Obama Watch... 7/22/10
A Chronicle of the Socialization of America
The American People: Mugged!
Headlines …
Workers on Doomed Rig Voiced Concern About Safety
WASHINGTON — A confidential survey of workers on the Deepwater Horizon in the weeks before the oil rig exploded showed that many of them were concerned about safety practices and feared reprisals if they reported mistakes or other problems.
Transocean’s and BP’s logos are seen on the derrick of the Development Driller III, which is drilling the relief well in the gulf.
In the survey, commissioned by the rig’s owner, Transocean, workers said that company plans were not carried out properly and that they “often saw unsafe behaviors on the rig.”
Some workers also voiced concerns about poor equipment reliability, “which they believed was as a result of drilling priorities taking precedence over planned maintenance,” according to the survey, one of two Transocean reports obtained by The New York Times.
“At nine years old, Deepwater Horizon has never been in dry dock,” one worker told investigators. “We can only work around so much.”
Read more <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/22transocean.html?_r=1&hp>
BP admits altering oil spill response centre image
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10718310>
New Tax on Gold Is Hidden in Obamacare
Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010 03:34 PM
By: Julie Crawshaw
[Alleged] President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform legislation reportedly contains an added provision that would tax gold coin and bullion transactions.
The tax comes in an obscure section of the tax code that deals with purchases by self-employed people and small businesses, ABC News reports.
Starting Jan. 1, 2012, small businesses and self-employed people will have to issue 1099 forms, which are used to track and report the miscellaneous income associated with services rendered by independent contractors or self-employed individuals, for every vendor with whom they do more than $600 business in a calendar year.
The new regulation is designed to gain more tax dollars to finance some of the healthcare bill’s other provisions.
Read more <http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/New-Tax-Gold-Hidden-Obamacare-healthcare/2010/07/21/id/365283>
Obama's Electronic Health Records Czar: HIV Status and Abortions Need Not be Included
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) – Dr. David Blumenthal, the Obama administration's National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said on Tuesday that patients can choose to omit procedures such as abortions and positive HIV tests from the electronic health records (EHR) that every American is supposed to have by 2014 under the terms of the economic stimulus law that [Alleged] President Barack Obama signed last year.
Blumenthal's office, a subdivision of the Department of Health and Human Services, was created by the stimulus law specifically to generate the standards and regulations that will govern the federally mandated use of EHRs.
Read more <http://cnsnews.com/news/article/69743>
Domestic ...
Administration
Embarrassed White House Offers Apology, 'Unique' Job to Sherrod
Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010 01:50 PM
By: David A. Patten
WASHINGTON – Blasted by pundits on both ends of the political spectrum for its firing of a USDA worker who made racially tinged remarks, a chastened White House apologized while wooing her with a new job.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday he has apologized to ousted employee Shirley Sherrod and offered her a unique new position at the agency.
Sherrod, in an interview with The Associated Press, said she was considering it.
"They did make an offer," she said in a telephone interview. "I just told him I need to think about it."
Vilsack told reporters that Sherrod accepted his apology. He said, "She was extraordinarily gracious."
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/sherrod-obama-vilsack-firing-panic-beck/2010/07/21/id/365275>
Figures. Shirley Sherrod Is Linked to Terrorist Bill Ayers
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Call Off the Beer Run… Obama Distances Himself from Radical Sherrod
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Dick Morris On Shirley Sherrod: “Its Like He Has Reverend Wright on His Staff” (Video)
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Quinnipiac Poll: Obama Would Lose to 'Unnamed Republican'
Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010 12:45 PM
By: David A. Patten
[Alleged] President Obama's standing with American voters is so low that the latest Quinnipiac University poll indicates Obama would lose an election to "an unnamed Republican" -- meaning any GOP opponent -- by 39 to 36 percent.
The poll shows Obama's job approval hitting a new low, 44 percent approval to 48 percent disapproval. That is the president's worst net score ever, according to Quinnipiac.
