1272 Obama - Bend Over

whorunsgov

Obama’s image-maker in chief is Desirée Rogers, 49, the stylish White House social secretary, who is part of the first couple’s well-heeled circle of friends from Chicago. She told WSJ, the magazine of The Wall Street Journal, last week: “We have the best brand on earth: the Obama brand. Our possibilities are endless.”

1274 Obama - Sign of the Cross

While sitting in church on Mother's Day, I was naturally multi tasking. In addition to celebrating my Mother, I was contemplating the 'sign of the cross'.

The sign of the cross is made with three fingers, because the signing is done together with the invocation of the Trinity. ... This is how it is done: from above to below, and from the left to the right, because from misery (left-liberal) we must cross over to glory (right-conservative), just as Christ crossed over from death to life, and from Hades to Paradise.

I must confess, all the above was extracted from Wikipedia at my discretion ( but my way just seems to fit).



I'm satisfied with the ';eft to right' situation; but I'm not sure about starting with the right hand. Problems: what if you don't have a right hand? Does it have something to do with what some people around the world do with their left hand?

1281 Obama - Reba

Today's Celebrity Ciphper
TO SUCCEED IN LIFE, YOU NEED THREE THINGS: A WISHBONE, A BACKBONE AND A FUNNYBONE. - REBA MCENTIRE

Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood working to get out the vote
Bam's Blog Oct 8, 2008

Female country music stars Reba McEntire, Martina McBride and Taylor Swift will appear on the November cover of Redbook and appear in Lifetime Television public service announcements to encourage millions of women to vote.

The cover feature and PSAs, titled “Vote (For Your) Country,” are part of Lifetime’s and Redbook’s nonpartisan, yearlong Every Woman Counts campaign to empower and engage women in the political process as voters and future candidates, according to a news release. The stars won’t be touting their party affiliations, just working to encourage voting.

“Who better to represent the heart of America at election time than country stars?” said Redbook Editor-in-Chief Stacy Morrison in the release. ”Redbook readers have always been huge country fans and so we are thrilled to partner with Lifetime Television in this latest expression of our Every Woman Counts/What We Share campaign, which has been wildly successful in motivating women to speak up and talk about what matters most for our country in politics.”

Meredith Wagner, executive vice president of public affairs for Lifetime said the netowrk is particularly pleased to partner with McEntire, who was born in McAlester and raised in Chockie.

“We are thrilled to work with Reba, the queen of country and star of our hit series, and so many other passionate and talented artists. Thirty-five million eligible women did not vote in 2004. With these powerful and respected country voices and with Lifetime and Redbook teaming up to amplify them, we can and will change this statistic and get millions more women to make their voices heard.”

McEntire said in the release, “There are people in foreign countries who stand in line all day just to be able to vote, and when people here take it for granted, I think it’s a shame. If you have a gripe, you have the right to voice it and try to fix it by voting.”




http://seriouslyomg.com/?p=3792


Country star REBA MCENTIRE has weighed in against the DIXIE CHICKS again, after they criticised fans of her music. The pair first came to blows after the group criticised US President GEORGE W BUSH’s - a close friend of Republican MCEntire - decision to go to war in Iraq. Although they later apologised, singer MARTIE MAGUIRE recently took back the apology and claimed the furore had helped them connect with their audience, adding an attack on MCEntire: "I’d rather have a small following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc (CD) changer with Reba MCEntire and Toby Keith. We don’t want those kind of fans. They limit what you can do." MCEntire is furious. She’s quoted in the New York Daily News, saying, "(I’m) very disappointed. I’ve never turned my back on country music. "So when somebody talks bad about my music, my family, that does not set well with me. And when you bite the hand that feeds you, I just don’t think that’s very nice."

1282 Obama - NmGb

More candidates for the vacated Guantanamo or New Mexico

G.Janeane Garofalo


H. Susan Roesgen


I> Pete Janos for not firing Susan
CNN’s expansion plan also calls for elimination of its Chicago-based position of Midwest bureau chief. Reporters here will answer to Pete Janos, the Los Angeles-based Western region chief.

J. Jim Walton for not firing Susan

K. Anderson Cooper
CNN's Anderson Cooper: 'It's Hard to Talk When You're Tea-Bagging'CNN anchor Anderson Cooper followed his colleague David Shuster into the gutter on his Anderson Cooper 360 program on Tuesday in making a vulgar “tea-bagging” joke about Republicans/conservatives. After CNN’s senior political analyst David Gergen remarked that Republicans were “searching for their voice” after two electoral losses, Cooper quipped, “It’s hard to talk when you’re tea-bagging.”

1284 Obama - NmGb

C. Perez Hilton - It was a beauty pagent, you dingbat

D. Osama Bin Laden - Dead or alive? Still - what would Steve do with him if he showed up?

E. Keith Olbermann - Double his audience if he were only one on TV in GB?

F. Rachel Maddow - Double her audience if she were only one on TV in GB?

1285 Obama - NmGb

Inspired by the 100 Encahanting days, lets pick the top 100 folks to send to either Guantanamo Bay or New Mexico (their choice)

B. Benedict Arlen

Los Angelis TimesBy Peter Nicholas

Specter condemned Jim Jeffords' party switch in 2001.

Senator James Jeffords of Vermont appears in 2001, announcing his departure from the Republican party.When the Vermont Republican became an independent, Specter lost a committee chairmanship in the Senate's resulting power shift. An angry Specter proposed a ban on such party switches.Reporting from Washington -- When a Senate Republican left his party in 2001, elevating the Democrats to majority status, one member of the GOP was especially vocal about his displeasure: Arlen Specter.

