By Kyle Becker
May 19, 2012
CDN:
The man started his presidency off with a bang by botching his oath of office.
For good measure, he set the tone for it by blaming Chief Justice John Roberts for the error.
Obama promises on the campaign trail to immediately shut down Guantanamo Bay. The detention facility is open three years later and counting.
In the same breath, he promises to restore habeus corpus. Three years into his term, he signs the National Defense Authorization Act, which leaves open the possibility of indefinite detention of American citizens.
President Obama ordered the assassination of an American citizen.
As Senator, Obama spoke out against but voted for the Patriot Act.
As President, he extended it, with an auto-pen, while he was in France.
Obama continues the “Bush practice” of extraordinary rendition.
As a candidate, Obama promises to end the War in Iraq and bring all troops home within 16 months. He even says in 2007 that it would be the first thing he would do in office, and that “you can take that to the bank.” As president, he announces all troops would be withdrawn by the end of 2011 (34 months later).
Obama states the Afghan War would conclude in June 2011, but projections now have us running into 2014.
As Senator, Obama opposes the surge in Iraq. He claims that increasing troop levels by 20,000 would actually increase sectarian violence.
When pulling troops out of Iraq, Obama tries to claim success for ending the war, without giving credit to Bush or the troops for any “victory.” The Bush surge was what turned the tide in the war.
Sectarian violence is up sharply since Obama pulled troops out of Iraq in December 2011.
President Obama refuses to say “victory” is necessarily the goal in Afghanistan. Obama reasons the U.S. should not project the image of Emperor Hirohito being forced to sign a treaty of surrender before Macarthur to end the war against Japan.
Emperor Hirohito did not sign the treaty of surrender ending the war against Japan. It was his foreign minister Shigemitsu.
Obama plans to ease travel restrictions to communist Cuba in 2009. And in 2011.
The president pledges a “new beginning” with the Cuban dictatorial regime.
A glance at a Cuban-U.S. relations timeline running to December 2011 shows nothing changed.
President Obama greets Venezuela’s socialist dictator Hugo Chavez warmly at the Summit of the Americas.
Earlier that month, Chavez calls Obama an “ignoramus.”
At the same summit, President Obama sits patiently through a 50 minute diatribe against the United States delivered by socialist strongman Daniel Ortega, only scribbling notes instead of walking out with his diplomatic team.
President Obama meets a grinning Daniel Ortega at the same summit.
When asked later by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper what he thought of the anti-American tirade, President Obama replies, “It was 50 minutes long. That’s what I thought.”
The attempted subversion of the rule of law in Honduras by the socialist president Zelaya, which would have unconstitutionally put him on the ballot for a third term, prompts his judicial removal from office. Obama condemns the supposed “coup” as “not legal.”
President Obama directs his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to cut off $30 million in aid to Honduras.
Election fraud propelling anti-Israel Iranian president and saber-rattling madman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad back to power leads to a mass civil uprising. Despite reports of widespread and cruel bloodshed repressing the protests, President Obama says nothing for ten days.
President Obama refuses to “intervene” in pro-democratic Iranian protests.
Obama’s first call as president is made to the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas.
Obama’s first formal interview is conducted with Al-Arabiya television.
One of President Obama’s first executive orders is to greatly restrict the influence of lobbyists in his administration.
Years later, it is well-known that the Obama administration routinely meets with lobbyists off White House grounds, where Secret Service logs are not kept.
In 2012, Obama promotes a recent lobbyist with Mexican illegal immigration advocate La Raza from a position as director of intergovernmental affairs to director of the Domestic Policy Council.
The second executive order Obama gives is one reversing Bush era rules safeguarding prior administration’s records. It narrows “executive privilege.”
Obama invokes executive privilege within the first year over the gatecrasher fiasco.
In late 2011, the Obama administration refuses to turn over all communiques relating to the politically seedy financing of bankrupt solar panel company Solyndra.
Another early executive order froze pay for White House staffers making over $100,000. A year later 74% of staffers got a pay raise, many of them to well over a $100,000. (Freezing pay does not apply to promotions or position changes.) The average boost was 9%, three times private sector average.
The next year, 54% got a raise. The average increase was 8%, and of those who got raises, it was nearly 16%.
Barack Obama was declared by presidential historian Michael Beschloss as “probably the smartest guy ever to become president.” Beschloss gushed that Obama’s IQ was “off the charts,” but when pressed by radio host Don Imus, he could not say what Obama’s IQ was.
Despite being heralded as a brilliant thinker, Obama still to this day refuses to release his college records.
Barack Obama received a degree from prestigious Columbia University, where hardly anybody recalls him attending there.
As editor of the Harvard Law Review, Barack Obama anonymously wrote one article – championing abortion.
The one quote provided from the article cited by Politico contains a grammatical error – “in to” instead of “into.”
A letter to a Harvard newspaper written by Obama shows rampant grammatical errors, including a demonstrable lack of subject-predicate agreement.
In Dreams from My Father, Obama makes known that he “chose his friends carefully” and deliberately sought out “Marxist Professors,” “structural feminists,” and discussed with his friends the socialist, anti-colonialist revolutionary Franz Fanon.
Before becoming president, Barack Obama authored not just one, but two biographies, making him millions of dollars.
In his book The Audacity of Hope, Obama was cited as saying The Constitution is a “living document,” that can be interpreted “in the context of an ever-changing world” (i.e. however he wants).
Before becoming an author, the president admitted he wrote some “very bad poetry.” This is true. Just one sample shows the same tendency to split a conjoined word: it’s not “under water,” it’s “underwater.”
Literary analysis performed by an expert at detecting forgery and fraud points to the strong possibility that Obama’s biographies were written by a ghost writer.
Additional evidence shows that the ghost writer may very well have been unrepentant socialist terrorist and then-contemporary English professor William Ayers of the Weather Underground.
When Barack Obama was young, he was mentored by Moscow-connected Communist Party member Frank Marshall Davis. Identified as only “Frank” in his biography Dreams from my Father, it was claimed that “Frank” was a poet on par with contemporary communist poet Langston Hughes. It was later discovered that this had to be Davis, a poet who had indeed joined the Communist Party USA. Obama later confirmed the relationship with Davis while attempting to distance himself from him.
In late 2008, Obama’s spokesman Robert Gibbs denied to Chris Matthews that William Ayers held a fundraiser for Barack Obama. Later on, William Ayers was caught on tape admitting that he held a fundraiser for Obama in which the future president was in attendance.
As ABC News reported in March 2008, Obama’s pastor of 20 years, baptizer of his children, and “close confidante” Reverend Wright was confirmed on numerous occasions as incorporating heated anti-American rhetoric into his sermons, such as “goddamn America,” and claiming 9/11 was deserved as “America’s chickens coming home to roost.”
As Politico and ABC News reported, criminal Tony Rezko, who was convicted of corruption, gave President Obama a sweetheart deal on real estate property and donated $120,000 to Obama’s Senate campaign.
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was reported by Think Progress as probably having been the whistleblower who outed impeached and convicted former governor Rod Blagojevich in the pay-to-play scandal. Such an action suggests that Emanuel may have been seeking to distance Obama from Blagojevich. Recordings of Blagojevich repeatedly mentioning Emanuel along with potential candidate and Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett, and testimony that Emanuel relayed a message to the governor that Obama would “value and appreciate” consideration of Jarrett, provide strong appearance of ethical misconduct.
Multiple sources provide documented, archived evidence that Barack Obama was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America-connected “New Party” in Illinois.
Verifiable communist Alice Palmer, who worked for well-known Soviet front group U.S. Peace Council, hand-picked Obama to be her successor as state senator. Described by the LA Times as Obama’s “mentor,” she later endorsed fellow Alinskyite Hillary Clinton.
As state senator, President Obama voted “present” nearly 130 times.
Obama was given 100% “pro-choice” rating by abortion advocates NARAL. As state senator, Obama voted against banning partial birth abortion.
In 2007, Senator Obama was rated as the most liberal senator, according to his voting record.
Obama had been given glowing endorsement by the Communist Party USA.
In early 2009, President Obama says the following, “I don’t like the idea of spending more government money, nor am I interested in expanding government’s role.”
Time magazine reports that Obama’s $787 billion “stimulus” plan, which no GOP in the House voted for, fails by its own measures. Unemployment still above 8%, economy continues to bleed jobs.
Candidate Barack Obama publicly promises to go “line by line” through legislation to remove wasteful earmarks.
Obama stimulus gave $200,000 to teach Siberian lawmakers how to engage Russian policy makers in Moscow.
Stimulus funding of $250,000 went to bug storage for an insect museum at North Carolina State University that gets 44 visitors a year.
Gave $500,000 to put microchips in recycling bins to check up on the recycling efforts of senior citizens.
$5 million to create a geothermal energy system for the Oak Ridge City Center shopping mall in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
$9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.
Provided $712,000 spent on a project by researchers at Northwestern University to develop “machine-generated humor.”
Buses in Winter Haven, Florida that average two riders per hour got $2.4 million so that the two riders per hour would have brand new buses to ride on.
A Georgia Tech assistant music professor got $760,000 so he could jam with “world renowned musicians” to “create satisfying works of art.”
The California Academy of Sciences got $2 million dollars to send people to the Indian Ocean to photograph ants. “Everyone has run into ants … now we need to listen to them,” one ant photographer said.
The University of North Carolina received $762,000 to create a YouTube dance application.
$462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.
$3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York.
$3.4 million to create an underground turtle tunnel, or eco-passage, in Lake Jackson, Florida.
About a half-million dollars to give smartphones to people trying to quit smoking so they could “contact their quitting support groups by text message or phone calls to prevent relapses.”
Almost $300,000 to study how Yoga might reduce menopausal hot flashes.
$983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.
$1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles.
$700,000 to Oregon crab fishermen to help recover lost crab post.
$1.5 billion for a Carbon Capturing Contest.
$300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.
SUNY Buffalo received $390,000 to study young adults who drink malt liquor and smoke marijuana.
Montana received $2.2 million to install skylights in their state-run liquor warehouse.
$800,000 given to John Murtha Airport to repave a back runway used by about 20 passengers a day. This was in addition to millions given to this airport over the decades.
$1 million was given to a Chicago dinner cruise company to “combat terrorism.”
$30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.
The Coast Guard gets $572 million to create 1,235 new jobs. This comes to $460,000 per job.
$11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.
$1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Oklahoma.
$2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.
$6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minnesota.
Millions spent on signs advertising the “American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.”
Barack Obama carries out much of the $700 billion TARP program. Obama forces banks to take money, and even refuses to accept repayment in some cases to wield control over them.
President Obama takes over two of three top U.S. automakers GM & Chrysler.
Obama essentially fires GM CEO Rick Wagoner.
Obama replaces the previous GM CEO with “Auto Czar” Steve Rattner, who had no experience in the automobile industry.
Steven Rattner was appointed (without Senate confirmation) while he was under SEC investigation in NY for illegal kickbacks in exchange for pensions fraud.
Rattner estimated the cost to U.S. taxpayers for auto bailouts at $14 billion.
This is the first in a ten part series. To be continued…
Kyle Becker blogs at RogueGovernment, and can be followed on Twitter as @RogueOperator1. He writes freelance for several publications, including American Thinker, Misfit Politics, and OwntheNarrative, and is a regular commentator on the late night talk shows at OTNN.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
NOW’s ‘Enough Rush’ protest in DC draws massive crowd
By Doug Powers • May 19, 2012 04:55 PM
**Written by Doug Powers
(Massive crowd protesting somewhere else)
Rush will probably refer to them as the NAGnificent Seven:
Seven women participated in the National Organization for Women’s day of protest against Rush Limbaugh in front of Limbaugh’s D.C. affiliate WMAL, Friday.
NOW’s national protest day had been in the works since April 19, when the women’s advocacy group launched their “Enough Rush” campaign.
Pairing with media watchdog Media Matters for America NOW is targeting local affiliates and local advertisers, Friday’s demonstration was touted as the group’s big demonstration of opposition to Limbaugh with affiliates across the country participating in protests.
The Daily Caller put the number of protesters at seven, but a less biased spokesperson for NOW estimated the crowd size at around 50,000.
This is just a theory, but part of NOW’s problem here could have been that they scheduled the protest during Rush’s show. As a result, many NOW members were perhaps unable to join in because they were busy intently listening to Limbaugh so they wouldn’t miss the next thing to be offended by in order to add it to the list of reasons his show needs to be taken off the air.
According to NOW, the “local community demonstrated its enthusiastic support,” but I think I got more support from my local community the last time I mowed my lawn:
There seems to be a lot more activity over at the National Organization for Rush Babes Facebook page.
**Written by Doug Powers
SOURCE: Michelle Malkin.com
**Written by Doug Powers
Rush will probably refer to them as the NAGnificent Seven:
Seven women participated in the National Organization for Women’s day of protest against Rush Limbaugh in front of Limbaugh’s D.C. affiliate WMAL, Friday.
NOW’s national protest day had been in the works since April 19, when the women’s advocacy group launched their “Enough Rush” campaign.
Pairing with media watchdog Media Matters for America NOW is targeting local affiliates and local advertisers, Friday’s demonstration was touted as the group’s big demonstration of opposition to Limbaugh with affiliates across the country participating in protests.
The Daily Caller put the number of protesters at seven, but a less biased spokesperson for NOW estimated the crowd size at around 50,000.