The most drastic news for the president politically: His approval with the critical independent voters is dismal.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/quinnipiac-obama-gop-poll-approval-low/2010/07/21/id/365265>
White House Backs Bill to Collect Employee Pay Information from Businesses
Thursday, July 22, 2010
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration is backing legislation that includes regulations requiring U.S. businesses to provide to the government data about employee pay as it relates to the sex, race and national origin of employees.
In an orchestrated effort that included a statement by [Alleged] President Barack Obama and an event at the White House featuring Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, the president and his cabinet endorsed the Paycheck Fairness Act.
The House approved the act in 2009, but the Senate did not approve it. In the 111th Congress, both the House and the Senate have offered legislation that covers a wide range of workplace requirements and regulations, including training girls and women to become better at negotiating pay and benefits, and the establishment of a data base of U.S. workers’ pay in both the public and private sector.
Read more <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/69746>
Radical ACORN Thugs Assault St. Louis Bank (Video)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 6:58 PM
ACORN is the largest radical leftist group in America today.
This radical group worked closely with the Obama camp during the election but, the community organizing group was not open about the relationship. The photo below was scrubbed from the ACORN website before the election:
One of Barack Obama’s first big “community organizer” jobs involved ACORN in 1992. He worked along side ACORN before he became an elected official. Obama also trained ACORN employees. He represented ACORN in court. Obama worked with and protested with ACORN. His campaign donated $800,000 to ACORN in 2008 for voter registration efforts.
And, ACORN even canvassed for Obama in 2008.
In 2009 Obama promoted a top ACORN operative, Patrick Gaspard, who’s organization was fined $775,000 for election violations, to a top post in the White House. Gespard is helping shape domestic policy today.
Barack Obama was not honest about his relationship with ACORN during the 2008 election.
Today the radical leftist thugs from ACORN assaulted the Chase Bank in St. Louis.
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Wall St. bill boosting Washington economy
By Ian Swanson - 07/22/10 06:00 AM ET
The Wall Street reform bill [Alleged] President Obama signed into law Wednesday is serving as a fiscal stimulus for Washington.
At least a thousand new government workers will be hired as a direct result of the legislation, which triggers a massive wave of rulemaking by regulatory agencies.
For law firms on K Street, the Wall Street reform means big business, and banks and other financial institutions affected by the sweeping overhaul are expected, at a minimum, to shift in-house lawyers to regulatory work.
“Lawyers always win,” joked one Washington insider, who was quick to say that he wasn’t just saying that because he’s a lawyer.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expects to add about 800 new positions to carry out its new and expanded responsibilities, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) plans to increase its workforce by nearly 50 percent, to 1,000 employees, a spokesman told The Hill.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which will have additional responsibilities for unwinding troubled institutions whose downfall could hurt the broader economy, also expects a significant increase in employees, though a spokesman said the banking regulator has not projected how many new staffers it will need.
Read more <http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/110249-wall-street-bill-is-boosting-the-dc-economy>
Related Stories
David Cameron presents Barack Obama with graffiti art
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10710074>
Obama Administration’s Actions in Auto Bailout Added to Unemployment, Audit Says
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/69702>
Economy
Bernanke Open to New Steps to Keep Recovery Going
Published: Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010 | 3:43 PM ET
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Wednesday the economic outlook remains "unusually uncertain," and the central bank is ready to take new steps to keep the recovery alive if the economy worsens.
Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke also said record low interest rates are still needed to bolster the economy. He repeated a pledge to keep them there for an "extended period." Bernanke downplayed the odds that the economy will slide back into a "double-dip" recession. But he acknowledged the economy is fragile.
Given that, the Fed is "prepared to take further policy actions as needed" to keep the recovery on track, he said. Bernanke said Fed policymakers haven't settled on "leading options" but they are being explored. Those options include lowering the rate the Fed pays banks to keep money parked at the Fed, strengthening the pledge to hold rates at record lows and reviving some crisis-era programs, Bernanke said.