Specter said then- Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords' decision to become an independent was disruptive to the functioning of Congress. He proposed a rule forbidding party switches that had the effect of vaulting the minority to majority status in the middle of a congressional session.

"If somebody wants to change parties, they can do that," Specter said at the time. "But that kind of instability is not good for governance of the country and the Senate."

Now it is Specter switching parties, proclaiming himself a Democrat. While the move won't throw one party out of power, it could potentially hand the Democrats a 60-vote majority and deprive the GOP of the ability to block legislation through a filibuster.

Eight years ago, Jeffords' decision cost Specter his chairmanship of the Veterans Affairs Committee. Specter said at the time that he wanted the rule change to prevent a party switch that could decisively swing the balance of power in the Senate overnight, disrupting U.S. domestic and foreign policy.

He also said that Jeffords' move would put Senate staff members out of work as committee chairmanships changed hands, and that he had already seen "a lot of crying" among staff members worried about their future.

Donald Ritchie, associate Senate historian, said in an interview Tuesday that the Jeffords move "was terrifically disruptive. People had to move out of their offices and staffs had to change."

But Specter's proposal quickly ran into opposition. Democrats balked. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) called the proposal unconstitutional. (Lieberman would later leave the Democratic Party to become an independent.) The proposal was never adopted.

Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said the rule would have "deprived a senator of the free will to make a decision."

Specter's proposal, Baker said, was intended "to ingratiate himself with colleagues with whom [Specter] was on the outs" -- the Republicans. "That was one way he could do it. And it was received with the coldness it deserved."

In a statement today, Specter sought to draw a distinction between his party change and that of Jeffords, who did not seek reelection in 2006. Specter said that he would not necessarily vote in lock step with the Democrats.

"My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats than I have been for the Republicans," he said. "Unlike Sen. Jeffords' switch, which changed party control, I will not be an automatic 60th vote."

1286 Obama - New Mexico

Maybe Steve should go spend a few years in New Mexico (land of enchantment)

Enchanting days past present and future:

• Day 20 - Feb 9, 2009 - First press conference
• Day 35 - Feb 24, 2009 - Speech to Joint session of congress
• Day 63 - Mar 24, 2009 - Press conference
• Day 100 - April 29, 2009 - Press Conference
• Day 200 - August 8, 2009
• Day 1000 - Oct 17, 2011

Jeff Zeleny.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. During these first 100 days, what has surprised you the most about this office, enchanted you the most about serving this in office, humbled you the most and troubled you the most?

Enchanted? (Laughter.) Enchanted. I will tell you that when I meet our servicemen and women — “enchanted” is probably not the word I would use. (Laughter.) But I am so profoundly impressed and grateful to them for what they do. They’re really good at their job. They are willing to make extraordinary sacrifices on our behalf. They do so without complaint. They are fiercely loyal to this country. And the more I interact with our servicemen and women, from the top brass down to the lowliest private, I’m just — I’m grateful to them.

1287 Obama - gift

Steve once told senator Reid

"I have a gift, Harry."

1288 Obama - T.O.T.U.S. gaffe

Steve talking to President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

And I will charge PCAST with advising me about national strategies to nurture and sustain a culture of scientific innovation. In addition, to John… sorry the the uh…. I just noticed I jumped the gun here go ahead and move it up. I had already introduced you guys. In bio medicine …..




TOTUS

1294 Obama - Morphine

MORPHINE AND STATE RELIEF ARE THE SAME. YOU GO DOPEY, FEEL BETTER AND ARE WORSE OFF - MARTIN H. FISCHER

1295 Obama - Bo

Cagle Cartoons

1296 Obama - Foundation on sand

This is the sand on which the new foundation is constructed. Steve has the magic to make words mean almost anything. Numbers are more resistant to his charms. (Mostly Charles Krouthammer's words - see last paragraph)

Washington - Franklin Roosevelt gave us the New Deal. Jahn Kennedy gave us the New Frontier. In a major domestic policy address at Georgetown last week, Barack Obama promised - eight times - a "New Foundation."

Undaunted, Obama offered his New Foundation speech as the complete, contextual, canonical text for the domestic revolution he aims to enact. It had everything we have come to expect from Obama:

The Whopper: The boast that he had "identified $2 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade." It takes audacity to repeat this after it had been so widely exposed as transparently phony. Most of this $2 trillion is conjured up by refraining from spending $180 billion a year for 10 more years of surges in Iraq. Why not make the "deficit reductions" $10 trillion — the extra $8 trillion coming from refraining from repeating the $787 billion stimulus package annually through 2019?

The Puzzler: He further boasted of his frugality by saying that his budget would reduce domestic discretionary spending as share of GDP to the lowest level ever recorded. Amazing. Squeezing discretionary domestic spending at a time of hugely expanding budgets is merely the baleful residue of out-of-control entitlements and debt service, which will increase astronomically under Obama. To claim these as achievements in fiscal responsibility is testament not to Obama's frugality but to his brazenness.

The Non Sequitur: "To make sure such a crisis [as we have today] never happens again," Obama proposes his radical health care, energy and education reforms, the central pillars of his social democratic agenda. But Obama's own words contradict this assertion. Notes The Washington Post: "But as his admirable summation of recent history made clear, these pursuits have little to do with the economic crisis, and they are not the key to economic recovery." Obama rarely fails to repeat this false connection. A crisis — and the public's resulting pliability to liberal social engineering — is a terrible thing to waste.

