American hikers thanked Sean Penn, Noam Chomsky, Yusuf Islam and Cindy Sheehan for their release after returning to the US today.Send them back.
President Barack Obama charged Sunday that the GOP vision of government would "fundamentally cripple America," as he tried out his newly combative message on the liberal West Coast.He's traveling on our dime to raise money for himself and all the while he demonizes people. He can't go soon enough.
Aiming to renew the ardor of Democratic loyalists who have grown increasingly disenchanted with him, the president mixed frontal attacks on Republicans with words of encouragement intended to buck up the faithful as the 2012 campaign revs up.
"From the moment I took office what we've seen is a constant ideological pushback against any kind of sensible reforms that would make our economy work better and give people more opportunity," the president said at an intimate brunch fundraiser at the Medina, Wash., home of former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley.
About 65 guests were paying $35,800 per couple to listen to Obama at the first of seven fundraisers he was holding from Seattle to Hollywood to San Diego on Sunday and Monday. The three-day West Coast swing, ending Tuesday in Denver, offered him the chance to try to reassure some of his most liberal and deep-pocketed supporters.
The GOP alternative, Obama said, is "an approach to government that will fundamentally cripple America in meeting the challenges of the 21st century. And that's not the kind of society that I want to leave to Malia and Sasha."His kids are probably embarrassed by him.
Obama's speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he's been giving away too much in talks with Republicans -- and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average at 16.7 percent.He needs help, alright.
"It gets folks discouraged. I know. I listen to some of y'all," Obama told an audience of some 3,000 in a darkened Washington convention center.
But he said blacks need to have faith in the future -- and understand that the fight won't be won if they don't rally to his side.
"I need your help," Obama said.
Herman Cain pulled off a shocking upset victory in Florida’s Presidency 5 Straw Poll on Saturday. The Georgia businessman won more votes than the Republican primary's frontrunners -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- combined.It also demolished the popular notion in liberal and media precincts that Republicans are racist, but that won't stop them from smearing people. It's who they are, it's what they do, it's all they have left.
The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO captured 37 percent of the vote, while Perry took 15 percent and Romney took 14 percent.
Cain’s surprise win threatened to upend the popular notion that Perry had become almost untouchable just weeks after announcing his presidential bid. It also underscored Perry’s recent struggles on the campaign trail, including two weak debate performances and a barrage of attacks from other candidates over his positions on Social Security and immigration.
Despite the criticism, Cain said he wasn’t offended by Freeman’s comments. "Name calling is something that is going to continue in this because they don’t know how to stop this movement and this movement is making a big difference in politics," said Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza.An Obama-Cain matchup would be fascinating. In one corner you'd have a successful, articulate black man offering hope and change to the nation. In the other you'd have Barack Obama.
Harrison and Stover are on the hot seat. Anything they say in their defense — even an off-hand remark — can and will be used against them. Their lawyers would be fools if they didn’t insist that their clients take the Fifth Amendment.Cute how he has quotation marks around the word scandal, isn't it?
Do the Republicans know this? Of course. Do they care? Of course not. For an hour and a half on Friday morning, they peppered the two men with questions about this “taxpayer ripoff,” as Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, described it, knowing full well that Harrison and Stover would invoke their constitutional right to remain silent. Joe McCarthy would have been proud.
The purpose of the hearing — indeed, the point of manufacturing a Solyndra investigation in the first place — is to embarrass the president. That’s how Washington works in the modern age: the party out of power gins up phony scandals aimed at hurting the party in power.
Undoubtedly, the Solyndra “scandal” will draw a little blood: there are some embarrassing e-mails showing the White House pushing to get the deal done quickly so it could tout Solyndra’s green jobs as part of the stimulus package.
Typical idiocy from the Republicans. Truth is the Republicans today are little more than a party run by deluded, bitter southerners who want to re-litigate the civil war. Add a black man as President and it is just too much.Speaking of country clubs, Bill Clinton today joined Barack Obama on the links. Glad to see his dismal poll ratings don't have him worried.
I am not sure who is worse, this tea party bunch wing of this party, or the rest of the Republicans who stick with them so they can (they imagine) keep a few more dollars in their pockets. This even though their country clubs and businesses are all going bankrupt.
