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