Friday, December 31, 2010

Everyone Must Sacrifice… Obama’s Vacation Will Cost Taxpayers $1,474,200

In January 2009, before the president signed his failed $787 billion stimulus bill into law, Barack Obama lectured America saying,

“Everyone must sacrifice for the greater good… Everyone must have some skin in the game.”



Everyone but Barack and Michelle Obama.

The president’s latest vacation will cost taxpayers over a million dollars.
Via the Hawaii Reporter:

President Barack Obama and his family and friends are enjoying a seemingly quiet Christmas vacation.

They could have chosen a less expensive and more secure place to stay such as a beachfront home on the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station – just a two-minute drive away from the Kailuana Place property where they are now. The president visits the military base daily to workout, bowl with his kids or enjoy the more private beach there. He also could have stayed at a home 15 minutes away on the beach fronting Bellows Air Force Base as President Bill Clinton did

Instead, Obama and his friends annually pool their money to pay for the rental of three luxury beachfront homes. The so-called “Winter White House” – or Kailua home that the president rents two weeks a year – can cost an estimated $3,500 a day or $75,000 a month, according to the web site Gadling.com. The site describes the home where the President sleeps: “The 7,000 square foot home features 5 bedrooms, 5 ½ bathrooms, a media room with surround sound, a kitchen suited for a master chef, a dining room and great room, a secluded lagoon-style pool with tropical waterfalls and a lavish island spa. The ocean lanai and garden lanai showcase ornate landscaping and stunning views of Kailua Bay and Mount Olomana.”

…With estimates secured from a host of professionals, city officials and law enforcement, Hawaii Reporter estimates costs to taxpayers will at least include:

* Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii: $63,000 (White House Dossier)
* Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii: $1 million (GAO estimates)
* Housing in beachfront homes for Secret Service and Seals in Kailua ($1,200 a day for 14 days): $16,800
* Costs for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel: $134,400 ($400 per day for 24 staff) – excluding meals and other room costs
* Police overtime: $250,000 (2009 costs reported by Honolulu Police Department)
* Ambulance: $10,000 (City Spokesperson)
* TOTAL COST: $1,474,200

Sacrifice is for the little people.

gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

PGA Producer Wishes He Could Golf as Much as Obama


By way of Politico, here’s today’s Obama-hits-the-links update…

Human Events Senior Editor Emily Miller Twittered about how many rounds of golf Obama is up to these days:


This prompted John Kim, who is a coordinating producer for PGA.com, to respond this way:


Kim later noted how he should get elected president so he’d have more time to play golf. Careful dude, those deat… er, I mean — “end of life counseling committees” — aren’t just going to be for old people, you know.

But let’s not forget that golf can be a dangerous game, as the president found out yesterday in Hawaii:

“Your putting’s on fire,” Mr. Obama told Mr. Nesbitt on the ninth hole at the Mid Pacific Country Club here, where a presidential fivesome — including Mr. Nesbitt, Eric Whitaker, Mike Ramos and Bobby Titcomb, friends of the president from Chicago and Hawaii — spent much of the afternoon. The private club, in the ritzy neighborhood of Lanikai, boasts what its Web site calls a “highly acclaimed golf course” that has “hosted some of the finest golfers in the world.”

The pool of reporters traveling with Mr. Obama was allowed to watch from a balcony overlooking the course, where about 30 camera-toting onlookers also stood. Mr. Obama approached the green driving his own cart, with his left leg dangling out of the vehicle.

He shot a 5 on the ninth hole. At one point, as Dr. Whitaker took his approach shot from behind a tree in the rough, the ball whizzed past the president, missing him by about two feet.

It missed Obama by two feet, but it only missed TOTUS by one foot. That was a close one!

Whitaker… that’s not the same guy who elbowed Obama during a basketball game, is it? If so, the Secret Service might want to keep a closer eye on him.

Speaking of Obama’s golfing partners, tell me Bill Clinton wouldn’t have killed to have a guy named “Titcomb” in his inner circle when he was president (though I’ve heard unsubstantiated rumors that it was Bill’s Secret Service code name for a short time).

Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Top Obama Intelligence Official Wasn’t Aware Of London Terror Plot

The news of a thwarted terror attack in London, that was possibly aimed at the United States, broke going on two days ago. When the news was roughly a day old, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was asked about the arrests in London…and he didn’t know about them.



From ABC News:

“First of all, London,” Sawyer said. “How serious is it? Any implication that it was coming here? … Director [of National Intelligence] Clapper?”

“London?” James Clapper said, before Brennan entered the conversation explaining the arrests.

Later in the interview, Sawyer returned to the subject.

“I was a little surprised you didn’t know about London,” Sawyer told Clapper.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t,” he replied.

Well, that should inspire a warm, safe feeling for Americans heading into the holidays.

If this guy isn’t even reading the publicly-available news about terror plots, is he paying attention to all the intelligence he has access to as part of his job?

sayanythingblog.com

Everyone Must Sacrifice… Michelle Obama’s Special Hawaii Trip Will Cost Taxpayers $63,000

In January 2009, before the president signed his failed $787 billion stimulus bill into law, Barack Obama lectured America saying,

“Everyone must sacrifice for the greater good… Everyone must have some skin in the game.”



Everyone but Barack and Michelle Obama.

Not only are the Obamas taking another vacation this year, this time to Hawaii, but Michelle Obama’s special trip will cost taxpayers an additional $63,000.
The White House Dossier reported:

The decision by First Lady Michelle Obama to leave on schedule for her two-week Hawaii vacation and not wait a few days for her delayed husband will probably cost taxpayers more than $63,000 in additional expenses, according to a White House Dossier analysis.

President Obama was supposed to depart for Hawaii Saturday, but decided to stay in Washington until Congress finishes its work for the year. He’s now expected to depart today or tomorrow. But Mrs. Obama chose to leave without him Saturday, taking their two children and the dog along with her.

Mrs. Obama’s decision to go without the president forced her to take a separate plane, meaning two flights instead of one were needed to ferry the First Family to their vacation destination. Unless for some reason her plane was headed to Hawaii anyway, her trip involves substantial additional costs.

Sacrifice is for the little people.


gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Wikileaks: Obama Regime Knew Ousted Honduran Leader Was Socialist Pig – Backed Him to Please Chavez

Unbelievable. The Obama Administration knew that Manuel Zelaya was an anti-democratic anti-Semitic pig whose goal was to become ruler for life like his buddy Hugo Chavez. But, Team Obama decided to support him for the greater good of Latin American relations. Barack Obama even cut off aid to Honduras in order to appease tyrant Hugo Chavez.

Birds of a feather…

(Michael Ramirez)
The news that President Obama cut off aid to American ally Honduras did not make many headlines. Barack Obama openly sided with Marxists Raul Castro, Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega in punishing the government of Honduras.

