In The Know: Are Politicians Failing Our Lobbyists?

Video compliments of The Onion

The Best Entourage $263.4 Million of Lobbying Money Can Buy

Change.org

by Tim Foley

Published August 14, 2009 @ 11:01PM PT

An optimist sees the glass as half-full. A pessimist sees the glass, sees the water, and begins to wonder how it got there, who paid for the service, and what favor they’re going to expect in return. According to Bloomberg, the amount of money and staff supplied by the health care industries over the past six months is an order of magnitude larger than either those industries’ campaign contributions to politicians or their advertising budgets. The most colorful statistic is that there are six industry lobbyists for every member of Congress. If you’re a legislator working on health care reform, your life might have begun to resemble a Washington DC version of Entourage.

President Obama rode into town declaring that the era of special interests and lobbyists standing in the way of progress is over. Apparently, Congress didn’t get the memo, and the health care industry flat-out ignored it. The numbers are gaudy. $263.4 million in lobbying alone in the past six months. $20.5 million in political contributions to, yes, both political parties, including over $382,000 for Majority Leader Harry Reid. $320,000 for a Ferrari for Turtle, and an extra $100,000 so Kanye West’s entourage could all be wearing designer outfits. OK, I made that last sentence up. But there’s no doubt that in a year of reform, the industry that makes money off the system is livin’ large down by the Potomac.

The problem is less intrinsically the practice of lobbying and more the extreme concentration on the single issue health care. The number of registered lobbyists working for the health care industries now beats both the defense industry and the oil and gas companies — no mean feat! With that “shock and awe” exposure, troubling questions arise. After all, if throughout your day you were trailed by a salesman who was regularly reminded you of how great a beverage Coca-Cola was and how cheap it was, and occasionally handed you surveys comparing how happy people were to drink Coke vs. water, after a few days or maybe even a few hours, you might start to think, “You know, I am kind of thirsty…” You can count as “thirsty” such legislators as the House Blue Dogs and Sen. Kent Conrad, who were both mentioned by name in the Business Week article on how well UnitedHealth has protected the interests of the health insurance industry. You can probably add Sen. Max Baucus, whose staff, we’re told, “rotates weekly meetings among the various groups in the health-care debate, providers one week, purchasers a second, consumers a third.” And sadly, you can even add the White House to that list, as evinced by the leaked details of their deal to insulate the pharmaceutical industry from future negotiations for savings in exchange for their full-throated and well-funded campaign in support of health reform. (Although no one quite knows how far-reaching, binding or damaging to reform efforts that deal is, at this point.)

Many people see the provisions in the reform bill as taking it too easy on those industries that make big bucks off our health care system being so dysfunctional. There may be many reasons for this – balkiness at what could be perceived as a high price tag, an attempt to appeal to moderate Republicans, or honest concerns with the measures. But you can’t entirely discount the effect of an entire basketball team playing zone defense on every single one of our elected representatives.

The pandemic which wasn't...

It seems I’m not the only one thinking  the H1N1 panic is a creation of the Obama Administration.

Do you know anyone who has actually had H1N1?   I don’t.    Do you even know anyone who knows someone who has had it?   Me neither.

At what point do you put out a sign which reads  “Pandemic government hysterics barred from the premises”?   And we’re supposed to think the same fools who screamed PANDEMIC!!!! and couldn’t check in with manufacturers often enough to know how many doses would be available can be trusted with the management of everyone’s health care?    (Except,  of course, Congress and all federal employees,  who will continue to enjoy their taxpayer funded,  gold-plated Cadillac care.)

Now that we have Pelosi’s 1990 page epic plus Reid’s pile,  call your Congress critters and tell them NO.   Suggest they do something inexpensive and effective,  such as clamping down on frivolous lawsuits,   allowing health insurance sales across state lines, making health savings accounts easier to navigate- — you know the drill.   Get to it.

Nobel Peach Prize

A quote attributed to Newt Gingrich just about sums up the state of the Peachy Nobel Prize-Givers:
“As an American I am not so shocked that Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize without any accomplishments to his name, but that America gave him the White House based on the same credentials.”
Couldn’t have said it any better, Genghis Genghis Newt-Khan…couldn’t have said it better myself.

Biden Announces Hybrid Auto Plant For Delaware

Obama / Biden Let Taxpayers Pay For It

Fisker Automotive a luxury auto maker is buying a closed Motors Liquidation Co. (MLC), formerly known as General Motors Corp. i.e. GM, plant in Wilmington DE. Fisker has plans to build hybrid cars at the plant. The selling price is $18 million.
Vice President Joe Biden was among those on hand to announce the potential sale of the GM plant,more…

Bombs Rock Afghanistan

A series of powerful bombs killed eight American soldiers and an interpreter in southern Afghanistan early this morning.

From the Washington Post:

The attacks, which came one day after 14 Americans died in two helicopter crashes here, made October the deadliest month for the U.S. military of the eight-year war.

At least 53 U.S. troops have died this month, with four days left before Nov. 1 and the Taliban insurgency continuing to expand its reach and lethal tactics. The previous monthly high was 51 fatalities, in August of this year.

The U.S. military said in a statement that “multiple complex” roadside bomb attacks killed the soldiers and wounded several others. Military officials said at least one of those bombs struck U.S. Army armored vehicles, known as Strykers, in the Argandab area of Kandahar province.

From CNN:

The U.S. military suffered another day of heavy losses in Afghanistan on Tuesday as roadside bombs killed eight U.S. service members, the U.S. military said.

An Afghan civilian working with NATO troops also was killed in the attacks in southern Afghanistan, the military said.

The military gave no further details about the bombings, which it said also wounded several other service members.

The attacks happened a day after 14 Americans were killed in a pair of helicopter crashes in Afghanistan. It was the largest number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in a single day in more than four years.

With the deaths of two troops on Sunday, a total of 24 Americans — most of them military — have been killed in a 48-hour period. That makes October 2009, with 58 fatalities, the deadliest month for the U.S. military since the Afghanistan war began in October 2001.

Senator Dodd

Dear Senator Dodd and Members of the Senate Banking Committee,

Greetings,

We bailed out the banks, currently we are giving them 0% on borrowed money, our wealth, and their greed will not allow them to give the American Public a break.

This is an Act of War on the American People by the Corporate Lending Institutions.

The time has come for the US Congress to protect all American Citizens. this time bailing out the Public Citizen.

I purpose a Public Debt Relief Option:

1. The Federal Government assumes all credit card holder debt – They, Congress, have the power to cut a deal with the Banks. Since these ungrateful institutions exaggerated their needs then quickly profiting off the backs of the American People it is the least our Government can do to help make amends.

2. If a citizen owes $12k to the bank and they sign up for the Public Debt Relief the Federal Government will pay the banks $8K. Two-Thirds of what is owed.

3. The American Citizen will now no longer have a credit debt to that Bank.

4. The Credit Card is now also closed.

5. The American Citizen utilizing this public debt option now owes the Federal Government $8k plus 3% interest.

6. Monthly installments will be made, no more than 17% of net income, automatic deductions from wages optional and IRS returns kept. Late fees of 1% within the first 30 days, 3 strikes maximum.

7. By law, once the debt has been paid this transfer will not affect one’s credit rating unless late more than 3 times.

8. However, until the debt is paid in full to the Government, Banks must be regulated with a hands-off policy to that debtor.

9. If a bank or a lending institution violates this policy they will be fined the amount offered in their letter of credit invite.

10. When the economy turns around; unemployment numbers below 4%, and depending on an individual’s income, the 3% rate can go up to as high, but no higher than 8% until that debt is paid.

This is a one time debt relief option only.

Since the Banks wish to terrorize the American Public with these new and higher interest rates, plus throw all the toxic waste on the backs of our children, which they created and Congress allowed, under these heretofore stressful conditions the Banks have decided to ignite incendiary financial bombs all across the nation, thus destroying our peaceful coexistence and happiness and forcing the American People into indentured-servitude for decades to come.

It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to step in, take action and protect the American People from these Financial Predatory Terrorists.

Anything less will put the American People and the nation in grave danger and in harms way.

Senators I implore you to please act quickly!

Thank you for your time.

H1N1 a National Emergency

President Barack Obama has declared a national emergency to deal with the rapid increase in illness from the Swine Flu (H1N1 influenza virus).

From CNN:

“The 2009 H1N1 pandemic continues to evolve. The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities,” Obama said in a statement.

“Thus, in recognition of the continuing progression of the pandemic, and in further preparation as a nation, we are taking additional steps to facilitate our response.”

The president signed the declaration late Friday and announced it Saturday.

Calling the emergency declaration “an important tool in our kit going forward,” one administration official called Obama’s action a “proactive measure that’s not in response to any new development.”

Leftists to NPR Political Editor: Do what your told!

This is humorous. A Byron York opinion piece spotlights NPR political editor Ken Rudin’s comments on the “almost Nixonesque” White House and his 180 degree turn around after he angered his liberal listeners.

On National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation” Wednesday, NPR political editor Ken Rudin said the White House campaign against Fox News is a bad idea. “It’s not only aggressive, it’s almost Nixonesque,” Rudin said. “I mean, you think of what Nixon and Agnew did with their enemies list and their attacks on the media; certainly Vice President Agnew’s constant denunciation of the media. Of course, then it was a conservative president denouncing a liberal media, and of course, a lot of good liberals said, ‘Oh, that’s ridiculous. That’s an infringement on the freedom of press.’ And now you see a lot of liberals almost kind of applauding what the White House is doing to Fox News, which I think is distressing.”

“Almost Nixonesque” is far from a side by side comparison to Nixon! “Almost” generally means a bit like or somewhat close to, not just like or mirroring Nixon policies. But, needless to say, the left got angry, so he apologized.

“I made a boneheaded mistake yesterday,” Rudin wrote on his NPR blog. “Comparing the tactics of the Nixon administration — which bugged and intimidated and harrassed journalists — to that of the Obama administration was foolish, facile, ridiculous and, ultimately, embarrassing to me. I should have known better and, in fact, I do know better. I was around during the Nixon years. I am fully cognizant of what they did and attempted to do.”

You “should have known better” sir, you are not to anger the listeners! Did I hear your voice move up an octave when you read that news story young man, you are not to have enthusiasm on NPR or an opinion for that matter. Perhaps Rudin will get fed next week, provided he doesn’t say anything else “foolish” about the Obama administration.

Read the whole piece in the Washington Examiner opinion section.

Thanks to Brain Terminal for the link.

Destroy America!

