Friday, July 30, 2010

Obama Prop Turns Out To Be A Criminal

One of Obama’s favorite political maneuvers is to use anecdotal stories about individuals to argue for policies. These people tell their sad stories, and the intended effect is to manipulate the public’s sympathies.

It’s a powerful technique, if utterly shallow. After all, should we pass sweeping policy that impacts every single citizen in this nation based on a story told by some person found by a politician’s handlers to ring the right bells of identity politics and messaging?

Regardless, the tactic backfired on Obama recently when he used a woman named Leslie Macko as a prop in his push for an expansion of jobless benefits. Macko was held up as being representative of the sort of unemployed American the expansion would help. The problem? Macko’s a criminal with multiple convictions for larceny and abuse of prescription drugs.

President Barack Obama posed with a Charlottesville resident at a White House event on July 19. What we didn’t know – and what the White House may not have known – is that court records show she’s been found guilty of two crimes.

In his daily press briefing Thursday afternoon, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the White House would have never invited Leslie Macko to pose with President Obama had they known about her criminal past. Macko, a Charlottesville resident, stood next to President Obama as his example of the need to extend jobless benefits.

“We need to extend unemployment compensation benefits for women like Leslie Macko, who lost her job at a fitness center last year, and has been looking for work ever since. Because she’s eligible for only a few more weeks of unemployment, she’s doing what she never thought she’d have to do. Not at this point, anyway. She’s turning to her father for financial support,” Obama said in his speech.

Macko was once employed at ACAC Fitness and Wellness Center in the Albemarle Square Shopping Center. However, in April 2009, a month after being found guilty of prescription drug fraud, she lost her job as an aesthetician in the spa at ACAC.

CBS19 learned Thursday that Macko, who appeared in the Rose Garden with President Barack Obama on July 19, has had more than one run-in with the law. In June of 2007, Macko was charged with grand larceny. The charge was reduced in court to petit larceny, and she was sentenced to two years probation.

Apparently her termination from the fitness center didn’t have anything to do with her criminal record, but then by law employers who learn of previously committed crimes after they’ve chosen to employ someone cannot use those crimes as reason for termination. So the fitness center could have fired her because of her previous crimes. They just can’t say that.

Maybe we should stick to passing policy based on the merits of that policy instead of some sappy story the politicians contrive.


sayanythingblog.com

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Governor Rendell Slams Obama For Appearing On “The View”

Governor Ed Rendell (D-PA) slammed President Obama for appearing on “The View” this week.
Barack Obama will skip the Boy Scout 100 year Anniversary Jamboree on Thursday…
Instead he will travel to New York City to appear on “The View.”



Media Bistro reported:

Here’s one thing Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pennsylvania) and Pat Buchanan (R-everywhere) agree on: Pres. Obama should not go on ‘The View.’

Rendell: I think there’s got to be a little bit of dignity to the presidency.

Mika Brzezinski: What are you saying, Ed?

Willie Geist: What a horrible insult to “The View.”

Rendell: I think there are some shows. I wouldn’t put him on “Jerry Springer,” too, right? … I think the president of the United States has to go on serious shows. And “The View” is, you can make a case that it’s a serious show, but it also rocks and rolls a little bit. I’m not sure he has to go on “The View” to be open to questions.

Oh come on… It’s serious.
So what if they call him sexy when he comes on to chat.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

The Obamas Prove They Aren’t Far Removed From What Most Americans are Going Through

The president’s family is feeling a hit like most Americans these days:

He says he and first lady Michelle Obama took a hit like everybody else when the economy nearly collapsed, telling ABC that a college fund for daughters Malia and Sasha has gone “up and down” with the stock market.

Obama says the first couple is “not that far removed from what most Americans are going through.”

Not far removed, but far enough so that the First Lady can reserve 30 rooms at a five-star hotel in Spain next month:

Michelle Obama has reserved about 30 rooms for herself and her daughter, their friends and bodyguards at a five-star hotel in Benahavis near Marbella, hotel sources said.

Not far removed, but far enough to spend ten days on Martha’s Vineyard next month:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is taking his family back to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., for summer vacation next month.

The White House announced the vacation plans on Friday, one day after disclosing that the Obamas would overnight somewhere along Florida’s oil-threatened Gulf Coast on the weekend of Aug. 14.

The Obamas are scheduled to arrive on the Massachusetts island on Aug. 19 and return to the White House on Aug. 29.