This is just a theory, but part of NOW’s problem here could have been that they scheduled the protest during Rush’s show. As a result, many NOW members were perhaps unable to join in because they were busy intently listening to Limbaugh so they wouldn’t miss the next thing to be offended by in order to add it to the list of reasons his show needs to be taken off the air.
According to NOW, the “local community demonstrated its enthusiastic support,” but I think I got more support from my local community the last time I mowed my lawn:
There seems to be a lot more activity over at the National Organization for Rush Babes Facebook page.
**Written by Doug Powers
SOURCE: Michelle Malkin.com
Iran: Sanctions could push oil to $160 per barrel
By BLOOMBERG
05/20/2012 05:11
Iranian economy minister warns of consequences of embargo set to take effect July 1, says Iran can withstand sanctions.
Iranian Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini said international oil prices will rise under sanctions designed to persuade the Persian Gulf nation to abandon its nuclear program.
Oil prices might go as high as $160 per barrel if the European Union goes ahead with a July 1 embargo, Hosseini told CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” in an interview scheduled to air Sunday. Group of Eight nations gathered at a summit at the US presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, discussed containing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“We must pay close attention when we speak of oil revenues and sanctions against oil sales, who are the winners and the losers of such sanctions?” Hosseini said. “Indeed, it is difficult. But not just for Iran. And we can all rest assured that there will be a considerable increase in international oil market prices. Now, is this the best approach?”
Hosseini said his country has endured sanctions for 33 years and “this really shows that the economy, the economic strength of Iran is in such a way that can withstand these sanctions and will not be the only economy to suffer.”
Leaders from the G8 nations said they “stand ready” to call on the International Energy Agency to take “appropriate action” to guarantee supplies in response to disruptions.
The G-8 includes the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. The EU also has two seats.
Israel has said it may attack Iran to prevent Islamic republic from developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and within its rights as a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Concern over a possible military conflict in the Persian Gulf, the region that holds the world’s largest oil reserves, helped push crude prices as high as almost $110 a barrel in February. Oil has plunged 12 percent this month to about $92.50 on expectations the world economy is slowing.
SOURCE: Jerusalem Post
05/20/2012 05:11
Iranian economy minister warns of consequences of embargo set to take effect July 1, says Iran can withstand sanctions.
Iranian Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini said international oil prices will rise under sanctions designed to persuade the Persian Gulf nation to abandon its nuclear program.
Oil prices might go as high as $160 per barrel if the European Union goes ahead with a July 1 embargo, Hosseini told CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” in an interview scheduled to air Sunday. Group of Eight nations gathered at a summit at the US presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, discussed containing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“We must pay close attention when we speak of oil revenues and sanctions against oil sales, who are the winners and the losers of such sanctions?” Hosseini said. “Indeed, it is difficult. But not just for Iran. And we can all rest assured that there will be a considerable increase in international oil market prices. Now, is this the best approach?”
Hosseini said his country has endured sanctions for 33 years and “this really shows that the economy, the economic strength of Iran is in such a way that can withstand these sanctions and will not be the only economy to suffer.”
Leaders from the G8 nations said they “stand ready” to call on the International Energy Agency to take “appropriate action” to guarantee supplies in response to disruptions.
The G-8 includes the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. The EU also has two seats.
Israel has said it may attack Iran to prevent Islamic republic from developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and within its rights as a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Concern over a possible military conflict in the Persian Gulf, the region that holds the world’s largest oil reserves, helped push crude prices as high as almost $110 a barrel in February. Oil has plunged 12 percent this month to about $92.50 on expectations the world economy is slowing.
SOURCE: Jerusalem Post
Bring Out Your Dead! Obama Regime Launches National Drive to Counter Voter-ID Laws
(WaPo) — President Obama’s reelection campaign launched a national drive Friday to counter new restrictive voter-access laws, which advisers said threaten his electoral chances in November.
Organizers will fan out in key swing states this weekend to teach volunteers and voters how to navigate a series of laws passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures imposing stricter identification requirements, limiting early voting and making it harder to organize voter-registration drives.
It is the beginning of a months-long effort, campaign officials said, to combat what they described as a Republican effort to stifle voting among young people and minorities, two groups that traditionally tend to vote Democratic. . . .
The Obama campaign’s “weekend of action” is part of a field effort that in 2008 helped identify, register and turn out millions of new voters. Those new voters gave Obama wins in unlikely places, including North Carolina and Virginia, where young and minority voters helped make the difference. Turning out those voters again this year is key to the president’s reelection strategy, but it is also more challenging this year in part because of the new voting laws.
“Over the past century, we expanded this fundamental right, making sure no one’s race, gender or economic status is ever used to deny this fundamental right,” said campaign strategist Michael Blake in a call with reporters Friday afternoon. “Unfortunately,” he added, “Republican-controlled legislatures in many states have been taking us backward, not forward.”. . .
According to Project Vote, a voting-rights advocacy group, about 15,000 people voted without identification in Virginia in 2008.
A centerpiece of Obama’s new effort is a Web site, www.gottavote.org, that helps voters register and understand the voting requirements in their state. The site — and its Spanish-language version, votemostodos.org — also urges viewers to sign up to volunteer and solicits lawyers to help with voter-protection efforts.
The campaign will hold hundreds of events in key battlegrounds Saturday and Sunday. In the Washington region, mostly in the Virginia suburbs, there were 38 voter-registration events scheduled between Friday and Sunday.
A particular emphasis will be placed on training volunteers who will be deployed through the summer and fall to continue the education and registration effort directly with voters.
Posted by WM @ Weasel Zippers on Saturday, May 19, 2012, at 5:05 pm
Hate crime? Black 30 year old Antowann Davis takes butcher knife randomly stabs 29 year old Martha Jones at Target store in Dallas
5 to 8 could be Obama’s sons attack white man leaving permanent damage to face while yelling TRAYVON – national media silent
Black male shoots and kills 29 year old ‘white-Hispanic’ Daniel Adkins who had mental capacity of a 12-year-old
Black mob beat white tourist in Baltimore – laughs and steals his belongings
Tyrone Woodfork accused of first-degree murder, severely beating an elderly couple – 85 year old female dies, 90 year old male dies days later
2 blacks attack Matthew Owens with chairs, pipes and paint cans, leaving him in critical condition then declaring “Now thats justice for Trayvon.”
Three blacks beat to death Marine and Iraq War Veteran
Two Virginia Pilot reporters attacked by black mob – paper covers up story for two weeks
Four blacks beat young U.S. Army soldier in South Tampa Florida
The following video will show you the faces of Antowann Davis and Martha Jones. Based on WFAA’s text reporting, you wouldn’t know the races of the back stabber and the victim. Apparently, they are afraid of something. Martha Jones also has a Facebook page and goes by the name Martha Deacon Jones on it.
Fri May 18 18:39:36 PDT 2012
Man accused of stabbing random Dallas shopper
“I felt something behind me,” said Martha Jones, a Dallas-based lawyer, from her bed at Parkland Memorial Hospital. “He stabbed me in the back and kept walking.” view full article
SOURCE: FireAndreaMitchell.com
Obama Keeps A Bad Promise to Kill Off Coal
Posted by Gateway Guest Blogger
Saturday, May 19, 2012, 10:12 PM
The Gateway Pundit:
(Guest Blogger Dave Carter is a Contributor for Ricochet.com, a retired military veteran, and cross-country truck driver)
Next up, as we spin more Obama records for you, we’re gonna go old school with this hit from way back in 2008, when Candidate Obama was burning up the charts with his fundamentally transformational album, Baby I Got What It Takes To Take What You Got. Remember these golden words?
If somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.
Seems like only yesterday, right? Well eat your heart out Barry White, because President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is now on Coal Patrol. That’s right, the same agency who thinks that the mud puddle in your back yard is a federally protected wetland, is now out to make good on the President’s promise with a new rule that could spell disaster for the coal industry. With the people’s representatives in Congress having declined to pursue an unpopular Cap and Trade scheme, the President’s administrators are trying it through a regulation that, according to the Washington Times, “…would force coal-fired plants to meet the standard of ’1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour,’ a threshold that could be met only with unavailable carbon-capture technology.”
Are you feeling all hopey changey yet? The coal industry certainly is, as an estimated 200,000 jobs will be at risk as a result of the EPA’s latest brainstorm. Vice President Joe Biden was in West Virginia recently, where Democrat voters preferred felon Keith Judd over President Barack Obama. “When you’re out of work, man, it’s a depression,” said Biden, who added, “And a lot of people are still hurt because of this God-awful recession we inherited, that cost 8.4 million jobs before we could really get going. And so, I don’t blame people. They’re frustrated. They’re angry.” So there you have it! West Virginians are not angry about an industry and an economy that is being devastated by Obama’s latest hit, Utopians Gone Wild. No, they’re good and righteously honked off to the point that they’d rather vote for a felon because of George Bush, see? If that makes sense to you, please pass the glue to the person seated next to you so they can get some understanding too.
Meanwhile, as electrical grids weaken, the Sierra Club types will be wondering where they can plug in their electric cars. A suggestion springs immediately to mind…
Saturday, May 19, 2012, 10:12 PM
The Gateway Pundit:
(Guest Blogger Dave Carter is a Contributor for Ricochet.com, a retired military veteran, and cross-country truck driver)
Next up, as we spin more Obama records for you, we’re gonna go old school with this hit from way back in 2008, when Candidate Obama was burning up the charts with his fundamentally transformational album, Baby I Got What It Takes To Take What You Got. Remember these golden words?
If somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.
Seems like only yesterday, right? Well eat your heart out Barry White, because President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is now on Coal Patrol. That’s right, the same agency who thinks that the mud puddle in your back yard is a federally protected wetland, is now out to make good on the President’s promise with a new rule that could spell disaster for the coal industry. With the people’s representatives in Congress having declined to pursue an unpopular Cap and Trade scheme, the President’s administrators are trying it through a regulation that, according to the Washington Times, “…would force coal-fired plants to meet the standard of ’1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour,’ a threshold that could be met only with unavailable carbon-capture technology.”
Are you feeling all hopey changey yet? The coal industry certainly is, as an estimated 200,000 jobs will be at risk as a result of the EPA’s latest brainstorm. Vice President Joe Biden was in West Virginia recently, where Democrat voters preferred felon Keith Judd over President Barack Obama. “When you’re out of work, man, it’s a depression,” said Biden, who added, “And a lot of people are still hurt because of this God-awful recession we inherited, that cost 8.4 million jobs before we could really get going. And so, I don’t blame people. They’re frustrated. They’re angry.” So there you have it! West Virginians are not angry about an industry and an economy that is being devastated by Obama’s latest hit, Utopians Gone Wild. No, they’re good and righteously honked off to the point that they’d rather vote for a felon because of George Bush, see? If that makes sense to you, please pass the glue to the person seated next to you so they can get some understanding too.
Meanwhile, as electrical grids weaken, the Sierra Club types will be wondering where they can plug in their electric cars. A suggestion springs immediately to mind…
Young Mexicans march against old ruling party, despite lead in polls
By Associated Press,
MEXICO CITY — Thousands of college-age demonstrators marched down Mexico City’s main boulevard Saturday to protest a possible return of the old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, which held Mexico’s presidency without interruption from 1929 to 2000.
PRI presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto leads in polls ahead of the July 1 election, but he was heckled by young protesters during a recent appearance at a university. Students blamed him for a violent crackdown on protesters outside Mexico City in 2006. Later, some PRI members suggested the hecklers weren’t really students, further enflaming passions.
In a move unusual for Mexico, the demonstrators did not carry banners for any of the other three candidates in the presidential race, instead shouting slogans against what they don’t want, a return of the PRI, whose 71-year-rule was marked by repression, corruption and periodic economic crises.
Playing on the PRI’s name, one banner read “I don’t want a PRImitive Mexico.” Another banner read: “We don’t forgive or forget 70 years of corruption.”
Pena Nieto has said he leads a new and reformed PRI, in which a younger generation has learned from, and paid for, the mistakes of the past.
While the march was led by a banner listing massacres and crimes allegedly committed or abetted by PRI governments since the 1960s, many of the marchers, like university student Fernanda Vargas, 26, are too young to have spent much time under PRI administrations; she was barely 14 when the last PRI president, Ernesto Zedillo, left office in 2000.
“I don’t remember much, but my mother has told me about it, and we don’t want to return to that,” said Vargas, who is studying a masters’ degree in public policy. She wasn’t buying Pena Nieto’s argument that the PRI has changed. “The PRI is selling itself as something new, but it really has the same old vices, the corruption.”
Her mother, Guadalupe Barrera, 57, said she remembers the PRI years as a time when “you couldn’t speak out, if you were in the opposition.” Barrera, who only studied through grade school, said a PRI return “would be like a horror movie.”
While Pena Nieto, 45, is the youngest of the candidates but he has struggled to gain support among university students, in part because of some missteps.
After the heckling incident earlier this month at posh private university, some of his supporters said the protesters weren’t really students or had been manipulated by rival candidates. That led to about 130 of them to make a video posted on social media sites, in which they were seen holding up their student IDs and denying they had been manipulated.
The involvement of private university students in the forefront of Saturday’s protests was unusual in Mexico’s heavily class-conscious political sphere; the more working-class student bodies at public universities have played more of a role in the past.
