Friday, February 27, 2009
Anti-Israel Chas Freeman To Be Appointed To Top Intelligence Job
Politico.com reports that Obama has selected Charles "Chas" Freeman to be chairman of the National Intelligence Council and Freeman has accepted. He's an extreme critic of Israel who has stated that as long as there are Israeli military personnel in the territories seized during the Six Day War -- a necessity until Palestinian leaders make peace with Israel -- "it is utterly unrealistic to expect that Palestinians will stand down from violent resistance and retaliation against Israelis." Freeman even seems prepared to "understand" attacks on Americans by Hamas and Hezbollah, opining that by supporting Israel, "we invite them to extend their operations in the United States or against Americans abroad." He is an advocate the Walt/Mearsheimer "Israel Lobby" thesis that American policy is beholden to the "Jewish Lobby." He is a former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia who admits he accepted more than a million dollars in fees from the Saudi royal family for what he called "serious public relations efforts" in the U.S. He has been quoted as saying, "I believe King Abdullah is very rapidly becoming Abdullah the Great... I would say his words and works are a commitment to a more enlightened future for both Arabs and Muslims." He has also said, "It is widely charged in the United States that Saudi Arabian education teaches hateful and evil things. I do not think that is the case."
Freeman has endorsed the Communist Chinese government's infamous Tiananmen Square massacre, saying, "I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be."
Until there is a formal announcement from the White House this action is not final. However, the post of NIC Chairman is not subject to congressional approval so the appointment of this nutcase could occur at any time.
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Thursday, February 26, 2009
Rick Santelli On "Today Show"
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
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Obama Unveils Whopping $3.6 Trillion Budget, Sets Aside $634 Billion for Health Care "Down Payment"
Fox News reports: President Obama on Thursday unveiled a $3.55 trillion budget for next year, a spending plan that sets aside billions for health care and the ailing financial industry and keeps the federal deficit north of $1 trillion... Obama said "we must add to our deficits in the short-term to provide immediate relief to families and get our economy moving"... In addition to next year's spending, Obama proposed more immediate changes that would push spending to $3.94 trillion in the current year. That would result in a record deficit Obama projects will hit $1.75 trillion... Obama...pledged to make big investments in energy, education and health care. The fiscal 2010 budget sets aside a "reserve fund" of $634 billion as a "down payment" on the costs of universal health care coverage over 10 years. The budget, while not specifically calling for additional bank bail out funds, also creates a budget allocation of $750 billion for the Treasury Department to purchase financial assets of struggling banks. This amount is $50 billion larger than the first bank bailout."... The cost of the stimulus bill and the increased bailout support would push the deficit for this year to $1.75 trillion, nearly four times last year's record $455 billion and a percentage of the economy -- just over 12 percent -- not seen since World War II. The deficit would remain near $1 trillion over the next two years before dropping to $581 billion in 2012 and $533 billion in 2013, the year that Obama has pledged to cut the deficit he inherited in half.
Reuters described Obama's plans saying that "President Barack Obama forecast the biggest U.S. deficit since World War Two" and described the "eye-popping $1.75 trillion deficit for the 2009 fiscal year" that is projected in Obama's first budget. Reuters continues pointing out that this "is equal to 12.3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product -- the largest share since 1945 when the country ran a shortfall of 21.5 percent of GDP." The news report declares that "federal spending is skyrocketing."
Toby Harnden, the U.S. editor of the Telegraph, writes that "the US Census bureau estimates that the current US population is 304,059,724. Dividing the $3.552 trillion by that gives us close to the $11,833 that Drudge came up with. ABC's Jake Tapper reports that there wil be $989 billion in new taxes over the next decade. I'm an American taxpayer and the starkest figure is what this could cost me. The latest figure I could find for the number of US taxpayers is 138,893,908 returns in 2007 here. By my reckoning, that's $25, 573.48 each."
"I agree with the president that we need to make some tough decisions regarding how we spend taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, at this juncture, while the American people are tightening their belts, Washington seems to be taking its belt off," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in response. "This budget makes clear that the era of big government is back, and Democrats want you to pay for it," House Minority Leader John Boehner said in his statement.