Bo Obama is scheduled to arrive on Bark Force One shortly after the rest of the family.

Somebody please tell the president that if he wants a ride on Massachusetts Senator John Kerry’s new $7 million yacht, he’ll have to go to Rhode Island.

Last year, the president called on all Americans to buckle down, give up some things and share in the misery until we get through this financial mess. Can you imagine the scale of the vacations if the Obamas weren’t chipping in their share of sacrifice like the rest of us?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go shoe my polo pony.

Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Was Obama Lying Then, or Is He Lying Now?

Remember Bill Clinton’s linguistic sleight of hand in answering whether or not he was alone with Monica Lewinsky?

“It all depends on what your definition of “is” is.”

I think I have discovered Obama’s “Is” is moment. On September 20, 2009 Obama was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos:



Obama keeps dancing around the cost of insurance and insurance “affordability”, but denies it is a tax. At 3:17, George Stephanopoulos asks him point blank: “How is that not a tax?”

“Absolutely NOT a tax increase.” – BHO

Then, he makes the false analogy with car insurance, though the government compels no one to buy insurance if they elect not to buy a car!

“You can’t just make up that language” -BHO

Then compares increases in private insurance company premiums to taxes mandated by the government and enforced by the I.R.S.

Five minutes in, George gives him the definition of tax increase. Obama says defining it is “proof” somehow that it means something else. (Who writes this guy’s material, anyway?)

“You reject that it is a tax increase?” -GS
“I absolutely reject that notion. “ -BHO

Was he lying then, or is he lying now?

Obama Administration Admits Health Care Initiative is a Tax

After campaigning extensively on no tax increase for anyone making under $250,000 a year, then insisting the money paying for health care wouldn’t be paid for by a tax increase, it seems the president finally admits to lying. This came in the New York Times, on July 18, 2010, buried on page 18 in an article by Robert Pear, “Changing Stance, Administration Now Defends Insurance Mandate as a Tax.”

When Barack Obama was running for president and insisting health care would not be paid for by a tax increase some Republicans, including Senator John McCain, called him on it. It was all denial, denial, denial. In September 2009, when President Obama was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News show “This Week”, Obama said, “for us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase.”

By declaring the insurance mandate a “tax”, BHO has guaranteed that he will not raise the taxes of any one who makes less than $250,000 a year, but every one who makes that little.

sayanythingblog.com

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Just Plane Crazy: Obama’s Dog Flies to Vacation on Separate Jet

The Obamas arrived at their vacation spot in Maine, and the local paper, the Morning Sentinel, described the scene:

The president was the first to walk onto the tarmac, dressed casually in a pale blue Oxford shirt and khakis. A few minutes later, the first lady, dressed in black capris, a tank-top and sandals, walked onto the runway. Shortly afterward, Malia and Sasha joined their parents.

Baldacci and his wife, Karen, presented the family with gift bags full of Maine-made goodies, including baskets made by the Passamaquoddy Tribe, popcorn from Little Lad’s Bakery in East Corinth, iconic L.L. Bean bags, University of Maine ice hockey hats, and an assortment of other Maine foods and books.

Karen Baldacci said the bags for Malia and Sasha contained one loon toy and one chickadee toy that sound their natural calls.

Arriving in a small jet before the Obamas was the first dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog given as a present by the late U.S. Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; and the president’s personal aide Reggie Love, who chatted with Baldacci.

Not enough room on Air Force One for a Portuguese water dog and Reggie Love? Obama had to have a smaller jet (G3 Gulfstream, according to the story) serve as Air Force One instead of the 747 the president usually uses because of the size of the airport, but still, it’s a dog — and we’re all supposed to sacrifice in order to get through these tough economic times, right Mr. President? … Um, Mr. President?

There was some concern because the jet carrying the First Couple’s egos was a bit late in arriving due to rough weather over Shangri-La.

Incidentally, my dog saw this story and wants his own jet now, too. Thanks Obama.

Vacation update: What do you think attracted Obama to this ice cream shop?

(h/t Warner Todd Huston)


Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Signs Advertising Obama’s Stimulus Spending Spree Cost Taxpayers $20,000,000


We’ve all seen them by now. The signs on buses and in constructions zones telling you that it was paid for (or, at least, financed with money borrowed from our international creditors) by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Also known as Obama’s “stimulus” spending spree.