The Wall Street Journal reported, via Weasel Zippers:

Lots of hypotheses have been floated to explain why the Obama administration went to such extremes last year to try to force Honduras to reinstate deposed president Manuel Zelaya.

Now the release of two WikiLeaked cables from the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa strengthens one of those theories: that the U.S. knew Mr. Zelaya was a threat to democratic Honduras but had decided the country should tolerate his constitutional violations in the interest of realpolitik.

Practically speaking, Hugo Chávez was the man to please. After a decade in power, the president of Venezuela’s influence around the region was notable. George W. Bush had clashed with him. Barack Obama was out to prove that they could get along, as evidenced by the warm handshake at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain in April 2009.

Honduras offered a bonding opportunity. Mr. Zelaya was a protégé of Mr. Chávez. Standing up for him as democratically elected was a way to score points with Latin America’s hard left.

But Honduras wasn’t willing to play the sacrificial lamb. When its other branches of government removed him from office last year, it caught Hugo Llorens, the U.S. ambassador, flat-footed. Saving face became the top priority.

Mr. Ford’s cable, written as he was turning his post over to Mr. Llorens after a three-year assignment in Tegucigalpa, supports this premise.

Instead of supporting Honduras Obama officials compared the interim leader to Napoleon.


gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com

Monday, December 20, 2010

Bo Obama Faced Possible Quarantine in Hawaii, Asked to Produce Papers

Here’s what troubles me about this: If you just wanna take your dog out for ice cream in Hawaii and you don’t have your papers, you’re gonna get harassed — that just doesn’t seem right:

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – While President Barack Obama and his family have been coming to Hawaii for vacation almost every year, it will be the first island visit for “First Dog” Bo. If he passes a veterinary exam when he lands, he’ll be allowed to follow the Obama ohana to Kailua immediately.

He can do so under the state’s “Five-Day-Or-Less” quarantine program, which has been on the books since 2003. Bo met the requirements, but the process began months in advance.

“It would take at least four months to qualify for the Five-Day-Or-Less quarantine, which has a provision for direct release at the airport if the owners do things as required,” said state Agriculture Department spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi.

For starters, there’s a $165 fee per pet. The dog or cat also has to have had at least two rabies shots in its lifetime, with the most recent one at least 90 days before it travels to Hawaii. It also has to have a microchip for identification, and have a blood test for rabies. Then there’s a 120-day wait after the animal passes the blood test before it can enter the state. There’s also paperwork to certify that all the requirements have been met.

Wow, that’s more thorough vetting than the MSM did on Bo’s master in 2008.

There is a rumor going around that Bo didn’t have the proper paperwork to enter Hawaii but they let him in anyway — but that’s coming from a group of conspiracy nuts known as “Woofers” so just disregard it.




Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Sarah Palin Dedicates Her S’mores To Michelle Obama

“Dessert is not a right,” says Michelle Obama. “[Americans] do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish,” says President Obama’s Justice Department.

“Have another s’more,” says Sarah Palin.

After whitewater rafting, it was back to the road, where the family and extended family made s’mores. “Where are the s’mores ingredients?” Sarah asked, after she vacuumed the floor of the RV. When she found them, she declared, “This is in honor of Michelle Obama, who said the other day we should not have dessert.”


sayanythingblog.com

For The First Time Since Its Passage, Majority Of Americans Think Obamacare Will Be Repealed

A recent court ruling in Virginia, holding that the central plan of Obamacare (the health insurance mandate) is unconstitutional no doubt has a lot to do with this surge in sentiment:

For the first time since Democrats in Congress passed the health care bill in March, a majority of U.S. voters believe the measure is likely to be repealed.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters think it is at least somewhat likely that the health care plan will be repealed. Thirty-three percent (33%) view repeal as unlikely. Those figures include 16% who believe repeal is Very Likely and 5% who believe it is Not at All Likely. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The number who view repeal as Likely is up from 47% last month and from 38% in early April. Belief that the plan is likely to be repealed has been hovering in the 40% range in surveys since April but began to rise in late October. Last week, a federal judge found a key provision in the law to be unconstitutional.

Note that another challenge to Obamacare ongoing in a federal court in Florida has inspired some criticism of the health insurance mandate from a judge as well. I don’t think the legal challenges to Obamacare are going to be settled anywhere short of the Supreme Court, but it’s clear that the legal victories (both won and impending) are bolstering the public’s anticipation of Obamacare being scrapped.

sayanythingblog.com

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Team Obama Propaganda Department Buys Google’s “Obamacare” Search Records

The most open and honest administration in history.
Team Obama purchased top billing to divert internet surfers away from hostile anti-Obamacare websites.

Your tax dollars at work…
The Blaze reported:

Type in a search of “ObamaCare” into Google — the world’s most popular search engine — and the results may surprise you. According to Politico’s Ben Smith, the Obama administration has purchased top billing to divert internet surfers away from antagonist websites to a new “sponsored link” — the Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) healthcare.gov:

“We are using a bunch of search term[s] to help point people to HealthCare.gov. Part of our online efforts to help get accurate information to people about the new law (i.e. also use Facebook, Twitter, blogs and webcasts),” an HHS official confirmed by e-mail.

The ad buy represents a kind of recognition that the Administration has, to a degree, lost a battle over defining its terms, and that “ObamaCare” — coined and used largely by detractors of the plan — is in wide circulation. A search for the term on Google yields 2.5 million results.


gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Governor-Elect Nikki Haley To Obama: “The People of South Carolina Want Their Money Back”

South Carolina Governor-elect Nikki Haley confronted President Obama this week during his meeting with the nation’s governors.


Haley told the president that if his administration does not honor the federal government’s nuclear energy commitments then,
“The people of South Carolina want their money back.”

The Post and Courier reported:

Haley said she also asked the president if he would honor the federal government’s commitment on developing a nuclear waste repository. When he said he would not revisit opening Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, “I said, ‘Then give us our money back.’ ”

The site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas was proposed to house more than 4,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste from South Carolina’s Savannah River Site. The state and Washington have sued over Obama’s attempt to kill plans for the storage site after decades of study.

“SRS has done a good job, but that was a temporary solution. It was never meant to be a permanent solution,” Haley said she told him. “The federal government has reneged on its promise, and the people of South Carolina want their money back.”

South Carolina’s power plants and its customers have contributed more than $1 billion over nearly 30 years to a permanent repository.

She says Obama pledged that he would have Energy secretary Steven Chu call her promptly.