The Swindle: The Obama administration is spending money like none other in peacetime history. Obama knows this is fiscally unsustainable. He has let it be known that he intends to cure the imbalance with entitlement reform. An excellent strategy. If it takes throwing nearly $1 trillion of "porky" stimulus spending to make a democratic Congress amenable to real entitlement reform, then fine. Reforming Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid would save tens of trillions of dollars, and make the current money-from-helicopters spending almost trivial by comparison.

In the New Foundation speech, Obama correctly identifies the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid as the key fiscal problem. But then he claims that Medicaid and Medicare reform is the same as his health-care reform.

Here's the problem. The heart of Obama's health-care reform is universality. Covering more people costs more money. That is why Obama's budget sets aside an extra $634 billion in health-care spending, a down payment on an estimated additional spending of $1 trillion. How does the administration curtail the Medicare and Medicaid entitlement by adding yet another (now universal) health-care entitlement that its own estimate acknowledges increases costs by about $1 trillion?

Which is why in his March 24 news conference, Obama could not explain how the deficits at the end of the coming decade are rising, not falling. The Congressional Budget Office has deficits increasing in the last seven years of the decade from an already unsustainable $672 billion annually to $1.2 trillion by 2019.

This is the sand on which the new foundation is constructed. Obama has the magic to make words mean almost anything. Numbers are more resistant to his charms.

1299 Obama - Me Bad

Washington Post, April 14, 2009

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.

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.

"It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration," the warning says.

The White House has distanced itself from the analysis. When asked for comment on its contents, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said, "The President is focused not on politics but rather taking the steps necessary to protect all Americans from the threat of violence and terrorism regardless of its origins. He also believes those who serve represent the best of this country, and he will continue to ensure that our veterans receive the respect and benefits they have earned."

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."

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."

1300 Grand Junction Co Tea Party

1301 Obama - Tax Day

Neal Boortz challenges you to know how much income tax you paid this year. (ie what's your number - mine is 15475)

"THIS (PREPARING MY TAX RETURN) IS TOO DIFFICULT FOR A MATHEMATICIAN. IT TAKES A PHILOSOPHER." - ALBERT EINSTEIN
tax code 67,506 pages in 2008

TENTH AMENDMENT
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Texas Governor Rick Perry says that's the way to go (April 9, 2009)

“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”







Texas is gonna get you if you don't watch out!

1302 Obama - Dingbat Schumer

Charles Ellis Schumer, February 10, 2009

"And let me say this, to all of the chattering class. That so much focuses on those little tiny (yes porky amendments). The American people realy don't care."




Charles Ellis Schumer, April 9, 2009

"The hard right which still believes when the federal government moves chop off its hands, still believes , you know, that traditional values (kind of arguments) and strong foreign policy. All that's over. And I think President Obama has a pretty smart strategy. He's gonna talk bi-partisanship to the American people but realizes that until the republican grass roots pushes thier people over (if that ever happens), we're not going to get change in the house and senate"

1303 Obama - Head Shot

Atta boy for Obama (get 'er dun!)

President Obama was right on. Don't mess with pip squeak pirates. Hooray for the Navy Seals (as John Wayne would say - Good Shoot'n!)

Makes you think that a president that's fine with some good ole head shooting, might consider a little torture if needed.

1305 Obama - Mr Magoo

By ELIZABETH WURTZEL

Anyone who toils in the legal-industrial complex -- better known as Big Law -- should be able to tell you how we got here. Corporate attorneys like me, even those with the eyesight and insight of Mr. Magoo, all should have been able to see this financial collapse coming.

The market has lost a dozen years worth of wealth in a matter of months. Millions of hours of manpower put in by investment bankers on Wall Street and the lawyers who enabled them -- the kind that brought home those bright shiny bonuses that are now causing a populist uprising in the hinterlands -- have been wasted away by what is kindly called the credit crisis. And whatever lessons the powers that be might learn from this adjustment -- that salary structure should change, or that the billable hour is an anachronism -- it seems no one has stated the obvious: The whole system is warped.

These days, deals are down. It's so quiet that even at mergers-and-acquisitions hothouses like Cleary Gottlieb and Skadden Arps, junior associates have been known to sneak out of the office and head home by six o'clock. Exposed to the sunshine that exists outside of corporate skyscrapers for the first time, these people now know what we've all been telling them for years: The sky is actually blue.

But daylight savings time notwithstanding, the traditional life of a law lackey -- even, or especially, a graduate of a fancy law school like Harvard or Yale -- has meant virtual residence at the firm. Meals were delivered by Seamless Web and the roll-top desk was used for catnaps, because whatever it is that had to happen had to happen immediately, or yesterday. The emergency-room atmosphere that permeated the processing of derivatives deals, corporate takeovers, and whatever else has been going on at Goldman, Bear, Citi and Merrill for the past decade, could rival that of an operating room during open-heart surgery. Only, of course, it was a matter of money -- not life or death.

Perhaps money and mortality are all the same to some. But as a way of making the former, this hysterical ER-approach has proved futile. All those lost nights of sleep are now lost 401(k)s. So what was the point? Corporate lawyers could have been sunning in St. Bart's and ended up with the exact same result, plus a tan.

Money made the mad hours worth it. This is why the insanity of working as if the very fate of nations were at stake when it was actually just about whether or not to do a leveraged buyout of, say, a company in Decatur, Ill., went unnoticed by an entire industry.

