Obama Watch... 7/24/10
A Chronicle of the Socialization of America
The American People: Mugged!
Headlines …
NATO: Taliban claims to have captured 2 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan
By Joshua Partlow and Javed Hamdard
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 24, 2010; 1:44 PM
KABUL -- Two American soldiers went missing after driving off their base in Kabul on Friday afternoon, and the Taliban later claimed to have captured them in eastern Afghanistan, NATO officials said Saturday, the same day five U.S. troops were killed in the south.
The coalition launched a manhunt by ground and air for the two missing soldiers but did not immediately release information about their identities or what is known of their whereabouts.
"Every available asset is being brought to bear" to find them, said Lt. Col. Joseph T. Breasseale, a NATO spokesman in Kabul.
Afghan officials in Logar province, which borders Kabul to the south, said the soldiers were driving an armored sport-utility vehicle when they were captured in Matinai, a village in the Charkh district. A spokesman for Logar's governor, Din Mohammad Darwish, said the area is "totally under control of the enemy."
Read more <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/24/AR2010072400507_pf.html>
Britain Plans to Decentralize National Health Care
By SARAH LYALL
Published: July 24, 2010
[Note: A word to the wise is usually sufficient but a thorough search of the premises at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue turned up no current evidence of wisdom at this particular location. - hm]
LONDON — Perhaps the only consistent thing about Britain’s socialized health care system is that it is in a perpetual state of flux, its structure constantly changing as governments search for the elusive formula that will deliver the best care for the cheapest price while costs and demand escalate.
The new British government’s plan to drastically reshape the socialized health care system would put local physicians like Dr. Marita Koumettou in north London in control of much of the national health budget.
Even as the new coalition government said it would make enormous cuts in the public sector, it initially promised to leave health care alone. But in one of its most surprising moves so far, it has done the opposite, proposing what would be the most radical reorganization of the National Health Service, as the system is called, since its inception in 1948.
Practical details of the plan are still sketchy. But its aim is clear: to shift control of England’s $160 billion annual health budget from a centralized bureaucracy to doctors at the local level. Under the plan, $100 billion to $125 billion a year would be meted out to general practitioners, who would use the money to buy services from hospitals and other health care providers.
Read more <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/world/europe/25britain.html?_r=2&hp>
5 killed in mass panic at Germany's Love Parade
By MICHAEL SOHN and VANESSA GERA, Associated Press Writers Michael Sohn And Vanessa Gera, Associated Press Writers – 45 mins ago
DUISBURG, Germany – A stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans crushed 15 people to death and injured dozens at the Love Parade festival in western Germany on Saturday.
Other revelers initially kept partying at the event in Duisburg, near Duesseldorf, unaware of the deadly panic that started when police tried to prevent thousands more people from entering the already-jammed parade grounds.
Read more <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100724/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_love_parade_deaths>
Ships at Gulf Oil Spill Site Brace for Storm Dangers
Friday, 23 Jul 2010 05:14 PM
ON THE GULF OF MEXICO – Ships relaying the sights and sounds from BP's broken oil well stood fast Friday as the leftovers of Tropical Storm Bonnie blew straight for the spill site, threatening to force a full evacuation that would leave engineers clueless about whether a makeshift cap on the gusher was holding.
Vessels connected to deep-sea robots equipped with cameras and seismic devices would be among the last to flee and would ride out the rough weather if possible, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/bp-Gulf-Oil-Spill/2010/07/23/id/365510>
BP Tries to Limit Release of Oil Spill Research
<http://www.newsmax.com/US/US-Gulf-Oil-Spill-Scientists/2010/07/23/id/365517>
NY, Ohio Want Dibs on First BP Lawsuits
<http://www.moneynews.com/Companies/bp--oil-spill/2010/07/23/id/365498>
Rig Alarm System Partly Disabled at Time of Blast
<http://www.newsmax.com/US/US-Gulf-Oil-Spill-Investigation/2010/07/23/id/365520>
BP Posted Altered Photo of Crisis Response
<http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/bp-altered-photo-gulf-oil-spill-response/2010/07/21/id/365262>
UK Reiterates BP Not Involved in Lockerbie Release
<http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/EU-Britain-US-Lockerbie/2010/07/24/id/365528>
Deepwater Horizon alarms were switched off 'to help workers sleep'
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/23/deepwater-horizon-oil-rig-alarms>
BP set for deep-water drilling off Libya
<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cf31acce-969d-11df-9caa-00144feab49a.html>
Some Insurers Stop Writing New Coverage for Kids
Friday, 23 Jul 2010 05:22 PM
Some major health insurance companies have stopped issuing certain types of policies for children, an unintended consequence of [Alleged] President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law, state officials said Friday.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in his state UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield have stopped issuing new policies that cover children individually. Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland said a couple of local insurers in her state have done likewise.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/US/US-Health-Overhaul-Children/2010/07/23/id/365513>
Catholic church embarrassed by gay priests revelations
Vatican on defensive again after magazine exposes priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex
The Catholic church, already reeling from a string of clerical sex abuse scandals, is facing new embarrassment after an Italian magazine published an investigation into what it termed the double life of gay priests in Rome.