"If the recovery seems to be faltering, we have to at least review our options," Bernanke told lawmakers. However, he added later: "We are not prepared to take any specific steps in the near term" because the Fed is still evaluating the strength of the recovery.
Read more <http://www.cnbc.com/id/38347202>
Related Stories
Homebuilders Losing Confidence in the Recovery
<http://www.newsmax.com/US/US-Economy/2010/07/19/id/365066>
Abortion, Life & Family Issues
New video shows Planned Parenthood counselor giving false information to patient
Indianapolis, Ind., Jul 22, 2010 / 03:05 am (EWTN News)
The pro-life organization, Live Action, recently released a new undercover video which shows a Planned Parenthood counselor providing inaccurate and misleading medical information to convince a patient to have an abortion.
Lila Rose, president of Live Action, told EWTN News that the footage demonstrates that the organization is not committed to women's health, as it claims to be. The video is the third released by Live Action showing harmful counseling practices at Indiana Planned Parenthood clinics.
Previously, Live Action released footage of two Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana agreeing to hide information about the sexual abuse of a child. Since then, the state's legislators have sought to de-fund the organization.
In the latest video, released Tuesday, the young woman asks the Planned Parenthood counselor when her baby's heart will begin to beat. The counselor replies, "It's around I think the eighth or the ninth week you can hear the heart beat."
However, the heart actually begins beating about three weeks after conception, according to the Endowment for Human Development, distributed by National Geographic.
Additionally, the clinician tells the young woman, “It's not a baby, it's a fetus,” claiming that it is “not like a person.”
Read more <http://www.ewtnnews.com/new.php?id=1228>
Related Stories
I-Dosing: How teenagers are getting 'digitally high' from music they download from internet
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1296282/I-dosing-How-teenagers-getting-digitally-high-music-download-internet.html>
Field Poll: Slim 51% of Calif. Voters Back Same-Sex Marriage
<http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/California--same-sex-marriage--field-poll/2010/07/21/id/365272>
After legalization of same-sex 'marriage,' archbishop calls it 'war against God'
<http://www.ewtnnews.com/new.php?id=1191>
University of Illinois Says Professor ‘Has Not Been Fired’ for Teaching Catholic Doctrine On Homosexuality in Catholicism Class – He’s Just Not Teaching Classes
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/69776>
Bus driver claims discrimination based on abortion views
<http://www.kvue.com/news/Bus-driver-claims-discrimination-based-on-abortion-views-98969539.html>
Disabled UK Man Petitions to Change Law to Allow Direct Killing for “Compassion”
<http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10072103.html>
Congress
Congress Ranks Last in Confidence in Institutions
Fifty percent "little"/"no" confidence in Congress reading is record high
by Lydia Saad
PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's 2010 Confidence in Institutions poll finds Congress ranking dead last out of the 16 institutions rated this year. Eleven percent of Americans say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress, down from 17% in 2009 and a percentage point lower than the previous low for Congress, recorded in 2008.
Read more <http://www.gallup.com/poll/141512/Congress-Ranks-Last-Confidence-Institutions.aspx>
Harry Reid: Auto Bailout Probably Saved Ford
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): "Isn't it a good thing today in America that we have an automobile manufacturing sector? If it had been up to them [Republicans], General Motors would be gone. If it were up to them, Ford Motor Company would probably be gone. Chrysler definitely would be gone."
Ford did not take any bailout money from the government.
Read more <http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/07/21/harry_reid_auto_bailout_probably_saved_ford.html>
Democrats may stop Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy from expiring
By Alexander Bolton - 07/22/10 06:00 AM ET
Democrats are considering a plan to delay tax hikes on the wealthy for two years because the economic recovery is slow and they fear getting crushed in November’s election.
It could mean a big reprieve for families earning $250,000 and above annually.
President George W. Bush’s tax cuts will expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts to delay their sunset.