Unbelievably, this is being labeled by the administration as the "New Era of Responsibility" budget.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009
House Passes $410 Billion Spending Bill Filled With Earmarks On The Heels Of The $787 Billion Non-Stimulus Package
The Associated Press reports:
"The Democratic-controlled House approved $410 billion legislation Wednesday that boosted domestic programs, bristled with earmarks and chipped away at policies left behind by the Bush administration. The vote was 245-178, largely along party lines. Republicans assailed the measure as too costly — particularly on the heels of a $787 billion stimulus bill that President Barack Obama signed last week... From the GOP side, Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas said the legislation was 'going to grow the government 8.3 percent ... but the family budget which has to pay for the federal budget only grew at 1.3 percent last year.' The debate occurred one day after Obama told Congress in a prime time television address that he intends to cut deficits in half over the next four years, and one day before he submits tax and spending plans for the coming year. Given the extraordinary costs of the financial industry bailout and the stimulus, the White House projects this year's budget shortfall will be $1.5 trillion, triple the previous record of $455 billion in 2008."
Do you understand this? This comes on the heels of the stimulus package, and the day before Obama submits more very costly tax and spend plans for the current year. If you listened to Obama's speech to Congress then you are well aware that Obama intends for a lot more spending. The Democrats have no control, they are acting drunk with power, and spending unprecedented amounts of money back-to-back with no concern for the future. They are burdening the next generation with unimaginable debt. America cannot afford four to eight years of reckless abandon when it comes to basic fiscal responsibility. We are on the road to becoming a suburb of France, marching toward the model of the failed welfare states. Along with this model will come skyrocketing taxes to fund every Democrat pipe dream and special interest. We're seeing this process start before our very eyes, and it's happening at an alarming pace.
The Democrats have no shame. The AP reports on the excessive earmarks and wasteful spending in this House bill. The AP writes that "lawmakers claimed billions in federal funds for pet projects — a total of 8,570 earmarks at a cost of $7.7 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense... Among the earmarks was one sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who secured $200,000 for a 'tattoo removal violence outreach program' in Los Angeles... Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said the bill included at least a dozen earmarks for clients of PMA Group, a lobbying company now at the center of a federal corruption investigation. 'It's simply not responsible to allow a soon-to-be-criminally indicted lobbying firm to win funding, all borrowed, in this bill,' he said."
I guess House Democrats missed Obama's "Fiscal Responsibility Summit." The Democrats embody the very definition of fiscal irresponsibility in action.
Here is how the great cartoonist for Investors Business Daily Michael Ramirez puts it:
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Sen. Arlen Specter Says "Greatest Problem" For Deficit Is Life-Prolonging Measures At End Of Life
Arlen Specter votes for Obama's non-stimulus pork package that costs $787 billion in taxpayer funds and then has the gall to go to the Senate floor to tell Americans that they should write living wills doing away with the life prolonging measures to solve the deficit problem. Are you kidding me?!
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California Republican Delegate Alex Burrola Wants State Party Convention To Pass Resolution Apologizing To Gray Davis For Recall
The Sacramento Bee is reporting that "a delegate at this weekend's state party convention is circulating a resolution to apologize to former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis for recalling him from office."
The resolution reads as follows:
"Whereas, in 2003 a grassroots effort was begun to recall then-Governor Gray Davis from office on grounds which included gross mismanagement of the budget and finances of the State of California;
"...Whereas, candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned as a reformer and champion of fiscal discipline and responsibility who would bring change and reform to government which it sorely needed;
"Whereas, in the subsequent years Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has instead proven to govern as a tax and spend politician precisely similar to the one he campaigned to replace in the recall election;
"Whereas, the trust and confidence of Republicans has been betrayed and shattered by Governor Schwarzenegger's repeated and ongoing efforts to collaborate with Democrats in the Legislature to seek solutions to the state's fiscal crisis by irresponsible borrowing and increasing taxes and refusal to make the needed reductions in state spending;
"Whereas, Governor Schwarzenegger's current budget solution includes more than $14 billion in higher taxes on sales, income, gasoline and the car tax which he specifically attacked Governor Davis for raising;
"Whereas, it is plain that Governor Schwarzenegger has abandoned the most basic tenets of Republican ideology and rendered the whole purpose of the 2003 recall pointless;
"Therefore, be it resolved that the California Republican Party officially extends a heartfelt and sincere apology to former Governor Gray Davis for its role in recalling him from office."
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Bobby Jindal On The Today Show
As I said, Jindal does much better without a teleprompter. This is what he should have sounded like last night.
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Bobby Jindal's Response To Obama's Address To Congress
Jindal blew it. There was nothing wrong with the substance of what he said, it was right on target. Unfortunately we live in a society in which the drones out there find being telegenic to be more important than substance. When it came to presentation, Jindal sounded like he was reading a children's story to a pre-school. Jindal does much better without a teleprompter, unlike Barack Obama who always does better with one. Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
The following is a shorter unofficial response to Obama from Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price.