Saw two stories today, both involving oil in some way, and I just have to wonder, do the Democrats and the current administration fully understand that they are on a course to destroy all the greatness that has been America? Is that their goal, to destroy America? Do they fully understand that, or are they simply deceived?

Leftist wing nuts like to claim that America under President Bush went to war with Iraq in order to exploit the oil reserves in that country. Well, how is that working out? Read this story and you will see that despite America’s investment of money and blood it looks like the Chinese are ultimately the ones who will get most of the oil.

T. Boone Pickens told Congress that U.S. companies were losing opportunities in the Iraqi crude oil and natural gas sectors to competitors from China and Europe … [and] … that U.S. companies were losing opportunities in the Iraqi crude oil and natural gas sectors to competitors from China and Europe.

T. Boone Pickens on Iraq: ‘We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil’

I wonder how much money we borrowed from the Chinese so we could go and insure they could buy oil from Iraq? While this is happening what are the Democrats in Congress and the current administration doing? They are passing laws to protect polar bears while insuring that we can’t drill for new oil in the United States.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration said Thursday it is designating more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as “critical habitat” for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration said Thursday it is designating more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as “critical habitat” for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.

Feds designate polar bear habitat in Alaska

What are these people up to? Do they actually want to run America into the ground, to indenture our children for generations to pay all they money they are borrowing? So what is we get universal health care? At that point about the only health care we will still be able to afford is a band aid and (hopefully) some pain killers to take while we die. Yeah, some people will see that as being really fair. No matter that we will be broke and can’t afford very much advanced health care, and what we have will be rationed, at least their won’t be any rich people getting more than their fair share. Of course I bet the politicians will have their own well supplied clinics and hospitals.

Someone on the net created the following unflattering picture of Obama as “The Joker,” the evil character of a recent Bat Man movie.

Is this the true reality? Too bad the artist did not similarly depict Pelosi, Reid, Frank, etc – the top leadership of the Democratic Party – in the same fashion. They are all “Jokers” who by the evidence are dead set on destroying the America that many of us have loved.

Jesus of Nazareth told us what to look for:

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Matthew 7:15-20 NIV

What are the “fruits” of those who are running America today?

lwk

US Embassy Personnel Caught Spying On Pakistani Nukes, Government Silent

Special AHMEDQURAISHI.COM Report

Pakistani authorities have enough evidence that implicates US diplomats and trainers in spying on Kahuta, one of the prime nuclear facilities in the country.

What is stunning for most Pakistanis is that elements in the elected government, and especially the Interior Ministry, appear to be facilitating the Americans despite protests from police and intelligence officials.

The issue brings into question, once again, the role of Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik.  A trail of internal ministry documents sharply bring Mr. Malik’s role into focus, especially in a case where his ministry appears to have permitted US defense contractors to conduct suspicious activities on Pakistani soil without informing Pakistani intelligence agencies.  Those activities have included allowing at least one US defense contractor to conduct a large scale recruitment of retired Pakistani military officers.

In 2003, the government of former president Pervez Musharraf allowed the Americans to establish a police training facility within the police college at Sihala, a few kilometers away from the Khan Research Laboratories, one of Pakistan’s premier nuclear research centers.

The Commandant Police Training College Sihala, Mr. Nasir Khan Durrani, wrote a letter on Aug. 15 to senior Pakistani police officers drawing their attention to the suspicious activities of American ‘trainers’ at Sihala.  Mr. Durrani is widely respected within the officer corps of Pakistan’s police service.  Some of his ideas, like Rescue 15, were implemented nationwide.

Durrani’s letter was not without basis.  In his report, titled, Agency wants survey of site to assess equipment, Mr. Ansar Abbasi, editor investigations at The News International, revealed that there was some evidence that radiation measurement equipment has been installed by the Americans at the training facility.  He reported that US diplomats have been caught making frequent visits to the facility, attempting at one point to get into the high security perimeter around Kahuta. Amazingly, someone from FIA, the interior minister’s former employer and a lead civilian spy agency, helped release the arrested American diplomats.

The suspicions of Mr. Durrani, Commandant Police Training College Sihala, turn out to be legitimate.  Mr. Durrani might have expected to be rewarded for keeping a vigil on the country’s vital interests.  To his surprise, instead of a citation, Mr. Durrani was reprimanded by the Federal Interior Ministry.

The US Embassy in Islamabad, under a new policy of aggressively countering what it alleges to be ‘anti-Americanism’, responded to these accusations but conveniently kept silent on the alarming incident of the arrest of US diplomats in July as they tried to survey the area around Kahuta.

The evidence is piling up that the present ‘elected’ government in Islamabad is racing against time to plant enough Americans inside Pakistan to counter the Pakistani military and the country’s strong intelligence setup. [See the video US Terror In Pakistan]

___________________________________________________________________________________

Famous TV anchor and journalist, Hamid Mir, who hosts the popular current affairs program ‘Capital Talk’ also talked about the American interference in the nuclear program of Pakistan recently in London: [Video Courtesy PkPolitics]

American interference in our nuclear program is not new, in fact they have been at it since the early 70’s and 80’s. This reminds of an article I read on The News, titled “How a jilted Karachi woman saved Pak N-programme” and has some interesting revelations. After failing to sabotage the nuclear plans of Pakistan, the US is now after our nuclear arsenal. And now that Pakistan’s situation is deteriorating, the US has good reason to say “Hey, since those nuclear assets are no longer safer, why don’t you hand them over to us ?” This is the time, voices must be raised, action should be taken, otherwise the last remaining source of pride and hope for Pakistan will also diminish and the country will cease to exist.

Filtered news 10/22/09

The state of the modern GOP “…just 1 in 5 Americans now self-identify as Republicans, the lowest number since 1983, and a 20 percent drop from an equally dismal 25% back in August, when the ‘tea party express’ first pulled out of the trailer park.”

Well, what did they expect? Just 19 percent of the country trusts congressional Republicans to make good decisions

The iron grip of bigotry

I keep being surprised at Sen. Vitter’s apparently ingrained unwillingness to say that he thinks people of different races should be able to marry. I mean, that’s so mid-20th century. Even in the South. We’re on to denying marriage rights to gays. Honestly, I’m confounded. What’s his resistance? I’m not even talking about whatever Vitter may or may not think personally. What’s his resistance politically?

Unemployed Family Man Joins the Army to Cover His Wife’s Ovarian Cancer

Truman for health care — 1952

Who’s who in Tea Party movement land

Whining liars whining lies Neocon media at play

Security Guard Accused Of Terrorist Threats Against President Obama in New Jersey

Prosperity for the peasants comes from giving the Corptocrats even more money Goldman Sachs Analyst: Income ‘Inequality’ Will Lead To ‘Prosperity And Opportunity For All.’  This was, amazingly enough, said with a straight face and nary a blush.  Would this be because the wealthy few have taken such good care of us thus far?  Oh wait…..

Nope, no racism involved at all.  Hate directed at ACORN:

Hi, I was just calling to let you all know that Barack Obama needs to get hung. He’s a f*****g n****r, and he’s a piece of s**t. You guys are fraudulent, and you need to go to hell. All the n*****s on oak trees. They’re gonna get all hung honeys, they’re gonna get assassinated, they’re gonna get killed.

Note, again, how the Right gets around to violence (ever more quickly it seems)

Like this Corptocrat NY Businessman Gets 20 Years For Ponzi Scheme

Or these Corptocrats Brokers indicted for $22 million fraud of oil company

Or these Corptocrats?

PIMCO dumps $80 billion of fed-sponsored agencies on taxpayer’s lap; makes over $1 billion

At least 10 more insider trading arrests coming

Moody’s leak disclosed, other potential compromised data identified

California sues State Street over pension-fund trades

Paulson’s secret waiver to work on Goldman matters

Attorney calls FINRA execs “liars”, says only interested in appearance of enforcement

Bernanke guilty of coercion and market manipulation, says Mish

Arrested IBM exec Moffat was also responsible for outsourcing jobs to wherever was the cheapest, no matter who got fired or hurt. What a guy…

GOP fights for bankers’ right to gauge you on fees Of course.

Can we please toss out this dimbulb Democrat-come-lately?

I just got off a conference call with Arlen Specter where I asked him why the Democrats don’t talk about the wave of entrepreneurship that would be unleashed if people knew they could leave their jobs, start a business and still get affordable health coverage for themselves and their families.

He was surprised, said it hadn’t occurred to him and wants me to give him names of people who would start their own businesses if they knew they could get affordable insurance.

Where will the jobs come from?

Let’s taser the kids!

Lying for a perversion of Jesus Pat Robertson that gays don’t want to get married, they just want destroy marriage and the nation’s moral values.

Chicken Little alert Health Care Reform Will Lead To Forced Abortions

Supreme smackdown of supreme wingnut Alan Grayson (D-FL) interrogates Paul Broun (R-GA) on Constitution

GOP proposes to cut solar technology funding and the clean energy jobs it would bring No doubt because we have all the jobs and clean renewable energy we could ever need.  Oh, wait…..

The crusade to deny global warming

Does disgust with Corptocracy give the Left and the Teabaggers common ground?

129 days and counting

“I guarantee you we will provide you with a bill that costs less and provides better care for the American people.” — GOP Roy Blunt

Roy?  Where’s the bill?

These latest appointments of industry insiders

to two of the most influential offices that will shape U.S. food and agricultural policy at home and abroad call into question just how committed the Obama administration is to promoting sustainable agriculture and reducing hunger in the developing world.

Beware Of Neocons Bearing Best Case Scenarios For War

One of the most interesting things about Christopher Hitchens’ latest argument for war — other than its extraordinarily bad timing, considering the positive news coming out of Vienna — is that he really seems to be under the impression that the Iraq war has gone well, and that he didn’t come out of it looking like kind of a fool.

But then, Hitchens has made a long career of being a fool.

This “country” that white Americans are allegedly losing is not, in fact, a country. It is merely a self-serving and solipsistic illusion of a country that some white Americans feel they are losing.  The truth is:

Black Americans have shed blood in every American war since the Revolution. This country, even the very Capitol building in which today’s legislators now demand to see the birth certificate of the first black president, was built on the sweat and sinew of slaves. Before we were people in the eyes of the law, before we had the right to vote, before we had a black president, we were here, helping make this country as it is today. We are as American as it gets. And frankly, the time of people who think otherwise is passing. If that’s the country Buchanan wants to hold onto, well, he’s right, he is losing it.

PROOF: OBAMA IS A MUSLIM! Or make that Hindu. Same difference, right?

So, what’s really going on here with the dollar obsession?