Using hidden cameras, the weekly Panorama, owned by Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, captured priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex. The Vatican does not condemn homosexuals, but it teaches that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered". In one of his earliest moves, pope Benedict barred actively gay men from studying for the priesthood.
The diocese of Rome lashed out at the prime minister's magazine, saying its aim was "to create scandal [and] defame all priests". But it also urged gay clerics to leave both the closet and the priesthood.
It said, "Consistency would require that they come into the open", but that they "ought not to have become priests".
Read more <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/24/catholic-church-gay-priests-exposed>
Domestic ...
Administration
White House predicts record $1.47 trillion deficit
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jul 23, 3:12 pm ET
WASHINGTON – New estimates from the White House on Friday predict the budget deficit will reach a record $1.47 trillion this year. The government is borrowing 41 cents of every dollar it spends.
That's actually a little better than the administration predicted in February.
The new estimates paint a grim unemployment picture as the economy experiences a relatively jobless recovery. The unemployment rate, presently averaging 9.5 percent, would average 9 percent next year under the new estimates.
Read more <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100723/ap_on_bi_ge/us_budget_deficit_2>
DISASTER CONTINUES: Obama Administration Will Break Their Record 2009 Budget Deficit
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Obama Slams GOP Plan, GOP Warns of Tax Hikes
Saturday, 24 Jul 2010 08:03 AM
[Alleged] President Barack Obama says an economic plan by the House Republican leader just repeats job-killing policies of the past and would take the country "backward at a time when we need to keep America moving forward."
In turn, House GOP leader John Boehner said the president had stooped to partisan attacks because he can't sell his own plan at a time when millions of people want to know what happened to the jobs Obama promised to create.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Obama-Republicans/2010/07/24/id/365526>
Pay Czar Chose Not to Go After $1.6B in Bank Pay
Friday, 23 Jul 2010 04:10 PM
The Obama administration's pay czar said Friday that he did not try to recoup $1.6 billion in lavish compensation to top executives at bailed-out banks because he thought shaming the banks was punishment enough.
Kenneth Feinberg said 17 banks receiving taxpayer money from the $700 billion financial bailout made "ill-advised" payments to their executives. But he stopped short of calling them "contrary to the public interest" — language that would have signaled a fight to get the money back.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-Pay-Czar/2010/07/23/id/365502>
Bair: I Won't Hesitate to Break Up Banks
Friday, 23 Jul 2010 01:39 PM
By: Julie Crawshaw
FDIC head Sheila Bair, who has emerged as one of the most powerful regulators after Obama’s financial reform bill was passed, says she won't hesitate to break up banks if they don't have a “living will” that could be put in effect should that bank fail.
“We have the authority now to differentiate between creditors of the same class,” Bair told the Financial Times, adding that the only time her agency has ever used such authority was to maximize value by “keeping the lights on” types of payments to banks’ creditors.
Bair, who is also involved in drafting the new Basel III standards, describes the capital claims of some banks as "disingenuous" and says she thinks that most watchdogs deciding new rules at the Bank for International Settlements wanted banks to hold higher quality capital and significantly more of it.
“I think there are a few that are perhaps succumbing somewhat to industry arguments that if we raise capital requirements, we’re going to stifle the recovery and they’re going to cut back on lending,” she says.