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Suicide Bomber From Minnesota Was Radicalized In America
Last November it was reported that a resident of Minneapolis had returned to his native Somalia to conduct a suicide bombing attack. It is now known that he was not radicalized upon his return to Somalia, but that his indoctrination into jihadism happened right here in the United States.
The New York Times now reports that "the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, said Monday that a Somali-American man who was one of several suicide bombers in a terrorist attack last October in Somalia had apparently been indoctrinated into his extremist beliefs while living in the United States. The man, Shirwa Ahmed, was the first known suicide bomber with American citizenship. He immigrated with his family to the Minneapolis area in the mid-1990s, Mr. Mueller said, but he returned to Somalia after he was recruited by a militant group. 'It appears that this individual was radicalized in his hometown in Minnesota,' Mr. Mueller said, speaking at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations. Minneapolis claims the country’s largest Somali population."
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Obama Plans To Spend $900 Million On Gaza
Reuters reports that "the United States plans to offer more than $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after Israel's invasion and to strengthen the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, U.S. officials said on Monday. The money, which needs U.S. congressional approval, will be distributed through U.N. and other bodies and not via the militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, said one official."
This is an insane amount of American taxpayer money to be going to "rebuild" Hamas-run Gaza, let alone through UN agencies that actually have a history of allowing Hamas members to work for them. Former U.N. Commissioner-General for Gaza and the West Bank Peter Hansen stated, back when he headed UNRWA, that "I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime . . . we do not do political vetting and exclude people of one persuasion as against another." Further, channeling this money through Mahmoud Abbas is no better. It will be impossible to make sure that this huge amount of money does not end up supporting Palestinian Islamoterrorism, whether they are members of Fatah or Hamas. If Obama ends up proposing this outrageous bailout package for Gaza, then Congress must stand up to the President and stop the madness. If the Democrats are unwilling to to oppose the President on his Gaza "stimulus" plan, then hopefully Republicans will lead the charge to hold back the purse strings and keep nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer funds being sent to Gaza.
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Democrats Push For Unconstitutional Addition Of Voting House Seat For DC
The AP reports that "debate opened Monday on a bill to give the 600,000 people of Washington D.C. a full vote in the House. A new Democratic president, Barack Obama, and heftier Democratic majorities in Congress have improved the prospects for the decades-long effort that would certainly ensure another Democrat lawmaker in Congress. Democrats outnumber Republicans by some 4-to-1 in the capital. In a bit of horsetrading to offset the Democratic pickup, the bill would award a fourth House seat to Republican-leaning Utah, which narrowly missed getting that extra seat after the 2000 national census. With the two new seats, the House would have 437 representatives."
The only problem is that this goes against the clear language of the Constitution. The founders wrote that the House shall be composed of members chosen "by the people of the several states." D.C. is simply not a state. It is, as per Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, "the seat of the government of the United States." This may not seem to many like the biggest deal as Republicans will get an extra seat in Utah. But it should worry Americans when the powers that be in Washington decide to simply ignore the Constitution. It remains to be seen if after Congress adds these voting seats to the House whether a state will file a lawsuit to have the courts render this unconstitutional.
Read George Will's analysis on this issue at http://townhall.com/columnists/GeorgeWill/2009/02/05/the_unconstitutional_compromise
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Monday, February 23, 2009
Rep. Joe Barton Tells Obama That If He Wants Bipartisanship And Consensus He Should Get Pelosi To Include Republicans In The Decision-Making Process
President Obama held a White House "Fiscal Responsibility Summit" on Monday in which he took questions from his fellow politicians. Firstly, it is shameful that most Republicans were afraid to actually ask any tough questions. Secondly, how can the President have the chutzpah to hold a "fiscal responsibility summit" immediately after a $800 billion dollar pork-filled spending bill is passed? Obama may be the master sloganeer, but his slogans are meaningless. He promised "hope" and we get loads of tax cheaters and corrupt figures being picked for cabinet positions. He promised "change" and on his first day announced a rule that no lobbyists would be allowed in his administration, only to go ahead and issue loads of "waivers" to this rule. Now he holds a "fiscal responsibility summit" right after passing the partisan and gargantuan non-stimulus spending bill. Barack Obama is doing what he does best, and that is campaign. That's why we keep getting an endless stream of slogans that are the very antithesis of the actual actions the President is taking. Obama is in a constant campaign mode.
Republican Rep. Joe Barton asked Obama a question that was quite sensible. Barton said that if Obama truly wanted Republicans to come together with Democrats and find consensus, that the President should get Nancy Pelosi to try actually including Republicans in the legislative decision-making process. Barack Obama's sad response was, "I'm not in Congress, so I don't want to interject myself too much into Congressional politics." He then rambled on with more catchphrases in response, but did not actually address the question.