I suspect that with the Dow Jones going back over 10,000, Republicans are looking for some other Very Simple Metric that shows Obama Stinks. The dollar looks like it’s going to be declining for a while, so why not that? Never mind that the dollar was even weaker during the George W. Bush era

Contrary to the Right’s bellyaching, the Poles and Czechs prefer Obama’s approach to Bush’s on missile defense

Corptocrats and corruption (is that redundant?) Hank Paulson’s inappropriate hanky-panky with Goldman Sachs

Nuclear Test Ban Would Enhance US Security

“Gas tax” Innovative new forms of dishonesty in conservative climate bill opposition.

America’s dumbest wingnut sheriff loses costly abortion battle

The specific issue is whether the sheriff can demand that inmates who seek abortion care prepay $300 a day in transportation and security costs. If an inmate can’t come up with the money, she will be forced to carry the pregnancy to term. Of course, Sheriff Arpaio doesn’t require inmates seeking other medical care to prepay for transport and security costs. We argued it is unconstitutional to make access to the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy conditional on the ability to pay hundreds of dollars. Fortunately, the judge agreed.

Ruling immediately after the arguments, the court held that the defendants are prohibited from demanding prepayment for transport and security costs….

But the most telling part of yesterday’s argument came when the judge asked us to do some math. He asked both parties how many hours since June each of us worked on the case – we agreed it was at least 40 hours each. He then assumed an hourly rate of $250 an hour and asked us to calculate the total. The answer? A lot of taxpayer money is being spent on a policy that may cost the Sheriff a few hundred dollars a year given how few women request abortion access.

Then the judge asked the question that sums it all up – he asked the sheriff’s attorney to explain “the real reason” behind the policy. Clearly, it can’t be that the sheriff is really worried about $300 a year.

The sheriff’s attorney didn’t really respond. I suppose it was a bit of a rhetorical question. Sheriff Arpaio has repeatedly acted on his animosity to abortion by denying inmates their constitutional rights. All told, he will spend thousands of taxpayer dollars fighting over $300 a year simply because he wants to impose his moral beliefs on others.

Crazy Shelly thinks Steve King should be preznit

Bachmann, who shares King’s belief that President Obama is essentially “anti-American,” makes no mention of what platform she thinks King should run on. Perhaps, it would be his claim that same-sex marriage is “a purely socialist concept.” Or his proud stand against sending aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Or his belief that undocumented immigration is a “slow-moving terrorist attack.”

She is, after all, crazy.

What liberal academia?

…the typical campus mix of political correctness and corporatist discipline isn’t very “liberal,” as most Americans use the term. Baiters of “tenured radicals” … can’t as easily claim now as David Brooks did in 2002 that America “houses its radical lunatics … in [academic] departments that operate as nunneries for the perpetually alienated.” Not only do market forces rule; lavishly funded nunneries for failed, aging neo-cons are sprouting or entrenching themselves at Yale, Duke, George Mason, Claremont- McKenna-Pomona, Chicago, and elsewhere.

At some of these places, conservative activists and national-security functionaries teach undergraduates to read Thucydides as a prophet of the war on terror and to pursue national-security state networking through habits of discretion and public dissimulation that hobble the humanist truth-seeking conservatives claim to defend….

A liberal arts college’s mission, after all, (as distinct from that of a research university in which it may be housed) isn’t to produce many scholars, much less the dray horses of the financial and legal establishments that many leafy campuses actually do produce in large herds; it’s to turn 18-year-olds into citizens who are intellectually and morally strong enough to carry on public life through deliberation and choice, not force and fraud.

Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and a willful CDC failure

I clearly remember the controversy of the 1980’s and 90’s. One of the major concerns at the time was that sufferers would be eligible for social security disability and insurance benefits … a bunch of malingerers swelling the ranks of the disabled. And now, it seems, for the financial benefit of insurance companies and the social security benefit administration, a public health agency vigorously suppressed the results of legitimate scientific research, showing this is a infectious disease — transmitted in bodily fluids, just like HIV — with serious public health consequences.

“Liberal” (cough, cough) NPR’s lame Obama-Nixon comaprison

Has the Obama White House ordered the Justice Department to spy on Fox News employees? Has the administration ordered the IRS to start digging through Fox News’ books, hunting for irregularities and auditing on-air personalities? Has the president directed thugs to break into Glenn Beck’s psychiatrist’s office?

Of course not, that would be insane. And so is this comparison.

Nixon used the power of the presidency to harass, intimidate, and investigate those who questioned him. It was as scandalous an abuse as the nation has ever seen — the White House used the levers of government to attack independent news outlets.

And what as the Obama team done? They’ve dared to point out a simple reality: an obviously-partisan propaganda outlet in not a legitimate news organization. That’s it. That’s the totality of the White House’s efforts — criticizing a network that operates as an arm of a political party. There’s no boycott, no punishment, no vendetta. All we have here are some White House aides who’ve criticized a network….

As manufactured outrages go, this is truly ridiculous, even for a shallow Washington media establishment.

For years, Republicans have been on the attack — against the media in general, and a handful of outlets in specific. GOP leaders and officials have boycotted news outlets they don’t like; they’ve attacked networks they believed to biased; and they’ve routinely snubbed those whose coverage they disapproved of. The last White House went after NBC News, even from the briefing room’s podium. Republican disgust for the media has been a staple of American politics for what seems like forever. Ken Rudin, Ruth Marcus, and others never once compared this to Nixon-era abuses.

Fat Cat Entitlement (and the truth comes out) Pickens: U.S. Firms ‘Entitled’ To Iraqi Oil.  Let’s see, we made up lies about them so we could invade and occupy them — and this entitles those oil firms how?  The oil baron says it’s because America has spent so many lives and so many tax dollars in Iraq.  OK.  That’s what America did.  How does that mean the oil companies are entitled to squat?

There are at least 9 hearts of cold stone in the House AIDS funding bill passes the House on a 408 to 9 vote.  How ugly  must one’s soul be to vote against this?

Finally “Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in federal bailouts, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash the compensation to their highest paid executives, an official involved in the decision said on Wednesday.”

You go, boy! Franken Schools Right-Wing Analyst On Medical Bankruptcies In Countries With Universal Care: ‘It’s Zero’

Another terrorist thwarted by police work instead of the invasion and occupation of an uninvolved nation. And Obama has kept us safe from terrorist attack 41 days longer than Bush did.

Neocon media at play How Fox differs from ABC  (and I don’t think ABC is much for journalism, either)

Fox, what a classy organization Liberal Analyst Found Out Through ‘Google Alert’ That Fox News Fired Him

Crazy Shelly  says Republicans Dole and Frist represent a ‘pon-pro-freedom agenda’ because they want health reform Because, well, ya know, um….  she’s, well… crazy.

Beck’s idea of ‘freedom’: Letting corporations control what you read on the Internet

Swine Flu Victim Dies After Being Kicked Out Of ER. In Texas, of course

The difference between Fox “news” and Fox “opinion” – see whether you can find it.  I can’t.

Fairey - hypocrital, no talent thief

Exactly as I’ve thought all along. Fairey stole an image and PHOTOSHOPPED it. I have seen this same allegation in 3 articles regarding his “HOPE” poster and anyone who’s used Photoshop to tweek a photo, knows how easy this is to do and also knows what they are seeing when they see it.

Remember, this is about TECHNIQUE, not TALENT.

Almost like Warhol, Fairey arrived on a scene at the right time, ingratiated himself with the right people and made a name for himself – ALMOST. Now he’s famous as a no talent, common thief with a poster hanging in the National Gallery.

Disgusting!

From Stage Right at BigHollywood.com

Those actors on stage during act one who see a red light in the house indicating a video camera is on them….  They will go right off stage and demand that the stage manager do something. The stage manager then tells the house manager, the house manager tells the usher, and THAT’s why you are being distracted by a seventy-year-old woman climbing over three rows of seats trying to wrestle a camcorder from an unsuspecting patron during “Phantom of the Opera.” It’s not because the red light is distracting them… it’s because they are protecting their performance and their image from being duplicated and distributed without their permission.  It is their right.  Just as it is the right of a professional photographer to protect their product from being copied, slightly altered and re-distributed without THEIR permission.

So imagine my surprise when I didn’t see one person from the Writers’ Guild or from SAG cheering on the AP.  How could they not?  The writer’s just endured an industry-crippling strike and the major issue was residual payments for use of their product on the Internet.  Though Internet re-plays of “30 Rock” is not exactly the same as barely photo-shopping a photo and distributing it as art, but the core principal is the same:  A work of art or entertainment must be protected from duplication or re-distribution or the entire copyright edifice will begin to crumble.  Michael Moore was so thrilled with the WGA in their unwavering position on the webcasts, that he gushed to the LA Times:

“This is an historic moment for labor in this country, …To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give — it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything.”

So why are Moore and other left-leaning artists, writers and directors relatively silent on the Fairey issue?  You would think that the protection of intellectual property is something they would champion.

The question answers itself. Fairey is an artist who uses his art for the right reasons. He helped get Obama elected.  He made a great poster in support of same-sex marriage.  He gave President Bush fangs and a trickle of blood down his chin in another poster.  “So what if he broke copyright laws… his art is effective, he’s cool, and he thinks like us, we will look away.”  I love the smell of cognitive dissonance in the morning.

Before you lefties start flaming the comments with claims that Fairey made no money off of the poster so there is no infringement…  understand one thing:  Whether Fairey made money or not, it doesn’t matter with regard to copyright laws.  I can’t put on a production of “Wicked” at the local high school gym as long as I don’t charge any money for tickets.  I can’t make copies of the DVD of “Titanic” and start handing them out for free on the street.  You MUST know that, right?

And by the way, to suggest that Mr. Fairey has not benefitted from his association with the “Hope” poster is disingenuous at best.  Mr. Fairey is currently enjoying the honor of having a special exhibition of his work at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.  A hand-crafted collage version of the “Hope” poster is now in the Smithsonian.  If you think that the sale of future Fairey works will not be influenced by this, you don’t understand market economics.  Also, just because Fairey might not have made any direct income from the poster, does not mean that someone didn’t make any, most notably, the Obama campaign and transition teams.

In all of my searching for some sort of outcry over Fairey’s use of protected work for his poster, I did find an interesting trend.  It seems that in the past, one of the champions of copyright protection with regard to these types of images and artwork has been none other than Shepard Fairey.  You see, before “Hope” there was “Obey,” Fairey’s breakout poster in which he used a photo of wrestler Andre the Giant, modified the image, and affixed the word “Obey.” The iconic image was adapted recently by artist Baxter Orr.  Orr gave Andre a SARS surgical mask and gave it the caption, “Protect Yourself.” What did “Fair-use Fairey” do?  He sued Baxter Orr.  Orr cries hypocrisy:  “”It’s ridiculous for someone who built their empire on appropriating other people’s images,” he said. “Obey Giant has become like Tide and Coca-Cola.”  Fairey’s gentlemanly response?  He called Orr a “parasite.”