Read more <http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/sheila-bair-banks/2010/07/23/id/365479>
Breaking: Anita MonCrief to File FEC Charges Against Obama Administration
Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, July 23, 2010, 4:41 PM
ACORN whistle-blower Anita Moncrief held a press conference today at the Right Online Convention in Las Vegas. She announced today that she will press FEC charges against the Obama Administration for the campaign’s illegal coordination with ACORN during the 2008 election.
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Related Stories
Price to attend Obama's birthday bash: $30,000
<http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/2526490,CST-NWS-SNEED23.article>
Abortion, Life & Family Issues
Rep. Chris Smith to Introduce “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”
By James Tillman
WASHINGTON, DC, July 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) is planning to introduce the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" on July 29. If passed, this bill would establish as permanent many of the pro-life policies that currently rely on regular congressional re-approval, and which are attached as riders to annual appropriations bills.
"This 'as needed' approach," wrote Rep. Smith in a letter to his colleagues, "usually results in a debate over abortion funding anytime Congress considers health-related legislation."
Smith’s proposed legislation would make permanent the Hyde amendment, which prohibits funding for elective abortions through any program funded by the annual Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Act.
It would also codify the Hyde-Weldon conscience clause within the Hyde amendment, which ensures that recipients of federal funding do not discriminate against health care providers because they do not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.
It would also make permanent the Helms amendment, the Smith FEHBP amendment, and the Dornan amendment, which respectively prohibit the funding of abortion overseas, the funding of elective abortion coverage for federal employees, and the use of congressionally appropriated funds for abortion in the District of Columbia.
It would also make permanent a few other pro-life policies.
Read more <http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10072205.html>
Congress
Congress' Food Tab: $604,000 for Bottled Water, $152 at Quiznos
Ernie Smith Contributor
(July 21) -- Crave ribs? Bagels and coffee or doughnuts? Seafood, subs or Chinese? So does Congress!
House members spent part of their Members Representational Allowances on these items -- and more -- during the nine-month period between late 2009 and early 2010 covered by the Sunlight Foundation's House Expenditure Reports Database. The info is highly enlightening, revealing, for instance, the popularity of Chantilly Donut's sinkers; what it costs to feed hungry congressional pages; and how lucrative it can be to own a part of the cottage industry of keeping our duly elected representatives fed and well hydrated.
Full Report
According to the documents, Democrat Gregorio Sablan, the first-ever House delegate for the Northern Mariana Islands, spent the most on such expenses, racking up a tab of $23,457. The second-place legislator, Texas Republican Michael Burgess, spent $17,515.
Read more <http://www.aolnews.com/house-money/article/congress-spent-604000-on-bottled-water-397000-on-catering/19541719>
GOP Promises Major Fight to Preserve Bush Tax Cuts
Saturday, 24 Jul 2010 12:25 PM
The Republican Party said Saturday it is gearing up to wage an all-out effort to ensure that tax cuts instituted by former President George W. Bush will become permanent, halting [Alleged] President Barack Obama from effectively imposing a massive tax hike on Americans.
“After 18 months of runaway spending, bailouts and takeovers, Washington Democrats are poised to allow the largest tax increase in American history to take effect next year," Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., said in the GOP's weekly radio address. “The American people know we can’t tax and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy. House Republicans will oppose this tax increase with everything we’ve got.”
The tax cuts at issue were imposed in 2001, and are scheduled to end in January.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/bush-tax-cuts-gop-barack-obama-mike-pence/2010/07/24/id/365535>
Related Stories
Maine Republican Sen. Collins to Back Kagan
<http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Kagan-Collins/2010/07/23/id/365504>
Va Senator Calls for Ending Diversity Programs
<http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Virginia-Senator-Diversity/2010/07/23/id/365489>
Mass. Sen. Kerry Docks Yacht in RI, Saving $500K
<http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Kerry-Yacht/2010/07/23/id/365507>
Congressman: Stop horsing around with sports votes
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100723/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_sports_bills_1>
Defense
Gen. McChrystal Retires in Military Ceremony
Friday, 23 Jul 2010 05:54 PM
Gen. Stanley McChrystal ended his 34-year career as an Army officer Friday in an emotional retirement ceremony at his military headquarters in Washington, D.C., marking the last chapter of his swift and stunning fall from grace.
Before a crowd of a few hundred friends, family and colleagues on the Fort McNair parade grounds under an oppressively hot July sun, McChrystal said his service didn't end as he hoped. But he regretted few decisions he had made on the battlefield, cherished his life as a soldier and was optimistic about his future, he said.