Anyone in a position to criticize this inhuman work ethic -- meaning, anyone who liked sleeping, or dating, or occasionally walking his own golden retriever -- opted out instead. These are the people who are now attorneys in the public sector, who run nonprofit organizations, or who simply made what money they could and are now painting landscapes in Taos, or skiing full-time in Sun Valley.

The Wall Street atmosphere -- in both law offices and investment banks -- is not open to dissenting opinion. If you blow the whistle, it's only to hail a taxi to take you away, because complaining is just not tolerated. So anyone sharp enough to say that these deals were a bad idea in the first place didn't stay on long enough to make the point. And we all know that organizations that don't retain thoughtful opposing views are doomed by hubris. Hello, Lehman Brothers!

Still, I don't believe any of the major players are re-evaluating their ethos -- only their decision to invest in subprime mortgages. And this is foolish, since the problem is not just that the financial instruments were bad bets, but that the corporate structure and the feverish rush of it all are fundamentally flawed.

I would love to call the system despicable or detestable or something evil-sounding, but that would be giving it too much credit. It's really just the march of dunces.

A dozen years worth of sleepless nights down the drain like dirty bathwater. Pity these people.

1306 Obama - Pour Gas

"President Obama, why don't you just set us on fire?"

1307 Obama - Gulliver

Rick Wagner Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Normally it would not seem the United States Constitution and Lemuel Gulliver would have much in common, but this fictional character and our bedrock document of government have received similar treatment.

Just as our traveler, Gulliver, was a giant in the land of Lilliputians, so our Constitution is in our Republic. And, as Gulliver was restrained as he slept by tiny men to bend him to their own purposes, such has been the recent treatment of our founding document.

Jonathan Swift’s character in Gulliver was written as political and social satire and, while the context of the era may have lapsed, the messages still ring true.

In the annals of history, the United States Constitution and its framers loom as giants. Many of their interpreters are diminutive in comparison, but they seem forever busy turning the Constitution from a great shield for the citizen to a sword for the activist.

Jurists seeking to insert substantive due process into the document and let judges discover rights not written, but divined by their interpretation, threw the first silken cords. A case in 1967 supplied a fragment of language that serves as the jumping off point for this misapplied reasoning, as the Supreme Court quite reasonably struck down a law from the Jim Crow era outlawing marriage between different races as being antithetical to the clause guaranteeing equal protection under the law. Toward the end of the decision, the court added language that marriage was a substantive right.

This implied that there were rights granted individuals beyond those named by the Constitution, which could be interpreted from a meaning given to the language of the document. This gave rise to future courts interpreting “shadow” rights that were often used as battering rams against social norms.

This interpretation of “shadow” rights most famously is found in the decision of Roe v. Wade, preventing the states from interposing legal barriers to abortion on the grounds that such action would violate the court’s discovery of a fundamental and substantive right to privacy in the Constitution.

This decision is often misunderstood to be about whether the Supreme Court views abortion as legal. The question actually is whether a right to privacy exists that can be interpreted to prevent the states from deciding if abortion should be legal or regulated within their individual boundaries.

Employing a visioning process that discovers intentions beyond the pen of the author, and elevates them to be substantive and fundamental, makes it nearly impossible for the states or the citizenry to affect their exercise.

This becomes important as we consider one of President Obama’s first judicial nominations.

David Hamilton presently is a trial court judge at the federal level whom the president wishes to elevate to the appellate court in Chicago. Judge Hamilton’s interpretation of the right to privacy and substantive due process has led to him to declare unconstitutional a law to require convicted sex offenders to allow authorities access to their personal computers.

The New York Times noted that the judge, in his decision, felt that the amendment cut into the heart of a person’s right to privacy in his home. He added, “The ability of the individual to retreat into his home and therefore to be free from unreasonable intrusion by the government stands at the very core” of constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.

This makes a jumble of whether a search is reasonable within the sanctity of one’s home, a possibility that clearly exists within the Constitution, by placing it in an almost subservient role to a right to privacy, which has only been interpreted to exist in the Constitution.

Such a view is troubling to those who believe the framers knew what they meant and were capable of deciding if a right to privacy was important enough to be written into the Constitution and placed upon the same level as the Bill of Rights’ prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure.

I hope that those who treasure the genius of our Constitution do not sleep like Gulliver.

1308 Obama - Grid Spies

Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies, Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON --

Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

"The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid," said a senior intelligence official. "So have the Russians."

The espionage appeared pervasive across the U.S. and doesn't target a particular company or region, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. "There are intrusions, and they are growing," the former official said, referring to electrical systems. "There were a lot last year."

Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said. Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet.

Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, "If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on."

Officials said water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk.

...

1309 Obama - Dashboard

you too can have one of these ($12.95 American - made in China)

1310 Obama - Goverment Car Care

Autorepair center

1312 Obama - Sunlight

Steve's speech June 22, 2007, Manchester NH

On or near that day he said it with different words

7 Broken Promises in Record Time

1. Make government open and transparent.
2. Make it "impossible" for Congressmen to slip in pork barrel projects.
3. Meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public. (Even Congressional Republicans shut out.)
4. No more secrecy.
5. Public will have 5 days to look at a bill.
6. You’ll know what’s in it.
7. We will put every pork barrel project online.