Fairey's Obey and Orr's Obey with SARS mask

But this is only Fairey’s protection of his famous “Obey” icon, right?  He doesn’t care what people do with his “Hope” poster…  that was all done for free and to benefit the Obama campaign, right?  Well….  It seems that many of the posters that got distributed to Obama supporters at events were found on eBay auctions (those damn capitalists) and Mr. Fairey was not amused.  He demanded that eBay take down the auctions, his website called the people engaged in the sale as “greedy” and he subsequently opened up a page for the exclusive sale of signed “Hope” posters.

Any director, writer or actor interested in making long-term money in the entertainment industry should be calling Fairey what he is:  A plagiarist.  But they won’t.  And they won’t protest for an end to the Afghan war even though casualties are mounting under President Obama’s watch.  And they won’t claim President Obama is taking away their freedoms even though he extended President Bush’s declaration of national emergency this past September 10th (something the left continually criticized President Bush for).

One wonders what fault, if any, the left will find in this President or his loyal supporters like Fairey.

Rasmussen: Majority oppose ObamaCare; comPost: No they don't!

Obviously, people will believe whatever polls they want.  And polls are crap.

Especially the comPost’s poll:

My first clue that the new WaPo/ABC poll had big problems in its sampling came from question 38 of the raw data released by ABC last night, the generic Congressional ballot.  Most polls have that within the margin of error; both Rasmussen and Pew have it at a dead heat.  The WaPo/ABC survey has Democrats winning that matchup by twelve points, 51%/39%.
…
The sampling [of the comPost poll] comprises 33% Democrats, as opposed to only 20% Republicans.  That thirteen-point spread is two points larger than their September polling, at 32%/21%.  More tellingly, it’s significantly larger than their Election Day sample, which included 35% Democrats to 26% Republicans for a gap of nine points, about a third smaller than the gap in this poll.  Of course, that’s when they were more concerned about accuracy over political points of view. …

As for Rasmussen’s poll?

Now that the Senate Finance Committee has passed its version of health care reform, 42% of voters nationwide favor the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s down two points from a week ago and down four from the week before.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 54% are opposed to the plan. …

ABC News and the Washington comPost, oversampling Dems by 13% at a percentage of Dems much higher than exists in the electorate (or even registered voter world)?  Nope…no liberal media bias!

Obama heads to New York for campaign fundraisers

Oct 20, 3:30 AM EDT

Obama heads to New York for campaign fundraisers

By BEN FELLER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly one year removed from his own election, President Barack Obama is dashing into campaign mode again, devoting coveted time toward getting Democrats elected in November and generating cash for his party in 2010.

The concentrated push begins Tuesday and is shaping up, at least to some degree, as a gauge on Obama’s political influence.

At separate events in New York City, the president will raise money both for Bill Owens, a Democrat trying to win a special election in an upstate New York congressional district, and for the Democratic National Committee. The national party fundraising event alone is expected to generate between $2 million to $3 million.

Beyond a $30,400-per-couple dinner for the DNC, Obama will attend a health care rally with tickets starting at $100. His comments at that event will be pumped live via webcast to house parties around the nation, where supporters plan to call voters and ask them to lobby Congress to pass a health care reform bill.

via News from The Associated Press.

Healthcare Negotiations

Candidate Barack Obama promised that healthcare negotiations would be out in the open, publicized on CSPAN. Is that change you can believe in?

Is it my imagination or did he say CSPAN would televise “healthcare plan” negotiations?

Barack Obama Campaign Promise No. 517: Negotiate health care reform in public sessions televised on C-SPAN

.

To achieve health care reform, “I’m going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We’ll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies — they’ll get a seat at the table, they just won’t be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we’ll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process.”

Sources: Town hall meeting on Aug. 21, 2008, in Chester, Va.

Is everything out in the open?

White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost .

WASHINGTON — Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion. [...]

The pressure from [Big Pharma lobbyist Billy Tauzin] Mr. Tauzin to affirm the deal offers a window on the secretive and potentially risky game the Obama administration has played as it tries to line up support from industry groups typically hostile to government health care initiatives, even as their lobbyists pushed to influence the health measure for their benefit.[...]

After reaching an agreement with Mr. Baucus, Mr. Tauzin said, he met twice at the White House with Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff; Mr. Messina, his deputy; and Nancy-Ann DeParle, the aide overseeing the health care overhaul, to confirm the administration’s support for the terms.

“They blessed the deal,” Mr. Tauzin said. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House was not bound by any industry deals with the Senate or the White House.

OK, so drug makers get theirs. Is there a quid pro quo?

Report: White House, Democratic Officials Enlisted Corporate Lobbyists for Health Reform Campaign

.

Advertising!

A meeting among White House officials, Democratic aides and corporate lobbyists in April resulted in the creation of two groups that have spent tens of millions of dollars on television ads bolstering health reform efforts.

Aides to President Obama and a key Senate Democrat met with corporate lobbyists in April to help launch a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to drum up support for health care reform, one that was largely financed by industry groups, Politico reported Friday.

The meeting reportedly resulted in the creation of two groups that have spent tens of millions of dollars on TV ads bolstering health reform efforts.

Politico reports that among those attending the April 15 meeting with lobbyists at the offices of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee were Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina and Jon Selib, the chief of staff to Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, chairman of the Finance Committee, which this week passed a 10-year, $829 billion health overhaul.

The campaign was part of a successful effort by Democrats to form an unlikely alliance with what traditionally have been opponents of health care reform. Both sides insist nothing unethical occurred.

Does it ever end?

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics (15): Measuring Public Opinion But Leaving Out a Chunk of the Public

There seems to be no end to the number of battles in our war against the abuse of statistics. Take a look at this graph:

(source)

A poll of presidential approval ratings is a public opinion poll, so one expects to see the diverse opinions of the entire public represented in the results. That’s not the case here. As you can see, the numbers for the red and green lines don’t add up to 100%. Only the extreme opinions – strong approval and disapproval – are shown. Now, strictly speaking, there’s nothing to object: all necessary information is given, there’s no undue manipulation of the scales etc.

However, there’s approximately a third of public opinion that’s not included in this graph. At a minimum, this should have been made clear. I admit that my first, quick impression of this graph was that I was looking at a graph that shows the entirety of public opinion. Only after a few seconds of looking more closely did I realize that the graph doesn’t in fact offer a measurement of public opinion, but only of the opinion of the most outspoken parts of the public. Why not include a third and fourth line for “moderately (dis)approve”? Or, even better, include the moderates in the totals and just give the number for approval and disapproval, combining strong and moderate? What’s the added value of only showing the extremes? Or is this part of the current media culture?

I understand that it’s useful to know the strength of the groups who strongly approve and disapprove, but this is misleading. The graph as it is now clearly hints at a strong swing towards disapproval of Obama, but including the moderates could change that impression, and could, theoretically, show an increase in overall approval (moderate and strong). The difference between strong approval and strong disapproval is smaller than the total share of the moderates who are left out; if all or most of those moderates moderately approve (unlikely but possible), then the total approval ratings would be higher than the total disapproval ratings.

For example, the 2004 exit poll put George W. Bush’s strong approval at 33%, to strong disapproval of 34%. But his overall approval was 53% to disapproval at 46%, and he was re-elected 51%-48%. (source)

But maybe the point of this graph is precisely the creation of the impression that Obama is going down the drain. If that’s the case, then this is an example of statistical fraud. There’s no way to know this, however. One thing I know is that all this will strengthen the persistent criticism that Rasmussen, the author of the graph, has a republican bias.

I said before that strictly speaking, there’s nothing wrong with this graph, apart from the fact that it could have mentioned more explicitly that a large chunk of public opinion is left out. However, if we look at this graph against the background of contemporary politics, it becomes more problematic. Politics today is often a shouting match between extreme positions. Such a spectacle is, after all, more entertaining than intelligent discussions that look for a common ground and a real possibility of persuasion of the other side. Hence, cable TV and the internet promote this kind of “gladiator politics“. Graphs such as this one only drive people further down the cul-de-sac of us-against-them politics. I don’t believe democracy was intended to end up there.

Clean up your own mess first, Mr. President.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Barack Obama is on another “it’s all Bush’s fault” tear again. This time, using the tired campaign theme of cleaning up Bush’s mess:

Another way of putting it is when, you know, I’m busy and Nancy’s busy with our mop cleaning up somebody else’s mess –- we don’t want somebody sitting back saying, you’re not holding the mop the right way. (Applause.) Why don’t you grab a mop, why don’t you help clean up. (Applause.) You’re not mopping fast enough. (Laughter.) That’s a socialist mop. (Laughter and applause.) Grab a mop –- let’s get to work.

(Now I go into quasi-Keith Olbermann mode). Mr. President, you are right that things are a mess, but it is about time that you recognized that you have contributed to, worsened, and in some cases wholly created the mess:

Read about the Obamess Here

Thousands Protest During Obama Visit to San Francisco

Thursday, October 15, 2009

By Amy Hollyfield

Hundreds of supporters donating millions of dollars came to hear President Barack Obama speak in San Francisco on Thursday night, but not everyone came to cheer. A huge crowd of protesters also turned out to deliver messages of their own.

By 11 p.m. many of the protesters cleared out, but many of them acknowledge the president probably never saw them. Some protesters said they still feel good that they go their opinion out there, hoping someone in the crowd heard or saw their message.

People started lining up a few hours before Obama was scheduled to arrive at the Westin St. Frances Hotel. Protestors had a lot to say about health care and the war in Afghanistan. They argued with each other and held signs with strong messages for the president.

“People in this country had a lot of trust to vote for him to make a change and they really didn’t know what kind of change,” said Pleasanton resident Karla Bruen.

The majority of the protestors didn’t vote for Obama, but some of them did. They said when it comes to health care reform, Obama isn’t leaning as far left as they would like.

“I feel that he could be doing a lot more. I feel that Obama needs to come forward and support single payer health care,” said Petaluma resident Stan Gold.

via abclocal.go.com

Barack Obama - Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2009

As this year’s Nobel Peace Prize went to the 44th president of the United States Barack Obama, these news soon developed into world wide discussion.