But do you know how much all those signs have cost? $20,000,000, including one sign in the Washington DC area that cost $10,000 to manufacture and erect:

The signs are an idea used widely across the country but perfected in Chicago Democratic politics, where everything good carries the name of the current mayor (but none near the unemployment offices or where traffic jams might occur).

Not that any of the bright orange signs are intended to remind potential voters which elected public officials should be remembered as taking care of things come election time.

ABC News got a clever idea and started checking on how much was being spent on signs advertising money being spent to stimulate the economy. ABC’s Gregory Simmons and Jonathan Karl found about $20 million — as in, $20,000,000 — has gone so far for signs advertising spending.

Illinois alone has spent $650,000 on stationary stimulus signs; Pennsylvania, another state with a fellow Democrat as chief executive like President Obama, spent $157,000. Virginia, which has a Republican governor, allows no such signage.

The reporters found one sign outside Washington on the road to Dulles International Airport that cost $10,000 to make and erect. It advertises a runway improvement that created all of 17 temporary construction jobs.

California Rep. Darrell Issa wants an investigation into “overtly political guidance on stimulus advertising,” including one regulation ordering “Barack Obama, President” on some signs involving Native American programs.

Rep. Aaron Schock (R – IL) put it best:

Another Republican, Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois, launched an equally hopeless legislative bid to ban stimulus spending on stimulus signs. “I think,” he said, “it’s a bit of an oxymoron to spend tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, borrowed money, on a bunch of signs to tell them how we are spending their taxpayer money.”

No doubt.

sayanythingblog.com

Obama Bumper Sticker Removal Kit

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

CBS Shock Poll: Excluding Obama & Media – 74% of Americans Either Support Arizona Immigration Law or Say It Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Once again, Barack Obama sides with the far left radical fringe and against the wishes of mainstream America.

With the exception of Barack Obama, radical democrats, communists and the media, 74% of Americans either support the Arizona immigration law or say it doesn’t go far enough.
CBS reported:

Public support for Arizona’s controversial new immigration law has increased slightly, a new CBS News poll shows, with 57 percent of Americans characterizing the law as “about right” in the way it addresses the issue of illegal immigration.

Support for the measure increased five points since May. Since then, the Justice Department has filed suit against the law, claiming that it usurps federal authority to enforce immigration laws…

Twenty-three percent of Americans think the law goes too far, according to the poll, conducted July 9 – 12. That’s down five points from the 28 percent who said in May that the measure goes too far. Another 17 percent said it doesn’t go far enough.


gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Michelle Obama: Take Your Vacation in the Gulf, America — If You Need Us, We’ll Be Vacationing in Maine

Michelle Obama visited the Gulf coast today, and suggested that Americans who are planning vacations this summer consider taking them in the Gulf region as a sign of economic solidarity with those impacted by the oil spill.

From ABC’s Jake Tapper:

On her first trip to the Gulf Coast since the BP oil spill, First Lady Michelle Obama encouraged Americans to consider vacationing on the region’s beaches that have not been directly impacted by oil.

“It is vacation time. Folks are looking for things to do with their kids, and this would be a great opportunity to do a few things — help this community, send a different message about the extent of the spill, and also think long term about how the rest of the country can help this economy and the folks down here,” Mrs. Obama said at the Panama City Welcome Center.

If you want to ask the Obamas why it’s so important that you take your vacation this year in the Gulf region, feel free to track them down this weekend while they’re on vacation… in Maine:

President Obama and the first family are planning a short vacation in Maine this weekend, traveling Down East on Friday for three days on Mt. Desert Island, the home of Acadia National Park, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, Democrat of Maine.

The Obamas will arrive Friday and stay through Sunday, Pingree said in a statement.

“What an honor that the Obama family has chosen Maine for vacation when they could have gone anywhere in the country,” said Pingree.

Well, not anywhere — it’s just that in Maine there aren’t any tar balls for a thousand miles so daddy can safely brag that he has in fact plugged the hole.

If the First Lady is actually interested in helping the Gulf economy, forget about where they’re vacationing — she might consider convincing her husband to stop pursuing a drilling moratorium that is driving oil rigs, and the direct and ancillary jobs they provide, to other countries.

Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Obama Finalizes Plans For 3rd Vacation Since Gulf Oil Spill Crisis Began

“I’m not going to rest or be satisfied until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil in the Gulf is contained and cleaned up, and the people in the Gulf are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods.”