President Barack Obama's approval ratings have fallen to a new low, with only 36 percent of Americans saying that they approve of the way he is handling his job overall, according to a new poll from the Economist/YouGov. A majority of Americans - 56 percent - disapprove of the president's performance.Don't be overly concerned with this matchup numbers. If this stooge stays under 50% he's a goner.
Even more concerning for the president may be the news that top Republican candidates have moved within striking distance in head-to-head matchups. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney trails Obama by just a 44 percent to 43 percent margin, while Texas Gov. Rick Perry trails 46 percent to 42 percent.
People like Christine Alonzo are keeping President Barack Obama afloat and giving his political team hope that he can win re-election despite high unemployment and sour attitudes about his policies and the country's future.Um, exactly how many people who've lost their jobs and homes want him to have a second term. I'd say that figure may be in the low single digits despite this pathetic spin.
Alonzo volunteered for Obama during the 2008 campaign. A few months after Obama's victory, she lost her job. She's still looking for work. Instead of blaming Obama for the economic crisis, she's volunteering full time to help him capture a second term.
"It's tough out there," Alonzo says. But, the 43-year-old adds, "I don't think our president's had enough time to get us back to where we need to be." She still likes him even though she's not hot about the state of the country. "He's got the intelligence, the drive, to get this country back on track."
This is a factor any Republican challenger must consider: Public opinion polls routinely show that Americans like the president personally even though they don't agree with his policies, even if hurt by them.
People who have lost their jobs or homes during Obama's presidency nonetheless say they want him to succeed and, what's more, they're working to help re-elect him because of the affinity they feel for him.
"They're going to tell you that everyone's left the president, no one likes Obama anymore. They are so totally wrong," Obama's national field director, Jeremy Bird, told volunteers in Denver recently. "Yes, people are frustrated with the economy, with jobs. But when they look at the president, the president's character ... they're all in support."Really, they're all in support?
"You look at the president, and you see a family man facing a great, great hardship on all fronts. People understand that," said McKevitt. She lost her editing job at a weekly newspaper that folded shortly before Obama was elected and she recently won a campaign essay contest to have lunch with the president. "People like how reasonable he is, and people feel that. He's a soul kind of guy, with depth."This is Soviet-style propaganda at its worst.
The campaign for Democratic Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren said Friday she had been paid $192,722 for serving as chairman of a congressional committee that monitored the 2008 federal bank bailout, three times as much as had originally been acknowledged.It's quite amazing how many "honest mistakes" these liberals make.
The Warren campaign revised the figure following a POLITICO report on Thursday highlighting the fact that the Congressional Oversight Panel, which oversaw the TARP program, has not publicly disclosed exactly how it spent $10.5 million on salaries, travel, consultants and other expenses. Warren said she now supports public access to the oversight panel’s records, though her campaign wouldn’t say if she plans to actively push to open up the records.
Warren served as the oversight panel’s chairman from its creation in the fall of 2008 until September 2010, when President Barack Obama tapped her to help launch the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Senate Republicans, however, blocked her from being formally appointed to head the new agency.
Warren spokesman Kyle Sullivan initially said Warren, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to take on Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) next year, had earned $64,289 for serving on the oversight panel, based on executive-branch financial disclosure statements she filed for 2009 and 2010.
But Sullivan told POLITICO on Friday that the campaign had overlooked $128,433 Warren earned from the panel in 2009.
“In a rush to meet your deadline, we made an honest mistake,” Sullivan said. “And we misread a document and thought $64,289 was for 2009 and 2010. It was only for 2010.”
Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) downplayed President Obama’s concern that Americans should not wait “until another bridge falls,” and in turn pass his jobs bill that promotes infrastructure improvements, saying that the bridges in her home state are safe.This bridge nonsense has shown Obama at his lowest. It's as if he wants a bridge to collapse just so he can justify raising taxes. It's pathetic.
“No, no there are not any bridges in North Carolina in danger of falling,” Hagan said to CNS News.
The president painted a bleaker picture during a Sept. 14 speech in North Carolina.
“In North Carolina alone, there are 153 structurally deficient bridges that need to be repaired. Four of them are near here, on or around the [Raleigh] Beltline. Why would we wait to act until another bridge falls?” Obama said.