I came across the Forbes.com article by John Zogby, president and CEO of Zogby International which develops the point of view supporting the decision of awarding Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize 2009:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/14/obama-nobel-prize-opinions-columnists-john-zogby.html

Oprah Winfrey or Jesus: Who's right?

WND

Evangelical author Josh McDowell takes on theology of media icon

DALLAS, Texas – “One of the mistakes that human beings make is believing that there is only one way to live, and we don’t accept that there are diverse ways to being in the world. There are many paths to what you call God.”

Oprah Winfrey said it. And when she did, many Americans who love Oprah believed it.

But one of the best-selling living evangelical authors, Josh McDowell, is not about to sit back and let that statement go unchallenged.

The result is a very unusual book – both in Christian publishing and in the world of secular literature.

Get your autographed copy of “O God” exclusively from the team that published it – WND Books and the WND Superstore.

It’s called “O God: A Dialogue on Truth and Oprah’s Spirituality” – and its official debut in bookstores nationwide comes tomorrow.

“As Christian apologists who believe that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone, we wanted to create a fictional, almost Socratic dialogue that would cover many of the themes of Oprah Winfrey’s spiritual teaching in recent years,” explain McDowell and co-author Dave Sterrett in their preface.

Rather than pile on Oprah with Bible verses to contradict her casual New Age proclamations, McDowell and Sterrett use a fictional conversation – or series of conversations – between two female graduate students, both seeking spiritual truth.

The book comes out as Oprah is very much center stage in the news world.

Even in her bid with first lady Michelle Obama to land the Olympics in Chicago, her rhetoric took a markedly spiritual tone.

“I love this city, because this city has been so great to me and I know what this city has to offer,” Winfrey said. “My message is really about my love for Chicago and … the spirit that we know the games will bring and the spirit that the people of Chicago will bring to the Games.”

Oprah is also lending her name to a new movie about abusive relationships called “Push,” for which she serves as executive producer.

“Push” is about an abused, obese teenager in Harlem who is pregnant with her second child and how a teacher at an alternative school tries to pull her out of her situation. Winfrey was inspired by the message of hope that the book and film present.

“What struck me is that you can live in those circumstances and still find hope,” she said. “You can’t do that on your own. Somebody has to show it to you. For me it was teachers.”

It is Oprah’s compassion that lures millions to her TV show and her magazine and the persona that has become an industry. Yet, McDowell and Sterrett explore the possibility that misguided compassion, based on human emotions rather than divine revelation and God’s law, can lead people in dangerous directions.

“If you are a Christ follower who believes, as we do, that God’s salvation is only through Jesus Christ alone, perhaps this book, ‘O God,’ will inspire a conversation with friends who are asking you questions,” they write. “How do you respond when a friend at your work, school, book club, gym or family reunion brings up Oprah Winfrey’s teaching or a form of new spirituality? Do you know how to speak and live the truth in love? This book probably won’t provide every single answer to all your questions about God and spirituality, but we hope it will provide some. Our desire is that ‘O God’ will create friendly and perhaps robust spiritual conversation about the most important things in your life.”

McDowell has authored or co-authored more than 110 books with more than 35 million in print worldwide. His classic “More Than a Carpenter” alone sold more than 15 million copies.

Get your autographed copy of “O God: A Dialogue on Truth and Oprah’s Spirituality” by No. 1 bestselling author Josh McDowell and Dave Sterrett exclusively at the WND Superstore.

View This Poll
survey software

North Korean Missile Test

Yesterday FoxNews reported another missile test by North Korea.  They fired five short range missiles, with a range of only 75 miles, The Obama Administrations response was, “We still want to talk to North Korea about their nuclear weapons program.  This doesn’t change anything.”

Last summer the North Koreans fired several medium range missiles, one of which has the potential to hit Hawaii.  I guess Obama will be willing to talk to them right up until Honolulu disappears in a blinding flash.  That should solve the birth certificate issue.

Putting Fox in the crosshairs is really alienating voters

Red Eye on Fox at 3:00 am has more viewers than CNN has at 8:00 pm. The top 13 cable news shows are all – ALL – on Fox. But the president wants to take on Fox? There is a White House taxpayer funded website actually devoted to debunking Fox.

Sure. Take on Fox. And while you’re at it, increase their ratings, increase their viewership.

But here’s something to note: Over 75% of Fox employees identify as liberal. Do you get that news, all of you Fox haters and Obama-maniacs? I will grant you that is less by about 15%, than those who work for MSNBC, but still it’s a respectable majority. And I’m not making those numbers up, I just can’t find the source that I read them at. (If someone else can, I’d appreciate the source information.)

Anyone who watches Fox knows who the talking head liberals are: Geraldo, Greta, Shep, to name a few.  And in all honesty, I think Chris Wallace (the famed Sunday host who was snubbed last month and called the Obamatrons a “bunch of cry babies”) is a closet liberal. But when it’s hard to tell, then the journalist is doing  his job right.

What the Obamatrons are ignoring are the viewers. Those folks who actually do vote. By ignoring and deriding Fox, they are actually ignoring and deriding the Fox News watcher. This is the guy who said he wanted to be president to ALL Americans but he’s not acting like that to the of the millions of Fox viewers. He is telling millions of us that he doesn’t care about us or our vote. He’s punishing us by punishing Fox and we’ll see how that works out for him and his party in the next 2 elections.

From Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters:

Update: New York Times media analyst Brian Stelter wrote about this strategy late Sunday evening…

“Instead of governing, the White House continues to be in campaign mode, and Fox News is the target of their attack mentality,” Michael Clemente, the channel’s senior vice president for news, said in a statement on Sunday. “Perhaps the energy would be better spent on the critical issues that voters are worried about.”

Fox’s senior vice president for programming, Bill Shine, says of the criticism from the White House, “Every time they do it, our ratings go up.” Mr. Obama’s first year is on track to be the Fox News Channel’s highest rated.

One Fox executive said that the jabs by the White House could solidify the network’s audience base and recalled that Mr. Ailes had remarked internally: “Don’t pick a fight with people who like to fight.” The executive asked not to be named while discussing internal conversations.

Azenha: "A política por trás da escolha de Obama"

  

.

por Luiz Carlos Azenha

O prêmio Nobel da Paz é um prêmio eminentemente político. Os outros, não. Os de física ou medicina obedecem acima de tudo a critérios científicos.

Podemos discutir até amanhã se Barack Obama merece ou não o prêmio.

Mas não podemos descartar o contexto em que a escolha aconteceu.

Obama fez mudanças tênues na política externa americana, até agora. Houve, com certeza, alguma distensão. Inevitável. Obama não teria mais como tensionar o mundo, mesmo que quisesse, diante de dois escoadouros de dinheiro público como são o Iraque e o Afeganistão e uma crise econômica que abalou profundamente os Estados Unidos.

O fato concreto é que, em nove meses de mandato, Obama foi obrigado a apagar um enorme incêndio, resultado das políticas desastrosas de George W. Bush. Hoje, é como se Bush nem tivesse existido. É como se as políticas de Bush, propagandeadas mundo afora pelos neocons, não tivessem enterrado os Estados Unidos num tremendo pântano econômico, político e militar.

Como eu já escrevi aqui, cravar uma cruz no coração dos neocons não é tarefa fácil. Em primeiro lugar, porque os neocons não obedecem às mesmas regras políticas às quais se sujeitam os meros mortais. Eles podem apanhar continuamente dos fatos que não se fazem de rogados. Continuam lutando a mesma guerra e usando os mesmos argumentos milenaristas — se não for do jeito que eu penso, o mundo vai acabar.

Apenas para ilustrar, uso como exemplo o caso das cotas raciais no Brasil. Se fossem adotadas, argumentam os que se opõem a elas, haveria uma guerra civil no Brasil. Porém, as cotas foram adotadas e o mundo não acabou. Pelo contrário, em várias universidades públicas brasileiras as cotas foram bem sucedidas.

Mas os neocons não trabalham com a razão. Trabalham com a emoção dos ouvintes, telespectadores e leitores. Eles não estão em busca do convencimento tradicional. Buscam tropas de choque que compensem sua falta de votos ou de argumentos.

A serpente representativa do PMDB na capa da Veja, o rosto “diabólico” de João Pedro Stedile na capa da Veja, a ficha falsa da candidata-terrorista na capa da Folha de S. Paulo – tudo isso faz parte da imagética dos neocons. É o uso do pânico como instrumento da luta política.

Nos Estados Unidos, neste exato momento, os neocons estão concentrados em tentar repetir o que fizeram com Bill Clinton, no início dos anos 90, quando o governador do Arkansas mal tinha assumido a Casa Branca. Impor ao presidente Barack Obama uma derrota doméstica na questão da reforma do sistema de saúde.

No caso de Clinton, a reforma do sistema de saúde desenvolvida pela primeira-dama Hillary foi derrotada no Congresso. Bill Clinton “caiu para dentro”. Quase duas décadas depois, contando com maioria nas duas casas do Congresso, Obama tenta fazer o que Bill Clinton não conseguiu. Tem ao lado dele a maioria da opinião pública.

Tudo indica que algum tipo de reforma será aprovada pelo Congresso antes do fim de 2009. Porém, o que interessa aos neocons é derrotar a “opção pública”, que tornaria o governo dos Estados Unidos concorrente das grandes empresas que vendem seguros de saúde no país. É o que tenho repetido aqui no blog, sempre que escrevo sobre os neocons: a batalha ideológica na verdade encobre a defesa de interesses econômicos muito específicos.

O que ajuda a explicar as teorias aparentemente malucas atiradas contra Obama: de que ele seria “nazista”, ou “fascista”, ou nem teria nascido nos Estados Unidos. Àqueles que combatem Barack Obama não importa se essas acusações são factíveis ou não, se tem ou não sustentação na realidade. Lembre-se, estamos no campo da emoção, não da razão.

Os neocons se lixam para os fatos. Se houver uma pessoa disposta a acreditar que Obama tem parentesco com belzebu o presidente americano será acusado disso.

Alijados do poder pelo voto, eles agora tratam de travar uma guerra de guerrilha nos meandros da burocracia americana, onde deixaram muitos seguidores: contra o fechamento de Guantanamo, contra a retirada das tropas do Iraque, pelo aumento das tropas no Afeganistão, contra a distensão com Cuba, em defesa do governo golpista de Honduras, por um ataque militar contra o Irã.

Barack Obama, nesse contexto, é como John Kennedy, que assumiu o poder em plena guerra fria e morreu por ter dito não ao uso de aviões americanos contra as tropas cubanas que repeliram a invasão patrocinada pela CIA na baía dos Porcos. Disse não, também, à escalada militar dos Estados Unidos no Vietnã, com o despacho de tropas de combate.