Young people have had only a sporadic involvement in Mexican electoral politics the past. For example, in the failed 2006 presidential campaign of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, older voters — many of whom benefited from the ex-mayor’s pension scheme — formed the hard core of his support.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Over-Regulation Nation
By Matt Vespa
May 19, 2012
CDN:
Liberals love to cite how tax rates are at their lowest in recent memory, ballooning corporate profits, and how Bush era policies caused the financial meltdown. They seem to think these are ample reasons to argue why we shouldn’t deregulate our over-regulated economy. However, it is becoming harder for the political left to argue this point since we are witnessing the worst recovery in American history.
The depth of the 2008 meltdown was shocking, but to lust to curb “reckless” capitalism from the political left was not only irresponsible, but also detrimental to America’s long-term economic health. We are an over-regulated nation. Florida requires its residents to file reports if a vending machine label is missing. The Federal Railroad Administration mandates that a letter “F” be painted on the front of a locomotive to indicate which end of the train you are on. Bethesda officials closed a lemonade stand run by children because they lacked a trading license.
If markets are over-regulated, capitalism cannot flourish, entrepreneurship stalls, and the innovative cream that is inherent in the fabric of this nation cannot rise. Free market enterprise is the only system that has achieved remarkable benchmarks in society. Take China for example. When Deng Xiaoping took over following Mao’s death, he gravitated more market-oriented reforms, especially in the rural parts of the country to help farmers. The loosening of regulations on private business allowed them to flourished and outpace state-run enterprises. He instituted Special Economic Zones, which allowed capitalism to flourish and attract foreign direct investment. In short, China is an economic tiger today because of Mr. Xiaoping. I remember my East Asia Studies Professor, David Strand, stating in lecture that in this period the middle class of china grew from 5-15 million to nearly 300 million during this economic restructuring.
By loosening regulation, China was allowed to grow. America’s political left should consider this. Instead, we roll out disastrous financial regulations, like Dodd-Frank, which is a monstrous 848 pages long! It contains 400 new mandates, of which only 93 are law and intelligible enough to follow. The new law is a mess, whose difficulty has been cited by firms. The regulatory leviathan is worse when you look at health care.
On average, one hour spent on a patient is equivalent to thirty minutes of paperwork. The number of federally mandated reimbursements for hospitals for various ailments will increase from 18,000 to 140,000 that range from parrots, burns, and flaming water skis. In the Obama’s administrations huge power grab with Obamacare, it only adds more red tape, paperwork, and headaches. It is the wonder of socialized medicine. In all, the cost of these regulations is staggering. A study from the Small Businesses Administration found that our over-regulated economy costs an employer $10,585 dollars.
America’s overregulation derives from big government. President Obama’s desire to increase the welfare state has proven to be expensive and killing America’s potential to have robust economic growth. His reforms and new mandates costs employers capital that could be used for investment to grow their businesses. These aren’t fat cat bankers. Small businesses employ the most workers in America and make less than $250,000 a year, but suffer at the behest of President Obama’s intransigent liberalism. Government involvement, and the resulting ineptitude that is killing America’s middle class, can best be summarized in the words of Milton Friedman, “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.”
May 19, 2012
CDN:
Liberals love to cite how tax rates are at their lowest in recent memory, ballooning corporate profits, and how Bush era policies caused the financial meltdown. They seem to think these are ample reasons to argue why we shouldn’t deregulate our over-regulated economy. However, it is becoming harder for the political left to argue this point since we are witnessing the worst recovery in American history.
The depth of the 2008 meltdown was shocking, but to lust to curb “reckless” capitalism from the political left was not only irresponsible, but also detrimental to America’s long-term economic health. We are an over-regulated nation. Florida requires its residents to file reports if a vending machine label is missing. The Federal Railroad Administration mandates that a letter “F” be painted on the front of a locomotive to indicate which end of the train you are on. Bethesda officials closed a lemonade stand run by children because they lacked a trading license.
If markets are over-regulated, capitalism cannot flourish, entrepreneurship stalls, and the innovative cream that is inherent in the fabric of this nation cannot rise. Free market enterprise is the only system that has achieved remarkable benchmarks in society. Take China for example. When Deng Xiaoping took over following Mao’s death, he gravitated more market-oriented reforms, especially in the rural parts of the country to help farmers. The loosening of regulations on private business allowed them to flourished and outpace state-run enterprises. He instituted Special Economic Zones, which allowed capitalism to flourish and attract foreign direct investment. In short, China is an economic tiger today because of Mr. Xiaoping. I remember my East Asia Studies Professor, David Strand, stating in lecture that in this period the middle class of china grew from 5-15 million to nearly 300 million during this economic restructuring.
By loosening regulation, China was allowed to grow. America’s political left should consider this. Instead, we roll out disastrous financial regulations, like Dodd-Frank, which is a monstrous 848 pages long! It contains 400 new mandates, of which only 93 are law and intelligible enough to follow. The new law is a mess, whose difficulty has been cited by firms. The regulatory leviathan is worse when you look at health care.
On average, one hour spent on a patient is equivalent to thirty minutes of paperwork. The number of federally mandated reimbursements for hospitals for various ailments will increase from 18,000 to 140,000 that range from parrots, burns, and flaming water skis. In the Obama’s administrations huge power grab with Obamacare, it only adds more red tape, paperwork, and headaches. It is the wonder of socialized medicine. In all, the cost of these regulations is staggering. A study from the Small Businesses Administration found that our over-regulated economy costs an employer $10,585 dollars.
America’s overregulation derives from big government. President Obama’s desire to increase the welfare state has proven to be expensive and killing America’s potential to have robust economic growth. His reforms and new mandates costs employers capital that could be used for investment to grow their businesses. These aren’t fat cat bankers. Small businesses employ the most workers in America and make less than $250,000 a year, but suffer at the behest of President Obama’s intransigent liberalism. Government involvement, and the resulting ineptitude that is killing America’s middle class, can best be summarized in the words of Milton Friedman, “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.”
GBR: Marxist protesters call for violence
Thomas Jefferson
Friday, May 18, 2012 - 6:52pm
GBTV - http://web.gbtv.com/index.jsp
Glenn has the audio today from the NATO Summit where protesters have already clashed with police and local Chicago residents who are angry at their presence.
Friday, May 18, 2012 - 6:52pm
GBTV - http://web.gbtv.com/index.jsp
Glenn has the audio today from the NATO Summit where protesters have already clashed with police and local Chicago residents who are angry at their presence.
TN Man Fathers 30 Kids But Can’t Support Any
by Cardigan
May 19, 2012
IOTW:
WREG.com:
(Knoxville, TN) Desmond Hatchett is pleading with the state of Tennessee to help him pay for child support.
With 30 kids, who could afford to pay child support?
Yes, 30 children by 11 different “baby mamas.”
Desmond explained how it all happened, well you know what we mean, “I had four kids in the same year. Twice.”
The children range in age from toddlers to 14 years old.
He was last in court in 2009, at which time he had 21 children.
That means he’s had at least 9 more children in the last 3 years.
Hatchett only has a minimum wage job, which means some of the moms receive as little as… $1.49 a month.
See the father of the year on video HERE
He’s not the only guilty party in this situation.
How much “government a$$istance” are the baby mamas getting off the taxpayer?
h/t Get Off My Lawn
May 19, 2012
IOTW:
WREG.com:
(Knoxville, TN) Desmond Hatchett is pleading with the state of Tennessee to help him pay for child support.
With 30 kids, who could afford to pay child support?
Yes, 30 children by 11 different “baby mamas.”
Desmond explained how it all happened, well you know what we mean, “I had four kids in the same year. Twice.”
The children range in age from toddlers to 14 years old.
He was last in court in 2009, at which time he had 21 children.
That means he’s had at least 9 more children in the last 3 years.
Hatchett only has a minimum wage job, which means some of the moms receive as little as… $1.49 a month.
See the father of the year on video HERE
He’s not the only guilty party in this situation.
How much “government a$$istance” are the baby mamas getting off the taxpayer?
h/t Get Off My Lawn
Stupidity With A Side of Nazi Please
By Matt Vespa
May 19, 2012
Conservative Daily News:
The Nazi allegations are floating around again. Like racism, being labeled a Nazi by anyone in the political spectrum, left and right, is not only irresponsible, but grossly sophomoric behavior that is akin to sixth grade antics in the lunchroom. To put it simply, there is no vast national socialist plot to takeover the country. We have a constitution that prevents the rapid centralization of power that would fit the governing model of a national socialist government. Yes, Barack Obama and George Bush are both at fault for expanding the six and scope of government to unacceptable levels, but that doesn’t make them Nazis.
While I have great respect for Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, I found his remarks about Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen Casey’s tax law that would mandate that wealthy people prove they didn’t renounce their citizenship for tax reasons. This comes in light of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s renunciation of U.S. citizenship before the social media site went public last Friday. According to Bernie Becker and Erik Wasson of The Hill,
“the targeting people that turn in their passports reminded him of regimes that had driven people out of the country, only to confiscate their wealth at the door. I think Schumer can probably find the legislation to do this. It existed in Germany in the 1930s and Rhodesia in the ’70s and in South Africa as well, said Norquist. “He probably just plagiarized it and translated it from the original German.” The Nazis infamously implemented a departure tax on Jews who tried to flee Germany before World War II.”
One could have argued that there are bigger issues at hand with the economy and our entitlement structure than focusing on whether a few wealthy Americans abandon their citizenship in the future. Instead of Nazi references, Grover could have made an eloquent attack on this law by discussing the gross overreach of congressional power, the reasons why we should expand our 72,536 page tax code, and how will this new law make collecting revenue more efficient. I’m guessing the cost to collect the tax from would-be ex-patriots would outweigh the benefits.
On the left, we have left-wing blowhard Stephanie Miller comparing Mitt Romney to Hitler due to his past “bullying” episode and the inability for liberals to understand or stomach the amoral disposition of capitalism. On an equally idiotic footing, she also compared GOP policies as promoting”state sponsored rape” against women. Newsbusters broke a story surrounding Michelle Goldberg, contributor to Newsweek/Daily Beast, who penned a piece even comparing Ann Romney to Hitler and Stalin.
The source of the controversy centered on a piece Ann Romney wrote for USA Today for Mother’s Day:
Cherish your mothers. The ones who wiped your tears, who were at every ball game or ballet recital. The ones who believed in you, even when nobody else did, even when maybe you didn’t believe in yourself. Women wear many hats in their lives.
Daughter, sister, student, breadwinner. But no matter where we are or what we’re doing, one hat that moms never take off is the crown of motherhood.
There is no crown more glorious.
I guess motherhood really got the fascists going, but I think it’s really hedged on liberals engaging in their usual stupidity. Goldberg responded by saying that “I found that phrase ‘the crown of motherhood’ really kind of creepy, not just because of its, like, somewhat you know, I mean, it’s kind of usually really authoritarian societies that give out like The Cross of Motherhood, that give awards for big families. You know, Stalin did it, Hitler did it.” Yep, where did I leave my steel-toed boots again, I’m ready to march.
The truth of the matter is that Nazism is a rather hybrid of various political leanings. It’s not exclusively right or left wing. Both fascists and communists espoused totalitarian governing styles, with an emphasis on organized labor, and the view of capitalism as a failed ideology. The only exception to the rule is that communism advocated a classless, international proletariate controlling the goods and means of production, while fascists espoused celebrating the triumph of their respective nation. In other words, they decided to flip off the fraternity notion and go their own way celebrating their own racial or ethnic superiority. Not an overly brotherly disposition. In all, since Nazism is a political philosophy with more that 50 shades of grey, I propose we have a indefinite moratorium on using this label to smear or attack political opponents, unless they actually espouse a national socialist platform, which will never happen. It’s ignorant, stupid, and lacks sophistication to just call one’s opponent a “Nazi.” We’re conservatives with the truth, facts, and numbers on our side. Do we really need to engage in this nonsensical behavior? As for the left, I would say the same thing, but being that the world is your oyster; it’s bound to slip through the cracks of your shamefully spineless philosophy.
May 19, 2012
Conservative Daily News:
The Nazi allegations are floating around again. Like racism, being labeled a Nazi by anyone in the political spectrum, left and right, is not only irresponsible, but grossly sophomoric behavior that is akin to sixth grade antics in the lunchroom. To put it simply, there is no vast national socialist plot to takeover the country. We have a constitution that prevents the rapid centralization of power that would fit the governing model of a national socialist government. Yes, Barack Obama and George Bush are both at fault for expanding the six and scope of government to unacceptable levels, but that doesn’t make them Nazis.
While I have great respect for Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, I found his remarks about Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen Casey’s tax law that would mandate that wealthy people prove they didn’t renounce their citizenship for tax reasons. This comes in light of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s renunciation of U.S. citizenship before the social media site went public last Friday. According to Bernie Becker and Erik Wasson of The Hill,
“the targeting people that turn in their passports reminded him of regimes that had driven people out of the country, only to confiscate their wealth at the door. I think Schumer can probably find the legislation to do this. It existed in Germany in the 1930s and Rhodesia in the ’70s and in South Africa as well, said Norquist. “He probably just plagiarized it and translated it from the original German.” The Nazis infamously implemented a departure tax on Jews who tried to flee Germany before World War II.”
One could have argued that there are bigger issues at hand with the economy and our entitlement structure than focusing on whether a few wealthy Americans abandon their citizenship in the future. Instead of Nazi references, Grover could have made an eloquent attack on this law by discussing the gross overreach of congressional power, the reasons why we should expand our 72,536 page tax code, and how will this new law make collecting revenue more efficient. I’m guessing the cost to collect the tax from would-be ex-patriots would outweigh the benefits.