Well, I suppose the upside here is she wasn't redistributing taxpayers money. She just helped herself to it.A state lawmaker who was a central figure this year in the drama over whether Maryland would approve same-sex marriage was charged Friday with stealing campaign funds to pay for her wedding.Ironically she has a degree in criminal justice.
Charges brought by the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor allege that Del. Tiffany T. Alston (D-Prince George’s) spent thousands of dollars of campaign contributions to pay for wedding expenses and for the salary of an employee in her law firm.
In several instances, Alston wrote herself checks from the account of “Friends of Tiffany Alston” and then cashed the checks for personal use, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Alston is charged with one count of felony theft, one count of misdemeanor theft, one count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary and two election law violations.
The felony theft charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum 18-month sentence and fine of $500.
Tempers flared during a town hall meeting on the Dream Act Tuesday night. During the meeting a high school government teacher from John F. Kennedy called the local Tea Party president a Nazi.Lords only knows what the kids in his "government" class are being taught.
The exchange was recorded and posted on You tube.
"When you get to name calling that just shows that there is no logic to your argument any further. It's all emotion," said George Rodriguez, President of the San Antonio Tea Party.
The teacher's emotion came from a panelist's comment that school administration should deport undocumented students.
"So you would have students in this room deported?" asked the teacher.
The panelist replied, "Yes, I would if they were illegal. You bet."
Rodriguez also told the teacher if the person is here illegally, they are breaking the law.
"You know what I would have? I would have you teach more balanced - conservative," added Rodriguez.
After those remarks is when the teacher made the Nazi comment saying, "You can just say what you are - a Nazi."
Edgewood ISD will not be taking any disciplinary action against the teacher.
"He realized he shouldn't have gone that far, and he gave us a statement and expressed his concern and regret," said district spokesperson Maclovio Perez.
The two top executives of the bankrupt solar power company Solyndra sat stone-faced before a Congressional committee today and invoked their Fifth Amendment rights, rather than explain how they blew through $535 million in taxpayer money.How bad is it for these thieves. Even Henry Waxman isn't buying their BS.
"Let me just warn you and the other folks involved in this taxpayer rip-off," Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) told the Solyndra executives. "We're not done. No we're not."
The decision of Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer W. G. Stover to repeatedly refuse to answer questions about Solyndra's Energy Department loan guarantee was the latest twist in an unfolding investigation into the failure of the California solar panel manufacturer, which just one year earlier had been touted as a model of President Obama's green jobs program.
The Obama administration had selected Solyndra as the first to receive a loan under a program designed to provide government support to companies that would create jobs while generating energy from cleaner sources, such as solar, wind and nuclear. President Obama personally visited the Solyndra complex, hailing it as a leader in this emerging field.
"When Mr. Harrison was in my office in July he said that Solyndra's future was bright, with sales and production booming," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). "I 'd like to know why he told me that in July and then filed for bankruptcy one month later. Unfortunately I will not get an answer today."It's time for criminal charges.
Another top aide to President Obama is in Chicago talking about the bankruptcy of the solar power company Solyndra that got a big federal loan guarantee.So Axelrod is also denying he knows George Kaiser?
David Axelrod – Obama’s former senior adviser at the White House who is now back in Chicago running the president’s re-election campaign – is no joining former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in denying any knowledge of the Solyndra deal.
“I don’t know anybody associated with Solyndra and I know nothing about the project,” Axelrod said.
"How seriously has it hurt the president," Cameron asked.
“Now look, we have seeded clean energy technology projects all over this country. Many of them are very promising. Many of them are already showing success. And the fact is, when you invest in a large number of projects, some of them are not going to perform as they should. This was one of those cases,” Axelrod said.
But Republicans say it wasn’t necessary to put taxpayers on the hook for a half-billion dollar loan guarantee to meet that goal.
Last week Mayor Rahm Emanuel denied any knowledge of a developing scandal in Washington that dates back to his days as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.
Emanuel was the chief of staff during the Obama administrations's green energy initiative when the loan was rushed through.
During a Chinatown news conference Friday, in which he was discussing his new wellness program, WLS Radio asked the mayor about his involvement with the Solyndra deal.