"I trusted and I still trust," McChrystal said. "I cared and I still care. I wouldn't have it any other way."
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/general-stanley-McChrystal-Retirement-rolling-stone/2010/07/23/id/365515>
Politics
Michele Bachmann Slams the “Infantilism, Pure and Simple” of the Barack Obama Presidency (Video)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, July 24, 2010, 9:05 AM
Michele Bachmann Slams “Infantilism, Pure and Simple” of Barack Obama’s Policies–
Rep. Michele Bachmann wowed the crowd at the Third Annual Right Online Conference in Las Vegas this weekend. Bachmann gave the keynote speech on Friday night to the excited crowd of new media journalists. She had the crowd on their feet when she told them, “Let me be the first to say it, Barack Obama will be a one term president.”
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Netroots Nation 2010: Pushing Communism & Praising Some Antichrist Crackpot
Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, July 23, 2010, 2:21 PM
Unreal.
Netroots Nation is holding its fifth annual national convention this weekend in Las Vegas across town for Right Online Convention sponsored by Americans for Prosperity.
We have an attendee who was able to infiltrate the Netroots conference.
Yesterday she/he picked up a bag full of leftist goodies from buttons, to stickers, to flyers, to bumper stickers and propaganda magazines and literature. “Progressive” organizations such as the SEIU, Free Press, AFSCME, MoveON.Org, etc handed out the goodies at their tables and booths.
Here are a few photos from this year’s tinfoil hat coalition.
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Media
CNN Host Calls for Crackdown on 'Bloggers' in Wake of Sherrod Incident: 'Something’s Going to Have to be Done Legally'
By Alana Goodman (Bio | Archive)
Fri, 07/23/2010 - 17:48 ET
Should there be a "gatekeeper" regulating internet bloggers? In the aftermath of the Shirley Sherrod incident, that's what CNN promoted on July 23.
Anchors Kyra Phillips and John Roberts discussed the "mixed blessing of the internet," and agreed that there should be a crackdown on anonymous bloggers who disparage others on the internet.
Read more <http://newsbusters.org/blogs/alana-goodman/2010/07/23/cnn-host-calls-crackdown-bloggers-wake-sherrod-incident-something-s-g>
SHOCKING VIDEO- What the MSM Won’t Show You From Shirley Sherrod’s Hate Speech
Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, July 23, 2010, 10:48 AM
DON’T BE FOOLED–
Shirley Sherrod is no saint. Andrew Breitbart and Big Government released video earlier this week showing former Ag employee Shirley Sherrod admitting that she did not assist a poor farmer as much as she could have because of his “attitude” and race. You know the rest of the story. She said it was years ago, she said she learned from her experiences, she said blah-blah-blah… The democratic-media complex slammed Andrew Breitbart and FOX News for showing only a segment from her speech.
Earlier today an anonymous reader sent me this damning video revealing the buried racist remarks from the rest of Sherrod’s NAACP speech.
Of course, the state-run media does not want you to see this:
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Breitbart on Shirley Sherrod: “If Anybody Reads the Sainted, Martyred Sherrod’s Entire Speech, This Person Has Not Gotten Past Black vs. White”
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Related Stories
Whoa! New Journolist Documents Show How Liberal Media Formed Plan of Attack to Destroy Sarah Palin
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
International …
Iran
Iran Says It Has 100 Vessels for Each US Warship
Saturday, 24 Jul 2010 10:26 AM
A former naval chief in Iran's Revolutionary Guard says his country has set aside 100 military vessels to confront each U.S. warship that poses a threat.
Gen. Morteza Saffari is quoted by the conservative weekly Panjereh Saturday as saying that troops aboard U.S. warships are "morsels" for Iran to target in the event of any American threat against Iran.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ML-Iran-US/2010/07/24/id/365533>
Korea
N. Korea Vows Nuclear Response to US Drills
Saturday, 24 Jul 2010 08:14 AM
North Korea vowed Saturday to respond with "powerful nuclear deterrence" to joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises poised to begin this weekend, saying the drills amount to a provocation that would prompt "retaliatory sacred war."