“I will wait for that phone call, and if I don’t get it, I will be calling
, but I feel he was being genuine,” she said.

gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Obama’s Deficit Commission Concludes That Obamacare Adds Significantly To The Deficit

Remember that Obamacare’s alleged savings on government spending were a big selling point for Democrats when they were pushing the bill. Of course, any honest observer of that legislation knew the notion that Obamacare would actually reduce deficits, or even just be deficit neutral, was an absolute fairy tale. But now we have confirmation.

From Obama’s own deficit commission:

2) Health reform’s cost savings apparently were bogus. Remember how Democrats boasted that health reform would cut the budget deficit by $170 billion over the next decade and far more after that? The deficit commission must not have gotten that memo. It says health spending projections under the new law “count on large phantom savings” and the reform law’s new long-term care program that the report calls “unsustainable.” As a result, Congress will still need to enact “a number of other reforms to reduce federal health spending and slow the growth of health care costs more broadly.” …

5) Obama is a big spender. Although President Barack Obama has talked about fiscal discipline — and set up this deficit commission — his own budget plan would spend $350 billion more on so-called discretionary programs over the next decade than if the government were just left on autopilot, according to the report.

What’s ironic is that Senator Kent Conrad, who is even now touting the commissions final report and will no doubt vote for it tomorrow as a member of the commission, has told his constituents here in North Dakota repeatedly that Obamacare doesn’t add to the national debt. That it doesn’t create deficits. That, in fact, it may well reduce deficits.

Maybe now we can finally get hypocrites like Conrad to stop lying.

sayanythingblog.com

‘And the Host Country for the 2022 World Cup Will Be…’; Update: Obama Says ‘Wrong Decision’

Presidents Obama and Clinton lobbied FIFA hard, as did Eric Holder, who traveled to Switzerland to help sell the US as the location for the World Cup (it’s not like the Attorney General has anything better to worry about).

That’s a lot of political fire-power and enormously respected global prestige (just ask them). Did it work?

Nope:

America has lost out in its bid to host the 2022 World Cup finals.

The Go USA bid was pipped to the post by Qatar, who beat competition from Australia, South Korea and Japan as it netted the award to host nation for the forthcoming soccer event.

The Arab nation were the hot favourites to win the right to host the event, having ploughed millions into their campaign.

The FIFA committee ignored the fact that the country has practically none of the stadia or infrastructure required, which the USA already has in place.

Reverse Midas Touch confirmed yet again. Obama should be happy though because of the “Muslim outreach” angle of FIFA’s history-making decision.

US taxpayers took it in the shorts to the tune of well over a million dollars when the President and First Lady went to Copenhagen to lobby to have the 2016 Olympic Games in Chicago. No telling yet what the cost of this failed World Cup bid will end up being.

Next time Obama should take a lesson from Vladimir Putin, who refused to make a pitch to FIFA for his country to host the 2018 World Cup. So naturally, Russia was chosen.

Update: Obama says FIFA made “the wrong decision.” He still hasn’t said a thing about Wikileaks though, as far as I know.

Update II: Martin Rogers at Yahoo! Sports stumbles upon an irony thicket:

Why Qatar?

At best, the FIFA executive committee voters were whimsical enough to be sold on a dream that has little footing in reality. The sales pitch was one of gleaming, futuristic stadiums, a foothold in the uncharted soccer waters of the Middle East and the chance for FIFA to blaze a trail by embracing a fast-emerging economic power.

Sound like a somewhat familiar strategy? If Obama should be angry at anything, it’s that Qatar infringed on the copyright of the Hope & Change sales pitch, circa 2008.

Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Obama’s Cousin & Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga Orders Arrest of Gays

In 2006 Barack Obama took a trip to Kenya at US taxpayer’s expense.


While visiting Kenya as a guest of the government Obama campaigned with opposition leader socialist Raila Odinga, who claims he is Obama’s cousin.

This week Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga ordered a nationwide crackdown on gays this week. The radical Kenyan leader said police should arrest anyone found engaging in such behaviors.
Capital News reported:

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has ordered a nationwide crackdown on homosexuals in Kenya.

Mr Odinga on Sunday said that police should arrest anyone found engaging in such behaviours and take appropriate legal action against them.

“We will not tolerate such behaviours in the country. The constitution is very clear on this issue and men or women found engaging in homosexuality will not be spared,” Mr Odinga said.

“Any man found engaging in sexual activities with another man should be arrested. Even women found engaging in sexual activities will be arrested,” the premier warned.

Speaking at a public rally at the Kamukunji grounds in his Nairobi’s Kibera constituency on Sunday afternoon, the Prime Minister cited the recent population census results which put the ratio of men to women equal and wondered why people should engage in homosexuality.

“This [homosexual] kind of behaviours will not be tolerated in this country. Men or women found engaging in those acts deserve to be arrested and will be arrested,” he told a hilarious crowd.

gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com

Thursday, November 25, 2010

A Thanksgiving Message to All 57 States

My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…

Of course, the paragraph above is based on a series of misstatements and verbal gaffes made by Barack Obama (I didn’t have enough time to do one for Joe Biden). YouTube links are provided just in case you doubt the accuracy of these all too human slips-of-the-tongue. If you can’t remember hearing about them, that’s because for the most part the media didn’t consider them newsworthy. I have no complaint about that. Everybody makes the occasional verbal gaffe – even news anchors.

Obviously, I would have been even more impressed if the media showed some consistency on this issue. Unfortunately, it seems they couldn’t resist the temptation to turn a simple one word slip-of-the-tongue of mine into a major political headline. The one word slip occurred yesterday during one of my seven back-to-back interviews wherein I was privileged to speak to the American public about the important, world-changing issues before us.

If the media had bothered to actually listen to all of my remarks on Glenn Beck’s radio show, they would have noticed that I refer to South Korea as our ally throughout, that I corrected myself seconds after my slip-of-the-tongue, and that I made it abundantly clear that pressure should be put on China to restrict energy exports to the North Korean regime. The media could even have done due diligence and checked my previous statements on the subject, which have always been consistent, and in fact even ahead of the curve. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story? (And for that matter, why not just make up stories out of thin air – like the totally false hard news story which has run for three days now reporting that I lobbied the producers of “Dancing with the Stars” to cast a former Senate candidate on their show. That lie is further clear proof that the media completely makes things up without doing even rudimentary fact-checking.)

“Hope springs eternal” as the poet says. Let’s hope that perhaps, just maybe, they might get it right next time. When we the people are effective in holding America’s free press accountable for responsible and truthful reporting, then we shall all have even more to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!


Sarah Palin

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Woman ‘Exhausted’ From Defending Obama Will Have Time to Rest

The Obama supporter who in September told President Obama she was exhausted from defending him, frazzled from safeguarding the Hope, fatigued from fighting for the Change and who was “deeply disappointed where we are right now,” will have a lot more time with which to recover from the burnout — she lost her job:

Velma Hart, the chief financial officer for Am Vets, a veteran services organization based in Maryland, said Monday in an interview with CNBC that she was laid off as part of the nonprofit’s effort to cut expenses.