Some Democrats are now arguing forcefully that a delay is a win-win plan that would help the federal budget without hurting the economy.
Read more <http://thehill.com/homenews/house/110251-tax-hikes-may-wait>
Study: Cap and Trade Could Cost 1.9 Million Jobs
Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010 02:12 PM
The proposed Kerry-Lieberman cap-and-trade bill could cost 1.9 million jobs and slash the U.S. gross domestic product by up to $2.1 trillion, according to an analysis released today.
The proposal, known as the American Power Act and facing stiff Republican opposition, also would increase residential electricity prices up to 42 percent and gasoline prices up to 18 percent, according to the analysis released today by the American Council for Capital Formation and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council.
The study, which the Science Applications International Corp. did based on assumptions provided by the capital and small business groups, assesses the bill’s impact on manufacturing, jobs, energy prices, and the overall U.S. economy. The two groups released national data and plan to unveil state-specific analyses for all 50 U.S. states in the coming days, according to a news release.
The study results reflect a combination of the Kerry-Lieberman provisions and assumptions of the American Council for Capital Formation about future electricity generation technology
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/cap-and-trade--cost--millions--jobs/2010/07/21/id/365278>
Conflicted GOP Helps Pass Popular Trade Bill
Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010 03:41 PM
The House on Wednesday passed a tariff reduction bill that Democrats and business groups said would support tens of thousands of jobs after Republican opposition to the measure wilted.
The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, which comes up periodically, usually passes with almost no opposition. But it appeared headed for defeat after Republican leaders came out against it, saying that tariff relief for specific industries violated the GOP's self-imposed moratorium on special interest earmarks.
Democrats put Republicans on the spot by bringing the measure up under a procedure where a two-thirds majority was needed for passage. Unified GOP opposition would have defeated it.
After it appeared that enough Republicans were breaking ranks to pass the bill, dozens more changed their votes. The final tally was 378-43. The last time the bill came up, in 2006 when Republicans controlled the House, the vote in favor of passage was 412-2.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-GOP-Trade-Bill/2010/07/21/id/365286>
US spy chief nominee warns of N Korea 'direct attacks'
James Clapper served in the US intelligence community for 46 years
North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship may herald a "dangerous new period", the nominee to be US director of national intelligence has warned.
James Clapper told a Senate hearing that Pyongyang might seek "to advance its internal and external political goals through direct attacks".
[Alleged] President Barack Obama chose the retired general and under-secretary of defence to be the new DNI in June.
If confirmed, Mr Clapper will replace Adm Dennis Blair, who resigned the previous month after a series of national security failures, including the failure to detect the Christmas Day airline bomb plot.
The DNI is charged with overseeing the 16 agencies that make up the US intelligence community, including the CIA and the NSA.
Read more <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10707396>
Currency tax: A way to invest in our future (Rep. Pete Stark)
By Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) - 07/20/10 03:51 PM ET
Each day, $4 trillion dollars of currency are traded. For international businesses and travelers, trading dollars for other currencies serve a legitimate purpose. However, nearly 80 percent of these transactions are undertaken by a handful of major banks. Experts agree that most of these transactions are made for purely speculative purposes.
Wealthy traders and big financial institutions make huge bets on the fluctuations in currency value, and they can make massive profits if their bets are correct. This type of speculation helped to worsen the recent financial crisis and serves no purpose other than to make a few people and institutions even richer.
Today, I introduced H.R. 5783, the Investing in Our Future Act. My legislation would simply impose a small tax — of 0.005 percent — on these currency transactions. The money raised would be put toward investments in children, global health and climate change mitigation.
Read more <http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/109869-currency-tax-a-way-to-invest-in-our-future-rep-stark>
Don’t Limit Lockerbie Probe to BP Claims, Campaigners Urge US Senators
Thursday, July 22, 2010
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor
(CNSNews.com) – If the U.S. Senate wants to get to the bottom of the early release of the Libyan convicted in the Lockerbie bombing, it should look beyond allegations of links to an oil deal and ask whether the prisoner was sent home to preempt an appeal that could have overturned the trial verdict, campaigners said Wednesday.
