I could do without the spooky music, but accurate none the less.
By the way, yet another lobbyist in the “most ethical Congress in history” as Nancy Pelosi put it. Via Hotair.com and Ed Morrissey just tells it like it is:
Democrats demonized lobbyists for the last two years on the presidential campaign trail, and won the 2006 midterms by criticizing the “culture of corruption” in the GOP-run Congress. My, how times have changed. Look who just got a cushy job as the top lobbyist at the most politically-connected firm on Wall Street:
Goldman Sachs’ new top lobbyist was recently the top staffer to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., on the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Frank. Michael Paese, a registered lobbyist for the Securities Industries and Financial Markets Association since he left Frank’s committee in September, will join Goldman as director of government affairs, a role held last year by former Tom Daschle intimate, Mark Patterson, now the chief of staff at the Treasury Department. This is not Paese’s first swing through the Wall Street-Congress revolving door: he previously worked at JP Morgan and Mercantile Bankshares, and in between served as senior minority counsel at the Financial Services Committee.
Barack Obama told me that if I voted for John McCain, I’d see a revolving door between Wall Street fat cats and smoke-filled back rooms of the White House and Congress. What do you know — he was right!
In this case, it really is a revolving door. We’ve covered the excessive political pull that Goldman Sachs has (and uses), which makes this really, really …. interesting. Patterson leaves GS to become Tim Geithner’s chief of staff, despite Obama’s promise to keep lobbyists out of the government. GS reaches out and gets one of Barney Frank’s close advisers to take his place.
Nah. No “culture of corruption” here. Looks like business as usual … which was what Obama and the Democrats supposedly ran against.
Morrissey is spot on and as we have covered over and over, the lobbying, the money and the musical chairs of people from Washington to Wall Street and Wall Street to Washington is worse then ever.
Bloomberg news is where we got the 12.8 trillion number and we wrote about this HERE. Housing demand is still really bad and there has been no serious attempt to fix housing by the government and now we are pushing into May. Government seems to be using this crisis to take control of the banks and it has also proposed taking 51% ownership in GM (LINK).
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy shrank at a worse-than-expected 6.1 percent pace at the start of this year as sharp cutbacks by businesses and the biggest drop in U.S. exports in 40 years overwhelmed a rebound in consumer spending.
The Commerce Department’s report, released Wednesday, dashed hopes that the recession’s grip on the country loosened in the first quarter. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a 5 percent annualized decline.
Instead, the economy ended up performing nearly as bad as it had in the final three months of last year when it logged the worst slide in a quarter-century, contracting at a 6.3 percent pace. Nervous consumers played a prominent role in that dismal showing as they ratcheted back spending in the face of rising unemployment, falling home values and shrinking nest eggs.
The number one job of a bad politician is to get re-elected. (LINK)
Specter was facing a primary fight against Pat Toomey that he was sure to lose. Specter lost public support among Republicans when after telling them how conservative he was to get re-elected, voted for the 1.1 Trillion dollar stimulus bill without even reading it. That was the bill authorizing the AIG/ Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bonuses and the RAT board that undermines internal ethics procedures in the executive branch (LINK).
Our take, people who vote for bills without reading them have no place in the GOP.
UPDATE: Specter said a few weeks ago that there is one party rule in Washington and switching parties would just make things worse (LINK). Now he has switched parties. Early reports are that when Specter stepped out of his office and made the announcement the Washington press people cheered.
Nationalized healthcare is a disaster around the rest of the world so why would we want to copy them? We need a unique American solution for our health care problems. Our Government has spent 12.8 Trillion buying up banks while Americans are losing their homes and losing their jobs. They are incompetent.
When the IRS siezed the “Mustang Ranch” brothel in Nevada they could not run it to make a profit and sold it for a fraction of its value (LINK). Does anyone honestly believe that government can run banks, car companies or healthcare and keep costs down? They may artificially keep prices down for a time, but not costs. Washington DC public schools spend $14,000 per year per student and their reading and math conpetency rates from 13%-22% from school to school according to ABC news. The Democrats shut down the $7,500 DC voucher program because the students were excelling and the failed teachers union wanted the money for themselves, this hurting those children (LINK).
Rep. Jan Schakowsky tells the audience that the bill is a Trojan horse for single-payer, and that she’s not interested in waging a “principled fight”, as Verum Serum discovers:
Obama:
How about we listen to someone who has lived under nationalized health care:
Be sure to see our first story on this issue HERE.
Sexism is alive and well among the secular left. We saw that in the treatment of Hillary Clinton, we saw much more of it with the treatment of Sarah Palin, now this:
Prejean, 21, said officials from the Miss California USA pageant were worried that her comments would cost their contest financial backing and tried to prepare her for a string of post-pageant media interviews by discouraging her from discussing her religious beliefs.
“`You need to apologize to the gay community. You need to not talk about your faith. This has everything to do with you representing California and saving the brand,'” Prejean recalled being told. “I was representing California. I was representing the majority of people in California.”