1314 Obama - Colmes is ON

Colmes is on

From Red Square to the shores of Havana, from San Francisco all the way to Berkley, and from the West Village to the Upper West Side, Colmes is on. Tonight we are live at Mount Rushmore where the final touches are being put on Barrack Obama’s face after just 72 days in office. Then, what do republicans hate as much as poor people – furry little animals (and we have the video to prove it). Plus Al Gore says Ann Coulter is to blame for global warming – so it must be true. And an emotional retrospective of the life and work of Noam Chomsky. All that plus the anti-American panel: tonight featuring Bill Ayers, Sean Penn and anybody from France. Grab you hammer and sickle – Colmes starts right now. … Got ya!

1315 Obama - Nice motel

London, April 1, 2009

Steve and Michele spent a quiet night in a quaint London motel last night. The room was specially decorated with a bust of Winston Churchill for the President of the United States. In addition, a fruit basket of region 1 DVDs was place on the TV. It is rumored that Steve brought his own region 1 DVD player.

1316 Obama - Tea

GJ tea party
GJ tea party

City: Grand Junction
When: April 15, 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Where: 12th street and North Avenue
Contact: EMAIL

1317 Obama - Tax Advice

letter to Senator Harkin, D-IA

Dear Senator Harkin,

As a native Iowan and excellent customer of the Internal Revenue Service, I am writing to ask for your assistance. I have contacted the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to determine the process for becoming an illegal alien and they referred me to you.

My primary reason for wishing to change my status from U.S. Citizen to illegal alien stems from the bill which was recently passed by the Senate and for which you voted. If my understanding of this bill's provisions is accurate, as an illegal alien who has been in the United States for five years, all I need to do to become a citizen is to pay a $2,000 fine and income taxes for three of the last five years. I know a good deal when I see one and I am anxious to get the process started before every one figures it out.

Simply put, those of us who have been here legally have had to pay taxes every year so I'm excited about the prospect of avoiding two years of taxes in return for paying a $2,000 fine. Is there any way that I can apply to be illegal retroactively?

This would yield an excellent result for me and my family because we paid heavy taxes in 2004 and 2005.

Additionally, as an illegal alien I could begin using the local emergency room as my primary health care provider. Once I have stopped paying premiums for medical insurance, my accountant figures I could save almost $10,000 a year.

Another benefit in gaining illegal status would be that my daughter would receive preferential treatment relative to her law school applications, as well as "in-state" tuition rates for many colleges throughout the United States for my son.

Lastly, I understand that illegal status would relieve me of the burden of renewing my driver's license and making those burdensome car insurance premiums. This is very important to me given that I still have college age children driving my car.

If you would provide me with an outline of the process to become illegal (retroactively if possible) and copies of the necessary forms, I would be most appreciative.

Thank you for your assistance.

Your Loyal Constituent,
Donald Ruppert
Burlington, IA

1320 Obama - replace PM w/ POTUS ??

U.K. MEP Daniel Hannan: Transcript of His Attack on Gordon Brown

Prime Minister, I see you’ve already mastered the essential craft of the European politician, namely the ability to say one thing in this chamber and a very different thing to your home electorate. You’ve spoken here about free trade, and amen to that. Who would have guessed, listening to you just now, that you were the author of the phrase ‘British jobs for British workers’ and that you have subsidised, where you have not nationalised outright, swathes of our economy, including the car industry and many of the banks? Perhaps you would have more moral authority in this house if your actions matched your words? Perhaps you would have more legitimacy in the councils of the world if the United Kingdom were not going into this recession in the worst condition of any G20 country?

The truth, Prime Minister, is that you have run out of our money. The country as a whole is now in negative equity. Every British child is born owing around £20,000. Servicing the interest on that debt is going to cost more than educating the child. Now, once again today you try to spread the blame around; you spoke about an international recession, international crisis. Well, it is true that we are all sailing together into the squalls. But not every vessel in the convoy is in the same dilapidated condition. Other ships used the good years to caulk their hulls and clear their rigging; in other words – to pay off debt. But you used the good years to raise borrowing yet further. As a consequence, under your captaincy, our hull is pressed deep into the water line under the accumulated weight of your debt We are now running a deficit that touches 10% of GDP, an almost unbelievable figure. More than Pakistan, more than Hungary; countries where the IMF have already been called in. Now, it’s not that you’re not apologising; like everyone else I have long accepted that you’re pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for these things. It’s that you’re carrying on, wilfully worsening our situation, wantonly spending what little we have left. Last year - in the last twelve months – a hundred thousand private sector jobs have been lost and yet you created thirty thousand public sector jobs.

Prime Minister, you cannot carry on for ever squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorgement of the unproductive bit. You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt. And when you repeat, in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we’re ‘well-placed to weather the storm’, I have to tell you that you sound like a Brezhnev-era apparatchik giving the party line. You know, and we know, and you know that we know that it’s nonsense! Everyone knows that Britain is worse off than any other country as we go into these hard times. The IMF has said so; the European Commission has said so; the markets have said so – which is why our currency has devalued by thirty percent. And soon the voters too will get their chance to say so. They can see what the markets have already seen: that you are the devalued Prime Minister of a devalued government.

1321 Obama - Bait and switch

Meet Larry, the dead fish, aka government printing $1 trillion and monetizing our debt

So what was in the news? Steve's bracket picks ....

Steve's rage at AIG bonuses ...

Steve debuts on Leno ....

citizens wanting to lynch AIG citiznes

youtube video

1322 Obama - TOTUS/POTUS

President Obama's press conference transcript, March 24, 2009

baracksteleprompter.blogspot.com

BARACK OBAMA'S TELEPROMPTER'S BLOG REFLECTIONS FROM THE HARD DRIVE OF THE MACHINE THAT ENABLES THE VOICE OF THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD

1323 Obama - One with nature

GJ daily sentinel, March 24, 2009

Humans must give up all to truly preserve nature

Stop it now! All this energy production is ruining our environment and it has to stop.