Barack Obama
May 14, 2010
Speaking On the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster




Barack Obama finalized plans this week for his third vacation since the Gulf oil spill and explosion back on April 20, 2010…
81 Days ago.
Hat Tip Ed

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

MO Dems Can’t Sell Tickets to See Obama; Cut Price in Half

Far Left Democrat Robin Carnahan was forced to cut ticket prices in half after she couldn’t sell out a fundraiser in Kansas City to see socialist Barack Obama.
Hotline On Call reported:

Pres. Obama is the best fundraiser the Dem Party has, but his drawing power is way down from its peak during the ’08 campaign.

Obama is heading to MO and NV today to raise money for Sec/State Robin Carnahan (D), running for an open Senate seat, and Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid.

But Carnahan’s campaign wasn’t able to completely sell out the Folly Theater, where Obama will appear for a grassroots event on Carnahan’s behalf, at the prices they wanted. Tickets once priced at $250 are now going for $99, while $35 tickets are half off.

The grassroots event at the 1,078-seat theater is expected to net $250K for Carnahan’s campaign, the Kansas City Star reported today.


gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Friday, July 9, 2010

Obama: Israelis Don’t Like Me Cuz My Middle Name Is “Hussein”

Obama told an Israeli news organization on Wednesday that the reason he is unpopular in Israel is because his middle name is “Hussein.”
Via Breitbart TV:



Haaretz reported:

U.S. President Barack Obama told Channel 2 News on Wednesday that he believed Israel would not try to surprise the U.S. with a unilateral attack on Iran.

In an interview aired Thursday evening, Obama was asked whether he was concerned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would try to attack Iran without clearing the move with the U.S., to which the president replied “I think the relationship between Israel and the U.S. is sufficiently strong that neither of us try to surprise each other, but we try to coordinate on issues of mutual concern.”

…During the interview Wednesday, when confronted with the anxiety that some Israelis feel toward him, Obama said that “some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is Hussein, and that creates suspicion.”

No Barack. The Israelis are not as shallow as you are.
The reason Israelis don’t like you is because of your anti-Israel policies.

Here are a few examples:
** Obama Refuses to Dine With Jewish Leader
** Obama Won’t Allow Any Photos of Him With PM Netanyahu
** Stunner. Obama Has Refused All Israeli Military Requests Since Entering Office in 2009
** Obama Administration Denies Visas to Israeli Nuclear Scientists
** Barack Obama Announces Historic Shift in America’s Relationship With Israel
** Team Obama Working With Egypt & Russia to Rid Israel of Nuclear Weapons
** Obama Administration & UNSC Push Legislation to Strip Israel of Nuclear Weapons
** Top Obama Advisor John Brennan Says Team Obama Will Reach Out to “Moderate” Elelments of Hezbollah (Video)
** Obama Told Netanyahu “Don’t Come to White House” to Tell Your Side of Flotilla Story
** Obama Poses For Photos With Abbas… But Banned Cameras With Netanyahu
** Obama Administration Holding Secret Meetings With Hamas Terror Group
** Obama Pressures Israel to Apologize to Turkey For Defending Itself From Terrorist Flotilla


gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Monday, July 5, 2010

“It Does Us All Good”… Obama Goes Golfing For 8th Time Since Oil Spill & Explosion

Remember: The BP oil spill is just like 9-11.

Fore!


Barack Obama went golfing for the 8th time yesterday since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig. Only one news outlet had the courage to report on this.

It does us all good.

More… BG added – “Maybe that’s why Google had a golf club holding up the American flag yesterday.”


More:

76 Days Later – “Whale” Super Skimmer Goes to Work on Gulf Oil Spill


Remember: The Gulf Oil Spill is like 9-11.
There is now clear evidence that the negligence by the Obama Administration caused the destruction of the Gulf coastline.

** Weeks after the explosion the feds only accepted assistance from 5 of 28 countries.
** It took the Obama Administration 53 days to accept help from the Dutch and British.
** It took them 58 days to mobilize the US military to the Gulf.
** The feds shut down crude-sucking barges due to fire extinguisher concerns.
** The Obama Administration ignore oil boom manufacturers that have miles of product stockpiled in their warehouses.
** They only have moved 31 of 2,000 oil skimmers to the disaster area off of Florida.
** Florida hired an additional 5 skimmer boats to operate off its coast due to federal inaction.
** There are no skimmer boats off the coast of Mississippi.
** The massive A-Boat skimmer won’t be allowed to join the cleanup effort until the Coast Guard and the EPA figure out whether it meets their standards.
** The feds shut down sand berm dredging off the Louisiana coast.
** The Obama Administration lied about the oil spill cleanup efforts to Louisiana officials.