She offered her version of the tense hours following the April 19 Miss USA pageant while appearing at the San Diego megachurch that has helped shape her views. The Rock Church, founded by former San Diego Chargers defensive back Miles McPherson, was active in the campaign to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriages in California last year.
Don’t talk about your faith? Apologize for what you believe? Be something that your not? This tells us so much about that pageant that is run by those who claim a monopoly on tolerance; it’s not about the combination of character, talent and loveliness, its shut up put on the bikini and bat your eyes at our sponsors for money….. sickening.
NEW YORK Here are the top 25 daily newspapers ranked by circulation for the six months ending March 2009, according to ABC. The percent change compares daily circulation for the same period ending in March 2008. Please note daily averages are Monday-through-Friday.
Please note that the time period reflected for The Denver Post has no comparable prior period; when the Rocky Mountain News folded on Feb. 28, subscribers were sent copies of the Denver Post.
See our separate main story on overall circ results, here
.
USA TODAY — 2,113,725 – (-7.46%) THE WALL STREET JOURNAL — 2,082,189 — 0.61% (Thats up .61 folks)
THE NEW YORK TIMES — 1,039,031 — (-3.55%)
LOS ANGELES TIMES — 723,181 — (-6.55%)
THE WASHINGTON POST — 665,383 — (-1.16%)
DAILY NEWS (NEW YORK) — 602,857 — (-14.26%)
NEW YORK POST — 558,140 — (-20.55%)
CHICAGO TRIBUNE — 501,202 — (-7.47%)
HOUSTON CHRONICLE — 425,138 — (-13.96%)
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC — 389,701 — (-5.72%)
THE DENVER POST (02/28/2009 to 03/31/2009) — 371,728 — N/A
NEWSDAY — 368,194 — (-3.01%)
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS — 331,907 — (-9.88%)
STAR-TRIBUNE, MINNEAPOLIS — 320,076 — (-0.71%)
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES — 312,141 — (-0.04%)
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE — 312,118 — (-15.72%)
THE BOSTON GLOBE — 302,638 — (-13.68%)
THE PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND — 291,630 — (-11.70%)
DETROIT FREE PRESS — 290,730 — (-5.90%)
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER — 288,298 — (-13.72%)
THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK, N.J. — 287,082 — (-16.82%)
ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES — 283,093 — (-10.42%)
THE OREGONIAN, PORTLAND — 268,512 — (-11.76%)
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION — 261,828 — (-19.91%)
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE — 261,253 — (-9.53%)
Great job Steven, what an awesome wake up call to jerks like Perez and what a terrific demonstration of moral clarity.
For those of you who don’t know somehow a radical homosexual activist who had his name changed to “Perez Hilton” managed to land a spot as a judge on the Miss USA competition. Hilton moved to deny Miss California, Carrie Prejean, the title because she refused to abandon her Christian Belief’s under pressure from Hilton; later he posted a video online cussing her out.
Carrie you can be my Miss America any time. Your courage and moral clarity makes you a great role model.
58% said the Obama administration should not investigate the Bush administration on interrogations, while only 28% wanted investigations. Democrats split evenly on the question, 42%-42%, and only 22% of independents wanted investigations. Only self-professed liberals approved of investigations, and only by a 58%-31% majority.
Similar numbers appear on whether Obama damaged or enhanced American security with this release. Democrats actually lean towards damage by a tiny margin, 41%-40%, while independents overwhelmingly believe Obama damaged national security, 65%-23%.
None of the age or gender demographics give Obama an approval rating on these two questions above 37%. Every single age and gender demographic believes by a wide majority that Obama damaged national security and should not conduct investigations into torture allegations from the previous administration.
Only the under-$20K demographic has a majority believing that Obama should investigate the Bush administration. Every other income demographic believes otherwise, by solid majorities. Every income demographic believes by significant majorities that the release of the memos damaged national security except the under-$20K demo, which holds that view by plurality (39%-35%).
They have no more arguments left when they play the race card. There were plenty of minorities at the Tea Party events I attended. Listen to this nice lady:
We know that Obama’s “townhall events” are actually staged productions filled with campaign ringers as we and the Washington Post reported HERE; but doing this with the military is an entirely new low.
After Obama got a chilly reaction like THIS ONE from the military a couple of times from unstaged events the administration went totally 1984 to use the military for a photo OP. Maybe Obama got that cold reception because the troops remember comments like this one:
“We’ve got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there.”
Courtesy of our friend Dave Hinz at The Minority Report comes the true story of a staged photo-op between a president who cares only about controlled and contrived appearances, and the component of a deployed military that was hand-selected to give him the contrived appearance he and his handlers desired.
Hinz writes:
The troops were interrogated beforehand, with those military members who had voted for President Obama given identical digital cameras and placed in front of the media cameras covering the event.