Everything we humans do is bad for the Earth and must stop. Turn off your electricity, turn off your natural gas, stop buying gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and jet fuel. And since farming and manufacturing are bad for the environment too, no more manufactured goods or food. The only option we have to protect Mother Earth is to become one with nature and let nature replenish.

Sexual reproduction spreads disease, leads to birth defects, overpopulation and promotes pornography. Run wild with the bears and the birds. Compete one on one for your food and shelter. No guns allowed either. Guns are evil.

But our intelligence is still and unfair advantage, so I suggest that we all become politicians. Only then will we be well suited to drive ourselves to extinction and the Earth will survive.

Lonnie Smith
Grand Junction

1324 Obama - Cupboards Bare

Rush claims he went from right 98.9% of the time to right 99% of the time.

Well, here's one thing he's right about - 46% of the US people did not vote for Steve. And they're buying stuff.

Sportsman's warehouse Feb. 2009

1326 Obama - Thomas Paine

aka Bob Basso

1327 Obama - AIG smoke screen

Glenn Beck

I've been telling you for weeks to not be distracted by the "big news of the day" because it's usually just a smokescreen. But on Wednesday, I fell for it myself.

While everyone — including me — was taking sides on the AIG bonuses, something much more important was happening: The Fed announced it will pump a $1 trillion into the system by buying debt from our treasury.
....

That last line of defense was just hung over "patient America" yesterday, but we were all — and that includes me — too focused on AIG to notice.

Here's what this means: We're borrowing money from ourselves to pay for programs we can't pay for.

And that's why the price of gold shot up about 75 bucks in 18 hours. Investors aren't stupid. They know the risks this poses, especially to inflation and our dollar.

video clip

1328 Obama - Ayn Rand

Wall Street Journal

by Yaron Brook

Ayn Rand died more than a quarter of a century ago, yet her name appears regularly in discussions of our current economic turmoil. Pundits including Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santelli urge listeners to read her books, and her magnum opus, "Atlas Shrugged," is selling at a faster rate today than at any time during its 51-year history.

There's a reason. In "Atlas," Rand tells the story of the U.S. economy crumbling under the weight of crushing government interventions and regulations. Meanwhile, blaming greed and the free market, Washington responds with more controls that only deepen the crisis. Sound familiar?

The novel's eerily prophetic nature is no coincidence. "If you understand the dominant philosophy of a society," Rand wrote elsewhere in "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," "you can predict its course." Economic crises and runaway government power grabs don't just happen by themselves; they are the product of the philosophical ideas prevalent in a society -- particularly its dominant moral ideas.

Why do we accept the budget-busting costs of a welfare state? Because it implements the moral ideal of self-sacrifice to the needy. Why do so few protest the endless regulatory burdens placed on businessmen? Because businessmen are pursuing their self-interest, which we have been taught is dangerous and immoral. Why did the government go on a crusade to promote "affordable housing," which meant forcing banks to make loans to unqualified home buyers? Because we believe people need to be homeowners, whether or not they can afford to pay for houses.

The message is always the same: "Selfishness is evil; sacrifice for the needs of others is good." But Rand said this message is wrong -- selfishness, rather than being evil, is a virtue. By this she did not mean exploiting others à la Bernie Madoff. Selfishness -- that is, concern with one's genuine, long-range interest -- she wrote, required a man to think, to produce, and to prosper by trading with others voluntarily to mutual benefit.

Rand also noted that only an ethic of rational selfishness can justify the pursuit of profit that is the basis of capitalism -- and that so long as self-interest is tainted by moral suspicion, the profit motive will continue to take the rap for every imaginable (or imagined) social ill and economic disaster. Just look how our present crisis has been attributed to the free market instead of government intervention -- and how proposed solutions inevitably involve yet more government intervention to rein in the pursuit of self-interest.

Rand offered us a way out -- to fight for a morality of rational self-interest, and for capitalism, the system which is its expression. And that is the source of her relevance today.

Dr. Brook is president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

1329 Obama - more chump change

Almost the same chump change as the bonuses, but no outrage. Well, Dodd actually said this: "Naturally, I knew nothing about this, and I’m now seething with anger at the injustice.” SURE!! Chrissy

from ScrappleFace

AIG, which has received $170 billion in taxpayer cash from the federal government since September, gave more than $585,000 to Congressional and presidential candidates last year, favoring Democrats 3-to-1 over Republicans.

President Obama and Sen. Dodd were the two largest recipients of campaign contributions from the beleaguered company, and the only politicians to garner six-figure amounts from AIG in 2008 — $103,100 for Sen. Dodd and $100,332 for presidential candidate Obama.

1330 Obama - More panties

1331 Obama - panties in a wad

from NY Times

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials and Republicans alike were nearly universal in condemning the $165 million in bonuses that the American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, is to pay executives in the business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.


“There are a lot of terrible things that have happened in the last 18 months, but what’s happened at A.I.G. is the most outrageous,” said Lawrence H. Summers, President Obama’s chief economic adviser

$165M/$170B --> 1/10 of ONE percent - GOOD GRIEF!