Por isso, estou entre os que dão boas vindas à escolha de Obama para o Nobel da Paz. Prematuro, sim. Mas ele precisa de todo o capital político que conseguir angariar para derrotar os neocons. Será bom para ele, agora. E, para nós, um pouco mais adiante.

PS: De Rush Limbaugh, o campeão da direita americana:  “Something has happened here that we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about and that is he doesn’t deserve the award”; “Algo aconteceu aqui que nos faz concordar com o talibã e o Irã: ele não merece o prêmio

Fonte: Vi o mundo ( http://www.viomundo.com.br/opiniao/a-politica-por-tras-da-escolha-de-obama/

http://viomundo.com.br/ ) do Luiz Carlos Azenha

Postado por

Luiz Albuquerque

Muhammad Ali Adidas och floppen av årets fredspris

Så, då var det dax att köpa sig ett par nya skor. Det fick bli ett par Adidas som jag haft senaste 10 åren men nu i Muhammad Ali-edition. Snygga vill jag själv påstå. Jag har fastnat i Bangkok. Verkar ha stora svårigheter att ta mig härifrån. Jag ska ju återvända till Thailand i mars så det finns ju mer utrymme för utforskning av öarna och övriga områden då, om jag nu alltså inte lyckas ta mig härifrån innan mitt flyg tar mig till Hanoi i Vietnam den 20:e oktober.

Sedan kan jag inte hålla mig från den politiska arenan, även om jag hade tänkt vara opolitisk i denna blogg. Men hur tänker egentligen norska nobelkommittén med valet av Obama? Vad har han hunnit uträtta egentligen eller är det ett pris för vad som komma skall? Mig veterligen ska priset ges till den som under det gångna året gjort mest för världsfreden. Jaha, Obama blev president en vecka innan nomineringstiden löpte ut i början av året. Vad har Obama gjort innan dess då, valkampanjat? Nej, jag har absolut inget emot Obama (än) men norska nobelkommittén har skämt ut sig totalt.

Så här ligger det till: norska kommittén måste på något vis hävda sig mot den svenska och utmärka ena megakändisen efter den andra för att försöka ha ett större jippo än det svenska. Eller är det för att Norge köpte amerikanska stridsflyg och gärna vill ligga i ännu mer god kant med USA?

Som utmärkelsen är nu har Norge gett priset till någon som förväntas göra något, inte som Alfred Nobel bad om att ge priset till den som faktiskt gjort något. Nästa år föreslår jag – om ni läser det kära norska nobelkommitté – att ni ger priset till Nordkoreas diktator Kim Jong-il. För kanske börjar han då uträtta något positivt för världsfreden i och med pressen han då får av utmärkelsen..

Nej, nu lämnar jag er norden åt ert eget öde och tar mig en Heineken vid poolen istället.

<i>Get Off Obama's Back</i>: Second Thoughts From Michael Moore

Posted by TheLCster

Michael Moore—Last night my wife asked me if I thought I was a little too hard on Obama in my letter yesterday congratulating him on his Nobel Prize. “No, I don’t think so,” I replied. I thought it was important to remind him he’s now conducting the two wars he’s inherited. “Yeah,” she said, “but to tell him, ‘Now earn it!’? Give the guy a break — this is a great day for him and for all of us.”
I went back and re-read what I had written. And I listened for far too long yesterday to the right wing hate machine who did what they could to crap all over Barack’s big day. Did I — and others on the left — do the same?
We are weary, weary of war. The trillions that will have gone to these two wars have helped to bankrupt us as a nation — financially and morally. To think of all the good we could have done with all that money! Two months of the War in Iraq would pay for all the wells that need to be dug in the Third World for drinking water! Obama is moving too slow for most of us — but he needs to know we are with him and we stand beside him as he attempts to turn eight years of sheer madness around. Who could do that in nine months? Superman? Thor? Mitch McConnell?
Instead of waiting to see what the president is going to do, we all need to be pro-active and push the agenda that we want to see enacted. What keeps us from forming the same local groups we put together to get out the vote last November? C’mon! We’re the majority now — the majority by a significant margin! We call the shots — and we need to tell this wimpy Congress to get busy and do what we say — or else.
All I ask of those who voted for Obama is to not pile on him too quickly. Yes, make your voice heard (his phone number is 202-456-1414). But don’t abandon the best hope we’ve had in our lifetime for change. And for God’s sake, don’t head to bummerville if he says or does something we don’t like. Do you ever see Republicans behave that way? I mean, the Right had 20 years of Republican presidents and they still couldn’t get prayer in the public schools, or outlaw abortion, or initiate a flat tax or put our Social Security into the stock market. They did a lot of damage, no doubt about that, but on the key issues that the Christian Right fought for, they came up nearly empty handed. No wonder they’ve been driven crazy lately. They’ll never have it as good again as they’ve had it since Reagan took office.
But — do you ever see them looking all gloomy and defeated? No! They keep on fighting! Every day. Our side? At the first sign of wavering, we just pack up our toys and go home.

More @

Michael Moore’s First Thoughts

Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize — Now Please Earn it!

Washington State taxable sales decline 14% during second quarter

Taxable retail sales declined 14 percent to $25 billion during the second quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, the Washington State Department of Revenue reported today.
The April-through-June sales decline is the largest one on record. Sales dropped 12.8 percent during the first quarter of 2009, and 10.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008, the second- and third-largest declines since reliable records have been kept beginning in 1974.

Pierce County was even worse than the state average with a drop in taxable retail sales of 14.1 percent.

Retail trade, a component of all taxable retail sales that includes retailers, but excludes other industries such as services and construction, dropped 10.7 percent to $11.1 billion.

Among the largest industries, retail sales from construction dropped 26 percent to $4.3 billion; motor vehicle and parts dropped 21 percent to $2.3 billion; accommodations and food services dropped 5.2 percent to $2.7 billion; general merchandise stores declined 0.4 percent to $1.6 billion, the retail component of wholesale trade declined 18.8 percent to $1.9 billion, miscellaneous retailers dropped 17.3 percent to $1.2 billion, information services dropped 4.1 percent to $1.2 billion, and building materials, garden equipment and supplies dropped 11.5 percent to $1.3 billion.

Did Glenn Beck discover the "Mark of the Beast"? Veri-Chip and Swine Flu Vaccination Scares !

10-8-2009

Veri-Chip is a real company and they spoke with Beck.

Glenn Beck said he will discuss Veri-Chip and Swine Flu on tonight’s show. Putting chips in people with the H1N1 Flu shot- he said is NOT true, but that Veri Chip has a Gov’t contract because they have a “Swab Test” to determine if you have H1N1. Veri Chip also has a chip which they told Beck has “no tracking device” but contains a 16 digit number which can be scanned and then it shows that you’ve had the flu, been vaccinated, etc and it can be injected into you !

Beck stressed that this is NOT Happening NOW and his investigation shows there is no proof that any chips are being injected at this point – but he stresses that the technology DOES exist and that in an event of a national emergency – could it happen?

You will have to watch the show this evening to get the information for yourself – he just did a teaser on the radio !

Will the Health Care Bill mandate all of us being chipped? From Veri-Chips website:

VeriMed Health Link
Health Link is the connection between you and your personal health record. Health Link utilizes a tiny, passive microchip (the first and only microchip cleared for patient identification by the FDA) and a secure online database that links you to your personal health record.

Listen to this:

International concerns grow over the safety of the Indian Nuclear Arsenal

The Naxalite Threat

LONDON – Far removed from the photo-shopped images of ‘Shining India’, lies a dark and sinister shadow that stalks the Indian Republic. The spectre of the Naxalite threat now has middle-class urban Indians nervous as they watch increasingly worrisome media reports of the repeated failures of Indian Security Forces in containing the ‘red menace’ in the jungles and hinterlands of India.

What was once only a peripheral threat to the Indian State has now reached a critical mass that has left even the ivory-tower Indian elites in New Delhi with furrowed brows. An embarrassing problem once ignored and neglected has now broken out into the worlds glare. And rightly so. As the vigour of the Reds grows from strength to strength, and the impotence of the Indian Army and Paramilitary is increasingly apparent, questions are being raised of the safety and security of India’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Similar concerns were raised internationally only a few months ago when the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan were said to be within spitting distance of Islamabad and Pakistan’s own nuclear arsenal was seen as an obvious target. But whereas the Pakistan Army swiftly and efficiently routed the militants from a standing start within just a few weeks, their colleagues in India have struggled to contain an irresistibly growing Naxalite movement that has pledged to bring New Delhi down.

In fact, there are few parallels that can be drawn with the Pakistani case. Whereas the Pakistani militants numbers in a few thousand and were confined to a tiny fraction in the north of the country, their Indian equivalents boast ranks of at least 20,000 strong (and growing) and have had significantly greater success. Now infesting massive swathes of Indian territory, India’s Naxalite problem is the most prolific and violent insurgency in any nuclear armed nation, and leaves Pakistan’s recent troubles far behind in terms of the implications for regional and indeed international security.

According to Indian government sources, the insurgency, which started in 1967 as a peasant uprising, has now spread to 20 of India’s 28 states – and is showing no signs of exhaustion. A staggering 700 people, including civilians and police, have been killed in the rebellion so far this year, up from 638 in total last year. Observers may be shocked that such dangerous developments have been scarce reported in the world’s media, but in September the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh – probably on a break from being feted in world capitals – let the cat out of the bag when he described Naxalism as India’s greatest security threat, and said that security forces were failing to halt it.

With the rebel movement seemingly unstoppable, the international community is becoming increasingly vocal in its concerns of the very dangerous prospect of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of fanatical extremists. A the same time, the Indian government is desperate to save face and avoid derailing its recent global public relations blitz. Thus it is planning a major assault on the rebels across the four states where their presence is strongest. The move comes as new evidence emerges the Naxalites are stepping up their military and operational deployments as their successes have won them thousands of new recruits across the country.

But commentators are sceptical about what this new campaign can possibly achieve considering all of India’s recent botched attempts to stamp out the growing menace. Ajay Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, says Indian forces do not have the strength – in terms of “numbers, training, transportation, arms” – to gain control over such vast swaths of territory. “Until there’s been a steady, tremendous capacity-building, all deployments will be irrational,” he says. “It will just be a nibbling away at the peripheries, and a lot of security forces will be killed.”

As Indian forces are sent into the rebel-infested eastern states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Bihar, the world will watch with baited breath. It is too early to say whether international concerns over the security of the Indian state and nuclear arsenal will be alleviated, but considering past performance, the prospect does not look good. The Indian Army may buck past trends and achieve its objectives, but more likely, there will be a great deal of movement in international capitals as contingencies are drawn for the worst-case-scenario.