[Ok now lets look at the photo – notice that you can see at least 20 of the identical digital cameras in their hands – Editor]
Red States News continues:
Hinz raises another good point about that staged photo op: the media coverage of the event:
[P]olitical operatives from the Administration orchestrate a faux-cheering crowd of adoring military, right in front of the media covering the event, and that media reports?
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama went for the defining television shot by capping his first extended foreign tour with a surprise visit to Iraq.
He got it – pictures of hundreds of U.S. troops cheering wildly as he told them it was time for the Iraqis to take charge of their own future.
The war-zone photo opportunity produced a stunning show of appreciation for Obama from military men and women who have made great sacrifices, many serving repeated tours in a highly unpopular war.
So, the professional journalists [stop laughing — I’m serious here] assigned to report the news of the President’s visit, saw cheering throngs of adoring troops, but failed to note the screening process that made the Kodak Moment possible.
How surprising is that? A mainstream media that gives Obama standing ovationsafter speeches simply assumed that this staged event was real, because it fit right in line with their own views of Obama and of the sentiment they believe he engenders. All they had to do was open their eyes — but they couldn’t even bring themselves to do that.
If this story does break into the MSM, look for it to be compared (favorably) to the shots of former POTUS George W. Bush holding up what lefty bloggers jumped all over as a “plastic turkey” – despite the fact that the soldier sentiment in those shots was real, and the story of the fake turkey a false one that engendered a retraction from the New York Times.
Once again, what is the difference between political market capitalism (aka corporatism) and real capitalism?
It is like we showed you with the Phillip Morris example HERE:
For those of you who don’t know, corporatism is political market economics on steroids. Political market economics is not like regular market economics which is a meritocracy (where you make the best product at the best price for consumers), in political market economics the goal is to manipulate and lobby regulators and politicians to tilt the rules in your favor, which in turn enriches politicians by donations.
For a more academic explanation as we showed you HERE:
Political markets — less enabled by government than made by it — operate according to fundamentally different, and less trustworthy, principles. Propped-up by subsidy, structured by central diktat and created ex nihilo by edict, political markets may arise from noble aspirations but in the end are instruments always of the privileged and powerful.
In political markets, the battle for competitive advantage is in part a battle over the rules of the game. That, in turn, is a battle for the hearts of minds of regulators, who generally know less, and are far less motivated, than the industry insiders they regulate. It is no surprise when regulators come to confuse the interests of the powerful (for whom they might someday wish to work, after all) with the interests of the public. As we have recently witnessed, the heavily regulated nature of our financial markets did not keep them from going haywire and taking the entire economy down with them.
Now we have Democrat Diane Feinstein routing taxpayer dollars to a firm doing business with her husband. Washington Times:
On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband’s real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms.
Mrs. Feinstein’s intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn’t a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments – not direct federal dollars.
Documents reviewed by The Washington Times show Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) – the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman – had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.
About the same time of the contract award, Mr. Blum’s private investment firm reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it and related affiliates had purchased more than 10 million new shares in CBRE. The shares were purchased for the going price of $3.77; CBRE’s stock closed Monday at $5.14.
In other words, Richard Blum bought 10 million shares at the same time his wife arranged for an unusual and extremely large chunk of taxpayer money to go to FDIC. Blum must have been an investment genius to guess that his wife’s intervention would coincidentally precede the FDIC’s award, making CBRE stock more valuable. Blum’s investment made a $14 million profit for Blum and Feinstein and their partners.
But of course, that’s all just a coincidence.
How long are the people going to take this kind of corruption?
UPDATE – Here we go more of the same..
Taxpayers are increasingly exposed to losses and the government is more vulnerable to fraud under Obama administration initiatives that have created a federal bank bailout program of “unprecedented scope,” a government report finds. – LINK
AND….
CBS News has learned that this month, Murtha is steering new earmarks toward 10 companies that recently donated to his campaign.
Murtha wants $8 million for Argon ST, a defense contractor whose CEO gave Murtha the maximum allowed by law – $2,400 by an individual. He’s directing a $5 million earmark toward Advanced Acoustic Concepts, which also gave the max – $5,000 for a political action committee – to his campaign. In all, 10 recent Murtha donors are slated to receive $31 million in Murtha earmarks for 2010. – LINK
And more….
Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.
Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.
In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.
Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.” – LINK
Remember our story on the DHS report HERE when we said that the far left like eco-terrorists and animal rights wackos were the ones doing violence such as the attacks on science labs and car dealerships? Well now we have this and I must say that I find the timing so amusing :-)
FBI Adds Berkeley ‘Animal Rights Extremist’ to ‘Most Wanted’ Terrorist List
An “animal rights extremist” from Berkeley, Calif., was added to the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list of terror suspects, federal agents said Tuesday.Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old computer specialist, has been on the run since 2003 and is wanted in two bombings that year of corporate offices in California, said Michael J. Heimbach, an assistant director of the FBI’s counterrorism division.