On the left, we have left-wing blowhard Stephanie Miller comparing Mitt Romney to Hitler due to his past “bullying” episode and the inability for liberals to understand or stomach the amoral disposition of capitalism. On an equally idiotic footing, she also compared GOP policies as promoting”state sponsored rape” against women. Newsbusters broke a story surrounding Michelle Goldberg, contributor to Newsweek/Daily Beast, who penned a piece even comparing Ann Romney to Hitler and Stalin.
The source of the controversy centered on a piece Ann Romney wrote for USA Today for Mother’s Day:
Cherish your mothers. The ones who wiped your tears, who were at every ball game or ballet recital. The ones who believed in you, even when nobody else did, even when maybe you didn’t believe in yourself. Women wear many hats in their lives.
Daughter, sister, student, breadwinner. But no matter where we are or what we’re doing, one hat that moms never take off is the crown of motherhood.
There is no crown more glorious.
I guess motherhood really got the fascists going, but I think it’s really hedged on liberals engaging in their usual stupidity. Goldberg responded by saying that “I found that phrase ‘the crown of motherhood’ really kind of creepy, not just because of its, like, somewhat you know, I mean, it’s kind of usually really authoritarian societies that give out like The Cross of Motherhood, that give awards for big families. You know, Stalin did it, Hitler did it.” Yep, where did I leave my steel-toed boots again, I’m ready to march.
The truth of the matter is that Nazism is a rather hybrid of various political leanings. It’s not exclusively right or left wing. Both fascists and communists espoused totalitarian governing styles, with an emphasis on organized labor, and the view of capitalism as a failed ideology. The only exception to the rule is that communism advocated a classless, international proletariate controlling the goods and means of production, while fascists espoused celebrating the triumph of their respective nation. In other words, they decided to flip off the fraternity notion and go their own way celebrating their own racial or ethnic superiority. Not an overly brotherly disposition. In all, since Nazism is a political philosophy with more that 50 shades of grey, I propose we have a indefinite moratorium on using this label to smear or attack political opponents, unless they actually espouse a national socialist platform, which will never happen. It’s ignorant, stupid, and lacks sophistication to just call one’s opponent a “Nazi.” We’re conservatives with the truth, facts, and numbers on our side. Do we really need to engage in this nonsensical behavior? As for the left, I would say the same thing, but being that the world is your oyster; it’s bound to slip through the cracks of your shamefully spineless philosophy.
Obama sees 'emerging consensus' on economic fix
May 20, 1:29 AM EDT
By BEN FELLER and JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press
CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) -- Confronting an economic crisis that threatens them all, President Barack Obama and leaders of other world powers on Saturday declared that their governments must both spark growth and cut the debt that has crippled the European continent and put investors worldwide on edge.
"There's now an emerging consensus that more must be done to promote growth and job creation right now," Obama proclaimed after hosting unprecedented economic talks at Camp David, his secluded and highly secure mountaintop retreat. Seeking a second term amid hard economic times, Obama hailed a debate heading in the direction he likes, with nations now talking of ways to spark their economies instead of just slashing spending.
Yet there were no bold prescriptions at hand. Instead, leaders seemed intent on trying to inspire confidence by agreeing on a broad strategy no matter their differences. With all of them facing their own difficult political realities, they built some sovereign wiggle room into their pledge to take all necessary steps, saying "the right measures are not the same for each of us."
Obama played international host as Europe's debt crisis threatens to drag down the U.S. recovery and his own political future, underscoring the stakes for him in getting allies abroad to rally around some answers.
Much of the new emphasis on government-led growth seemed aimed at German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who came to the summit as the European leader who had demanded austerity as the most important step toward easing the eurozone's debt crisis. But the election of Socialist Francois Hollande as president of France, and Greek elections that created political chaos in the country were clear rejections of the belt-tightening Merkel represented.
Hollande, a new voice at the table in just his first week on the job, offered Obama a reminder of his own responsibilities to work to expand the economy, "even if he's in an electoral period and who has a Congress that's not necessarily easy to deal with."
Coping with shaky oil markets, the leaders set the stage for a united release of world oil reserves to balance any disruption in world markets when tough new sanctions are imposed on Iran's exports because of its disputed nuclear program. The leaders said they were ready to take "appropriate action" to meet any shortages.
The mere preparation to release oil reserves could help calm markets and ensure that oil prices, which have been dropping, don't climb again and anger consumers as U.S. elections approach.
The Group of Eight summit includes leaders of the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia.
A joint summit statement reflected how urgently the countries must contain a financial crisis that could spread from the eurozone to the United States and infect the rest of the global economy. They declared unanimity in ensuring that Greece, which is crippled in debt and politically gridlocked, remains as part of the 17-member euro currency union.
"The leaders here understand the stakes," Obama said in summing up a packed, unusually intimate day of world talks. "They know the magnitude of the choices they have to make and the enormous political and economic and social costs if they don't."
Merkel said growth and deficit-cutting reinforced each other and that everyone around the table agreed. "That is great progress," she said. As for promoting growth, she said investments under consideration include research and development, Internet networks and infrastructure. But she said "this doesn't mean stimulus in the usual sense."
U.S. officials agreed, saying growth measures that the Europeans might pursue don't all require outright public spending, and could be in the form of public-private partnerships or in initiatives designed to loosen credit. And the leaders stayed away entirely from the world "stimulus," which has taken on an unpopular political connotation, including in the United States.
"The global economic recovery shows signs of promise, but significant headwinds persist," said G-8 leaders said.
The tension between austerity and growth - whether to slash debt by cutting budgets or use public money and other means to help spur economic growth - was the backdrop as Obama welcomed an emerging push for a balance between the two.
He seized the opportunity to cast the debate in terms favorable to his own re-election, closing the summit with the steps he took to right the U.S. economy and his economic vision for a second term. He said he was confident Europe could get on a path to recovery as has the United States.
"We know it is possible in part based on our own experience here," he said. "In my earliest days in office, we took decisive steps to confront our own financial crisis."
Obama chose Camp David in part to encourage a freewheeling discussion out of sight of most media and potential protests, allowing the leaders to sit around a cabin table to negotiate terms, or stroll through the leafy paths for chats that seemed a world away from the typical summit convention-hall setting.
It all came before Obama was to lead a much larger NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday and Monday that will be heavily focused on the Afghanistan war.
The drag of a eurozone crisis comes as joblessness and doubts about a life of better opportunities are already the chief concerns for American voters.
In their united view, the leaders conceded some points about Merkel's push for austerity, saying budget deficits must close.
But their joint statement added that budget cutting should "take into account countries' evolving economic conditions and underpin confidence and economic recovery." That suggested a willingness to let indebted countries take more time to reduce their deficits in line with eurozone rules in order to lessen the deadening impact of cuts on the economy.
It also called for "investments in education and in modern infrastructure," which would involve more government spending. That approach also meshes exactly with Obama's campaign-year strategy for accelerated economic growth, which is to keep spending money on core priorities while taking on the debt through cuts and higher taxes.
The statement of support for Greece remaining in the euro underlines the unpredictable damage to the global financial system that could come from a Greece departure. It follows a week of increasing speculation that Greece might not be able to stay the course, and in which a top European Union official said officials were working on emergency plans in case of a Greek exit. That country is facing the most acute financial crisis of the eurozone and is set to hold elections June 17 to end political deadlock.
At issue is whether Greece abandons the euro to escape austerity measures. Meanwhile, Europe's woes have given shudders to Wall Street.
The Fitch ratings agency dropped Greece to the lowest possible grade for a country not in default Thursday. Fitch said Greece's departure from the euro "would be probable" if elections next month do not reverse political trends there, which have brought in politicians opposed to the terms of Europe's bailout.
---
Associated Press writers David McHugh, Jamey Keaten, Nancy Benac and Anne Gearan contributed to this report.
By BEN FELLER and JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press
CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) -- Confronting an economic crisis that threatens them all, President Barack Obama and leaders of other world powers on Saturday declared that their governments must both spark growth and cut the debt that has crippled the European continent and put investors worldwide on edge.
"There's now an emerging consensus that more must be done to promote growth and job creation right now," Obama proclaimed after hosting unprecedented economic talks at Camp David, his secluded and highly secure mountaintop retreat. Seeking a second term amid hard economic times, Obama hailed a debate heading in the direction he likes, with nations now talking of ways to spark their economies instead of just slashing spending.
Yet there were no bold prescriptions at hand. Instead, leaders seemed intent on trying to inspire confidence by agreeing on a broad strategy no matter their differences. With all of them facing their own difficult political realities, they built some sovereign wiggle room into their pledge to take all necessary steps, saying "the right measures are not the same for each of us."
Obama played international host as Europe's debt crisis threatens to drag down the U.S. recovery and his own political future, underscoring the stakes for him in getting allies abroad to rally around some answers.
Much of the new emphasis on government-led growth seemed aimed at German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who came to the summit as the European leader who had demanded austerity as the most important step toward easing the eurozone's debt crisis. But the election of Socialist Francois Hollande as president of France, and Greek elections that created political chaos in the country were clear rejections of the belt-tightening Merkel represented.
Hollande, a new voice at the table in just his first week on the job, offered Obama a reminder of his own responsibilities to work to expand the economy, "even if he's in an electoral period and who has a Congress that's not necessarily easy to deal with."
Coping with shaky oil markets, the leaders set the stage for a united release of world oil reserves to balance any disruption in world markets when tough new sanctions are imposed on Iran's exports because of its disputed nuclear program. The leaders said they were ready to take "appropriate action" to meet any shortages.
The mere preparation to release oil reserves could help calm markets and ensure that oil prices, which have been dropping, don't climb again and anger consumers as U.S. elections approach.
The Group of Eight summit includes leaders of the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia.
A joint summit statement reflected how urgently the countries must contain a financial crisis that could spread from the eurozone to the United States and infect the rest of the global economy. They declared unanimity in ensuring that Greece, which is crippled in debt and politically gridlocked, remains as part of the 17-member euro currency union.
"The leaders here understand the stakes," Obama said in summing up a packed, unusually intimate day of world talks. "They know the magnitude of the choices they have to make and the enormous political and economic and social costs if they don't."
Merkel said growth and deficit-cutting reinforced each other and that everyone around the table agreed. "That is great progress," she said. As for promoting growth, she said investments under consideration include research and development, Internet networks and infrastructure. But she said "this doesn't mean stimulus in the usual sense."
U.S. officials agreed, saying growth measures that the Europeans might pursue don't all require outright public spending, and could be in the form of public-private partnerships or in initiatives designed to loosen credit. And the leaders stayed away entirely from the world "stimulus," which has taken on an unpopular political connotation, including in the United States.
"The global economic recovery shows signs of promise, but significant headwinds persist," said G-8 leaders said.
The tension between austerity and growth - whether to slash debt by cutting budgets or use public money and other means to help spur economic growth - was the backdrop as Obama welcomed an emerging push for a balance between the two.
He seized the opportunity to cast the debate in terms favorable to his own re-election, closing the summit with the steps he took to right the U.S. economy and his economic vision for a second term. He said he was confident Europe could get on a path to recovery as has the United States.
"We know it is possible in part based on our own experience here," he said. "In my earliest days in office, we took decisive steps to confront our own financial crisis."
Obama chose Camp David in part to encourage a freewheeling discussion out of sight of most media and potential protests, allowing the leaders to sit around a cabin table to negotiate terms, or stroll through the leafy paths for chats that seemed a world away from the typical summit convention-hall setting.
It all came before Obama was to lead a much larger NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday and Monday that will be heavily focused on the Afghanistan war.
The drag of a eurozone crisis comes as joblessness and doubts about a life of better opportunities are already the chief concerns for American voters.
In their united view, the leaders conceded some points about Merkel's push for austerity, saying budget deficits must close.
But their joint statement added that budget cutting should "take into account countries' evolving economic conditions and underpin confidence and economic recovery." That suggested a willingness to let indebted countries take more time to reduce their deficits in line with eurozone rules in order to lessen the deadening impact of cuts on the economy.
It also called for "investments in education and in modern infrastructure," which would involve more government spending. That approach also meshes exactly with Obama's campaign-year strategy for accelerated economic growth, which is to keep spending money on core priorities while taking on the debt through cuts and higher taxes.
The statement of support for Greece remaining in the euro underlines the unpredictable damage to the global financial system that could come from a Greece departure. It follows a week of increasing speculation that Greece might not be able to stay the course, and in which a top European Union official said officials were working on emergency plans in case of a Greek exit. That country is facing the most acute financial crisis of the eurozone and is set to hold elections June 17 to end political deadlock.
At issue is whether Greece abandons the euro to escape austerity measures. Meanwhile, Europe's woes have given shudders to Wall Street.
The Fitch ratings agency dropped Greece to the lowest possible grade for a country not in default Thursday. Fitch said Greece's departure from the euro "would be probable" if elections next month do not reverse political trends there, which have brought in politicians opposed to the terms of Europe's bailout.
---
Associated Press writers David McHugh, Jamey Keaten, Nancy Benac and Anne Gearan contributed to this report.
UNBELIEVABLE: N.C. teacher yells at student for asking question about Obama, just after she criticized Romney
May 19th, 2012
The Right Scoop:
This is the most uneducated, absurd audio I think I’ve ever heard from a teacher. In response to a short discussion on Romney having ‘bullied’ a student when he was in high school, a student in the North Rowan High School class suggested that Obama was also a bully in grade school. The teacher then yelled at the student for criticizing Obama because he’s a sitting president. But the student argued that they are both equal, that they are both men and that if you are going to criticize one side, you have to criticize the other. But the teacher argued the opposite, saying that they were not equal because Obama IS the president and Romney is simply running for president, and because of that we can’t say anything bad about Obama but we can about Romney. This teacher, who sounds African American based on the audio, even tried to make the case that saying bad things about a sitting president will get your arrested. Yeah, I’m not kidding.