“I want to focus on the positive and be optimistic,” said Hart, who lives in Upper Marlboro, Md. “And assume that somehow things will work out, that there’s an opportunity out there with Velma’s name on it that’s right around the corner.”

Bitter? Angry? Feeling misled? Not really:

Hart told CNBC that she still supports Obama and noted that the economy is improving, though she finds the prospect of unemployment “scary.”

She lives in Upper Marlboro, home to Barack Obama Elementary School, so maybe there’s work for her there (Upper Marlboro, which is in Maryland, isn’t to be confused with “Lower Marlboro,” which is what the president calls the bottom dresser drawer where he hides his smokes).

Hart should form a support group with Amanda VanNess, whose teaching job was personally saved by President Obama as a symbol of the “jobs bill” until she was let go. Together they’ll now have plenty of time to plan how to get out the vote for Obama in 2012. There’s always hope that the next jobs bill will contain funding for “full-time Obama defender” positions.

Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Hope & Change… Obama To Visit Kokomo Chrysler Plant That Spent $343 Million in Bailout Money to Save 1,200 Jobs

Your taxpayer dollars at work…
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will tour a Chrysler plant in Kokomo today that received $343 million in direct investments from the auto bailout to save 1200 jobs.
Maybe that explains the Muppet music


The Caucus reported:

If there was one message that appeared not to get through during the midterm elections, it was President Obama’s efforts to help the struggling economies of the industrial Midwest.

It was in places like Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan that the Democratic party took some of its heaviest losses. That happened despite repeated trips by the president touting the administration’s work to bail out the auto industry and provide stimulus funds to the economically depressed region.

But in the wake of the election, Mr. Obama appears eager to keep trying.

On Tuesday, he will head to Kokomo, Indiana, where unemployment peaked at nearly 20 percent in 2009, but has steadily fallen since then, in part thanks to the recovery of the Chrysler auto plant in the town. White House officials said Mr. Obama will tour a Chrysler plant and highlight the $8.4 billion that Indiana received in Recovery Act funds.

…White House officials said Indiana Transmission, the Chrysler plant in Kokomo that Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will tour, is thriving again after the bailout rescued Chrysler from bankruptcy and the plant received $343 million in direct investments. The officials noted that 400 employees at the plant who had been laid off by Chrysler have been recalled by the company.

Let’s wait and see who reports this story today as Obama touts his failed stimulus bill.

gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com

Monday, November 15, 2010

Unreal. SEIU Local 25 and 12 Other Union Groups Receive Obamacare Waivers

The Obama Administration recently handed out 111 Obamacare waivers to special US companies… And, they’re hiding this from the American public. It takes 6 clicks to find out this information on the government’s health care website.

Unfortunately, if you’re a small business or you don’t have the right connections you can’t get a waiver for your company.
That’s the new reality under the Obama-Pelosi regime.

Unbelievable.
The Cost of Freedom reported:



FOX News contributor Tracy Byrnes said it best:

“The bottom line here is that they gave out waivers is an admission of guilt. Basically they’re saying, “You’re right. We screwed up.” That’s the bottom line here. They did not create a law that benefits all of us.”

So who made the list so far?
The Service Employees Benefit Fund (#10 on list) with 1, 297 enrollees gained a health care waiver from the Obama Administration.

Lets’ see who else is on the list:

#12– UFCW Allied Trade Health & Welfare Trust
#14– IBEW No.915
#19– Asbestos Workers Local 53 Welfare Fund
#33– Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 123 Welfare Fund
#35– UFCW Local 227
#52– UFCW Maximus Local 455
#55– Local 25 SEIU
#60– UFCW Local 1262
#78– Local 802 Musicians Health Fund
#83– Local 17 Hospitality Benefit Fund
#89– International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)
#91– Transport Workers
#92– UFT Welfare Fund (United Federation of Teachers)

So there you have it. The SEIU and 12 other union groups were given waivers.
How’s that for hope and change?

Michelle Malkin has more on the waiver frenzy.

gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Waiver-mania! The ever-expanding Obamacare escapee list

Let us briefly review the rapidly growing rolls of companies, unions, and states bursting out of the Obamacare escape hatch.

In early September, I noted the push by Obamacare promoter and Democrat Rep. Ron Wyden for a special state waiver from the very federal mandate he advocated for everyone else.

A few weeks later, McDonald’s finagled its own Obamacare waiver after warning federal regulators that it could be forced to drop its affordable health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 restaurant workers unless it got a pass.

In early October, the Obama administration announced it had granted waivers not only to McDonald’s, but also to several other firms and labor unions.

Now comes word that Torquemada HHS Secretay Kathleen Sebelius has approved a whopping 111 waivers for businesses of all sizes, along with more unions and other providers of health insurance. The escapees include employers of many low-wage and part-time workers whose health insurance plans would otherwise be dropped, including Darden Restaurants — the parent company of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster and other chains, which employ some 34,000 people.

Among the waivers recently granted were for employers like Darden Restaurants, which operates the Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurants, for 34,000 of its workers. Federal officials have granted 111 waivers to employers, insurers and union plans, who are responsible for covering about 1.2 million people.

Darden said the waiver would allow it to offer employees access to affordable coverage as the health care law is started.

Also on the list: Carlson Restaurants, which owns T.G.I. Friday’s, and hair salon chain Regis Corp:

Without waivers, companies would have to provide a minimum of $750,000 in coverage next year, increasing to $1.25 million in 2012, $2 million in 2013 and unlimited in 2014.

According to HHS, waivers depend on “a series of factors including whether or not a premium increase is large or if a significant number of enrollees would lose access to their current plan because the coverage would not be offered in the absence of a waiver.”

Carlson Restaurants and Regis declined interview requests but e-mailed statements.

“Providing competitive health benefits to our team and their family members is a very important priority for us,” said Anne Varano, senior vice president for human resources and communication at Minnetonka-based Carlson. “The [Health and Human Services] waiver allowed us to continue providing health benefits to our team members at an affordable cost while giving us additional time to develop longer-term approaches. ”

Said a spokesperson at Minneapolis-based Regis Corp.: “Until [health care] reform is further solidified, it is premature to comment.”

Also on the list: Dish Networks and more. At this point, the better question is: Who won’t be on the list after the Obamacare central planners fully acknowledge the destructive consequences of their schemes?

Aetna, based in Hartford, Connecticut, was part of a first round of waivers in September for 209,423 beneficiaries in plans that don’t comply with the new requirement. Oak Brook, Illinois- based McDonald’s Corp., the world’s largest restaurant chain, Jack in the Box Inc., based in San Diego, and the United Federation of Teachers also were among the waiver recipients.