“He is a known animal rights extremist,” Heimbach told reporters Tuesday at a Washington, D.C., news conference.
He added that San Diego set an improvised explosive device in the bombings that caused “extensive property damage and economic hardship.”
“The investigation revealed that metal nails were used in the construction of the device to create a more forceful effect,” Heimbach said.
Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans have a favorable view of the “tea parties” held nationwide last week, including 32% who say their view of the events is Very favorable.
Thirty-three percent (33%) hold an unfavorable opinion of the tea parties according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure.
While half the nation has a favorable opinion of last Wednesday’s events, the nation’s Political Class has a much dimmer view-just 13% of the political elite offered even a somewhat favorable assessment while 81% said the opposite. Among the Political Class, not a single survey respondent said they had a Very Favorable opinion of the events while 60% shared a Very Unfavorable assessment.
Not only does this indicate the divide between the people and the government, so much for bringing us all together, it also shows that NBC and other networks views are mimicking the political class that is now so unpopular.
One-in-four adults (25%) say they personally know someone who attended a tea party protest. That figure includes just one percent (1%) of those in the Political Class.
David Axelrod, a top adviser to President Obama, on Sunday characterized the protests in dozens of cities on the day federal income taxes are due as potentially “unhealthy.”
So much for dissent being patriotic as the Democrats who tried to wreck the war effort USED to say.
Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Americans say they followed recent new stories about the tea party protests, including 32% who followed Very Closely. Forty-one percent (41%) say they didn’t follow the reports.
Dutch commandos freed 20 Yemeni hostages on Saturday and briefly detained seven pirates who had forced the Yemenis to sail a “mother ship” attacking vessels in the Gulf of Aden, NATO officials said.
In a separate incident, gunmen from Somalia seized a Belgian-registered ship and its 10 crew, including seven Europeans, further south in the Indian Ocean.
“The Pompei is heading slowly toward the Somali coast,” Peter Mertens, a spokesman for a Belgian government crisis center, said. “We have had visual contact from a helicopter of a Spanish navy ship.”
Somali sea gangs have captured dozens of ships, taken hundreds of sailors prisoner and made off with tens of millions of dollars in ransoms despite an unprecedented deployment by foreign navies in waters off the Horn of Africa.
Sounds just dandy right? Now This:
He said the hostages had been held since last week. The commandos briefly detained and questioned the seven gunmen, he told Reuters, but had no legal power to arrest them.
When people mentioned these kind of concerns the left and the Obama Camp called them crazy and when some hardcore anti-semites were fired from the campaign, they took positions in the administration after the election (LINK & LINK … of course who can forget THIS).
It is bad enough that President Obama uses almost every opportunity he can to set the parameters of a final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Now US officials are openly using Israeli anxiety over Iran’s fledging nuclear program as a bargaining chip to force Israel’s hand on giving up control of the West Bank Palestinian territory.
No less a figure than White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel – whose father fought with the militant Zionist group the Irgun, and whose appointment had provided such reassurance to Israeli officials – was quoted this week laying down the law to Israel.
If Israel wants US help to defuse the Iranian threat, Mr Emanuel was reported to have told Jewish leaders in Washington, then get ready to start evacuating settlements in the West Bank.
Talkback radio blazed with fury across the country the same day, as Israelis protested that no US official had the right to tell them where to live.
Speaking of Iran, what is the Obama administration going to do about THIS?
Look, here is the latest “SHUT-UP” argument against Sarah Palin. (Via News Busters):
New twist on the old media double standard: Strong pro-life women shouldn’t accept far-flung speaking engagements. They should stay home (presumably barefoot and pregnant, too.) Strong pro-choice women, however, are welcome to “champion women’s rights,” wherever and whenever they please.
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin recently gave a speech at a pro-life dinner in Indiana on April 16 and the media condemned her for not staying home and governing her state. But when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently spoke to a Planned Parenthood group she was lauded as “championing women’s rights.”
ABC’s “Good Morning America” covered Palin’s speech and the “controversy” that ensued, stating that Alaska lawmakers, failing to mention they were mostly Democrats, are “criticizing Palin for her out of state travel.” Instead of focusing on Palin’s main pro-life points, GMA spent 50 seconds of the 64 second segment keyed in on her admission that she understands women who entertain the thought of abortion.
The mistreatment of Sarah Palin by the mainstream media is nothing new as CMI has noted the character assassination she suffered at the hands of the networks during her run for Vice President.
By the way, at the time of this posting Palin has attended all of TWO out of state political events since the election. She has turned down thousands of invitations. Where was the outcry at Obama for such low attendance in the Senate when he ran for office? Where was the critique of Bill Clinton or Michael Dukakis when they were governors who ran for office? Its the old stay barefoot and pregnant in the home argument again and it is so well entrenched that leftist women are carrying water for it.