North Korea routinely threatens war when South Korea and the U.S. hold joint military drills, which Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for an attack on the communist North. The latest threat comes amid increased tensions on the divided peninsula over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul and Washington blame on Pyongyang.
The allies' defense chiefs announced earlier in the week they would stage the drills to send a clear message to North Korea to stop its "aggressive" behavior.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/AS-Koreas-US-Military-Drills/2010/07/24/id/365530>
Opinion …
ECRI Warning
By John Batchelor on July 23, 2010 9:47 PM
Spoke Paul Vigna, WSJ, re the ECRI, a private index that is regarded privately as a careful leading indicator of economic activity. The bad news is that the ECRI has now gone negative to -10.5. What does this mean. Everytime since 1980 that the ECRI has gone beloew -10.0 there has been a recession in 13 weeks. How can this be? We are in recovery? Yes, we are in recovery, and this makes the ECRI very worrisome to the traders. The ECRI climbed from the December 2008 lows of the last thirty years, -29 plus, to a recovery in early 2010 to positive numbers. Then this sudden reversal of the last few months. What now. Joe Brusuelas, Bloomberg, points to the European bank stress test results. The seven banks that failed, the 84 that passed wil now come under the scrutiny of the smart money traders who will do their own stress tests with the bank numbers. The European stress test was deliberately easy to pass. For example, the Greek banks were tested with bond losses of 23%, whereas the average losses of bonds the last part of the 20th century was 46%. The usual turmoil and doubts starting Monday 26. The underlying tale is the extreme caution for the remainder of the waiting time till the Election. Joe Brusuelas asserts there will be no credible rally. Waiting on the New Year. And housing starts will wait until 2012. If you can trade the downside, or the volatility, enjoy. For now, quantitative easing is available for the Fed, not much else.
Source <http://johnbatchelorshow.com/jb/2010/07/ecri-warning/>
Time to Call In a Specialist
By Neil Braithwaite
Hearing [Alleged] President Obama once again blaming the Republicans for a lifeless economic recovery, when he holds all the power in Washington and is calling all the shots, I couldn't help coming up with the following absurd scenario to highlight how a lot of people probably feel about our president these days:
Barely clinging to life after numerous resuscitation attempts, the gravely ill patient lay helpless on an ER gurney at the mercy of the attending young intern.
A rookie at best, the attending intern, in charge of the emergency room for the first time during his residency, seemed in over his head as he frantically attempted to find a way to breath life back into his critical patient.
Calling "stat" this and "stat" that, the intern's highly academic mind raced far ahead of his alleged outstanding abilities, leaving him frozen in fear like a deer in the headlights. Nothing he attempted brought any positive signs of recovery -- nothing, as the patient continued to slowly slip away before the eyes of everyone working the ER that day.
At a complete loss for what to do next, the frustrated young intern began yelling and blaming everyone, including the nursing staff and other interns assisting him.
Outbursts from the intern of "This patient was here when I came on duty -- I know exactly what I'm doing -- don't you dare question me!" could be heard up and down the hallways of the crowded emergency room. People in the ER waiting room were beginning to get frightened at the loud outbursts and starting to stare down the hall to see what all the commotion was about.
Read more <http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/time_to_call_in_a_specialist.html>
The Worst of Both Worlds
By Henry Oliner
Karl Marx understood that capitalism is intrinsically productive but saw an inherent unfairness in any value other than that provided by labor. Marx also understood that individual incentives to produce would inevitably lead to overproduction and painful contractions. To avoid these contractions and their impact on labor costs, he believed the proletariat should, and inevitably would, exercise control over the means of production. Some true believers insist that he sought a utopian ideal rather than an authoritarian state, but the control of production by the state became essential to their objective.
Herein lies a critical distinction between Marxism and capitalism, and this difference could not be more significant than it is today. Marxism is willing to sacrifice economic growth in order to manage or control contractions or volatility, and capitalism is willing to tolerate a degree of economic instability in order to achieve economic growth.
Both have succeeded.
Marxist economies punish non-production. Workers have production quotas which they must meet to get paid, but they get nothing extra to produce more than their quota. This ensures plenty of work to avoid unemployment, but it also ensures that workers will produce just enough to avoid punishment, but no more.
Read more <http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/the_worst_of_both_worlds.html>
Taxation or Totalitarianism
By Russell Nagelkirk
<http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/taxation_or_totalitarianism.html>