About 200,000 people were included in the new round of exemptions, bringing the total to almost 1.2 million people, HHS said on its website. Also on the list for exemptions are Manor Care Inc., a nursing-home company owned by Washington-based private equity firm Carlyle Group, and Universal Forest Products Inc., a lumber company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Spokesmen for Manor and Universal Forest didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

…Dish Network, the Englewood, Colorado-based No. 2 U.S. satellite-television provider, will be given a waiver for 3,597 employees, and Orlando, Florida-based Darden Restaurants, owner of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains, will get a waiver for 34,000 workers, according to the HHS list. Darden spokesman Rich Jeffers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Dish Network spokesman Marc Lumpkin declined to comment.

The waivers, which last for a year and can then be renewed, let workers keep coverage until new options are available in four years under the law, said Jessica Santillo, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The list of most recently approved refugees is here. Make no mistake: Team Obama isn’t granting the waivers out of bleeding-heart compassion for the affected workers, but out of a panicked urgency to avoid a public relations disaster.

As I’ve boiled it down before:

Old Democrat promise: Everyone gets to keep their health insurance.

New Democrat promise: You can keep your health insurance…if you BEG hard enough for an Obamacare waiver.

Yep: The only way for hundreds of thousands of workers to keep their health insurance is to exempt them from the government-imposed “fix.”

The Soros monkeys are attacking conservative Obamacare critics as “Republican repeal mongers” — even as the Obama administration concedes failure and continues to approve temporary repeals of the federal mandates to company after company after union after union.

Waiver-mania also comes on the heels of Democrats’ own push to repeal the onerous 1099 provisions:

A leading Senate Democrat vowed Friday to introduce legislation killing a part of the new healthcare reform law that imposes new tax-filing requirements on small businesses.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee and a leading architect of the reform law, said a provision requiring businesses to report more purchases to the IRS will impose undue paperwork burdens on companies amid an economic downturn when they can least afford it.

Baucus, who had pushed legislation scaling back the requirement earlier in the year, now wants it repealed in full.

“I have heard small businesses loud and clear and I am responding to their concerns,” Baucus said in a statement. “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy in my home state of Montana and across the country, and they need to focus their efforts on creating good-paying jobs — not filing paperwork.”

Guess we are all “repeal mongers” now, eh?

michellemalkin.com

Monday, November 8, 2010

More Than 1,000 Islamists Protest Obama in Indonesia

Weren’t they supposed to like us now?…
The Islamists chanted, “Obama Comes, We Crush!”


A Muslim woman displays a poster of defaced U.S. President Barack Obama during a protest against his planned visit outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010. (AP)

Over 1,000 Islamists protested Barack Obama yesterday in Jakarta.
NST reported:

Hundreds of Indonesian Islamists rallied in central Jakarta on Sunday to protest against this week’s visit by US President Barack Obama.

More than 1,000 protesters from the radical group Hizbut Tahrir shouted “Obama Comes, We Crush” and “Reject Obama” outside the state palace and the US embassy. They brandished posters bearing his picture and banners with slogans such as “Do not add to Indonesia’s grief”.

“President Barack Obama until today has continued to colonise Muslim countries like Iraq and Afghanistan and kill our brothers there. As such, we will not accept him as a guest,” Hizbut Tahrir spokesman Mohammed Ismail Yusanto told AFP.

“With the disasters happening in Indonesia, his visit will only add to our grief,” he added, referring to natural disasters that have taken hundreds of lives in the last few weeks.



Indonesian students display banners of U.S. President Barack Obama as they stage a protest rally against Obama’s planned visit outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Nov. 5, 2010. Obama is scheduled to visit the world’s most populous Muslim nation next week. (AP/Tatan Syuflana)

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Obamas Party Down in Mumbai While America Suffers

It’s nice to know they’re enjoying themselves blowing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in India while America suffers.



The Obamas are having a grand time in India.
NDTV reported:

US first couple Barack and Michelle Obama hit the dance floor to a foot-tapping Marathi folk number, joining a group of students at the Holy Name school to participate in symbolic Diwali festivities.

The US President and the First Lady’s engagement for the day started at the Holy Name High School in upmarket Colaba locality in south Mumbai where a group of students entertained them with a cultural extravaganza.

The Obamas, who lit a lamp to mark the celebrations, were greeted by the students in traditional Indian attire as they interacted with the children, shaking hands and posing for pictures. The students were seen gleefully clicking the couple’s photos using cellphone cameras.

The Obamas are bringing 250 U.S. executives including GE chief Jeffrey Immelt and Honeywell’s David Cote, which the U.S. India Business Council says is the largest such delegation to ever accompany a president on a foreign visit. The presidents of six universities, including Georgetown and Duke, are also set to come.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Americans are suffering…
Barack Obama is the worst jobs president since the Great Depression and possibly is the worst jobs president in US History.

(Source: US Misery Index)

They wanted to fundamentally change America. They did.
The US unemployment rate has not fallen below 9.0% for over a year now. This is unprecedented.

But, Michelle and Barack are having fun in India.
That’s important.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Friday, November 5, 2010

India Removes Falling Coconut Threat So Obama Doesn’t Have a Repeat of Tuesday

With an entourage of about 3,000 people, several dozen aircraft, disputed numbers of ships patrolling offshore, three Marine helicopters, a few armored cars and a reported price tag of about $200 million a day, President Obama’s mobilization to India is starting to make D-Day look like the Paducah lawnmower races.

But fortunately, the “carbon footprint felt ’round the world” tour” is leaving nothing to chance in the area of security — not even coconuts:

While President Obama may have taken one on the jaw in Tuesday’s elections, officials in India are seeing to it he doesn’t take one on the head during his upcoming visit.

City officials in Mumbai have ordered the removal of all the coconuts from the trees around a museum dedicated to Gandhi for fear one could come loose and fall on the President’s head.

“We told the authorities to remove the dry coconuts from trees near the building,” Meghshyam Ajgaonkar, executive secretary of the museum, told the BBC. “Why take a chance?”

If you’ve ever seen what a falling coconut can do to a teleprompter, you’ll understand the real reason this is being done.

Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Obama Trip To India To Cost $200 Million/Day

Mumbai: The US would be spending a whopping $200 million (Rs. 900 crore approx) per day on President Barack Obama’s visit to the city.

“The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit,” a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit said.

About 3,000 people including Secret Service agents, US government officials and journalists would accompany the President. Several officials from the White House and US security agencies are already here for the past one week with helicopters, a ship and high-end security instruments.