Twenty-two years after Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland, close observers of the drawn-out affair have many unanswered questions about the attack, the subsequent trial and conviction in 2001 of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.
Read more <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/69786>
Department of Justice Won't Say if Kagan Took Full Pay After She 'Ceased' Full Duties as Solicitor General
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By Eric Scheiner
(CNSNews.com)
-- The Justice Department is not saying whether Solicitor General Elena Kagan has been taking the full federal salary of solicitor general since she “ceased” performing the full responsibilities of that position more than two months ago.
On July 13, all seven Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Kagan asking her to respond to certain questions for the record. These included: “What date did you cease performing your responsibilities as Solicitor General?” and “What duties are you now performing as Solicitor General?”
Read more <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/69738>
Related Stories
Bachmann on Tea Party Caucus: We're Here to Listen, Not Control
<http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Bachmann--Tea-Party-Caucus--GOP/2010/07/21/id/365297>
Rockefeller deals blow to FCC proposal
<http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/110255-rockefeller-deals-blow-to-fcc-public-safety-proposal>
Liberals fret over cuts to oil legislation as it moves to the floor
<http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/110257-liberals-fret-as-oil-bill-trimmed-en-route-to-floor>
CIA
Retired Spy Hired to Run CIA Clandestine Service
Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010 12:58 PM
The CIA hired one of its most experienced spies out of retirement to run the nation's far-flung intelligence network, the agency said Wednesday.
John D. Bennett, who oversaw the agency's unmanned Predator drone program as station chief in Pakistan until his retirement in May, replaces Michael Sulick in one of the most important jobs in the agency.
Bennett joined the agency in 1991. He served as station chief throughout Africa, including in Pretoria, South Africa, and witnessed the emergence of al-Qaida.
After 9/11, Bennett returned to the U.S. and ran the agency's Special Activities Division, an outfit responsible for paramilitary operations.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-CIA-Appointment/2010/07/21/id/365269>
Immigration
Cases Lining up to Challenge Ariz. Immigration Law
Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010 03:56 PM
A federal judge is holding hearings on a parade of legal challenges to Arizona's immigration enforcement law, but resolving the seven cases filed so far could keep the court busy for years.
Two of the cases were set to go before U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton on Thursday.
Lawyers for Gov. Jan Brewer want Bolton to dismiss the cases, while lawyers for the federal government and advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union are seeking an order keeping the law from taking effect.
Bolton held a similar hearing on July 15 involving another lawsuit. She hasn't indicated whether she'll rule on any of the cases before July 29, when the law is scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. MST.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Immigration-Law-Court/2010/07/21/id/365288>
International …
Middle East
Stunner. Obama’s Jew-Hating Buddy Khalidi Raising Cash For ‘Audacity of Hope’ Ship to Bust Gaza Blockade
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 6:00 PM
In 2008 The LA Times withheld a video that contained footage of Barack Obama celebrating with a group of Palestinians who were openly hostile towards Israel. Barack Obama even gave a toast to a former PLO operative at this celebration. This was something the LA Times hid from the American public before the election. The media refused to release the video.
There were also reports that terrorists Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn were at the same Jew-bash.
Khalidi was thought to be connected to the PLO.
Now the anti-Israel radical is raising cash for a ship named “The Audacity of Hope” to smash through the Gaza Blockade.
Israel Matsav brings us this news:
Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi, a close friend of [Alleged] President Obama, is trying to raise money for a ship to run the Gaza blockade (Hat Tip: Will).
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Al-Arabiya Director Calls Nuclear Iran ‘Most Dangerous Threat That is Facing Our Region in 100 Years’
Thursday, July 22, 2010
By Adam Cassandra
(CNSNews.com) – Writing in the London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid, general manager of Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV, said that a nuclear Iran would seek to dominate the Gulf States in the Middle East and said he supported a military attack against Iran before it produces nuclear weapons.