“Bill, ya know, I’m focusing on a major announcement today for the city of Chicago,” Emanuel tells Bill Cameron, “I don’t actually remember that or know about it. So, what I’m dealing is with what I’m dealing with here today.”
George Kaiser’s four White House visits during the week before Solyndra secured its $535 million loan guarantee — and his $53,500 in donations to the president’s 2008 presidential campaign – have drawn scrutiny from critics questioning whether the Obama administration engaged in political favoritism. Now Kaiser’s philanthropic gift to one of Michelle Obama’s public health projects is another indication of what may amount to a White House fully engaged in crony capitalism.
“This tax document clearly shows that George Kaiser greased the wheels to gain favor with the Obama Administration for the purpose of receiving a half-billion dollar taxpayer-funded loan for Solyndra,” Citizens United president David Bossie told The Daily Caller. “It is evident that this was a pay-to-play scheme that reaches all the way up to the highest levels of the White House.”
Lady Gaga wants to meet with President Barack Obama about her concerns over bullying.As long as she brings a check surely Obama would be glad to meet with her.
Gaga expressed sadness over Twitter Wednesday about the suicide death of a 14-year-old New York boy who had complained in an online video about being bullied over his sexuality.
The pop singer tweeted to her 13.7 million followers: "I am meeting with our President. I will not stop fighting. This must end."
A Democratic official said Gaga plans to attend an Obama fundraiser next week on the West Coast but no private meeting has been scheduled. The official spoke on condition of anonymity and was not authorized to speak publicly about the fundraiser.
“She’s 9 points behind Barack Obama right now. She’s looking good and she’s not even in the race,” said Johnston, who clearly hadn’t seen yesterday’s numbers that had Sarah within 5 points of the prez. “It’s scaring me a bit. I might have to move to Canada. If she’s running, you better believe I’m voting for Obama.”Even Obama might not be that hard up for somebody's vote.
But as this video shows, Warren is very good at making the case for progressive economics in simple, down-to-earth terms. Despite her professorial background, she sounds like she’s telling a story. She came across as unapologetic and authorative, without a hint of the sort of defensiveness you hear so often from other Democrats when they talk about issues involving taxation and economic fairness. This is exactly what national Dems like about Warren.Actually, she comes off as a snottier Barbara Boxer, as impossible as that may seem to believe.
In the video (at left), which was filmed at an event in Andover, Mass., Warren rebuts the GOP-touted notion that raising taxes on the wealthy amounts to "class warfare," contending that "there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody."She speaks of marauding bands. We call them liberals. We'd like be be saved from the marauding bands of bureaucrats making our lives miserable, thank you very much.
Americans are being crushed under massive unemployment, but who cares about sending the wrong message when your Queen Michelle? Can you just imagine the reaction if Laura Bush went around flaunting $42,000 worth of diamonds in public?That was no ordinary bling on the wrist of First Lady Michelle Obama at the DNC fundraiser in New York Tuesday night. Those fancy diamond cuffs were the creation of 23-year-old Katie Decker, whose namesake jewelry line has been making a serious splash since her graduation from Texas A&M two years ago.
The native Houstonian is over the moon with the fab pub that photos of the first lady in Katie Decker are already providing. Michelle Obama's stylist picked up the bracelets at Katie's showroom in Fragments in Soho. You can see more photos of the Obamas from the evening here by checking out the Gotham Hall event.
If you've been saving your nickels and dimes, the cuffs are available locally at Judith Ann Jewels. The First Lady wore Katie's Lotus cuff priced at $15,000 with 2.9 carats of diamonds, her Gothic cuff at $15,350 with 2.17 carats in diamonds and the Quatrefoil bracelet at $11,800 with 1.73 carats in diamonds.
“Sheriff” Joe Biden’s remarks could come back to haunt him when it comes to Solyndra, the solar company that went bankrupt after winning a $535 million loan guarantee from 2009’s economic stimulus package.According to Obama flunky Jay Carney, this was merely an "investment" that didn't pan out. Nothing to see here, move along.
President Obama named his vice president the sheriff of the stimulus, and Biden’s duties were to ensure that no money was wasted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Biden, a key figure in any White House negotiation with leaders on Capitol Hill, has boasted of his success in limiting fraud and waste in the stimulus.