No word on how long the trip is going to be, but even if lasts just a business week we’re talking about $1 billion on this trip. But hey, it’s not like we’re $13.6 trillion in debt or anything.

By the way, where are the environmentalists? This trip has to have one hell of a carbon footprint. I mean, 3,000 people on this trip?

There’s no way that’s necessary.

sayanythingblog.com

Monday, October 25, 2010

Teleprompter to make its debut in Parliament when Obama speaks

A teleprompter will be in use for the first time in the Central Hall of Parliament when US President Barack Obama addresses MPs on November eight.

As per the tentative programme being worked out, the address by Obama, who once said that "America has its roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi", would not be for more than 20 minutes.

The president's programme in Parliament House complex itself will be less than an hour affair, Parliament sources said today. It is scheduled to start at 5pm.

The programme will feature a welcome speech by vice president Hamid Ansari and a vote of thanks by Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar. The US president would also sign the Golden Book, the visitors’ diary of Parliament.

While US first lady Michelle Obama would be accompanying her husband, there was no confirmation whether secretary of state Hillary Clinton would be part of Obama's entourage, Parliament sources said.

Besides the visiting dignitary, those who would be on the dais in the historic Central Hall along with Obama, the vice president and the speaker would be prime minister Manmohan Singh. Michelle will be given a special seat in the front row.

Obama will take the help of a teleprompter to deliver his address to the 780-odd members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, sources said.

Parliament authorities said this will be the first time that such a facility will be arranged in the Central Hall.

Obama’s reliance on the teleprompter is unusual--not only because he is famous for his oratory, but because no other president has used one so consistently and at so many events, large and small.

Teleprompters are textbook-sized panes of glass holding the prepared remarks of the speaker and which rests on top of a tall, narrow pole and flank his podium during speeches.

dnaindia.com

Democrat Candidate Running From Obama: “I Voted For McCain!”

And the award for who can run away from President Obama the furthest and the fastest goes to “Blue Dog” Democrat Gene Taylor of Mississippi:

MS-04: Embattled Blue Dog Rep. Gene Taylor is taking Democratic efforts to distance themselves from the White House to a whole new level, telling the Sun Herald of South Mississippi: “I did not vote for Obama. I voted for Sen. McCain. Better the devil you know.”

That’s not all. Taylor has already signed a pledge to repeal Obamacare and said he would not support Nancy Pelosi for House Speaker if Democrats keep their majority.

McCain won Taylor’s district with 67 percent in 2008, so Taylor is in good company. Once viewed as a safe hold for Democrats, Cook Political Report recently changed its rating for the contest between Taylor and GOP challenger Steven Palazzo to “toss up.”

Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, Democrat candidate for Governor Frank Caprio is saying that Obama can “shove” his endorsement.

sayanythingblog.com

Top Rhode Island Democrat: Obama Can Take His Endorsement and “Shove It!”

It begins… The Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Rhode Island told Barack Obama he can take his endorsement and “shove it” today.
WPRO 630 reported:

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio is livid after the Providence Journal reported Monday morning President Obama would not endorse Caprio during his visit to the state today.

“He can take his endorsement and really shove it”, Caprio told John Depetro and the WPRO morning news. Caprio told WPRO he did not seek the President’s endorsement and calls the snub Washington politics.

“We had one of the worst floods in the history of the United States a few months back and President Obama didn’t even do a fly over of Rhode Island. He ignored us and now he’s coming into Rhode Island and treating us like an ATM machine”, said Caprio.


gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Obama Tells Latinos That Officials Who Support Border Security “Aren’t the Kinds of Folks Who Represent Our Core American Values”

Because to Barack Obama – open, porous borders are an American value.


Obama says that officials who support immigration law and secure borders “aren’t the kinds of folks who represent our core American values.”
Can you believe it?
Did he think it would not leak out to the masses?
The Caucus reported:

In a radio interview that aired on Univision on Monday, Mr. Obama sought to assure Hispanics that he would push an immigration overhaul after the midterm elections, despite fierce Republican opposition.

“If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s gonna be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2.”

Referring specifically to Republicans such as Senator John McCain, who are stressing border security and supporting strict immigration laws like Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration measure, Mr. Obama said, “Those aren’t the kinds of folks who represent our core American values.”


gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Monday, October 18, 2010

Miracle Worker: Obama Matches 214 Years Worth of US Debt in Less Than 24 Months

President Obama, assisted by his willing accomplices in Congress who have helped swipe the national credit card like giddy teenage girls at the mall with daddy’s Visa, have made history.

From CNS News:

It’s official: The Obama administration has now borrowed $3 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

It took from 1776, when the United States became an independent country, until 1990, the year after the Berlin Wall fell signaling victory in the Cold War, for the federal government to accumulate a total of $3 trillion in debt, according to the Treasury Department. It only took from Jan. 20, 2009, the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated, until Oct. 15, 2010, for the Obama administration to add $3 trillion to the federal debt.

The overall debt of the federal government, according to the Treasury Department, is now $13.666 trillion.

Republicans are far from removed from guilt when it comes to debt accumulation over the decades, but one thing’s for certain: The GOP’s Slurpees and lattes over the years have cost far less than Obama’s alleged attempt to get the car out of the ditch.

Fortunately the country has a lot to show for this new debt (I’m selling long on sarcasm and short on Hope & Change, in case that isn’t obvious).

Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Friday, October 15, 2010

Obama’s 52 Year-Old Muslim Brother Takes a Teenager as Third Wife

In 2008 Barack Obama’s brother Malik told the Jews not to worrry that Barack will be a good president for the Jewish people, “despite his Muslim background.”
Malik took his third wife recently.


Malik Obama, older brother to Barack Obama, holds an undated picture of Barack, left, and himself, middle, and an unidentified friend in his shop in eastern Kenya. (Karel Prinsloo, AP)

The AP reported:

President Barack Obama’s polygamist half brother in Kenya has married a woman who is more than 30 years younger than him.

The 19-year-old’s mother told The Associated Press on Friday she is furious that her daughter quit high school and married the 52-year-old.

Mary Aoko Ouma says her daughter tried to marry Malik Obama two years ago, but the mother says she wouldn’t give permission.

Malik Obama, who is Muslim, has two other wives. Polygamy is legal in Kenya if it falls under religious or cultural traditions.

How sweet.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

It’s Not That Obama Was Lying It’s That He Didn’t Know What He Was Talking About

On the job training for Presidents can be horribly expensive:

Back in early 2009, President-elect Barack Obama was asked on Meet the Press how quickly he could create jobs. Oh, very fast, he said. He’d already consulted with a gaggle of governors, and “all of them have projects that are shovel-ready.” When Obama revealed the members of his energy team, he explained that they were part of his effort to get started on “shovel-ready projects all across the country.” When he unveiled his education secretary, he assured everyone that he was going to get started “helping states and local governments with shovel-ready projects.”