Al-Rashid was writing in support of statements made by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to the United States Youssef Al-Otaiba, indicating approval for a U.S. attack on Iran. The U.A.E. deputy foreign minister, Tareq Al-Haidan, later said that the ambassador’s comments "were taken out of context.”
“(W)hat is truly wrong is the reluctance of our politicians to express their opinions and concerns towards the most dangerous threat that is facing our region in a hundred years,” Al-Rashid wrote.
Read more <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/69775>
Terrorism
Whereabouts of former US detainee unknown: lawyers
Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:01am GMT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A man who the Obama administration transferred against his will from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to his native Algeria has gone missing, a U.S.-based rights group involved in the case said on Wednesday.
The transfer of Abdul Aziz Naji to Algeria, announced by the Pentagon on Monday, brought the number of remaining detainees at Guantanamo to 178, down from 245 when U.S. [Alleged] President Barack Obama took office last year.
Naji's case has been closely watched because he is the first detainee to be involuntarily repatriated by the Obama administration, according to Human Rights Watch.
Naji, who has been held at Guantanamo since 2002, told his lawyers he did not want to return to Algeria because he feared persecution from the Algerian government and Islamist militants there.
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents many Guantanamo detainees, said Naji's lawyers and family have been unable to locate or contact him since he was repatriated by the U.S. government.
Read more <http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE66L02D20100722>
Russia
Moscow Accuses US of Kidnapping Pilot
Wednesday, 21 Jul 2010 06:58 PM
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. on Wednesday of "kidnapping" a Russian pilot in the West African country of Liberia several weeks ago for alleged drug smuggling.
Konstantin Yaroshenko, 41, was arrested in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, in late May — by U.S. agents, Russian officials said — and then extradited to New York.
He was charged with smuggling "thousand-kilogram quantities of cocaine" throughout South America, Africa and Europe, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a statement Wednesday.
DEA spokeswoman Dawn Dearden said Yaroshenko was apprehended May 28 by Liberian authorities, who turned him over to the DEA two days later under an arrest warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
"While he was in DEA custody, the DEA followed the rules of law and the Geneva Convention regulations regarding treatment of a defendant," the DEA's statement said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry sharply condemned Yaroshenko's arrest and extradition.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/EU-Russia-US-Liberia/2010/07/21/id/365301>
Opinion ...
The NAACP Cries Racism
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By L. Brent Bozell III
Almost from the moment Barack Obama declared he would run for president in 2007, our enraptured media elite has been accusing anyone who would stand in Obama’s way with racism. The question was never whether Obama was ready to govern the country, but whether the country was ready for the historic awesomeness of Obama.
Pity the NAACP. We now have a black president, and they must convince (racist) America that there still exists the need for a national association to advance “colored people” in our society. How to do it? Identify and condemn as “racists” anyone or any group opposed to Barack Obama.
Apparently you cannot sincerely oppose a crushing tax burden, a useless “stimulus” bill, ObamaCare, or any other element of his socialist agenda without being tagged as a bigot.
In case there was any doubt that the NAACP was carrying water for the White House political machine, Michelle Obama appeared before the NAACP convention and insisted there was still persistent racism in America, and the group’s founders would “urge us to increase our intensity” – to fight for [Alleged] President Obama.
The merger is so obvious they could now be called the NAA-DNC.
Now the NAACP has found its mojo. It is slandering the Tea Party as “racist.” In an article on CNN.com headlined “The Tea Party Must Police Itself,” NAACP chief Benjamin Jealous smeared the entire movement: “The avowed racist David Duke notes that thousands of Tea Party activists have urged him to run for president. When the Tea Party marches by, Duke thinks it's his fiesta.”
Since when did the NAACP – or anyone else, for that matter– give a hoot what David Duke thinks of anything?