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Michael Steele On Cutting Funding For Three Senate Republicans That Voted For Stimulus: "I'm Always Open To Everything, Baby"
Steele says he would wait to see what the state GOP parties would decide about their own primaries and follow their lead when it comes to the three "stimulus" supporting RINOs.
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Bobby Jindal Explains Real Fiscal Responsibility At Obama's Summit
President Obama held a "fiscal responsibility summit" today when his administration represents the very opposite of fiscal responsibility. If you want to hear what fiscal responsibility actually sounds like, rather than Obama's deceptive catchphrases to mask his actual fiscal irresponsibility, take a listen to Governor Bobby Jindal.
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Mel Gibson Reveals "Exclusive Clip" Of New "Film" On Jimmy Kimmel
While I'm on the subject of Jimmy Kimmel, the following ad for Kimmel's show aired during the Oscars. The ad features Tom Cruise.
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Sean Penn: "You Commie, Homo-Loving Sons Of Guns"
Sean Penn did not deserve the best actor award, that clearly should have gone to Mickey Rourke for his work in The Wrestler. I did not care for The Wrestler as a movie, but Rourke's performance was terrific. Sean Penn's acting is always good, but his performance in Milk was nothing special. I have to say that I agree with Penn, the only plausible reason he got the award is because the Academy is a bunch of "commie, homo-loving sons of guns." In other words, Hollywood wanted to make a statement about proposition 8 and gay rights rather than actually vote for the best actor.
Here you can watch Sean Penn preach to the Hollywood choir about how all people who voted for proposition 8 will be shamed in the eyes of their grandchildren.
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Sunday, February 22, 2009
Rick Santelli Rips White House Press Secretary A New One And Tears Up Obama's Mortgage Plan
American politics would be better off if the people in high office were more like Rick Santelli and less like the crew we have running things up there now.
Anybody for Santelli 2012? Santelli going up against Obama, now that would be one hell of a debate. Americans should show their support for Rick's revolution and join the Santelli Tea Party!
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Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal On Why He Is Rejecting Some Stimulus Money
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Compare Bobby Jindal with California's tax raising, promise breaking Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:
What happened to this Arnold Schwarzenegger?
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Useful Idiot John Kerry Delivers Hamas Letter To U.S. Consulate In Jersusalem Before Going To Meet With Syrian President Bashar Assad
Fox News reports that "U.S. officials are furious with the United Nations for its role in Hamas' attempt to enlist U.S. Sen John Kerry to transfer a letter from the Palestinian militant group to President Obama during Kerry's trip to the Middle East." Kerry did in fact turn over the Hamas letter to the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem on Friday, and later said he unaware that it was from Hamas until hearing about the letter in media reports. Fox News reports that "U.S. officials in Jerusalem are outraged at the United Nations Relief and Works agency for apparently handing the letter off to Kerry."
John Kerry traveled to Syria on Saturday to meet with Bashar al-Assad. Kerry now chairs the Senate's powerful foreign relations committee. He is the most senior US official to visit Damascus since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2007. In 2007, Pelosi infamously declared "the road to Damascus is a road to peace." John Kerry also used his meeting as an opportunity to attack the previous administration, providing propoganda and justifications to cover Syria's behavior, saying that "unlike the Bush administration that believed you could simply tell people what to do and walk away and wait for them to do it, we believe you have to engage in a discussion."
Assad also met other US legislators this past week, including Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard Berman and Senator Benjamin Cardin.
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Charles Krauthammer Reviews Obama's First Month Of Foreign Policy
To read Charles Krauthammer's assessment of Obama's first month in terms of foreign policy, be sure to visit http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/02/obama_being_tested_early_often.html
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Obama Ordered Pentagon Review Finds Gitmo Prison Complies With The Requirements Of The Geneva Convention
The Washington Post reports that "a Pentagon review of conditions at the Guantanamo Bay military prison has concluded that the treatment of detainees meets the requirements of the Geneva Conventions but that prisoners in the highest-security camps should be allowed more religious and social interaction, according to a government official who has read the 85-page document. The report, which President Obama ordered, was prepared by Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations, and has been delivered to the White House. Obama requested the review as part of an executive order on the planned closure of the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, on the southeastern tip of Cuba... Walsh concluded that force-feeding, which involves strapping detainees to special chairs and inserting a tube through one nostril and into their stomachs, is in compliance with the Geneva Conventions' mandate that the lives of prisoners be preserved, according to the government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the report publicly."
Obama orders a Pentagon review of Gitmo, and the Pentagon responds by offering the President no justifications for shutting down the military prison. Maybe Obama needs to take a hint.
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