1333 Obama - pockets

from eyblast.tv

1334 Obama - Or so he says

Associated Press, Recovery Act Implementation Conference, March12, 2009

"If we see money being misspent, we're going to put a stop to it" President Obama

"Six months from now, if the verdict on this effort is that we've wasted the money, we built things that were unnecessary or we've done things that are legal but make no sense, then, folks, don't look for any help from the federal government for a long while" V.P. Biden

"All of you are at the front lines of what is probably the most important task that we have in this country over the next couple of years, and that's getting the economy started again" President Obama (the audience gasped when he entered the room)

"make sure that every single dollar is well spent" President Obama

1335 Obama - Doom Bunker

Doom Bunker

1336 Obama - March Madness

In the spirit of March madness coming up next week. And given that Rush Limbaugh is right 99% of the time and Steve is wrong 99% of the time, Let's dwell on Steve's right 1%, and that has to do with sports (remember he is in favor of college football playoffs). So in that spirit, there should be a betting line on when Steve's first official VETO happens.

Heaven knows, he should have vetoed today's pork bill, since he promised during the campaign that there would be no more earmarks and that the American people would get to review all bills for 5 days before he signed them.

Knowing America's recent luck, his first veto will probably be vetoing college football playoffs.

1337 Obama - gift gaffe

Newsbusters 20090307

The Obamas, Barack and Michelle both, pretty much diplomatically botched the recent visit of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife. Oddly enough, the U.S. Old Media seems uninterested in the story that is a hot topic in England, a story that's left many Brits a bit miffed.

• As the visit of the national leader of our closest ally began, the President informed the Brits that he wouldn't be attending the joint press conference that was planned to be held once PM Brown's plane touched down. This threw the visiting delegation into a tizzy leaving them scrambling to explain the sudden change in plans to the folks back home. Still, meetings were had and things smoothed out. Eventually the visit seemed to right itself... then came the Obama's gift gaffes.


• It is well understood that visiting diplomatic delegations come bearing gifts and gift giving is returned in like fashion by the host country. It is an ages old human practice in diplomacy after all. Usually the gifts are valuable, representative of the products of the nations involved, or at least symbolic of the history of those nations.


• For his part, PM Brown gave two symbolic gifts and one that expressed national pride. Brown came bearing a pen holder carved from the timbers of the sister ship of that which gave the wood to create the famous "Resolute Desk," the desk that has been in America's charge since 1880. He also gave Obama the framed commission for that famous ship, the HMS Resolute. His third gift was a seven-volume biography of one of England's greatest leaders, Winston Churchill.


• So, what did President Obama give the British PM? 25 movies on DVD. Yeah, that's it. Brown gives a symbolic gift like the pen holder fashioned from a famous British warship and Obama responds by sending a staffer to WalMart to pick up a few quick movies.


• How thoughtful. Or not.


• And I'm not the only one to scoff at this thoughtless gift. The entire British press is up in arms. Many in Britain are seeing this as entirely gauche and indicative of the low esteem in which the Obama's hold England.


• Worse, no one is 100% sure that Obama was smart enough to know that DVDs made in America don't play on European DVD players. American DVDs are created in the "Region One" format while those in Europe play in "Region Two" format. A U.S. DVD just won't play on a machine made for the English market.


• Not to be out done in tastelessness by her husband, Michelle got into the act, too. Mrs. Brown came bearing two outfits for the Obama girls from Topshop, one of Britain's trendiest and expensive women's wear retail outlets.


• In return, Michelle apparently had a staffer run down to the White House gift shop and grab two toy Marine One helicopter models for the Brown's boys.


• Class all the way, huh?


• All of this is on top of the snub of the Brits that Obama tossed off immediately upon entering office. One of his first official acts was to summarily return to the Brits the generous gift of the most famous bust of Winston Churchill that has sat in the Oval Office since the attacks on 9/11.


• This threw British diplomats into a tizzy really blindsiding them. Even when they reiterated that Obama could keep the generous gift to the American people, he rejected it without comment leaving the Brits at a loss for words.


• Now, I thought that Obama was going to improve our relations with "the world" once he took office? So far, all he's done is tell our enemies he's their friend and carelessly wave off our actual friends.

1338 Obama - Caterpillar

from Chicago Sun Times

On President's day, 2009, Steve gave one of his golden tongued teleprompted speeches. But before that:

• WASHINGTON--Visiting the Caterpillar Plant in East Peoria on Thursday afternoon, President Obama was drumming up support for his stimulus bill. He pressured freshman Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.)--Caterpillar is in his district--for his vote by basically wondering out loud if he will measure up to the two men who had the seat before him--Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood and former House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.)
  
• No House Republicans voted for the stimulus the first time around. I've heard that as of Thursday, no Illinois House member will vote yes on the final version.


• Said Obama at the plant, "I want to thank Peoria's own Ray LaHood, who is doing outstanding work as my Transportation secretary. You know, Ray comes from a long line of Republicans I love, starting with Bob Michel and -- you know, they're just -- I think there's a common-sense, Midwestern, can-do, bipartisan attitude that Ray represents. And I am so pleased that he's in my Cabinet.


• "Now, his successor, Congressman Schock -- where is he? He's back here. He's right here. Stand up, Aaron. This is -- Aaron's still trying to make up his mind about our recovery package...... So, you know, he has a chance to be in the mold of Bob Michel and Ray LaHood."
  

Guess What? Congressman Schock heard from 1,400 of his constituents from Caterpillar. All 1,400 said they were against the stimulus ARRP

1340 Obama - Alleluia

Set your alarm clock for 2am. Magically, poof - Steve loses an hour of his presidency. See followup story on October 31, 2009 (ironically 'All Saints Day' eve).