According to the school system, this unidentified teacher still remains in the classroom.
You just have to hear this audio:
The Right Scoop:
This is the most uneducated, absurd audio I think I’ve ever heard from a teacher. In response to a short discussion on Romney having ‘bullied’ a student when he was in high school, a student in the North Rowan High School class suggested that Obama was also a bully in grade school. The teacher then yelled at the student for criticizing Obama because he’s a sitting president. But the student argued that they are both equal, that they are both men and that if you are going to criticize one side, you have to criticize the other. But the teacher argued the opposite, saying that they were not equal because Obama IS the president and Romney is simply running for president, and because of that we can’t say anything bad about Obama but we can about Romney. This teacher, who sounds African American based on the audio, even tried to make the case that saying bad things about a sitting president will get your arrested. Yeah, I’m not kidding.
According to the school system, this unidentified teacher still remains in the classroom.
You just have to hear this audio:
EPA Shuts Off Major Chunk of Alaska to Mining Before Proposal Even Submitted
Posted by Jim Hoft
May 19, 2012, 6:08 PM
Gateway Pundit:
The EPA is now blocking US mining and manufacturing before proposals are even submitted.
The proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska (Yahoo)
The EPA Is Annexing Alaska
The EPA released a scientific study of the Bristol Bay watershed and its natural resources on Friday. The report is an attempt by the EPA to preemptively veto the Pebble Mine in Alaska because it could potentially affect the local water.
The AP reported:
The possible failure of a dam holding waste from a large-scale mine near the headwaters of one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries in Alaska could wipe out or degrade rivers and streams in the region for decades, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a draft watershed assessment released Friday.
EPA regional administrator Dennis McLerran said there was a fairly low risk of that occurring, however, and the more likely impact would be direct loss of habitat from the mining activity itself.
The report responded to concerns about a large copper-and-gold prospect near the headwaters of Bristol Bay. It is a draft, with a final report that could affect permitting decisions perhaps due by the end of the year after public comment and peer review.
Kevin at Wizbang added this on the EPA’s job-killing agenda.
The groundwork they’re laying implies that any building or project that could potentially impact water can be killed by the EPA without the project ever going through the permitting process, and without input from state, local, or other federal agencies. This in itself is a jobs and economy killer.
They want us all in mud huts.
Related… The Pebble Mine, which is not even proposed yet, will require permits from at least 67 state and federal agencies according to the site owners, yet Democrats wants the project spiked before any environmental review is even done.
May 19, 2012, 6:08 PM
Gateway Pundit:
The EPA is now blocking US mining and manufacturing before proposals are even submitted.
The proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska (Yahoo)
The EPA Is Annexing Alaska
The EPA released a scientific study of the Bristol Bay watershed and its natural resources on Friday. The report is an attempt by the EPA to preemptively veto the Pebble Mine in Alaska because it could potentially affect the local water.
The AP reported:
The possible failure of a dam holding waste from a large-scale mine near the headwaters of one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries in Alaska could wipe out or degrade rivers and streams in the region for decades, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a draft watershed assessment released Friday.
EPA regional administrator Dennis McLerran said there was a fairly low risk of that occurring, however, and the more likely impact would be direct loss of habitat from the mining activity itself.
The report responded to concerns about a large copper-and-gold prospect near the headwaters of Bristol Bay. It is a draft, with a final report that could affect permitting decisions perhaps due by the end of the year after public comment and peer review.
Kevin at Wizbang added this on the EPA’s job-killing agenda.
The groundwork they’re laying implies that any building or project that could potentially impact water can be killed by the EPA without the project ever going through the permitting process, and without input from state, local, or other federal agencies. This in itself is a jobs and economy killer.
They want us all in mud huts.
Related… The Pebble Mine, which is not even proposed yet, will require permits from at least 67 state and federal agencies according to the site owners, yet Democrats wants the project spiked before any environmental review is even done.
Journal Sentinel endorses Walker
By MAGGIE HABERMAN
5/19/12 10:19 PM EDT
Politico:
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel backs Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in the impending recall race, saying, "We see no reason to remove Walker from office" and describing his rival, the city's Mayor, Tom Barrett, as too slow in his approach to governing:
Strip away such purple rhetoric, and you find that Barrett, like Walker, is a capable and honorable public servant. But this election isn't about Tom Barrett. It's about Scott Walker.
Even if you disagree with Walker's policies, does that justify cutting short his term as governor? And if so, where does such logic lead? To more recall elections? More turmoil?
It's time to end the bickering and get back to the business of the state. We've had our differences with the governor, but he deserves a chance to complete his term. We recommended him in 2010. We see no reason to change that recommendation. We urge voters to support Walker in the June 5 recall election.
Editorial page endorsements are sometimes ink blots - and the JS backed Walker in his initial race two years ago - but they can also be tests of which way the political winds are shifting.
The amount of outside money pouring into the race is massive, and the electorate there is highly polarized, meaning both sides have always believed it would be a narrow outcome next month. But there has been a sense that Walker, for all the polarizing he comes with, may survive.
* This post has been updated
5/19/12 10:19 PM EDT
Politico:
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel backs Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in the impending recall race, saying, "We see no reason to remove Walker from office" and describing his rival, the city's Mayor, Tom Barrett, as too slow in his approach to governing:
Strip away such purple rhetoric, and you find that Barrett, like Walker, is a capable and honorable public servant. But this election isn't about Tom Barrett. It's about Scott Walker.
Even if you disagree with Walker's policies, does that justify cutting short his term as governor? And if so, where does such logic lead? To more recall elections? More turmoil?
It's time to end the bickering and get back to the business of the state. We've had our differences with the governor, but he deserves a chance to complete his term. We recommended him in 2010. We see no reason to change that recommendation. We urge voters to support Walker in the June 5 recall election.
Editorial page endorsements are sometimes ink blots - and the JS backed Walker in his initial race two years ago - but they can also be tests of which way the political winds are shifting.
The amount of outside money pouring into the race is massive, and the electorate there is highly polarized, meaning both sides have always believed it would be a narrow outcome next month. But there has been a sense that Walker, for all the polarizing he comes with, may survive.
* This post has been updated
$4 Mil To Give Farmers Wireless Tech To Redeem Food Stamps
May 16, 2012
Judicial Watch:
To further expand the government’s bulging food-stamp program, the Obama Administration is allocating $4 million to provide farmers’ markets not currently participating in the welfare plan with the wireless technology necessary to redeem the benefits.
The investment will create a “win-win” situation by helping American farmers and, more importantly, providing healthy fruits and vegetables to low-income folks who would otherwise not be able to afford it. After all, the nation’s obesity epidemic has hit poor and ethnic minority communities hardest because they don’t have access to healthy foods, according to the feds.
This is why Michelle Obama made revolutionizing the inner city diet the focus of her $4.5 billion law to conquer childhood obesity. The First Lady pushed the measure through Congress asserting that it’s the government’s duty to protect poor and ethnic minority communities that are overwhelmingly obese compared to their wealthier, white counterparts.
Under this theory, food-stamp recipients—who are supposed to be too poor to afford groceries—are eating too much junk because it’s cheaper and more readily available in their low-income neighborhoods. So in comes Uncle Sam with a multimillion-dollar infusion to con farmers into accepting the welfare vouchers. This will increase the consumption of healthy food and expand the customer base for local farmers, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. She’s the one who coined the arrangement “win-win.”
The USDA is the agency responsible for running the nation’s swollen food-stamp program. Under this latest arrangement, farmers’ markets that don’t have access to phone lines or electricity will get it compliments of U.S. taxpayers. This will make it possible for them to redeem the welfare vouchers through the government’s Electronic Benefit Transfer system, which is used by grocery stores.
A record number of Americans already receive food stamps and the figure will keep rising, according to congressional estimates. Just last month, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed that 45 million people—one out of every seven U.S. residents—got food stamps in 2011, an astounding 70% increase from 2007. This represents a cost of $72 billion for U.S. taxpayers, which is a substantial increase from $30 billion four years earlier.
It’s all part of the Obama Administration’s effort to eradicate “food insecure households.” In the last few years the administration has spent millions of dollars to recruit even more food-stamp recipients and has doled out hefty cash rewards to states that sign up the most people. One state even bragged about a $5 million performance bonus it got from the feds for its “swift processing of applications.”
Judicial Watch:
To further expand the government’s bulging food-stamp program, the Obama Administration is allocating $4 million to provide farmers’ markets not currently participating in the welfare plan with the wireless technology necessary to redeem the benefits.
The investment will create a “win-win” situation by helping American farmers and, more importantly, providing healthy fruits and vegetables to low-income folks who would otherwise not be able to afford it. After all, the nation’s obesity epidemic has hit poor and ethnic minority communities hardest because they don’t have access to healthy foods, according to the feds.
This is why Michelle Obama made revolutionizing the inner city diet the focus of her $4.5 billion law to conquer childhood obesity. The First Lady pushed the measure through Congress asserting that it’s the government’s duty to protect poor and ethnic minority communities that are overwhelmingly obese compared to their wealthier, white counterparts.
Under this theory, food-stamp recipients—who are supposed to be too poor to afford groceries—are eating too much junk because it’s cheaper and more readily available in their low-income neighborhoods. So in comes Uncle Sam with a multimillion-dollar infusion to con farmers into accepting the welfare vouchers. This will increase the consumption of healthy food and expand the customer base for local farmers, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. She’s the one who coined the arrangement “win-win.”
The USDA is the agency responsible for running the nation’s swollen food-stamp program. Under this latest arrangement, farmers’ markets that don’t have access to phone lines or electricity will get it compliments of U.S. taxpayers. This will make it possible for them to redeem the welfare vouchers through the government’s Electronic Benefit Transfer system, which is used by grocery stores.
A record number of Americans already receive food stamps and the figure will keep rising, according to congressional estimates. Just last month, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed that 45 million people—one out of every seven U.S. residents—got food stamps in 2011, an astounding 70% increase from 2007. This represents a cost of $72 billion for U.S. taxpayers, which is a substantial increase from $30 billion four years earlier.
It’s all part of the Obama Administration’s effort to eradicate “food insecure households.” In the last few years the administration has spent millions of dollars to recruit even more food-stamp recipients and has doled out hefty cash rewards to states that sign up the most people. One state even bragged about a $5 million performance bonus it got from the feds for its “swift processing of applications.”
Congressional Threat to Every Investor, Business Owner and Citizen
Submitted by rcwhalen
05/19/2012
Zero Hedge:
Latest comment from David Kotok at Cumberland Advisors deserves your attention. -- Chris
May 19, 2012
This is an open letter in response to legislation recently passed in the US House of Representatives. The behavior of Representative Harold Rogers, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has made the front page of The New York Times, describing the $17,000 drip pan for Black Hawk helicopters that is earmarked for his district in Kentucky.
The US House of Representatives, that includes his leadership, has passed Bill H.R. 5326. This legislation decimates the statistical agencies that support the entire fabric of business investment, policy-making, and decision-making in the United States.
This action speaks volumes concerning the failure in Congressional accountability to review this legislation thoroughly and the abysmal behavior of Congressional leadership to permit it to pass. This threatens the economic recovery and long-term growth trend of the United States.
Below is a copy of a letter sent to the membership of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). It recounts the important elements of the legislation that must be opposed. It also gives the appropriate number and reference in the US Senate version. It contains sample text which citizens can use to send letters, emails or telephone calls when it comes to lobbying on their behalf.
We are asking all who read our list serve to use this information, publicize it to others, and to stress to those in Congress that while we support some of their efforts in fiscal discipline, we do not support the emasculation of the agencies mentioned and the destruction of the statistical base that is essential to the ongoing business and investment climate in the United States.
I discussed this legislation with Bob Parker, Former Chief Statistician of the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Government Accountability Office. Bob is a good friend and colleague in several economist organizations where we are both active. He is the most skilled professional I know.
Bob said that this legislation would "eliminate the economic census. That means no more bench-marking of key indicators such as retail sales, service receipts, manufacturers shipments and orders, trade inventories, industrial production index, etc."
So dear reader, this legislation can really cost and hurt you. Please act now while damage can be mitigated.
Thank you.
Dear NABE Members and Friends:
Last week, we alerted you that the U.S. House of Representatives was considering an appropriations bill for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (H.R. 5326) that would drastically reduce funding for the Census Bureau and make participation in the American Community Survey voluntary. Thanks to the many NABE members and other data users who contacted their representatives to try to prevent this action. Regrettably, the legislation ultimately passed the House along party lines and was much more damaging than originally proposed. In its current form, H.R. 5326 will "devastate" the nation's economic statistics.
Specifically, the legislation will:
Terminate the American Community Survey;
Cancel the 2012 Economic Census; and
Halt development of cost-saving measures for the decennial census.
NEXT STEPS:
The Senate is expected to take up its own FY2013 Commerce, Justice, Science, and related agencies appropriations bill shortly. The Senate and House versions of the bill will then presumably be addressed by a conference committee comprised of members of both bodies.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Call or email your senators and representative today to tell them why you value the Economic Census and the American Community Survey. You can use this sample letter below:
Dear :
I am writing to express my concern over passage of H.R. 5326 by the U.S. House of Representatives, which would drastically cut funding for the U.S. Census Bureau and eliminate the Economic Census and the American Community Survey (ACS) - two of the most important tools we have for understanding the U.S. economy.