ACORN gets hundreds of millions of dollars from Congress and gets donations from wealthy Democratic donors (LINK – LINK). They also work with campaigns and with ringers in the elite media. They often come in on a chartered bus as they did at the San Antonio Tea Party and as they did at the AIG protests.
Because they are so well funded the production value of their signs and uniforms are pretty high. Their messages are often designed by PR and advertising professionals and will have a message that can be used or twisted to smear YOU. Continue reading below for examples and a photo of an ACORN agitator at a tea party.
In San Antonio ACORN showed up in t-shirts like these and started asking Police to go after people who were supposed to be there and tried to get them taken away for “causing problems”.
San Antonio PD began to get complaints from official-looking people all dressed in dark shirts and khaki-colored pants wearing shirts that said “STAFF” or “EVENT STAFF” that were turning in certified vendors for “causing problems.” Several vendors were question and in one case manhandled by SAPD before the cops noticed these “EVENT STAFF” personnel had quietly slipped away into the crowd to try and cause more mischief.
Take a close look at the signs and clothing at these ACORN and SEIU funded and orchestrated protests:
ACORN LA Protest
The signs are not cheap to have made. Look at all the satellite trucks from the media at this tiny protest:
LA AIG ACORN Protest Media
AIG SEIU ACORN Seattle Protest
ACORN on Tea Party day.
See the production value of those signs and that reality check in the picture wasn’t cheap to produce. The media presents these top down paid agitators as “grass roots”.
Now look at the signs from genuine Tea Party protestors (click to enlarge):
As you can see almost every sign is home made by hand or on a home PC and 99% of the signs at Tea Parties will be like these. At some of the largest protests some liberty outfits provided a few signs that said “We The People” that had some good production value and there were only a few of those.
ACORN agitators will have signs of high production value and will try to “blend in” with a racially charged sign and a look that attracts media attention, but real believers are often repulsed by such people in this picture here. This photo is being farmed out to left wing blogs. It hit their message boards almost all at once. They are presenting this photo as “typical” of a Tea Party protester.
ACORN agitator at Tea Party
Look at this guy with the professionally produced sign. Look at the reference to the show “In Living Color” which featured all black comedians; thus the not so subtle tie in with where Obama’s father is from and a racism angle. This message was carefully thought out with obvious advertising association techniques. Also notice how only one guy is standing near this agitator and how he has these big signs that are not on sticks so his sign provided the perfect contrast and focal point against the dark grass for a photographer.Putting this sign on a stick in the sky would not have made for a good clear photo and other legit signs may have drawn a viewers eye. Surprise surprise, this picture has been farmed to far left blogs as “typical” of what was seen at the tea parties. The truth is that Tea Party organizers would have asked the police to ask this joker to leave on the spot; so they come in get their photo op and leave. If you see anyone with a sign like this ask them to leave and get the attention of a police officer immediately.
FBN reports that 700 cities and towns had “Tea Party” protests yesterday protesting out of control government spending, more taxes, redistribution of wealth and bigger government.
Leftists are saying that 95% of Americans got a tax cut (which averaged to $13 a paycheck for working people) so they are acting on misinformation. They leave out that Obama has said that his energy tax plan “will necessarily make electricity costs skyrocket” and that his plan will raise the cost of heating and lighting an average home up to $1400 a year. This leaves out the part of that tax that will hit us all in the form of higher prices from the tax. This also leaves out that the stimulus bill comes with so many expensive strings attached that in 20 months when the stimulus funds for the states run out the states will have to raise taxes to fund them.
They also leave out the taxes and other problems that we will have to face because of this level of spending.
SOURCE: CBO, White House Office of Management and Budget | The Washington Post – March 21, 2009
While many Hoosiers went to Indianapolis, South Bend was expecting 100 people and the police said that over 300 showed up. Other local communities had protests as well.
Ted Nugent at San Antonio playing the National Anthem in the way that only he can. –
Pictures are from South Bend, Salt Lake City and San Antonio. Notice the sign about Republican Senator Kay Baily Hutchinson? With half of the Republican leadership that deciding to be the “right wing party of big corrupt government” as opposed to most of the Democratic leadership that has decided to be the “left wing party of big corrupt government”; it is fortunate that much of that bad leadership in the GOP was thrown out of office.
One message that was loud and clear at the protests was that while “Republican Principles” may not be a huge problem “Unprincipled Republicans” are. Another message that was clear from protesters who voted for Obama was also appearent’ “while we understood that when we voted for Obama that government would grow, we had no idea it would be this much or like this” and as more people get informed on what has been going on the more those ranks will swell. Polls already have shown that Obama has already lost support form independents who voted for him. Expect a new post soon telling about how the Tea Party protesters made it clear that some Republicans have responsibility to bear for the mess we are in.
Here is a teaser – The Tea Party organizer ripped the California GOP Chairman to pieces from the podium via Michelle Malkin – LINK. And by the way, Charles Gibson of ABC and others spun it as an Obama hate rally.
