. Men standing on boats whipping around the bridge cars were driving over, with men standing with rifles.
      Many people such as myself are sensitive on anniversary’s and holiday’s. It was the 2nd time WTC was attacked. Often people use anniversary’s to commit a horrible crime to make a twisted statement. Such as the OKC tradgedy happening one year anniversary of Waco.
      I think today is a day of remembering, and sadness of WTC 9/11, and I can only ask why the heck did they make a perfect mock, shockingly real, with simulated gunshot bangs!!! on 9/11. They could have put a a digitable sign up, training excercise. Look Obama laughed and joked on National television about the fly over, and there are just some insensitive, callous people that enjoy frightening people. Then laughing over. Like telling bad news and saying “not. ha ha ha”.
      And Gibbs had no place in being critical of the news, which was the purpose of the article. Anyone that saw the footage, is going to become alarmed. If Obama really didn’t know as he drove over the bridge, his security would have been laying on top of him, to save him. All a bunch of b.s.
      Everyone is different, but if I had a family member killed in 9/11, most weren’t found. I would not want the pictures and voices of the terrorists at the memorial. I think it would be unbearable. I’m sure the city is looking for as much shock value as they can.

    • BillK
      September 13, 2009 at 6:10 am

      We’ll have to disagree.

      I can’t believe people are so crazily sensitive – between this and the panic about sonic booms in the LA area when Discovery was landing, al Qaeda must be laughing their butts off over how some boats moving fast now panics the American public.

      It really lowers the bar for what they need to achieve in some possible future attack to – well, just about nothing.

      Because simulated gunshots are so frightening on 9/11 because of all those guns that were used… oh wait.

      Boats chasing each other, just like on… oh wait.

      We shouldn’t be insensitive, but yet if anything 9/11 should be about preparedness.

      If anything drills should be peformed en masse on 9/11.

      What better way of honoring those who died than doing all you can to remain ready to prevent it from happening again?

      Mr. Obama would have you plant a tree instead.

    • canary
      September 13, 2009 at 8:54 am

      BILK/”I can’t believe people are so crazily sensitive – between this and the panic about sonic booms in the LA area when Discovery was landing, al Qaeda must be laughing their butts off over how some boats moving fast now panics the American public.”

      I do not appreciate you calling me crazy, and it wasn’t boats moving fast. There were men standing with guns. Prehaps you’ve not personally experienced real trauma.

      “t really lowers the bar for what they need to achieve in some possible future attack to – well, just about nothing.”

      They have 365 days a year for 8 years now. like this was so important on rememberance day?

      “Boats chasing each other, just like on… oh wait.”
      again, men were standing with guns under a heavy trafficked bridge
      gun shots ringing.

      “if anything drills should be peformed en masse on 9/11.”
      Then they should announce it, and of course people would become numb to it and not recoginise if real danger happened. Go about their business without noticing, thinking it’s fake.

      “Mr. Obama would have you plant a tree instead.”
      I don’t deserve this remark. Don’t be so insensitive. Feel free to ignore any danger signs and chalk it up to a training excercise.

    • BillK
      September 13, 2009 at 9:48 am

      I didn’t call you crazy, Canary, I said “crazily sensitive” – crazy being an adjective describing the sensitivity of many to the event.

      Nothing can change my mind on the fact that I don’t believe that seeing members of the military with guns drawn is supposed to somehow cause panic. (Yes, the Coast Guard is a branch of the US military.)

      The Obama comment wasn’t aimed at you, it was aimed at how Mr. Obama is trying to change 9/11 into in an effort to downplay the War on Terror and thus the “you” is collective for what Obama would have Americans do on the “National Day of Service.”

      You talk about ignoring signs of danger, yet if the “drill” had been real, what would panicking about it have accomplished?

      If concerned citizens contacted law enforcement, that’s fine and a good thing.

      But the degree of anger this seems to have generated seems better directed at people like Charlie Sheen who took the anniversary as an opportunity to release a video asking the President to investigate “truther” BS.

      Once again, I’m not attacking you personally, Canary, I just feel the reaction to the training exercise was an overreaction.

  36. canary
    September 11, 2009 at 9:18 pm

    AP: Census Bureau severs ties with ACORN in 2010 count
    By Associated Press Writer Hope Yen Sept 11, 2009

    WASHINGTON – The Census Bureau on Friday severed its ties with ACORN, a community organization that has been hit with Republican accusations of voter-registration fraud. “We do not come to this decision lightly,” Census director Robert Groves wrote in a letter to ACORN, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

    In splitting with ACORN, Groves sought to tamp down GOP concerns and negative publicity that the partnership will taint the 2010 head count.

    “It is clear that ACORN’s affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts,” Groves wrote.

    Stephen Buckner, a census spokesman, confirmed the letter, but declined…

    ACORN spokesman Scott Levenson did not immediately return a request for comment.

    In recent months, Republicans have become increasingly critical of the census’ ties with ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The group, which advocates for poor people, conducted a massive voter registration effort last year and became a target of conservatives when some employees were accused of submitting false registration forms with names such as “Mickey Mouse.”

    ACORN has said only a handful of employees submitted false registration forms and did so in a bid to boost their pay.

    Partly citing ACORN’s role, Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and David Vitter, R-La., earlier this year blocked a full confirmation vote of Groves for several weeks. Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., also has been calling for a census boycott because of her concerns about whether the group would tamper with the high-stakes population count.

    Up to now, the Census Bureau had defended ACORN’s involvement, explaining it was one of 80,000 unpaid volunteer groups that the bureau hoped would be able to raise local awareness…

    ACORN fired two employees who were seen on hidden-camera video giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman who pretended to be a prostitute. Fox News Channel broadcast excerpts from the video on Thursday. On the video, a man and woman visiting ACORN’s Baltimore office asked about buying a house and how to account on tax forms for the woman’s income. An ACORN employee advised the woman to list her occupation as “performance artist.”

    In a statement, ACORN Maryland board member Margaret Williams said the video was an attempt to smear ACORN…

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

  37. sheehanjihad
    September 12, 2009 at 12:00 am

    So instead of exposing the rest of the ACORN chancre on society, Maryland decides instead to prosecute Okeefe for exposing them because the msm dropped their leftist liberal ball?

    http://hotair.com/archives/200.....orn-video/

    Somebody better start investigating the Maryland DA’s office to see how many ACORN employees they are supporting.

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