These programs are critically important to businesses, policymakers, and government agencies which use the data to make informed decisions and plan for the future. The increased uncertainty accompanying the loss of these data will most certainly result in more missed opportunities and waste for businesses and misallocation of resources by policymakers and government agencies. I urge you to ensure that the Census Bureau receives adequate funding to continue these vital programs.
How are Economic Census data used?
By the federal government as an input to calculate elements of key economic indicators, such as economic growth (GDP), prices, and productivity;
By retailers in evaluating whether to expand into new market geographies;
By economic development commissions in attracting new businesses to their areas; and
By companies to benchmark performance against industry averages
How are ACS data used?
By corporations to examine workforce characteristics of neighborhoods to determine optimal locations for new factories or sales centers.
By homebuilders looking to tailor new subdivisions to surrounding neighborhoods based on income, family size and existing home values; and
By municipal governments in planning to meet the educational, safety and housing needs of their citizens.
The information we glean from the Economic Census and the ACS increases our understanding of current economic conditions and reduces uncertainty, allowing businesses and policymakers to make well-informed, efficient decisions. If we eliminate these programs, we are choosing to "fly blind," an alarming proposition in these challenging economic times. Again, I urge you that you vote to ensure adequate funding for both the ACS and the Economic Census.
Sincerely,
David R. Kotok, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer
05/19/2012
Zero Hedge:
Latest comment from David Kotok at Cumberland Advisors deserves your attention. -- Chris
May 19, 2012
This is an open letter in response to legislation recently passed in the US House of Representatives. The behavior of Representative Harold Rogers, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has made the front page of The New York Times, describing the $17,000 drip pan for Black Hawk helicopters that is earmarked for his district in Kentucky.
The US House of Representatives, that includes his leadership, has passed Bill H.R. 5326. This legislation decimates the statistical agencies that support the entire fabric of business investment, policy-making, and decision-making in the United States.
This action speaks volumes concerning the failure in Congressional accountability to review this legislation thoroughly and the abysmal behavior of Congressional leadership to permit it to pass. This threatens the economic recovery and long-term growth trend of the United States.
Below is a copy of a letter sent to the membership of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). It recounts the important elements of the legislation that must be opposed. It also gives the appropriate number and reference in the US Senate version. It contains sample text which citizens can use to send letters, emails or telephone calls when it comes to lobbying on their behalf.
We are asking all who read our list serve to use this information, publicize it to others, and to stress to those in Congress that while we support some of their efforts in fiscal discipline, we do not support the emasculation of the agencies mentioned and the destruction of the statistical base that is essential to the ongoing business and investment climate in the United States.
I discussed this legislation with Bob Parker, Former Chief Statistician of the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Government Accountability Office. Bob is a good friend and colleague in several economist organizations where we are both active. He is the most skilled professional I know.
Bob said that this legislation would "eliminate the economic census. That means no more bench-marking of key indicators such as retail sales, service receipts, manufacturers shipments and orders, trade inventories, industrial production index, etc."
So dear reader, this legislation can really cost and hurt you. Please act now while damage can be mitigated.
Thank you.
Dear NABE Members and Friends:
Last week, we alerted you that the U.S. House of Representatives was considering an appropriations bill for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (H.R. 5326) that would drastically reduce funding for the Census Bureau and make participation in the American Community Survey voluntary. Thanks to the many NABE members and other data users who contacted their representatives to try to prevent this action. Regrettably, the legislation ultimately passed the House along party lines and was much more damaging than originally proposed. In its current form, H.R. 5326 will "devastate" the nation's economic statistics.
Specifically, the legislation will:
Terminate the American Community Survey;
Cancel the 2012 Economic Census; and
Halt development of cost-saving measures for the decennial census.
NEXT STEPS:
The Senate is expected to take up its own FY2013 Commerce, Justice, Science, and related agencies appropriations bill shortly. The Senate and House versions of the bill will then presumably be addressed by a conference committee comprised of members of both bodies.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Call or email your senators and representative today to tell them why you value the Economic Census and the American Community Survey. You can use this sample letter below:
Dear :
I am writing to express my concern over passage of H.R. 5326 by the U.S. House of Representatives, which would drastically cut funding for the U.S. Census Bureau and eliminate the Economic Census and the American Community Survey (ACS) - two of the most important tools we have for understanding the U.S. economy.
These programs are critically important to businesses, policymakers, and government agencies which use the data to make informed decisions and plan for the future. The increased uncertainty accompanying the loss of these data will most certainly result in more missed opportunities and waste for businesses and misallocation of resources by policymakers and government agencies. I urge you to ensure that the Census Bureau receives adequate funding to continue these vital programs.
How are Economic Census data used?
By the federal government as an input to calculate elements of key economic indicators, such as economic growth (GDP), prices, and productivity;
By retailers in evaluating whether to expand into new market geographies;
By economic development commissions in attracting new businesses to their areas; and
By companies to benchmark performance against industry averages
How are ACS data used?
By corporations to examine workforce characteristics of neighborhoods to determine optimal locations for new factories or sales centers.
By homebuilders looking to tailor new subdivisions to surrounding neighborhoods based on income, family size and existing home values; and
By municipal governments in planning to meet the educational, safety and housing needs of their citizens.
The information we glean from the Economic Census and the ACS increases our understanding of current economic conditions and reduces uncertainty, allowing businesses and policymakers to make well-informed, efficient decisions. If we eliminate these programs, we are choosing to "fly blind," an alarming proposition in these challenging economic times. Again, I urge you that you vote to ensure adequate funding for both the ACS and the Economic Census.
Sincerely,
David R. Kotok, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer
How to Write Democrat Autobiographies (or Naked Came the Kenyan Cherokee)
May 20, 2012
By Clarice Feldman
American Thinker:
Maybe it was just a dream, but I feel certain that I read an essay titled "How to Write Democrat Autobiographies (or Naked Came the Kenyan Cherokee*)," authored by Barack H. Obama and Elizabeth Warren.
I can't remember the name of the publication it was in, or even the entire text, but certain things stand out about it and are as clear as if the article were in my own hands right now.
The authors advised that to really advance in life, it helps to make your background as exotic as possible. Warren suggested checking the Native American box or other ethnic preference boxes on all school and employment applications and went so far as to suggest that the reader submit recipes to ethnic cookbooks to provide "evidence" of one's claim to priority based on ethnic identity.
For "Pow Wow Chow," which billed itself as an American Indian cookbook, heavy on recipes using Wonder Bread, baloney, Velveeta cheese spread, and mayonnaise, Warren offered up her Cherokee family's traditional crab omelet. All right, so those recipes were Pierre Franey's...but heck, maybe he was from some French Cherokee tribe.
Obama said he had tried sending in his family's mbaazi, dog, and millet recipe, but no one would take it, so he told his literary agent just to say he was born in Kenya, figuring no one would scramble to Africa to see if the claim were true.
Don't worry about being called out on your ancestral fable-making, they advised.
Warren said the trick is to pretend that you knew nothing about who checked off those boxes and that you never heard your school bragging about the native Indian woman they just hired when you were the only hire. "If that doesn't work, just act indignant at the suggestion that those irrelevancies had a thing to do with your hiring," she added. What could be more sexist and racist than challenging an obviously fraudulent claim to a double-special elevation up the academic ladder?
Obama added that one could always get others to take the fall more directly if needed. "I told my literary agent to say I was born in Kenya when we were looking for publishers to give a huge advance to me at a time when I'd done nothing but graduate from law school." It worked, and then, in 2007, when he was running for president, he said he simply had the publisher drop that from the promotional booklet 'cause it might create a "birther" claque.
The agent took the fall when those busybodies from Breitbart got onto it. At first I was worried that some crack reporter -- say, the Washington Post's Maraniss -- might see that and give me trouble during the campaign, but they all shut up about it. Why would that surprise everyone? I mean, I cannot make my verbs match the subjects and yet those morons go along with the pretense that I wrote my own books. Let Jack Cashill amass as much evidence of fraud as he chooses, who's going to believe him?
When people started questioning my literary representatives about the Kenyan birth, right on cue my agent stepped up and took the blame. Now all those reporters know enough about the literary business to know that the information for the author's biographical information comes from the author and he clears all the promotional material, but they aren't saying a word about this. And how realistic is it to believe that an agent just pulled the Kenyan birth tale out of the ether? But those sycophants don't even report the story let alone question the excuse.
Heck, I remember them laughing at anyone who ever questioned the place of my birth. Is there anyone easier to hoodwink than the members of the academia and the press?
(Have they even reported that the birth certificate he provided was an admitted forgery? Didn't the make-believe genealogical backup for Warren's claim get more coverage than the admission that it was false?) In sum, if you're a Democrat, you can just make stuff up about yourself. No one in the press cares. If they don't report it, who'll ever find out?
"It's such a sweet gig," added Obama. "If you're a Democrat, even if you slipped up and told some unsavory truths about yourself, the press loves you, and they will ignore the admissions."
I said I ate dog, and yet the press forgets about that and still claims Romney's a dog hater cause he transported Seamus in a carrier on top of his car.
I said in "Dreams of My Father" I created such a mess the Hispanic maids at Occidental college cried when they saw how much filthy work I made for them, but you'll never hear that -- just the make believe tale of Romney's "bullying" some kid in high school.
But Obama tacked on a caveat. Just because the press is in the tank for you and won't tell readers that it's clear you lied through your teeth most of your life and -- in rare moments of candor -- admittedly engaged in behavior that might turn off voters, you may need to do more, he advised, offering up the Wright example.
I pretended I was a Christian and pointed to the 20 years I was a member and regular attendant of Rev. Wright's church in Chicago. When his racist and unchristian remarks became more widely known, I pretended I never was at those sermons and didn't hear them. Then, as author Ed Klein reports, I sent Dr. Whittaker to him with a $150,000 bribe to keep his mouth shut until after the election. It didn't work. He still kept yapping and it would have been troublesome except the press never really reported it anyway so I saved the $150,000 and the bad news stayed buried anyway.
"Even though I often slipped up about my Islamic upbringing and sympathies the Rev Wright cover worked," Obama continued. "I expect there will be no change on that even though Wright is now publicly saying he made it 'comfortable' for me to 'accept Christianity without having to renounce my Islamic background.'"
But just in case the Breitbart and Klein revelations prove problematic to my re-election, I'm personally going through the presidential biographies on the White House website and adding my estimate of my accomplishments compared to theirs. I come out very well, if I say so myself. Just in case there's any slippage though, I'm also following Elizabeth's example and whining that it's really hard for someone named Barack Hussein Obama to be elected to the presidency.
By Clarice Feldman
American Thinker:
Maybe it was just a dream, but I feel certain that I read an essay titled "How to Write Democrat Autobiographies (or Naked Came the Kenyan Cherokee*)," authored by Barack H. Obama and Elizabeth Warren.
I can't remember the name of the publication it was in, or even the entire text, but certain things stand out about it and are as clear as if the article were in my own hands right now.
The authors advised that to really advance in life, it helps to make your background as exotic as possible. Warren suggested checking the Native American box or other ethnic preference boxes on all school and employment applications and went so far as to suggest that the reader submit recipes to ethnic cookbooks to provide "evidence" of one's claim to priority based on ethnic identity.
Obama said he had tried sending in his family's mbaazi, dog, and millet recipe, but no one would take it, so he told his literary agent just to say he was born in Kenya, figuring no one would scramble to Africa to see if the claim were true.
Don't worry about being called out on your ancestral fable-making, they advised.
Warren said the trick is to pretend that you knew nothing about who checked off those boxes and that you never heard your school bragging about the native Indian woman they just hired when you were the only hire. "If that doesn't work, just act indignant at the suggestion that those irrelevancies had a thing to do with your hiring," she added. What could be more sexist and racist than challenging an obviously fraudulent claim to a double-special elevation up the academic ladder?
Obama added that one could always get others to take the fall more directly if needed. "I told my literary agent to say I was born in Kenya when we were looking for publishers to give a huge advance to me at a time when I'd done nothing but graduate from law school." It worked, and then, in 2007, when he was running for president, he said he simply had the publisher drop that from the promotional booklet 'cause it might create a "birther" claque.
The agent took the fall when those busybodies from Breitbart got onto it. At first I was worried that some crack reporter -- say, the Washington Post's Maraniss -- might see that and give me trouble during the campaign, but they all shut up about it. Why would that surprise everyone? I mean, I cannot make my verbs match the subjects and yet those morons go along with the pretense that I wrote my own books. Let Jack Cashill amass as much evidence of fraud as he chooses, who's going to believe him?
When people started questioning my literary representatives about the Kenyan birth, right on cue my agent stepped up and took the blame. Now all those reporters know enough about the literary business to know that the information for the author's biographical information comes from the author and he clears all the promotional material, but they aren't saying a word about this. And how realistic is it to believe that an agent just pulled the Kenyan birth tale out of the ether? But those sycophants don't even report the story let alone question the excuse.
Heck, I remember them laughing at anyone who ever questioned the place of my birth. Is there anyone easier to hoodwink than the members of the academia and the press?
(Have they even reported that the birth certificate he provided was an admitted forgery? Didn't the make-believe genealogical backup for Warren's claim get more coverage than the admission that it was false?) In sum, if you're a Democrat, you can just make stuff up about yourself. No one in the press cares. If they don't report it, who'll ever find out?