On its own website, the NAACP continues to rehash all those unproven allegations that “respected members of the Congressional Black Caucus reported that racial epithets were hurled at them as they passed by a Washington, DC health care protest.” But let’s stop calling them “unproven allegations.”
Let’s call them what they are: lies.
Read more <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/69734>
Dragnet Gulf
By John Batchelor on July 21, 2010 10:26 PM
Spoke to Joe Carroll, Bloomberg, re the joint Coast Guard and Interior Department investigation, who reports there is a surprise for Transocean. Heretofore, the two BP site managers were under review and resfusing to testify. One involked his 5th Amendment rights, the other has called in sick twice. Now, five Transocean employees who were on the rig the day of the explosion and fire have been told that they are "parties of interest." This makes the five employees most unhappy, because they have already testified. It also makes their lawyers unhappy and edgy. One lawyer told Joe Carroll that if he had know his client would come under the shadows of a criminal inquiry, he would have not permitted him to testify. The Coast Guard thinking ins that the law of the sea applies on Deepwater Horizon as if it is a ship. The captain and crew of the ship, the Transocean, cannot transfer responsibility for the vessel or its passengers to a client, such as BP. Therefore, it could be that BP's hasty pushing of Transocean to close down the well site and move the rig (it was expensive by the hour) is not evidence that BP is at fault. Transocean possessed the power to say no. Everyone is getting more lawyers, from BP to Anadarko, Mitsui to the rig owners Transocean, and now to the service companies Halliburton, Weatherford, M-I Swaco, Dril-Quip, -- and to the BOP manufacturer, Cameron International. A big dragnet. Numerous fall guys other than the under the weather BP Donald Vidrine.
Weather Coming.
Two possible tropical cyclone developments in the region, bookends of the rig, both requiring attention to the weekend.
Source <http://johnbatchelorshow.com/jb/2010/07/dragnet-gulf/>
Obama's Failing Presidency
By J.R. Dunn
Steven Thomma and Charles Krauthammer may disagree on everything else, but they do agree that Obama is a historical titan whose influence will echo across the rest of the century and beyond. Krauthammer looks upon this with foreboding, while Thomma, editorial writer for the McClatchy group ("TRUTH to POWER!") can't understand why we aren't all dropping to our knees weeping in gratitude.
While Obama's reputation may no longer be that of a demigod, it hasn't fallen very far among much of the country's political elite. In uptown Manhattan and within the Beltway, Obama is viewed as a mastermind, a political wizard who gets pretty much what he wants and accomplishes what he sets out to do. As evidence for this thesis we're reminded that in his first eighteen months as president, Obama passed the stimulus, ObamaCare, and now a financial reform bill, a record unparalleled since FDR's legendary "Hundred Days." To Thomma, this means the coming of the millennium, a down payment on a pure socialist state that the left has been yearning for since the 30s. To Krauthammer, it represents a terrible threat to every aspect of American well-being.
Neither appears to have considered the possibility of complete failure. It seems to me that a string of failed programs will have a slightly different historical impact from what Krauthammer and Thomma appear to be expecting.
Both conclusions are reflections of the Beltway mentality, in which all that matters is process. If the bill is passed, that's what counts. Results and consequences exist in a totally different dimension with no tangible connection to the inner-Beltway continuum. Once a bill is on the books, it stands as an accomplishment in and of itself, complete for all time, like a prehistoric stone obelisk left for future generations of peasants to gape at.
Compare this to the quotidian world in which the rest of us live. Suppose you take a car to the garage for repairs. Two days later, you pick it up, only to discover after rolling through a red light and nearly ending up underneath an eighteen-wheel semi that the problem remains unfixed. When you return to the garage, the owner tells you that none of this matters, since he and his mechanics worked out the bill, wrote it down, and then voted on it.
What happens at the garage at that point is exactly what should happen on Capitol Hill at least once a year (and may in fact happen this November). But for the moment, let's simply use the garage metaphor as an analytical tool to examine Obama's "achievements".