In interviews, job summits, and press conferences, it was shovel-ready this, shovel-ready that. Search the White House website for the term “shovel-ready” and you’ll drown in press releases about all the shovels ready to shove shovel-ready projects into the 21st century, where no shovel is left behind.

Only now it turns out that the president was shoveling something all right when he was talking about shovel-ready jobs — a whole pile of steaming something.

In the current issue of The New York Times Magazine, Obama admits that there’s “no such thing as shovel-ready” when it comes to public works.

It’s not that Obama was lying when he said all that stuff. It’s just that he didn’t know what he was talking about. All it took was nearly a trillion dollars in stimulus money and 20-plus months of on-the-job training for him to discover that he was talking nonsense.

To be honest, I’m still not convinced that Obama has learned that it’s nonsense.

sayanythingblog.com

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Uh-Oh… Michelle O Campaigns In Polling Place!! May Have Violated Law

Following the Law is for Thee… But Not For Me.

Michelle Obama reportedly campaigned for her husband and his radical agenda at a Chicago polling station today.
FOX News reported on the infraction:



Drudge reported:

First lady Michelle Obama appears to have violated Illinois law — when she engaged in political discussion at a polling place!

The drama began after Mrs. Obama stopped off at the Martin Luther King Center on the south side of Chicago to cast an early vote.

After finishing at the machine, Obama went back to the desk and handed in her voting key.

She let voters including electrician Dennis Campbell, 56, take some photos.

“She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband’s agenda going,” Campbell said.

According to a pool reporter from the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES at the scene, the conversation took place IN the voting center not far from the booths.

Illinois state law — Sec. 17-29 (a) — states: “No judge of election, pollwatcher, or other person shall, at any primary or election, do any electioneering or soliciting of votes or engage in any political discussion within any polling place, within 100 feet of any polling place.”

A top Ilinois State Board of Elections official tells the DRUDGE REPORT how Mrs. Obama may have simply been ignorant of the law and thus violated it unintentionally.

“You kind of have to drop the standard for the first lady, right?” the official explained late Thursday. “I mean, she’s pretty well liked and probably doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS ELECTIONEERING

When questioned about the brazen nature of Mrs. Obama’s campaigning, press secretary Robert Gibbs defended the action.

“I don’t think it would be much to imagine, the First Lady might support her husband’s agenda,” Gibbs smiled.

Related… She also snarfed down a cheeseburger today too.

More… Bruce added this:

There’s NO WAY you can spend as much time running for office and working on political campaigns over the last ten years, as these two have, and be ignorant of this most basic of basic election laws.
NO. WAY.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Viacom Giving Obama An Hour Of Free Air Time On Six Networks Just Weeks Before Election

Viacom, parent company for MTV, CMT and BET, is giving President Obama an hour of prime time on six of their networks (including the three I mentioned) after the White House requested it just weeks before the elections:

The so-called “A Conversation with President Obama” will be live and commercial-free on six Viacom networks at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The networks will not give equal time to a Republican before the election, according to a spokeswoman.

MTV denies that the Obama hour of TV is political, despite the timing, weeks before the midterm elections.

“We’re not giving an hour of free time to the president to freely express his views. We’re hosting a town hall with 250 young people to ask questions of the president,”Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew said to HUMAN EVENTS.

“This is not a campaign appearance. This is a town hall discussion.”

The White House conceived of the concept and asked for the commercial-free TV time, according to Viacom.

Viacom says that the audience will be screened for “diversity” but that the President won’t know the questions he’s asked in advance.

Now, I’m no advocate for the “fairness doctrine” or mandates for ideological diversity in broadcasting. These privately-held companies can do as they please when it comes to political content as far as I’m concerned. That being said, this is absolutely shameless. The notion that Obama taking questions from the audience, even assuming that the questions aren’t heavily screened softballs (and I assume no such thing), and that it amounts to fair political programming is ridiculous.

Obama will have an hour of time with no opposing viewpoints outside of maybe a tough-to-answer question or two from the audience. And that’s a pretty big maybe.

Even so, I don’t see this being of much help to Democrat candidates across the nation who have spent more time running away from Obama in their campaigns than they have touting their legislative accomplishments from the last two years.

sayanythingblog.com

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Propaganda Pays. Team Obama Gave GE -Parent Company of MSNBC- $24.9 Million in Stimulus Grants

Your tax dollars at work.
The Obama Administration gifted GE, the parent company of NBC, $24.9 million in Stimulus cash last year.
Don’t worry. You won’t have to pay for it… Your children will.

GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt (R) was a member of Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. GE was given $24.9 in Stimulus cash by the democrats and Barack Obama. (Zimbio)

CNS News reported, via Free Republic:

The Obama administration gave corporate giant General Electric—the parent company of NBC–$24.9 million in grants from the $787-billion economic “stimulus” law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009, according to records posted by the administration at Recovery.gov.

Despite getting $24.9 million from U.S. taxpayers, GE decreased its U.S.-based employees by 18,000 in 2009, according to the company’s 2009 annual report.

According to Standard & Poor’s, GE took in $156 billion in revenue in 2009.

GE was the primary recipient of 14 stimulus grants, a spokeswoman for Recovery.gov confirmed to CNSNews.com. These 14 grants provided GE with $24.9 million in tax dollars. On four additional stimulus grants, the primary recipient of the federal money hired GE as a contractor. Recovery.gov is the administration’s website that tracks stimulus expenditures.


gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Monday, October 11, 2010

Man Paid $1 Million By Billionaire To Streak Obama Rally


He put out the offer, a man has pulled off the streaking stunt, and the billionaire is promising to pay up in cash.

If billionaire Alki David is an honest man, the man who streaked in front of Barack Obama at the president’s rally today in Philadelphia will be paid $1 million for his stunt. The man who performed today’s stunt, which captured the attention of the Drudge Report and an Associated Press photographer, is 24-year-old Juan James Rodriguez, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned.

David is a billionaire shipping and bottling magnate who is known to carry out stunts, mainly by paying others to perform them. As the The Sun reported on August 17: “A WACKY billionaire has offered $1million (£638,700) to the first person who streaks in front of US President Barack Obama. Loaded Alki David has promised to pay out the cash — providing the streaker writes the name of his website ‘Battlecam’ across their chest.”

“When I see the video and it’s confirmed…it won’t be check [that he sends], it will be cash,” David, reached by phone tonight, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

The requirements of the streaking stunt, David told me, are that the streaker must have been within “eye-shot and ear shot of the president, they have to scream the name ‘battlecam.com’ six times, and they have to be nude.”