"It's such a sweet gig," added Obama. "If you're a Democrat, even if you slipped up and told some unsavory truths about yourself, the press loves you, and they will ignore the admissions."
I said I ate dog, and yet the press forgets about that and still claims Romney's a dog hater cause he transported Seamus in a carrier on top of his car.
I said in "Dreams of My Father" I created such a mess the Hispanic maids at Occidental college cried when they saw how much filthy work I made for them, but you'll never hear that -- just the make believe tale of Romney's "bullying" some kid in high school.
But Obama tacked on a caveat. Just because the press is in the tank for you and won't tell readers that it's clear you lied through your teeth most of your life and -- in rare moments of candor -- admittedly engaged in behavior that might turn off voters, you may need to do more, he advised, offering up the Wright example.
I pretended I was a Christian and pointed to the 20 years I was a member and regular attendant of Rev. Wright's church in Chicago. When his racist and unchristian remarks became more widely known, I pretended I never was at those sermons and didn't hear them. Then, as author Ed Klein reports, I sent Dr. Whittaker to him with a $150,000 bribe to keep his mouth shut until after the election. It didn't work. He still kept yapping and it would have been troublesome except the press never really reported it anyway so I saved the $150,000 and the bad news stayed buried anyway.
"Even though I often slipped up about my Islamic upbringing and sympathies the Rev Wright cover worked," Obama continued. "I expect there will be no change on that even though Wright is now publicly saying he made it 'comfortable' for me to 'accept Christianity without having to renounce my Islamic background.'"
But just in case the Breitbart and Klein revelations prove problematic to my re-election, I'm personally going through the presidential biographies on the White House website and adding my estimate of my accomplishments compared to theirs. I come out very well, if I say so myself. Just in case there's any slippage though, I'm also following Elizabeth's example and whining that it's really hard for someone named Barack Hussein Obama to be elected to the presidency.
UN: EU violates Aarhus Convention
"This is an important decision, because the EU’s renewable energy programme as it currently stands is now proceeding without 'proper authority'.
Guest Column--Mark Duchamp, Pat Swords
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Canadian Free Press:
The Compliance Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which enforces the Aarhus Convention to which the EU is a party, has issued draft findings and recommendations which criticize the European Commission for failing to abide by the terms of the Convention with regards to the determination of its renewable energy policy (1). Today the plaintiff, Mr. Pat Swords, a chemical engineer critical of the way the EU imposes its “half-baked policy” to Members States, communicated the Committee’s decision to the European Platform against Windfarms (EPAW). Draft recommendations are unlikely to be substantially modified when, after an ultimate input from the parties, they are converted into final ones.
The Compliance Committee found that the EU did not comply with the provisions of the Convention in connection with its programme “20% renewable energy by 2020”, and its implementation throughout the 27 Member States by National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAP). In particular, the Committee opines that the EU did not ensure that the public had been provided with the necessary information within a transparent and fair framework, allowing sufficient time for citizens to become informed and to participate effectively in the decision process.
Says Pat Swords: “this is an important decision, because the EU’s renewable energy programme as it currently stands is now proceeding without ‘proper authority’. The public’s right to be informed and to participate in its development and implementation has been by-passed. A process will now be started to ensure that the Committee’s recommendations are addressed; if ultimately they are not, then UNECE has the option of requiring the EU to withdraw from the UN Convention on Human and Environmental Rights.”
The Aarhus Convention requires that public participation occur when all options are still open, not when policies are already set in stone. Furthermore, the authorities have to ensure and document that in the resulting decision, due account is taken of the outcome of public participation. “In the EU,” remarks the engineer, “what we’ve had is a travesty of public participation in a policy having hugely negative impacts on the environment and the economy.”
Mark Duchamp, Executive Director of EPAW, points that Mr. Swords initiated his recourse one and a half years ago, as it was already obvious that the European Commission was imposing an enormously costly and ineffective policy to EU Members States without properly investigating the pros and cons. “It is high time that Brussels be held accountable for the hundreds of billions that have been squandered without a reality check on policy effectiveness” says Mark. “To spend so much money, a positive has to be proven. - It hasn’t.”
Duchamp, who also happens to be an environmentalist and is chairman of the non-conformist NGO World Council for Nature, remarks that never has Europe’s environment been the object of so much destruction in so little time. “Even natural reserves, set up at great cost to the taxpayer, have been allowed to be invaded by industrial wind turbines,” he laments. “I presented objections to a number of eagle-killer wind projects, but the impression I get is that they were not even read. The Aarhus Convention is only being given lip service in Europe. The UNECE findings confirm this.”
Finally, there is another ‘twist to this tale’, says Pat Swords: “as the Convention is part of EU law, there is now a legal ruling that this law has not been complied with. There are long established legal procedures where if a Member State does not comply with EU law, the citizen can seek ‘damages made good’ (2). A can of worms has been opened,” warns Pat.
He continues: “Electricity costs are soaring to implement these dysfunctional policies, which have by-passed proper and legally-required technical, economic and environmental assessments. Not only is the landscape being scarred as thousands of wind farms are being installed, but people in the vicinity are suffering health impacts from low frequency noise, while birdlife and other wildlife is also adversely impacted. It is long overdue that a STOP was put to this type of illegal and dysfunctional policy development and project planning.”
Contacts:
Pat Swords, BE CEng FIChemE CEnv MIEMA
Chemical engineer
pat.swords.chemeng@gmail.com
Mark Duchamp (Spain)
Executive Director, EPAW
http://www.epaw.org
Chairman, World Council for Nature
http://www.wcfn.org
save.the.eagles@gmail.com
References:
(1) - Draft findings of 29 April 2012, communicated on May 4th by the Compliance Committee of the (UNECE): United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Last items at the bottom of the page (as at this date), namely “draft findings” and “letters to the parties”
Short video explaining the Aarhus Convention:
(2) - http://ec.europa.eu/eu_law/infringements/infringements_dommag
Guest Column--Mark Duchamp, Pat Swords
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Canadian Free Press:
The Compliance Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which enforces the Aarhus Convention to which the EU is a party, has issued draft findings and recommendations which criticize the European Commission for failing to abide by the terms of the Convention with regards to the determination of its renewable energy policy (1). Today the plaintiff, Mr. Pat Swords, a chemical engineer critical of the way the EU imposes its “half-baked policy” to Members States, communicated the Committee’s decision to the European Platform against Windfarms (EPAW). Draft recommendations are unlikely to be substantially modified when, after an ultimate input from the parties, they are converted into final ones.
The Compliance Committee found that the EU did not comply with the provisions of the Convention in connection with its programme “20% renewable energy by 2020”, and its implementation throughout the 27 Member States by National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAP). In particular, the Committee opines that the EU did not ensure that the public had been provided with the necessary information within a transparent and fair framework, allowing sufficient time for citizens to become informed and to participate effectively in the decision process.
Says Pat Swords: “this is an important decision, because the EU’s renewable energy programme as it currently stands is now proceeding without ‘proper authority’. The public’s right to be informed and to participate in its development and implementation has been by-passed. A process will now be started to ensure that the Committee’s recommendations are addressed; if ultimately they are not, then UNECE has the option of requiring the EU to withdraw from the UN Convention on Human and Environmental Rights.”
The Aarhus Convention requires that public participation occur when all options are still open, not when policies are already set in stone. Furthermore, the authorities have to ensure and document that in the resulting decision, due account is taken of the outcome of public participation. “In the EU,” remarks the engineer, “what we’ve had is a travesty of public participation in a policy having hugely negative impacts on the environment and the economy.”
Mark Duchamp, Executive Director of EPAW, points that Mr. Swords initiated his recourse one and a half years ago, as it was already obvious that the European Commission was imposing an enormously costly and ineffective policy to EU Members States without properly investigating the pros and cons. “It is high time that Brussels be held accountable for the hundreds of billions that have been squandered without a reality check on policy effectiveness” says Mark. “To spend so much money, a positive has to be proven. - It hasn’t.”
Duchamp, who also happens to be an environmentalist and is chairman of the non-conformist NGO World Council for Nature, remarks that never has Europe’s environment been the object of so much destruction in so little time. “Even natural reserves, set up at great cost to the taxpayer, have been allowed to be invaded by industrial wind turbines,” he laments. “I presented objections to a number of eagle-killer wind projects, but the impression I get is that they were not even read. The Aarhus Convention is only being given lip service in Europe. The UNECE findings confirm this.”
Finally, there is another ‘twist to this tale’, says Pat Swords: “as the Convention is part of EU law, there is now a legal ruling that this law has not been complied with. There are long established legal procedures where if a Member State does not comply with EU law, the citizen can seek ‘damages made good’ (2). A can of worms has been opened,” warns Pat.
He continues: “Electricity costs are soaring to implement these dysfunctional policies, which have by-passed proper and legally-required technical, economic and environmental assessments. Not only is the landscape being scarred as thousands of wind farms are being installed, but people in the vicinity are suffering health impacts from low frequency noise, while birdlife and other wildlife is also adversely impacted. It is long overdue that a STOP was put to this type of illegal and dysfunctional policy development and project planning.”
Contacts:
Pat Swords, BE CEng FIChemE CEnv MIEMA
Chemical engineer
pat.swords.chemeng@gmail.com
Mark Duchamp (Spain)
Executive Director, EPAW
http://www.epaw.org
Chairman, World Council for Nature
http://www.wcfn.org
save.the.eagles@gmail.com
References:
(1) - Draft findings of 29 April 2012, communicated on May 4th by the Compliance Committee of the (UNECE): United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Last items at the bottom of the page (as at this date), namely “draft findings” and “letters to the parties”
Short video explaining the Aarhus Convention:
(2) - http://ec.europa.eu/eu_law/infringements/infringements_dommag
HERE'S WHY OBAMA LIED IN HIS DYSTEL LITERARY AGENCY BIO:
Saturday, May 19, 2012
The Astute Blogger:
I first blogged on Obama's agent - Jane Dystel in 2006 - YEARS before anyone else wrote a word.
YUP: We first published on Obama's literary agent here in 2006.
Here is a link to multiple posts on the subject since then.
Jane plucked Barack out of nowhere and approached him about writing a memoir. They signed a multi-book deal which Obama broke after his Kerry Convention speech when BJ Clinton got him to sign with his big-time agent. Jane sued him for breach of contract; they settled - and part of their settlement was a clause that prevents Jane from saying anything.
We ought to demand Obama release her from that provision so she can tell her story - she has a lot to offer! She can comment on who wrote DFMF. She can talk about the agency bio.
Now: as to the bio:
It was probably penned by Obama – as was the custom at that agency and most agencies.
Obama probably LIED in his agency bio when he claimed to be born in Kenya and did so because he probably LIED in his Columbia College and Harvard Law School applications – and claimed to be Kenyan, in order to enhance his likelihood of admission --- like his crony Elizabeth Warren.
We ought to demand Obama release his complete college and law school applications and grades in order to determine the truth.
Posted by Reliapundit at 11:39 AM
The Astute Blogger:
I first blogged on Obama's agent - Jane Dystel in 2006 - YEARS before anyone else wrote a word.
YUP: We first published on Obama's literary agent here in 2006.
Here is a link to multiple posts on the subject since then.
Jane plucked Barack out of nowhere and approached him about writing a memoir. They signed a multi-book deal which Obama broke after his Kerry Convention speech when BJ Clinton got him to sign with his big-time agent. Jane sued him for breach of contract; they settled - and part of their settlement was a clause that prevents Jane from saying anything.
We ought to demand Obama release her from that provision so she can tell her story - she has a lot to offer! She can comment on who wrote DFMF. She can talk about the agency bio.
Now: as to the bio:
It was probably penned by Obama – as was the custom at that agency and most agencies.
Obama probably LIED in his agency bio when he claimed to be born in Kenya and did so because he probably LIED in his Columbia College and Harvard Law School applications – and claimed to be Kenyan, in order to enhance his likelihood of admission --- like his crony Elizabeth Warren.
We ought to demand Obama release his complete college and law school applications and grades in order to determine the truth.
Posted by Reliapundit at 11:39 AM
Phone hacking: Rebekah Brooks could challenge charging decision because prosecutor was victim of tabloid sting
Rebekah Brooks is considering challenging the decision to press charges against her on the grounds that the Crown Prosecution Service QC who took the decision was once the victim of a tabloid sting. READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE
South Africa, Denmark won't label Judea and Samaria products 'made in Israel'
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Israel Matzav:
Both South Africa and Denmark (Hat Tip: Bad Blue) have announced that they will no longer label products made in Judea and Samaria as 'made in Israel.' This is from the first link.
In a statement published last week in the governmental gazette, Trade Minister Rob Davies declared that consumers in South Africa should not be misled into believing that products originating from the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” originate from Israel.
The minister specified in his note some “misleading labeled products” as “Ahava products, and other cosmetic brands, technology and soft drinks.”
Israel reacted furiously to the South African announcement, which the Foreign Ministry said was the first of its kind in the world. Spokesman Paul Hirschson said the ministry would call in the South African ambassador to protest the move.
“The singling out of one side of one conflict out of all the conflicts in the world is verging on racism,” he said, adding that “this is sad coming from South Africa, which should know better.”
Well, yes, but there is a second country as well. This comes from the second link.
Denmark is planning to ban labeling products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank as "Made in Israel," the foreign minister told Danish media on Saturday. The move follows reports of similar plans announced this month by South Africa's government.