The stimulus was supposed turn the economy around, limit unemployment to 8%, and prevent a deepening recession. It has accomplished nothing of the sort. The economy is effectively frozen, with business mesmerized by Obama's increasingly frenetic antics. Unemployment is officially above 10% and in truth much higher. Though commentators keep insisting that we're not in for a double-dip recession, it's apparent to anyone with two eyes that the second slump actually kicked in at the end of Spring.
Read more <http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/obamas_failing_presidency.html>
Character and the American Ruling Class
By Steve McCann
[Note: Years ago sitting in a graduate school class, I knew this country was in trouble. This was an evening program at Fairfield University. The Graduate School was called The Center for the Advancement of Human Communication. It was a communications program having to do with propaganda, that is, how to recognize it, analyze it and counter it. The particular class was on Creative Problem Solving. If I remember correctly, we were talking about some current issue with the school system in the state. I thought the position most of the class held on the issue was balmy. A woman stood up in class and made the statement that of course, this was very grave because local school boards were not made up of "people like us." I couldn't contain myself. I blurted out, "People like who? I don't see anyone in this class I'm particularly impressed with." Despite attending a Catholic University, the people in the class were for the most part liberal. I had a sinking feeling when I heard those words and knew our country was in trouble. What I heard in those words was arrogance, stupidity, a closed mind and the beginning of an elitist attitude that has grown to the point that it is now on the verge of becoming the undoing of America. I did not complete the program because I could not stomach the nonsense being touted as "education." - hm]
Angelo Codevilla, in a seminal article entitled "America's Ruling Class" published in the American Spectator goes into great and accurate detail about the evolution of the current ruling class in the United States and its devastating impact on the country.
A ruling class has and will always be a part of any society due to the fundamental nature of the human race. The most dominant trait mankind has, as do all living creatures, is an innate desire to survive and prosper. While some may willingly choose to pursue subsistence on their own terms, for the vast majority the path of least resistance is preferred, thus people are very open to the concept of a central authority providing them with the means of livelihood.
A secondary characteristic of the human race, again shared by other species, is the need by some within the group to conquer or maintain control over their fellow man. Thus a ruling class is born. However, down through the centuries this trait has been taken to extremes in great nations and their ruling classes ending up on the ash heaps of history due to individual and collective avarice and lust for power.
The antidote to this failing in mankind is a set of morals and ethical rules originally espoused thousands of years ago within a religious context, but meant to offer a guideline in the dealings of not only the ruling class with those that are ruled but within the class itself.
The framers of the Constitution of the United States understood the basic nature of human beings. They accordingly set forth a form of government and a written Constitution to greatly limit those who seek hegemony over the people. They acknowledged that the success and future of the Republic was dependant on the honor and integrity of its leaders and citizens. As John Adams wrote: "Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
The potential downfall of the United States is not to be caused solely by the incestuous make-up of the current ruling class, but by its abandonment of morals and religion.
Today the Obama administration, the majority of the members of Congress, much of the Judiciary, as well as academia and the media represent the culmination of the degradation of ethics and character within that class.
The die was cast in the early part of the 20th Century when Congress and the President discovered that they could bribe the public with the public's money. The focus of politics began to shift from public service and adherence to the Constitution to seeking, centralizing and maintaining power as well as amassing individual wealth. That approach also began to slowly seep into the psyche of the rest of the ruling class.
Society and government thus began the long steady process of compromising the age old standards of ethics, honesty and integrity which were based on Judeo-Christian teachings.
Each step down that road was justified either as a moral or societal imperative (such as re-defining a "right"), or a necessity to save people from themselves.
Read more <http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/character_and_the_american_rul.html>
Of Course Obama's a Socialist
By Christopher Chantrill
<http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/of_course_obamas_a_socialist.html>
How Financial Reform Discriminates -- Unless Your Daughter Goes to Wellesley
By Terence P. Jeffrey
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/69725>
Aged Before Their Time
by Anthony Esolen
<http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8498&Itemid=48>