Well, I guess that’s one way to market.

sayanythingblog.com

Hypocrite in Chief: Day After Barack Obama Smeared Chamber of Commerce He Uses Them to Promote His Radical Agenda

Figures. The day after Barack Obama smeared the US Chamber of Commerce in his speech he uses the business group in a speech to promote his radical agenda.



Yesterday they were a threat to our society. Today they’re a respected American business organization.
You just can’t make this stuff up.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Figures. Book Tosser Is a Crackpot Obamabot

There were 1,078 articles today written about Barack Obama’s speech Sunday in Philadelphia.
As of 10PM CST last night only one article, written by Britain’s Daily Mail, mentioned that a book was tossed at his head.

It narrowly missed him.

Once again, it took the British press to report on this incident.
(The Daily Mail)

Now we know why the media ignored this story.
The book tosser was an Obama supporter.
Via JWF and the AP:

The Secret Service says it questioned and released an overexuberant fan of President Barack Obama who had tossed a paperback book near the president at a Philadelphia rally on Sunday.

Spokesman Ed Donovan said the man had written the book and hoped the president would read it. Donovan said agents concluded the man posed no danger.

Obama seemed not to notice the book that landed near him on an outdoor stage after he finished speaking to a large crowd Sunday. The president had turned his back to shake hands with people on another side of the stage.

No wonder the state-run media ignored the story.

Sajid Ali Khan, the book tosser and Obama supporter, wrote about his lunacy on a blog last night.

SK
Yesterday was one of the most dramatic days of my life. Daring, courage and lunacy was all involved. I went to the President Obama rally, in Philadelphia. Usually I am able to place myself at a point where I can shake the hand of the President and talk to him. This time I was one fence away so there was no way I could speak to him. There was five rows of people between me and the President. I was still about 10′ away from him. So I held up my book and as soon as he looked at me I tilted the book to show him that I wanted to give it to him. I did it a few times when he looked towards my direction. The President is extremely intelligent and is always looking for new ideas so I could see that he took several good looks at the book. But he did not say anything. I realized that it was going no where. So I tried to focus on Vice President Biden. I tried to jester towards him, I kind of felt that he did not mind my throwing it to him. So I threw the book towards his feet. The book almost floated in a magical curve. I thought it would land off the stage but it floated and landed in front of the Vice President. I made a V sign and gave him a thumbs up and he enjoyed the whole episode and was smiling and gave me back a thumbs up. As if saying he got it. A secret service officer ran up to the stage and picked it up and soon I was surrounded by the secret service. I was interrogated by a few officers. They said it is a very serious crime to throw an object at the President of the United States, even if it is a book and I am to be locked up till they made sure I meant no harm. However the Chief Officer was very professional and I told him if the Vice President welcomed my behavior then how come it is a crime. Anyway one officer ran a background check and he finally said that my record is clean and that I am good. I explained to the chief officer the whole idea how I need to take my work to the President. He said that this is not the way. I talked to him for over an hour. He said that according to procedure he will file a report and send it with the book to the White House. Then he let me go with a warning that if I did anything like this again I would be banned from any future rallies.

The unlucky part is that when the book landed on the stage President Obama was almost off the stage shaking hands with the front row. I am sure he would have taken the book right there if he saw it next to him.

Also there was no way I could have thrown the book at him. So I was very cautious and threw it away from him. Any way I am doing all I can. I met at least one very promising senior officer from New York City. We immediately bonded and chatted for a little while. He asked me to email him my work!



gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Friday, October 8, 2010

Obama jobs death toll: 95,000 more gone


The latest jobs report is out — and the NYTimes can’t whitewash the truth. It’s “far worse” than expected. The unemployment rate is stuck at 9.6 percent.

No spin:

The economy shed 95,000 nonfarm jobs in September, the Labor Department reported Friday, with most of the decline the result of the layoffs by local governments and of temporary decennial Census workers.

The steep drop was far worse than economists had been predicting. Most estimates were for a loss of only a few thousand jobs.

“September’s U.S. payroll report adds to the evidence that the recovery is losing what little forward momentum it had,” said Paul Ashworth, senior United States economist at Capital Economics.

The recovery that officially began in June 2009 has slowed considerably in recent months, raising concerns about the long slog the country will have to endure to dig itself out of the deepest downturn since the Great Depression. Private payrolls have been growing throughout 2009 but at a rate too sluggish to make much of a dent in unemployment. The outlook for the rest of the year is equally discouraging, economists say.

“We’re looking for companies to get more confident in the pace of recovery and start to hire around 150,000 jobs a month, which is what we need just to keep the unemployment rate flat,” said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics. “But I just don’t see that happening between now and the end of the year.”

While total government jobs fell by 159,000, private sector companies added 64,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate, which measures the percentage of workers who are actively looking for but unable to find jobs, stayed flat at 9.6 percent.

AP grimaces:

The die is cast, and it’s grim news for the Democrats. There’s nothing now that Congress or President Barack Obama can do to before the November midterm elections to jolt the nation’s stagnant economy.

Friday’s government report — the last major economic news before the midterm elections — showed the nation continued to lose jobs last month, reinforcing the bleak reality that it probably will be years — not months — before employment returns to pre-recession levels below 6 percent.

That tightens the pressure on Democrats ahead of the Nov. 2 elections. And it also casts a dark shadow well into the 2012 election season and beyond.

BLAME BUSH in 3, 2, 1…

Democrats, who now control the White House and both chambers of Congress, are sticking with a positive line: The economy is moving too slowly for anybody’s comfort, but Obama and his congressional Democratic allies have laid the groundwork for future prosperity. They are blaming the downturn on the policies of Republican George W. Bush’s eight-year presidency.

Un-fun fact: “Unemployment has now topped 9.5 percent for 14 months in a row, the longest stretch since the Great Depression of the 1930s.”

The Job-Killing Grim Reaper reigns.

***

Update: 11:47am Eastern. Obama addressing jobs report, stresses private sector jobs added and bashes Republicans.

But via Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

There was further bad news in the expansion of underemployed and chronically unemployed. The underemployed grew by 612,000 in September, and is now at 9.5 million people. The chronically unemployed went to 2.5 million, up 300,000 from a year ago. Among the latter group were 1.2 million discouraged workers, up over 500,000 from a year ago.

The winners in job additions were health care, food services and drinking places, employment services, and a slight bump in mining. Manufacturing stayed flat, which may be the best possible outcome, considering the setbacks to manufacturing during “Recovery Summer.” Construction lost 21,000 jobs.

Yesterday, Gallup warned that serious job losses occurred in the final two weeks of the month, and that the BLS data would likely miss it in this report. If true (ADP also saw private-sector losses), then next month’s report will look significantly worse.

michellemalkin.com