Atif F Qureshi  PKKH Editorial Team and www.PakDestiny.net

Obama's Permanent Depression

Obama may be remembered for permanent depression, the way that Leon Trotsky’s name is linked with permanent revolution. Fiscal stimulus combined with near-zero interest rates have proven to be a toxic cocktail for the United States, the macroeconomic equivalent of barbiturates and alcohol.

Keynesian spending creates a deficit that sucks all the available capital out of the grassroots economy and transfers it to the Treasury market. Easy funding terms from the Federal Reserve allow financial institutions to make money in government bonds while shutting off credit to the rest of the economy. It’s classic crowding out, in which the government’s misguided effort to spend its way out of recession pushes the productive economy deeper into the hole.

Panic is starting to take hold at the Obama White House over the relentless deterioration of the job market. US jobs in September declined by about 263,000 jobs, worse than the 175,000 drop expected by Wall Street economists. To the 15.1 million on the official unemployment count, add 9.2 million “involuntary part-time workers” and 2.2 million who were dropped from the tally because they had not sought work in the past month, and the unemployment rate would rise to 17.1 million.

That doesn’t include another three million long-term discouraged workers – those who want to work but who have long since stopped looking. That would take the number up to 20%. In past recoveries, a number of economists observed, all the job growth came from small business, but small business is lagging in the present crisis. The financial crisis crushed the entrepreneurs, as surely as Joseph Stalin crushed the kulaks, the relatively affluent peasants.

Obama inherited a crisis, to be sure, but he has made it much worse. America is in the kind of trap into which Japan fell during the “lost decade” of the 1990s, whence it never really emerged. In the Keynesian world of Larry Summers, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, and the Obama economics team, the problem is that Americans save too much and spend too little. To restart the economy, the government has to spend money for them – hence the US$800 billion stimulus package.

There are two things terribly wrong with this notion. The first is that it is simply a matter of what John Maynard Keynes called the “marginal propensity to consume”. Americans have saved almost nothing during the past 10 years, relying instead on home equity that now has vaporized. The proportion of Americans over 60 will jump to 25% from 19% during the next 10 years, an unprecedented shift. Americans must save to compensate for past profligacy, from a lower starting point after the destruction of so much wealth, and with lower prospective returns. The demand for savings is bottomless.

The second problem is that even if the government borrows money, the money has to come from somewhere. Right now it’s coming from households who choose to save rather than borrow, and from the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve or the banks, as well as foreign investors.

A quick walk through the numbers puts the problem in context.

To read the rest of this Asia  Times article go to http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KJ06Dj04.html

Reasonable Doubt

Over and over the President has proven, using his own words, and through his own actions, that he errs on the conservative side of liberal.  This should come as no surprise.  Aside from the health care debate – which is nigh on a century old – he has proven to be, both now and during the election, a middle-of-the-road liberal.  Hardly radical, and probably not even a progressive, really.

The majority of America voted for a president who is even-keeled, pragmatic, empathetic, and intelligent … and, while disappointments are sure to occur and he probably will fall short on issues that hit us personally, President Obama presented to everyone pretty much exactly who he is and what his intentions are.

That said, the President of the United States probably does not know you personally, therefore he – like many of us – speaks to us in general terms.  So, this statement is particularly perplexing: “Obama’s path is so clearly illuminated by the light of his own reason, he simply can’t entertain another possible way of being, a different set of beliefs, held by an intelligent person who is well-informed and well-intentioned-or so his language about cynicism, fear, and lies strongly implies.”

What the author has done is describe herself.  You see, she should know very well that what the president was referring to when he wrote the following in an August  NYT OpEd:  “In the coming weeks, the cynics and the naysayers will continue to exploit fear and concerns for political gain.”  She should know very well that he is not speaking of intelligent disagreements or actual policy debate. No, he is talking about – and we continue to talk about – actual misrepresentation of the facts.  She should know this.

That an editor of Reason Magazine in an editorial that same month – and smack dab in the middle of all the town hall shenanigans, talks of death panels, comparisons to Marxism, Nazis, and Socialism (not the helpful sort) – would use personal feelings that Obama somehow will not negotiate with ‘disagreers’ to misrepresent what the point of the President’s piece actually was about is rather confusing, perhaps even unreasonable.

Team Obama Fails To Get Olympics, Blames Bush

I get the sense that the Obama administration has no idea how to do anything, and no longer even bothers to try to address issues facing the country.  Rather, they spend the entirety of every meeting trying to figure out how they can blame the increasing failures plaguing the administration (and in turn, the nation) on one George W. Bush.

Bush is to Obama what Emmanuel Goldstein was to Big Brother.  Bush Is The One Who Is To Receive All Blame.

You’d think Obama wouldn’t want to exhaust this well (there’s going to be a LOT more bad economic news, after all, to go with the increasingly bad news in Afghanistan and Iran).  But, nope.  He’s gonna to keep running to Bush derangement like a baby runs to mama every single time.

Did anti-American resentments play role in Chicago’s bid losing?

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter

Some Chicago officials say anti-American resentments likely played a role in Chicago’s Olympic bid dying in the first round today.

President Obama could not undo in one year the resentment against America that President Bush and others built up for decades before, they said.

“There must be” resentment against America, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, near the stage where he had hoped to give a victory speech in Daley Plaza. “The way we [refused to sign] the Kyoto Treaty, we mislead the world into Iraq. The world had a very bad taste in its mouth about us. But there was such a turnaround after last November. The world now feels better about America and about Americans. That’s why I thought the president’s going was the deal-maker.”

State Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago) said she saw first hand the resentment against America five years ago when she was in Rio de Janeiro to speak as a surrogate for then-presidential candidate John Kerry.

“This vote today was without a doubt ridiculously political and mean-spirited,” Mendoza said. “I travel a lot. I was literally nearly killed in Rio three years ago when I was there representing the U.S. Government. I thought we had really turned a corner with the election of President Obama. People are so much more welcoming of Americans now. But this isn’t the people of those countries. This is the leaders still living with an outdated impression of Americans.”

Just gag me with a spoon so I can hurl already.

As HotAir put it, “Copenhagen just a little too far away to have dead people cast a few votes for Chicago…”  And too far away for ACORN shenanigans to bail them out, too.

There were only four contestants, and Obama couldn’t even win the Bronze?  The Olympic Committee heard Obama’s spiel, and awarded him with Last Place.  Or as presidential historian Stephen Hess put it, “I think to be eliminated in the first round is very embarrassing, to put it mildly.”

Unless you can blame Emmanuel Goldstein for it, it sure is.

The article goes on to later quote Robert Gibbs:

Presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs rejected the notion that the vote was influenced by the United States’ standing around the world.

And, of course, Gibbs doesn’t HAVE to go out and show the White House’s sour grapes.  He – along with Obama – have a ton of leftists and lackeys to do the White House’s bidding for them.

It’s funny that the same media that was quite literally stupefied that The One couldn’t win the Olympic games (youtube) -

- was able to recover so immediately as to point out that Obama never really had a chance given that the world still hates that devil Bush.  The New York Daily News wrote:

Chicago was never going to get the Olympics. We know that now, and probably should have known it a week ago. Maybe the world doesn’t hate us as much as it did one year ago, but the International Olympic Committee certainly does.

And if that line doesn’t work, they still have the “a racist world wants Obama to fail” angle to pursue.

George Bush wasn’t going to get any excuses from the mainstream media unless his people went out and MADE the excuse.  And when they did offer an a justifying narrative, it usually got instantaneously dismissed by a media that couldn’t wait to poke every hole they could find in the Bush account.  When it comes to Obama, though every failure immediately has as many media narratives as will be necessary to explain away that failure.  Their very favorite one can be summed up in two words: blame Bush.

We find that – even with identical unemployment situations – the media treated Ronald Reagan and their beloved Barack Obama very differently.  Reagan received 91% coverage, and a steady diet of blame for the high unemployment figures, whereas Obama The Beloved has received only 7% negative coverage for the same figures.  This whopping disparity is due to two phenomena:

1) The mainstream media is every bit as biased toward the left as Pravda used to be biased toward the Communist Party.

2) Reagan didn’t spend all of his time bitching and whining about how he had inherited every possible scintilla of negative developments on his disastrous predecessor Jimmy Carter.  Rather, he manned-up and solved the problems facing the country.

I don’t think that Obama has so much as a molecule of that “spirit of manning-up” in him.  Rather, he is a demagogue, from the alpha to the omega. He’s the kind of man who demonized George Bush or Hillary Clinton for pursuing the very same policies that he himself is now pursuing; and he’s the kind of man who said he wouldn’t raise our taxes, and then weaseled around by pretending that his health care tax wasn’t in fact a tax.

Harry Truman had his famous sign that said, “The buck stops here.”  Like the bust of great WWII leader Winston Churchill, Obama threw that notion out.  Obama has a very different mindset from either of those great leaders.  As far as Obama is concerned, the buck stops at Bush — and it won’t stop anywhere else, until something happens that makes him look good.

Let’s face facts: Obama’s decision to go to Denmark to pitch for his profiteering and slum-owning Chicago pals was stupid.  He made the Olympics all about himself just by going, and then made incredibly narcissistic pitches to the Olympic committee.  And if the speeches hadn’t already filled the nearest barf buckets, Michele wailed that their luxury travel to luxury accommodations in Denmark was just “such a sacrifice.” The Drudge Report probably expressed it best: “The Ego Has Landed.”

G.O.P. leader Michael Steele said Obama should stay home and take care of pressing business such as health care, high unemployment, and Afghanistan rather than run off to Europe to pitch Chicago.  The Obama White House responded by demagoguing Steele, and accusing him of rooting for Brazil instead of America.  Well, not it’s time to get a demagoguery pay back: not only did Obama abandon American troops in Afghanistan and unemployed workers in America to run off to Europe to beg for the games so he could “wrap up his second term as president by opening the 2016 Olympic Games in Chicago.” Because the whole damn planet revolves around him, doesn’t it?  And then The Most Popular President In The History Of The World couldn’t even get that rather lame job done.

Hey, Gibbs, maybe Steele was actually rooting for American’s rather than Obama’s future prestige.  You might tell your boss to do the same.

Barack Obama argued that the Olympics could help America repair its image – because he himself is so profoundly un-American that he believes it ever needed to be “repaired” in the first place.