“Now, there were a lot of naysayers back then who said that there was no way we could implement the Recovery Act without massive waste, fraud and abuse,” Biden said in a June 13 post on the White House blog announcing the new “Campaign to Cut Waste,” which was to root out wasteful government spending at every agency and department.
“You know what? They were wrong. Thanks to our diligence (and some help from advanced computer models and sophisticated data analysis), the Recovery Act has had an unprecedentedly low level of fraud, with less than 0.6 percent of all awards experiencing any waste or abuse.”
Obama asked Biden to reprise his sheriff role Wednesday, appointing him to lead a review of how agencies spend taxpayer dollars following a Justice Department report that found “extravagant” spending on conferences, including $16 muffins.
The Solyndra controversy represents a small portion of the total stimulus funds, but it still strikes at the administration’s promise to prevent fraud and waste. And Biden finds himself in the middle of the controversy.
Republicans argue the White House rushed the loan to Solyndra so that Biden could announce it at a company event in 2009, when the administration was pushing green energy as a way to create jobs.
"The reason why fledgling, cutting-edge industries need this kind of assistance is because they can be high risk as well as high reward," White House press secretary Jay Carney said. He also observed that "what happened here is an investment did not pan out."Um, so why not let everything out in the open rather that running for cover and stonewalling investigators?
As Republican lawmakers begin to dig into the White House's cozy relationship with a startup wireless company and the wealthy Democratic donor who owns it, a new character has appeared on the story's edges: liberal superdonor, conservative bete noire and controversial investor George Soros.
Soros reportedly invested in the telecom company LightSquared through a hedge fund, and many of the nonprofits he finances have backed LightSquared in regulatory and policy disputes.
Whether it’s in a crowded field or one-on-one, Rick Perry is the man to beat in the party’s race for the White House, a new poll shows.Tonight's debate should be a barn-burner as Romney tries to make up ground on Perry. At this juncture it matters little that Perry is in a statistical tie with Obama. If Obama's numbers remain anywhere near as low as they are now he can kiss Florida, and likely his presidency, goodbye.
The Texas governor leads rival Mitt Romney by 9 percentage points in the crowded race for president, according to the survey from Quinnipiac University that also found Perry would best Romney if Sarah Palin hopped in the race or if the contest was a simple head-to-head matchup. The other seven candidates poll in the single digits.
The poll also suggests Romney won’t get much political mileage out of attacking Perry for calling Social Security a "Ponzi scheme." More than half of Republicans — the only ones who can vote in the upcoming winter primary — say it’s "fair" to describe the entitlement program that way.
Perry’s comments, though, could prove more problematic in a general-election race, with 58 percent of all voters saying the comment comparing Social Security to a criminal-funding swindle is "unfair." Also, voters in Florida — where more than half of the electorate is older than 60 — aren’t sure if he wants to end or fix Social Security, which they don’t want changed.
Romney’s relative weakness in the eyes of Republican voters — that is, his perceived moderation — would be a strength in a matchup against President Obama, whom the former Massachusetts governor bests by a 47-40 percent spread thanks to the support of independent voters.
Perry is statistically tied with Obama, who earned his lowest job approval rating ever in a Quinnipiac poll. Only 39 percent approve of the way Obama’s doing his job, while 57 percent disapprove. More than half of voters say Obama does not deserve a second term. Only 41 percent say he should be re-elected.
“Gov. Rick Perry has the lead — and the momentum — among Florida Republicans, while former Gov. Mitt Romney can point to a better general election showing,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a written statement.
Today a portrait of the odious Charles Rangel is to be unveiled at the Capitol.He may have been censured by his House colleagues, but Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) will have his visage permanently displayed on Capitol Hill.I understand it's likely a formality, but shouldn't Speaker Boehner have found somewhere else to be during this sham?
The House Ways and Means Committee, which Rangel chaired until he lost his gavel following accusations of ethics violations, is hosting a ceremony and reception Thursday to unveil Rangel’s official portrait in Longworth House Office Building.
House leaders including Speaker John Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer will speak at the ceremony. Two New York senators, Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, will also give remarks.