UPDATE – For more on ACORN agitators at tea parties click HERE.
ACORN – yes the vote registration fraud and bank fraud people who are funded by Congress (your tax dollars) and the super rich of the far left like George Soros tried to disrupt the San Antonio Tea Party by trying to manipulate the police.
In response SAPD began to get complaints from official-looking people all dressed in dark shirts and khaki-colored pants wearing shirts that said “STAFF” or “EVENT STAFF” that were turning in certifiedvendors for “causing problems.” Several vendors were question and in one case manhandled by SAPD before the cops noticed these “EVENT STAFF” personnel had quietly slipped away into the crowd to try and cause more mischief.
When California passed Proposition 8, the Times ran 11 stories detailing the pro-gay marriage protests that followed. One Associated Press story it ran was quick to point out that “about 1,000 advocates of equal rights for gay people” attended a protest. A Nov. 16 story emphasized some “4,000 people gathered at City Hall” and took pains to mention that comedian Wanda Sykes “surprised a crowd of more than 1,000.”
The Washington Post did eight stories detailing the Proposition 8 protests. The big networks did 19. Both CBS and NBC mentioned that there were “about 2,000 people” protesting at the Long Beach rally.
By contrast, attendance at the Feb. 27 tea parties was ignored by the networks. Roughly 30,000 people tried to make their voices heard at 50 events around the country. Five thousand people showed their anger over taxes and spending in Orlando and another 5,000 in Cincinnati. “One of the biggest protests so far drew 15,000 on March 8 in Fullerton, Calif.,” according to Investors Business Daily.
The Facebook page devoted to the tea parties alone has more than 30,000 members. Top conservatives on Twitter — one of the event sponsors — has more than 4,000 members. Surely someone at the major networks has a Facebook page or knows a Tweet from a Twit. If not, perhaps they can find an 8-year-old to explain it to them.
While they are at it, have that same 8-year-old go over the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. Maybe that’s what it would take to remind journalists one of their primary duties is “providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues.” Remember, “comprehensive” means not just the issues you support.
A quick skim of the code shows that journalists are violating several of the guidelines by not covering the tea parties. “Journalists should: Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.”
CNN …
Here is Susan Roesgen from CNN and here is a prime example of why CNN is now dead last in the ratings. It is amusing how CNN says the protests are about being “anti-CNN”. The first rule of journalism is “don’t make the story about you, make it about them”. I am beginning to wonder what poor excuse for a J-school did they go to. As a subscriber to Columbia Journalism Review, Columbia J-School is leading the way towards abolishing journalism ethics and standards. Of course, IU Bloomington’s J-School has been a laughing stock recently as well (LINK).
But how did CNN’s Susan Roesgen report far left protesters dressing up images of President Bush in Nazi imagery? –
Here is the raw video of Susan Roesgen the MRC referred to showing President Bush in Nazi imagery. –
UPDATE – Hotair.com found another Susan Roesgen clip giving glowing coverage to a far left protest of all of FIVE people – LINK.
Of course Fox News Shep Smith had a little fun with CNN over this.
The comments at Hotair.com’s post on this provide a nice read. Update – Its up to nine pages now.
UPDATE – Brent Bozell, the head of the Media Research Center has a very pointed analysis. –
UPDATE – CNN’s Fox bashing Susan Roesgen applied for a job at Fox News Channel twice – LINK.
Here is Susan Roesgen from CNN and here is a prime example of why CNN is now dead last in the ratings. It is amusing how CNN says the protests are about being “anti-CNN”. The first rule of journalism is “don’t make the story about you, make it about them”. I am beginning to wonder what poor excuse for a J-school did they go to. As a subscriber to Columbia Journalism Review, Columbia J-School is leading the way towards abolishing journalism ethics and standards. Of course, IU Bloomington’s J-School has been a laughing stock recently as well (LINK).
CNN had the original video removed, but Fox News replayed the clip and at the end Brent Bozell, the head of the Media Research Center, has a very pointed analysis. –
But how did CNN’s Susan Roesgen report far left protesters dressing up images of President Bush in Nazi imagery? –
Here is the raw video of Susan Roesgen the MRC referred to showing President Bush in Nazi imagery. –
Of course Fox News Shep Smith had a little fun with CNN over this.
I would like to show you what NBC did, but the sexual nature of their comments are of such a nature where we cannot post it here. Needless to say it was of the nature of the kind of sexual name calling not unheard of from public junior high schoolers. If you need to see it the MRC covers it HERE.
The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement officials about a rise in “rightwing extremist activity,” saying the economic recession, the election of America’s first black president and the return of a few disgruntled war veterans could swell the ranks of white-power militias.
First – declare your political opponents to be racists; this dehumanizes them and makes it easier to get away with abusing them.
A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines “rightwing extremism in the United States” as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.