1341 Obama - Divorce

Sincerely,
John J. Wall.
American Law Student

Liberal - Conservative Divorce Proceedings

An open letter to American liberals, et al.

To American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, Obama supporters, et al.

We have stuck together since the late 1950’s, but the whole of this latest election process has Made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot, and will not ever agree on what is right, so let’s just end it on friendly terms. We can smile, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences, and go our own ways.
Here is a model separation agreement:

• Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement.
• After that it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.
• We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military.
• You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore, and Rosie O’Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them.)
• We’ll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies, and illegal aliens.
• We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s, and rednecks. We’ll keep the bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.
• You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we’ll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks, and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.
• We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values.. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. But we will no longer be paying the bill.
• We’ll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks, and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.
• You can give everyone healthcare, if you can find any practicing doctors. We’ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right.
• We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kumbaya, or We Are the World.
• We’ll practice trickle-down economics, and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot.
• Since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name, and our flag.
• Would you agree to this? If so please pass it along to other likeminded liberals, and to conservative patriots, for signatures.
  
  

Sincerely,
John J. Wall.
American Law Student
P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand

1342 Obama - Sam Webb

From RBO (real Barrack Obama)




Some enterprising journalist needs to ask Sam Webb this very important question: How do you know what the Obama administration is “considering”?


Sam Webb (right), the leader of the Communist Party USA, claims that the Obama administration is “considering” a radical agenda which includes nationalising the US financial system, the Federal Reserve and even certain “problematic” private businesses.


Webb also asserts that big defence cuts, expansion of US aid to the underdeveloped world, more “affirmative action” for women and ethnic minorities, greater union power, socialisation of childcare and healthcare and a “massive assault on global warming” are also strong possibilities for the Obama presidency.In his January 31, 2009, speech “Off and Running: Opportunity of a Lifetime”, to party members in Cleveland, Ohio, CPUSA


National Chairman Webb stated:
The Obama administration and the broad coalition that supports him will almost inevitably have to consider – and they already are – the following measures:

• Public ownership of the financial system and the elimination of the shadow banking system and exotic derivatives.
• Public control of the Federal Reserve Bank.
• Counter-crisis spending of a bigger size and scope to invigorate and sustain a full recovery and meet human needs – something that the New Deal never accomplished.
• Strengthening of union rights in order to rebalance the power between labor and capital in the economic and political arenas.
• Trade agreements that have at their core the protection and advancement of international working class interests.
• Equality in conditions of life for racially minorities and women.
• Democratic public takeover of the energy complex as well as a readiness to consider the takeover of other basic industries whose future is problematic in private hands.
• Turning education, childcare, and healthcare into “no profit” zones.
• Rerouting investment capital from unproductive investment (military, finance and so forth) to productive investment in a green economy and public infrastructure.
• Changing direction of our nation’s foreign policy toward cooperation, disarmament, and diplomacy. We can’t have threats, guns and military occupations on the one hand and butter, democracy, goodwill, and peace on the other.
• Full scale assault on global warming.
• Serious and sustained commitment to assisting the developing countries that are locked in poverty and misery.

Webb went on to claim that “an era of progressive change is within reach, no longer an idle dream”.

Webb also said that the “new model of governance wouldn’t be socialist, but it would challenge corporate power, profits and prerogatives”.

Webb then went on to outline the role of organised labor in ensuring that the Obama administation did not compromise its agenda. It should be remembered that he old anti-communist US labor movement is no more. Since the mid 1990s US unions have become increasingly dominated by CPUSA, their allies in Democratic Socialists of America and veterans of the New Left.

In the meantime, we have some immediate struggles on our hands But the good news is that the broad movement that elected President Obama and larger majorities in the Congress is up and running.

This movement, or if you like, this loose coalition in which labor plays a larger and larger leadership role, can exercise an enormous influence on the political process. Never before has a coalition with such breadth walked on the political stage of our country. It is far larger than the coalition that entered the election process a year ago; it is larger still than the coalition that came out of the Democratic Party convention in August.

The task of labor and its allies is to provide energy and leadership to this wide-ranging coalition. Yes, we can bring issues and positions into the political process that go beyond the initiatives of the Obama administration. But we should do this within the framework of the main task of supporting Obama’s program of action.

We can disagree with the Obama administration without being disagreeable. Our tone should be respectful. We now have not simply a friend, but a people’s advocate in the White House.

Webb finishes off with a list of missions for his troops — which includes supporting Obama’s nomination for Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis (right). Is it coincidental that Solis was elected to Congress with Communist Party support and enjoys close ties to Democratic Socialists of America?

Webb continues:

Of course, change won’t be easy. The pressures to weaken, even mothball, progressive, anti-corporate measures will come from many quarters.
That said, the opportunities for working class and people’s gains are extraordinary. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Starring us in the face are some immediate challenges.

First, we have to support the passage of the President’s stimulus bill in the Senate.

Second, we have to bloc any Republican efforts to derail the nomination of Hilda Solis, the nominee for the Secretary of Labor. This is the first round in the battle to pass the EFCA. Some may think this is a struggle of only the labor movement. But nothing could be further from the truth. A bigger labor movement in this country would strengthen the struggle on every front…

Third, we have to join others in resisting evictions and foreclosures – not to mention cutbacks and layoffs at the state and city level…

Fourth, the wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan have to be brought to a close…

In any case, we have our work cut out for us. But I think we can confidently say that change is coming. And we will build a more perfect union.