“This is a step that clearly shows consumers that the products are produced under conditions that not only the Danish government, but also European governments, do not approve of,” Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal Søvndal told Politiken newspaper. “It will then be up to consumers whether they choose to buy the products or not.
A source in Brussels familiar with the matter told Haaretz that it is still unclear whether the move is a recommendation or a new directive.
In late 2009, the U.K. government recommended West Bank products be labeled separately.
And who is most likely to suffer from all this high minded behavior? You guessed it, the 'Palestinians.'
Ironically, those who would get harmed the most by the move are some 15,000 Palestinian workers who are employed in these factories and depend on them to make a living.
"Of course I am worried, but first and foremost I am concerned about my workers, who will be the first to get hit; there are thousands of employees here that are getting conditions that they won't get anywhere else in the Palestinian Authority, and if costs are cut because of the boycott, they will be the first to get fired," said a manager of a factory located in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The manager noted that he successfully handled boycott attempts in the past, but this time the situation is more worrisome: "They always make it difficult for us, and up until now the workers couldn’t care less; ideology is a nice thing, but eventually economic interests prevail. This time we must stop the [tidal] wave.
"The workers and myself are in the same mind that there should be a political agreement at the highest echelons, even if it is secret, that would prevent these boycotts," he added.
Here's a copy of the South African notice.
As Haaretz so delicately put is, Mr. Davies is of 'Jewish descent.' A meshumad? (Someone who converted out of Judaism?).
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:33 AM
Israel Matzav:
Both South Africa and Denmark (Hat Tip: Bad Blue) have announced that they will no longer label products made in Judea and Samaria as 'made in Israel.' This is from the first link.
In a statement published last week in the governmental gazette, Trade Minister Rob Davies declared that consumers in South Africa should not be misled into believing that products originating from the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” originate from Israel.
The minister specified in his note some “misleading labeled products” as “Ahava products, and other cosmetic brands, technology and soft drinks.”
Israel reacted furiously to the South African announcement, which the Foreign Ministry said was the first of its kind in the world. Spokesman Paul Hirschson said the ministry would call in the South African ambassador to protest the move.
“The singling out of one side of one conflict out of all the conflicts in the world is verging on racism,” he said, adding that “this is sad coming from South Africa, which should know better.”
Well, yes, but there is a second country as well. This comes from the second link.
Denmark is planning to ban labeling products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank as "Made in Israel," the foreign minister told Danish media on Saturday. The move follows reports of similar plans announced this month by South Africa's government.
“This is a step that clearly shows consumers that the products are produced under conditions that not only the Danish government, but also European governments, do not approve of,” Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal Søvndal told Politiken newspaper. “It will then be up to consumers whether they choose to buy the products or not.
A source in Brussels familiar with the matter told Haaretz that it is still unclear whether the move is a recommendation or a new directive.
In late 2009, the U.K. government recommended West Bank products be labeled separately.
And who is most likely to suffer from all this high minded behavior? You guessed it, the 'Palestinians.'
Ironically, those who would get harmed the most by the move are some 15,000 Palestinian workers who are employed in these factories and depend on them to make a living.
"Of course I am worried, but first and foremost I am concerned about my workers, who will be the first to get hit; there are thousands of employees here that are getting conditions that they won't get anywhere else in the Palestinian Authority, and if costs are cut because of the boycott, they will be the first to get fired," said a manager of a factory located in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The manager noted that he successfully handled boycott attempts in the past, but this time the situation is more worrisome: "They always make it difficult for us, and up until now the workers couldn’t care less; ideology is a nice thing, but eventually economic interests prevail. This time we must stop the [tidal] wave.
"The workers and myself are in the same mind that there should be a political agreement at the highest echelons, even if it is secret, that would prevent these boycotts," he added.
Here's a copy of the South African notice.
As Haaretz so delicately put is, Mr. Davies is of 'Jewish descent.' A meshumad? (Someone who converted out of Judaism?).
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:33 AM
WashPost Devotes 22-Paragraph Story to D.C. Occupier's Petition Against Food Truck Owners
By Ken Shepherd
May 19, 2012 - 21:49
NewsBusters.org:
We all know that the radical left has no sense of humor, but does the Washington Post have to encourage them by devoting stories that legitimize their absurd petitions? The Saturday Post's Style front-page devoted 22 paragraphs to two Occupy D.C. protesters who ginned up a petition effort against, of all things, Fojol Brothers, a popular D.C. street food truck whose employees don turbans and wear fake mustaches as they serve up ethnic cuisine.
At time of the article's publication, the petition -- which objected to an "Orientalist and racist appropriation of South Asian and East African cultures" -- had a paltry 950-some signatures on Change.org, a left-wing petition site. What's more, Post staffer Tim Carman waited until paragraph 14 to disclose that petition author Arturo J. Viscarra's comrade-in-arms/roommate Drew Franklin "is the son of the Post’s Travel editor Zofia Smardz."
For his part, the owner of the Fojol Brothers food truck expressed surprise at all the hullabaloo:
The charges of racism and cultural mockery have blindsided Fojol co-founder Justin Vitarello, who essentially pioneered the city’s modern food-truck movement when he rolled out his first Fojol Bros. vehicle during Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009. The charges have impacted his young, ethnically diverse staff, says Vitarello, and they have proven a huge distraction as his ever-growing business gears up for the busy summer months on Washington’s streets.
“This is all just happening,” Vitarello says. “This is a proactive move to de-legitimize us. . . . We’re still trying to understand what the situation is.”
Vitarello may well be chagrined because as a business owner, he's doing his part to run a liberal city-friendly operation. As his company's website proudly notes, a cut of Fojol Bros. profits goes to support "at-risk youth programs" in the District and the company makes sure they use 100% recycled fiber napkins and "biodegradable & compostable" utensils and carry-out containers.
But Vitarello is actually creating something of value that is enjoyed by his many customers. He's a capitalist who dares to make his money by taking ethnic dishes and selling them with flair out of a street truck for profit. Vitarello is a producer, a job creator, being hassled by a liberal paper amplifying an irrelevant petition from two disaffected Occupy D.C. veterans on a left-wing website.
It's a wonder why any entrepreneur worth his salt puts up with the hassle of opening a business in the District.
May 19, 2012 - 21:49
NewsBusters.org:
We all know that the radical left has no sense of humor, but does the Washington Post have to encourage them by devoting stories that legitimize their absurd petitions? The Saturday Post's Style front-page devoted 22 paragraphs to two Occupy D.C. protesters who ginned up a petition effort against, of all things, Fojol Brothers, a popular D.C. street food truck whose employees don turbans and wear fake mustaches as they serve up ethnic cuisine.
At time of the article's publication, the petition -- which objected to an "Orientalist and racist appropriation of South Asian and East African cultures" -- had a paltry 950-some signatures on Change.org, a left-wing petition site. What's more, Post staffer Tim Carman waited until paragraph 14 to disclose that petition author Arturo J. Viscarra's comrade-in-arms/roommate Drew Franklin "is the son of the Post’s Travel editor Zofia Smardz."
For his part, the owner of the Fojol Brothers food truck expressed surprise at all the hullabaloo:
The charges of racism and cultural mockery have blindsided Fojol co-founder Justin Vitarello, who essentially pioneered the city’s modern food-truck movement when he rolled out his first Fojol Bros. vehicle during Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009. The charges have impacted his young, ethnically diverse staff, says Vitarello, and they have proven a huge distraction as his ever-growing business gears up for the busy summer months on Washington’s streets.
“This is all just happening,” Vitarello says. “This is a proactive move to de-legitimize us. . . . We’re still trying to understand what the situation is.”
But Vitarello is actually creating something of value that is enjoyed by his many customers. He's a capitalist who dares to make his money by taking ethnic dishes and selling them with flair out of a street truck for profit. Vitarello is a producer, a job creator, being hassled by a liberal paper amplifying an irrelevant petition from two disaffected Occupy D.C. veterans on a left-wing website.
It's a wonder why any entrepreneur worth his salt puts up with the hassle of opening a business in the District.
Exclusive: 9th Circuit Takes Plush Maui Vacation At Taxpayer Expense, As Others Cut Back
by Dan Riehl
May 19th, 2012
Breitbart News:
Judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, federal district and bankruptcy courts in nine Western states and two Pacific island territories, along with lawyers practicing in those courts, and court staff, will gather at the luxurious Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa from August 13 - 16, 2012 in what looks like a less than valiant attempt to ensure American justice is being served...at a cost to taxpayers of approximately one million dollars.
From tennis courts to the caddy shack and luau experience, justice will be served in a manner many Americans never get to experience. Breitbart News has reviewed a letter from the offices of the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Jeff Sessions, and the offices of Senator Chuck Grassley, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with several detailed questions they want answered by the Ninth District.
The letter cites the 2010 version of the Ninth Circuit's annual judicial conference that cost taxpayers over $657,000 in travel costs alone, along with $860,000 in combined travel costs for the Ninth Circuit's 2008 and 2009 annual conferences in Monterey, California and Sun Valley, Idaho, respectively. It also provides evidence of the Ninth Circuit's awareness of the Government's budget challenges in the face of a still suffering Obama economy, going on to challenge why the Ninth Circuit seems determined to go on spending large amounts of money on plush conferences, when a more prudent approach could provide the same value for professional purposes.
The Senate's latest effort doesn't appear to be just a bit of politically motivated PR of some form. The Ninth District is considered by many to be the most liberal of all U.S. Court Districts, with 64% of sitting judges having been appointed by Democrats--the highest of all the districts. Many also consider the district as having the highest rate of being overturned by the Supreme Court. Research by Breitbart News suggests other districts are making efforts to cut back, while the Ninth District appears to have maintained a Party on, dude! attitude when it comes to putting on its judicial conferences.
As in past years, the Ninth District seems content to leave taxpayers on the hook for whisking many judges and aligned judicial professionals off to an exclusive destination, so that they might also enjoy "yoga, surfing lessons, stand up paddle board lessons, Zumba (a Latin-inspired dance program), a tennis tournament, a day trip and tour of Upcountry Maui, a Gemini Catamaran snorkle trip, and an activity called 'The Aloha Experience.'"
That list from the Senate letter appears to have been taken directly from a flashy webpage that functions as a brochure of sorts for the expedition. All of the activities would be subsidized, or paid for by tax payers to some extent, despite a claim at bottom that "Government funds are not used for any sporting or recreational activities".
What happens in Maui may stay in Maui, but one still has to get there and back, while salaries also have to be taken into account. That was pointed out in a previous report on the Ninth Circuit's 2011 conference by another news outlet. In 2011, they claimed, "a minimum of $700,000 will be spent on salaries of the 267 judges in attendance, which range from $164,000 to $223,500" for last year's event. They also reported that each judge was eligible for a $391 per day stipend for hotel and food costs, that could total $417,600 over last year's four day Ninth Circuit conference.
Meanwhile, independent research by Breitbart News suggests some, if not all other districts, are taking a more prudent, responsible approach in hosting their annual conferences this year. The Eighth Circuit seems to be taking a more modest approach with a three day event, if this is representative: "The judges of the Eighth Circuit invite you to join them August 8 - 10, 2012, at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown for the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference."
The Seventh Circuit appears to team up with the District's Bar Association for a 3 day conference in Chicago, at first glance, at least appearing to be far more down to business oriented. The main site for the Sixth District's 2012 annual conference is here. It lists a number of what it calls "social" events in this linkable document, and the Sixth Circuit doesn't appear to have the fancy website, though it looks inviting enough, without going to the length, or approach of the Ninth District, relying instead on typed documents in pdf form to present relevant information.
While deadline prevented Breitbart News from doing an exhaustive analysis of all the districts, there does appear to be a glaring contrast between the Ninth Circuit's approach and that of many other districts, as pointed out in an August 2011 write up by U-T San Diego, done while the Ninth Circuit was presumeably educating, as well as entertaining and serving justice and itself in grand style--some part of it at taxpayer expense--at the La Costa Resort & Spa with "400 lush garden acres near the beach in Carlsbad, CA–but miles away from the pressures of the world" according to this report.
CARLSBAD — Hundreds of federal judges from nine western states are gathering at the La Costa Resort & Spa this week for the annual 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ Judicial Conference.
The event is costing $225,000 to put on — funded with $50,000 of taxpayer money and $175,000 in payments from attorneys who are charged to attend.
In addition, The Watchdog estimates a minimum of $700,000 will be spent on salaries of the 267 judges in attendance, which range from $164,000 to $223,500.
A conference session Wednesday afternoon highlighted the impact of judiciary budget cuts.
While federal law permits the conference as a means for improving the justice system, some circuits have started canceling or curtailing the conferences, citing budget woes.
Three of the 12 federal court circuits — the ones in New England, the Rocky Mountain states and some mid-Atlantic states — have canceled their next judicial conference, The Watchdog found in a survey.
Others aim to keep costs low by holding conferences at lower cost venues. For the Washington D.C. Circuit, that means Farmington, Penn., where they can stay in $110 per night accommodations.
They may not always get the law right, given what many view as the Ninth Circuit's high rate of being overturned, but it appears as though they can do a mean "Zumba" and have some darned good tans, while not exactly starving themselves as many Americans continue to look for work in President Obama's down economy.
In background discussions for this report, the offices of Senators Sessions and Grassley seemed determined to get to the bottom of what's going on in the Ninth Circuit in this regard. No doubt conservative media and new media outlets will be spanking the bottoms of some mostly liberal judges on conservative blogs and other venues, perhaps as they should, while this story unfolds this week.
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