Second – Declare anyone who challenge extra and unconstitutional powers assumed by the federal government to be a criminial. They mean like many states passing resolutions reaffirming rights expressly stated in the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution such as Texas has recently done. Folks, separation of powers in the Constitution, as most of you learned in school, is vital to limited government. An important part of those separation of powers is “federalism” where power is divided between the states and the national government.
“It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,” the warning says.
Third – single out people who are pro-life or against illegal immigration and be ready to expand that definition when convenient.
The nine-page document was sent to police and sheriff’s departments across the United States on April 7 under the headline, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.”
Fourth – Try and get the local police to harass you so it doesn’t look like the feds are doing it.
It says the federal government “will be working with its state and local partners over the next several months” to gather information on “rightwing extremist activity in the United States.”
The joint federal-state activities will have “a particular emphasis” on the causes of “rightwing extremist radicalization.”
Of course, no mention of left wing groups that trash businesses like you have seen at the G20 protests and environmental terrorist violence such what has been done by ELF and PETA offshoot groups. The report goes on to say that military veterans are a part of the “threat”.
When I was in grade school, we were told that former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover abused his power by monitoring marxist left wing groups in the 50’s and 60’s and we were told that law enforcement was used to abuse citizens for political reasons. Where are the same people on the left crying out about this politicization of law enforcement and DHS now???
This all comes from the same DHS, under new leadership from the Obama Administration, that stopped using the word “terrorism” in regard to Muslim terrorists in favor of the term “man made disasters”. This from the same new DHS that stopped calling it the “war on terror” and now call it the “overseas contingency operation”; so while real violent terrorists who want is all dead get all sorts of new euphemisms dripping with political correctness, their political opponents get tarred with terms like “violent extremists” or “white supremacists”. Hmmm how about the term ” Islamic supremacists”? Notice how the word “violent” is used against their political opponents but is not used against Islamic terrorists who commit violence regularly?
Michelle Malkin warns; with the Tea-Party protests about to garner national attention Democratic Strategist Bob Meckel says what the left will do.
As Beckel signaled, leftists are going to use fear-mongering to paint mainstream taxpayers who believe in the Second Amendment, the Constitution, limited government, low taxes, and fiscal responsibility as fringe wackos. They have already exploited the Binghamton and Pittsburgh shooting sprees for political gain. They have no shame. Be prepared. Confront them with their own rank hypocrisy and unhingedness. Don’t get distracted. And don’t let your local media get away with lazily recycling their smears.
STOP RIGHT THERE – Before you read this post you need to go to THIS LINK HERE and read the original story in order to understand the context of this story and to understand Virginia’s Tech’s illegal and very foolish assault on academic freedom; not to mention a policy that amounts to a grossly unfair hiring and promotion process.
As editor, after we published the article I wondered how long it would be before a professor who has been completely indoctrinated with the politics of class and race warfare, instead of making an honest argument about the substance of the policy and law, would pull the far left old standby of “making it about you” and just attack FIRE’s intentions and try to label them with a thinly veiled “racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe” canard. To no ones surprise it didn’t take long.
Enter Professor Ellington Graves whose letter to Collegiate Times not only misrepresents Virginia Tech’s illegal policy, not only displays the all too typical elitist group think that is epidemic among far left college faculty, but also abandons ethical logic and uses reasoning that is straight from a Saul Alinsky inspired class and race agitation playbook.
Graves:
Part of the mistake you made was not getting the facts about the nature of the tenure and promotion process; it is a poorly understood process outside of faculty ranks.
Ah yes, no one could possibly understand a policy that is crystal clear to anyone who is academically and legally literate besides you, the professor whose group has been blessed with a special wisdom that transcends the skills of mere mortals who lack the PhD cloak of infallibility.
The other part of your error was to lean too heavily upon a poorly reasoned analysis of the policy, which I can only assume came from a reading of the letter to President Steger from FIRE.
Poorly reasoned you say, which is why you completly ignored the Supreme Court’s reasoning provided to you by FIRE which was inspired by the finest First Amendment scholars. When faced with an argument that you aren’t intellectually capable of tackling, it is so much easier to declare yourself “reasoned” and pretend that your opponent’s best arguments never existed and were never presented to you isn’t it?
I hope that you and the rest of the editorial staff recognize that this issue has been misrepresented by those who are committed not to insuring that academic freedom is protected, but rather to stamping out any effort to give value to the efforts of those who choose to act upon their convictions with regard to building greater inclusiveness as it relates to race, gender, sexuality and even socioeconomic status.
And here we have the very thinly veiled accusation of racism. Attack the messenger and not the substance; smear the messenger and ignore the finest legal reasoning. Funny, when I asked FIRE for help here at IUSB, they didn’t ask me what color I was, how much money I have, who I like to have relations with, or who I voted for in the last election.
Ellington T. Graves is the Assistant Director of the The Center for Africana Studies and Race and Social Policy Research.