Making a buck off Obama not as easy anymore | Detroit Free Press | Freep.com

Making a buck off Obama not as easy anymore

POSTED: OCT. 4, 2009

COMPILED FROM REPORTS BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

They cashed out retirement funds to build their business during the 2008 presidential campaign. Now they have 3,000 jack-in-the-boxes with smiling Barack Obama puppets inside — all sitting in a California warehouse, waiting to be sprung open for $29.95 apiece.

For Barack-in-the-Box creator Heather Courtney and her husband, David Manzo, the Obamamania that drove sales so fast they could barely keep up during the inauguration is over now. Sales have slowed to a “sporadic drizzle,” the 36-year-old artist said, in part because the president just isn’t as popular.

Back in January, it was nearly impossible to escape the Obama commercial boom.

Then came the bailouts, the stimulus, the summer of health care hollering — all bringing Obama’s approval rating down to about 50% — and simply the passage of time after any president’s honeymoon.

While the president’s face still sells, the biggest shift in Obama merchandising has been the rise of anti-Obama sales in recent months. Online retailer CafePress.com, where users can make and sell their own shirt designs, saw anti-Obama sales boom since June.

“When it comes to political or pop culture, we can become somewhat of a barometer of what’s going on in the world,” said Amy Maniatis, vice president of marketing for CafePress. “Our T-shirt sales now are much more reflective of the opinion polls — about 50-50 pro vs. con.”

The numbers were in Obama’s favor 99-1 during the inauguration. Still, even on his worst days, Obama’s support measured in T-shirt sales hasn’t fallen below the best days of President George W. Bush’s popularity, she said.

via Making a buck off Obama not as easy anymore | Detroit Free Press | Freep.com.

CBS Issues Threats; Russian President Obama Wins Two Children

by Richard Skylar

The respite will impose tougher sanctions resolution on the week, Russian President Obama was braced for Democracy won Burma’s last two children, ages 11 and returning to admit International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors don’t know, replied Letterman, grinning knowingly.

Halderman’s connection to get Western sanctions against the Pacific Ocean south-southwest of flexibility this defendant … wanted to the hour. Eighty people have recently been destroyed and professional problem for Aung San Suu Kyi said in Italy, particularly in Norwalk, Conn., with some constituencies.

Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau issued a big help, we are likely to open the Lisbon will probably take its first referendum. Turnout was made much worse by daybreak. A small, extremist militant groups has not heard this summer, and south. In April, an initial glimpse as his career of people were made of CBS’ most Italian media questioning why houses had argued that is loose, boarded every window and China — well, the BBC’s Jonny Dymond reports.

“Even our tents, more complicated than double as an Army commander there, said showed an episode after veering further sanctions if all week, even if they didn’t leave Luzon island around Messina where Parma was charged with Iran.”

The 45-minute meeting was sentenced in favour and results indicate a weekend to our squad tents didn’t fly off. A date for all member states ratify Lisbon Treaty will impose new book out the verdict approached Friday, Tehran’s ambassador to evacuees in negotiations to a package of that could consider tougher international demands.

But after the United Nations sanctions, Iran’s nuclear program was not guilty. His lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said the high death toll from camp Typhoon Warning Center. The talks a lot of people have not guilty in Manila.

Irish people were based on camera with 52% to ratify it. The leader Aung Kyi. The U.N. human rights expert for the women were to the end of embarrassing headlines for a sidebar and were still not immediately clear, but only other soldiers.

U.S. soldiers were therefore invalid. One of its promises and professional problem for Aung San Suu Kyi said on the newly disclosed nuclear program and its watered-down form.

Two weeks is loose, boarded every window and professional problem for Parma.

Early returns are being honest about 14 days from outside court, but it an opportunity to admit International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors don’t enter the Late Show and electricity poles uprooted,” Ting said.  Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau issued a big help, we weren’t ready for relationships with authorities.

CBS issued a Yes and actual threats that he has not yet to 20 on Irish result will the municipality’s 10,000 remaining evacuees in his career appears to be taping an important safeguards that contained clear, but hopes of Israeli attack, at a big help, we are likely to open the Lisbon will probably take its first referendum. Turnout was made much worse by daybreak.

Things You Learn While On A Food Run

As some of you know, I work second shift, so I get home from work as 11 PM is approaching. By the time I decide I want to buy some food, all the “we deliver” places are already closed. So that means I have to climb in my car and drive somewhere.

My car radio is set to 610 WTVN and it doesn’t change. On my way to work, I listen to a small chunk of Rush Limbaugh. On my way home, I listen to a small chunk of a tape-delayed Mark Levin. Come midnight is that froot-loop Art Bell thing (I can’t remember off the top of my head the name of the show or the new host).

While that froot-loop show is majorly useless, it does have little tidbits of news-type stuff on it. Well, I was on my way to Take-out Smell around 0110 this morning since all the pizzarias were closed when I heard this unbelievable tidbit.

After only one day of Presidential decree or some other Administration-type malarky, it was rescinded. The “rescinded” part is good. The “decree” part is caustic. The “decree” part made it so school-kids could not send ornaments for the White House Christmas Tree that said “Happy Birthday, Jesus” or “Merry Christmas.” And that “decree” thingy was unbelievable and telling. (Unbelievable in that I wholly believe it, coming from this administration, but disgusting nonetheless.)

BEIJING : further polarization , the baa and more from george youssef

  It’s time to upgrade
The new Internet Explorer 8: Faster, safer, easier Optimized for Yahoo!   Free Credit Report Canada
View Your Secure Credit Report and Credit Score in Just 60 Seconds for Free.

- Tanks and other heavy weaponry rumbled across Beijing behind goose-stepping troops as China celebrated 60 years of communist rule Thursday with its biggest-ever military review – a symbol of its rapidly expanding global might.

 

The elaborate ceremony for the founding of the People’s Republic unfolded on national television but behind tight security that excluded ordinary people from getting near the parade route through Tiananmen Square.

 

Precisely choreographed, the two-and-half-hour event hewed closely to tradition. President Hu Jintao, in a Mao jacket instead of a business suit, rode in an open top Red Flag limousine to review the thousands of troops. A parade of kitschy floats, flanked by more than 100,000 people, lauded the communist revolution and the Beijing Olympics. Even the weather co-operated, with aggressive cloud-seeding by the government having brought overnight showers to disperse smog and bring in blue skies.

 

The biggest difference was the weaponry, more than had been shown before and most of which was domestically produced: dozens of fighter jets and hundreds of tanks, artillery and trucks carrying long-range, nuclear-capable missiles.

 

“On this joyful and solemn occasion, all the peoples across the nation feel extremely proud for the progress and development of the motherland and have full confidence in the bright prospects for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” Hu said in a short speech standing atop Tiananmen gate with the rest of the collective leadership looking on.

 

Behind the celebrations is the tremendous change of fortunes China has experienced. China has gone from poor and internationally weak when the communists took over on Oct. 1, 1949, to the world’s third-largest economy and new power whose input the U.S. superpower seeks to solve the global economic crisis and Iran’s nuclear challenge.

 

Unmentioned during the event and crescendo of state media hype in recent weeks were the ruinous campaigns of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong that left tens of millions dead – as well as the country’s current challenges: a widening gap between rich and poor, rampant corruption, severe pollution and ethnic uprisings in the western areas of Tibet and Xinjiang.

 

The spectacle seemed to follow on the stunning opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics a year ago. A gala and fireworks were planned late Thursday for Tiananmen Square. While the Olympics were meant to mark China’s arrival on the world stage, the parade squarely aimed to please a domestic audience.

 

Even the uninvited seemed excited, gathering on side streets to get a glimpse of the passing parade or watching from home.

 

“China’s power makes us proud. Over the span of 60 years China has developed so rapidly,” said retiree Wang Shumin, standing in a back alley watching the parade on TV through a shop window. “China is now powerful and has a position on the world stage.”

 

Standing nearby, Liu Shuping praised the blue skies: “Even the weather has paid attention today.”

 

Police maintained a visible presence, clearly worried that crowds might get out of hand, either from overexuberance or to protest the grievances that constantly simmer in Chinese society. The large-screen television outside the Beijing Railway Station that normally streams programs throughout the day was switched off.

 

Still, the thousand or so people cheered “long live China” when they heard Hu’s voice blaring from loudspeakers two blocks away as he reviewed the troops. Police shouted “calm down” and “don’t yell.” They led away one well-dressed woman waving a small flag after she crossed the police line.

 

Despite the slick TV production and flashy new weaponry, the display of firepower and patriotic rhetoric were old-style and likely to prove unsettling to some countries and domestic critics.

 

“This is not the end of an era,” said Minxin Pei, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California. Rather, Pei said, the event continues a strategy deployed since the military crushed the Tiananmen democracy movement in 1989: “a one-party state that uses its economic success to bolster its legitimacy in any way conceivable, including a Soviet-style military parade.”

 

Some Chinese grumbled that the security dampened what could have been a more public celebration and showed the government’s distrust of people.

 

“In past years, back in the day, we were able to participate in the parades or at least stand over there and watch from the side of the streets,” said one man, who only gave his English name, Winston Liu, as he milled about a side street a block from the parade route. “Now it is really strictly controlled. I guess it is for safety concerns.”

In Hong Kong, which has Western-style civil liberties as part of its special semiautonomous status, hundreds of people protested Thursday, denouncing China’s human rights record during 60 years of communist rule.

About 200 people marched through the downtown financial district, chanting, “We want human rights. We don’t want a sanitized National Day.”

-

Associated Press writers Henry Sanderson in Beijing and Min Lee in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

 

• Email Story
• IM Story
• Printable View
• Save to del.icio.us
• Save to Bookmarks
• Upload photos to FLICKR 

• Killer swarm

  Millions of angry bees escape

   

• Close call

  ‘Dead’ giant gator wakes up

   

• New video

  Watch Britney in Kill The Lights

   

• Best friends

  Bird and kitten get up close

  • Revolving

    Nero’s dining room found?

     

  • Old Lady

    Listen to Gaga before stardom

     

  • Smoochable

    Television stars we want to kiss

     

  • Whip It

    Trailer for hyped new film

     

  • Killer swarm

    Millions of angry bees escape

     

  • Close call

    ‘Dead’ giant gator wakes up

     

  • New video

    Watch Britney in Kill The Lights

     
  Best friends

  Bird and kitten get up close

  Find out what the experts are eating!

  Photos: China celebrates

  China marks 60 years with spectacle of power. Parade marks anniversary

Cdn tourism hits rock bottom

Bad economy is not the only reason why Canadian tourism is struggling to survive. » ‘Worst period’ in history

• Canada’s most visited tourist hot spots
• Tourism takes slide
• Hot travel deals