76 Days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig the massive “whale” oil skimmer finally reached the Gulf of Mexico.



A vessel called “The Whale” may be about to help in the major oil leak clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico.

Well it took several weeks but it looks like The Whale is finally going to be put to work on the oil spill.
The AP reported:

The latest hopes are riding on a massive new skimmer to clean oil from near the spewing well in the Gulf of Mexico, while a local Louisiana parish’s plan to block the slick has been rejected by federal officials.

A 48-hour test of the Taiwanese vessel dubbed “A Whale” began Saturday and was to continue through Sunday.

TMT Shipping created what is billed as the world’s largest oil skimmer by converting an oil tanker after the April 20 explosion sent millions of gallons of crude spilling into the Gulf.

The vessel was expected to cruise a 25-square-mile test site just north of the Macondo Deepwater well site, company officials said.

The U.S. Coast Guard and BP are waiting to see if the vessel, which is 10 stories high and as long as 3 1/2 football fields, can live up to its makers’ promise of being able to process up to 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water a day.

The ship works by taking in water through 12 vents, separating the oil and pumping the cleaned seawater back into the Gulf.

“In many ways, the ship collects water like an actual whale and pumps internally like a human heart,” TMT spokesman Bob Grantham said in an e-mail.

A Whale is being tested close to the wellhead because officials believe it will be most effective where the oil is thickest rather than closer to shore.

The ship arrived in the Gulf on Wednesday, but officials have wanted to test its capability as well as have the federal Environmental Protection Agency sign off on the water it will pump back into the Gulf, which will contain trace amounts of crude.


gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Obama Brags About “Stimulus” Spending $2 Billion To Create…3,500 Jobs

That’s $571,428 per job for a solar panel project Obama was bragging about in his radio address today,but not all of the jobs are permanent jobs. Initially there are 2,000 construction jobs, and then 1,500 permanent jobs.

But the question is…what happens to those permanent jobs once the “stimulus” money runs out?



WASHINGTON (AP) – The government is handing out nearly $2 billion for new solar plants that President Barack Obama says will create thousands of jobs and increase the use of renewable energy sources.

Obama announced the initiative in his weekly radio and online address Saturday, saying the money is part of his plan to bring new industries to the U.S.

“We’re going to keep competing aggressively to make sure the jobs and industries of the future are taking root right here in America,” Obama said.

The two companies that will receive the money from the president’s $862 billion economic stimulus are Abengoa Solar, which will build one of the world’s largest solar plants in Arizona, creating 1,600 construction jobs; and Abound Solar Manufacturing, which is building plants in Colorado and Indiana. The Obama administration says those projects will create more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.

What’s astounding to me is that he’s bragging about this. To him, deficit spending $571,000 tax dollars to create one job is apparently a success story.

Which, in a nutshell, is exactly why his economic policies are failing. This is not how you promote economic growth. This is how you spend a nation into poverty and bankruptcy.

sayanythingblog.com

Team Obama Now Strong-Arming Outspoken Politicians & Detaining Reporters Near Oil Spill

It’s the Chicago way…
Last week the Obama Administration sent out the goon squad to strong-arm Louisiana Parish President Nungesser. They told him to keep his complaints to himself and out of the media.


One of the Top 20 Oil Spill Photos Team O does not want you to see.

Now they’re detaining photographers reporting on the BP-Obama oil spill disaster.
MSNBC reported:

A photographer taking pictures of a BP refinery in Texas was detained by a BP security official, local police and a man who said he was from the Department of Homeland Security, according to ProPublica, a non-profit news organization in the U.S.

The photographer, Lance Rosenfield, said he was confronted by the officials shortly after arriving in Texas City, Texas, to work on a story that is part of an ongoing collaboration between PBS and ProPublica.

Rosenfield was released after officials looked through the pictures he had taken and took down his date of birth, Social Security number and other personal information, the photographer said. The information was turned over to the BP security guard who said this was standard procedure, ProPublica quoted Rosenfield as saying.

Rosenfield, a Texas-based freelance photographer, said he was followed by a BP employee after taking a picture on a public road near the refinery, and then cornered by two police cars at a gas station. The officials told Rosenfield they had the right to look at the pictures taken near the refinery and if he did not comply he would be “taken in,” the photographer said according to ProPublica.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

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