Of course you are, an easy way to justify your subsidy from the taxpayer is to find racism under every stone, and to do that you have to falsely create hostility and racial agitation like a political opportunist. Prof. Graves, it is easy to invent false charges of racism and launch an intellectually shallow crusade against it, but fighting real racism is hard. Anti-semitism and anti-Israelism is a growing and serious problem among leftist academia. If you would like to accomplish something genuinely impressive may I suggest taking on some of your peers?
FIRE answered Prof. Graves’ crass accusations. FIRE’s response was generously kind and restrained (excerpt):
Readers should examine the policy documents and FIRE’s analysis for themselves at http://www.thefire.org. In particular, they should read Provost McNamee’s May 29, 2008, memo to all department heads and to promotion and tenure committees, in which he demands, “Candidates must do a better job of participating in and documenting their involvement in diversity initiatives. Diversity accomplishments are especially important for candidates seeking promotion to full professor.”
Graves publicly and falsely accuses us of being motivated not by a desire to protect faculty rights, but instead by a desire to “stamp out” efforts at “building greater inclusiveness” on Tech’s campus. But if Graves knows of any public university that imposes similar requirements in the name of patriotism, Christianity, or any other matter of individual choice and conscience, he should let us know so that FIRE may fight them with equal vigor.
In addition, Graves presumes that the editorial board’s March 24 editorial somehow relied on FIRE’s March 25 letter. In truth, the board and FIRE independently reached very similar conclusions –conclusions that are shared by the National Association of Scholars, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and many others. Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors also has agreed to comprehensive[ly] review Virginia Tech’s tenure and diversity policies.
The “litmus tests” employed by FIRE do not involve political ideology, as Virginia Tech’s requirement [does], but the First Amendment, which protects Graves’ right to criticize us. Graves may be unaware that FIRE has also defended the rights of students and faculty members with an extremely wide variety of views. Another of our biggest cases this month involves the right of adult Maryland students to watch a “XXX” film on campus.
“Diversity,” whatever it means, is something that Graves and Virginia Tech are free to value and recognize – but not to the point of imposing such a value against the academic freedom and freedom of conscience of the faculty.
I think President Obama has a pretty smart strategy. He is going to talk bipartisanship to the American people. But realizes until the Republican grassroots pushes their people over, if that ever happens, we are not going get change in the House or Senate.
Casualties are still happening (LINK), it is a war zone. While Bush was president every day we were given casualty updates and the total count. Today there is next to no mention of the daily or total casualty count for Iraq.
Michelle Malkin (pictured right) has a memory like a steel trap and today her work comes through again to demonstrate an outrageous piece of ‘Elite Media’ hypocrisy.
Our take – no surprise there. We do wonder how he pulled that shot off and how the soldiers were selected to be there. We haved demonstrated how Obama RIGS his ‘townhall’ meetings with campaign ringers posing as regular folks. We also know from Obama’s previous meetings with the military that THIS is the reaction.
Who’s using the military as a “global propaganda machine” now, AP?
By Michelle Malkin • April 8, 2009 10:13 AM
The Associated Press has really outdone itself. Just look at this headline:
Analysis: Obama achieves defining TV shot in Iraq
It’s a drool-drenched piece on Obama’s masterful “achievement” — manipulating a politically expedient photo op with the troops in Baghdad. The AP “analysis” — or rather, adjunct public relations release — praises Obama for creating an image that will help him politically:
President Barack Obama went for the defining television shot in Iraq and got it — pictures of hundreds of U.S. troops cheering wildly as he told them it was time for the Iraqis to take charge of their own future.
The war zone photo opportunity produced a stunning show of appreciation for Obama from military men and women who have made great sacrifices, many serving repeated tours in a highly unpopular war.
And the televised outpouring of affection likely will prove critical to the credibility of a new and liberal commander in chief as he tries to sell U.S. warriors and the American public on the grim prospects now facing them in Afghanistan.
So: Using American troops to “achieve a defining TV shot” is a stroke of genius if you are Barack Obama.
But heaven forbid a Republican president ever dare to be pictured with our troops — and heaven forbid a Republican president take precautions to ensure that suspected Iraqi insurgents aren’t posing as journalists for hostile Western media outlets.
Anyone who cares about academic freedom should join FIRE’s Campus Freedom Network. Click HERE to take a look and please join!
This first video features film maker Evan Coyne Maloney. Maloney made the hit documentary “Indoctrinate U”.
The second video features civil rights hero David Horowitz. Horowitz was beaten by police and firehosed for marching for equal rights for minorities in the 50’s and 60’s. His latest book is called “One Party Classroom”.
The third video features Robert Shively from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. The subject is colleges illegally punishing speech about the Second Amendment.
By the way, Donald Trump has had it with New York as well, he is moving his operations out of the state and says he knows about 30 more wealthy people who are leaving as well.
The IUSB Vision Weblog 