[Please note: links to news articles and accompanying headlines and text were valid and accurate at the time of posting but content often changes or is deleted by the original publishers for reasons they feel are warranted…ed]
The Incredible Deflation of Barack Obama
The air is seeping out of the Obama balloon. He has fallen to below 50 percent in the poll approval ratings, a decline punctuated by his party’s shocking loss in the Massachusetts special election. Why? (SNIP) But Obama’s problems are more than a question of style. There is doubt aroused on substance. He sets deadlines and then lets too many pass. He announces a strategic review of Afghanistan, describing it as “a war of necessity,” only to become less sure to the point that he didn’t even seem committed to the policy that he finally announced. As for changing politics in Washington, he assigned the drafting of central legislative programs not to cabinet departments or White House staff but to the Democratic congressional leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the very people so mistrusted by the public. Who could be surprised that the critical bills—the stimulus program and healthcare—degenerated under a welter of pork and earmarks that had so outraged the American public in the past? [Billionaire Zuckerman continues his rants against the guy he voted for, for hope and change. Makes me wonder how someone who has been able to amassed such a fortune was so stupid when it came to this phony charlatan…ed]
Campaign finance ruling: Can Congress do anything?
While many Republicans on Capitol Hill hailed this week’s Supreme Court 5-4 decision striking down restrictions on corporate spending on political campaigns, Democrats are ramping up measures to curb its impact. For majority Democrats, it’s yet another urgent agenda item heading into a charged election season. “This disastrous decision paves the way for free and unlimited special-interest spending in our elections,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York at a briefing with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) of Maryland on Thursday. “We will not let this decision go unchallenged,” The two lawmakers chair their party’s campaign organizations in the Senate and House. They aim “to re-implement the ban on corporate spending or modify it in a significant way,” Schumer said. [Obama has spent the better part of two years ripping American corporations and Congressional Democrats are crapping their pants over what’s coming from these companies in the way of political payback in the upcoming election season. Fun to watch indeed…ed]
Public Agrees With Court: Campaign Money Is “Free Speech”
Americans’ broad views about corporate spending in elections generally accord with the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday that abolished some decades-old restrictions on corporate political activity. Fifty-seven percent of Americans consider campaign donations to be a protected form of free speech, and 55% say corporate and union donations should be treated the same way under the law as donations from individuals are. [Proving once again Democrats are out of touch with how the American people feel about the issues…ed]
Wall Street has its worst week in a year
Wall Street tumbled to its biggest weekly loss in nearly a year Friday as concerns about proposed bank regulations continued to weigh on that sector. All of the major indexes fell at least 2 percent Friday, and there were significant losses in financial stocks. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs were down 3.7 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. American Express’s stock fell 8 percent even after the financial giant reported Thursday that its fourth-quarter net income had more than doubled to $716 million. [Nice, Obama comes out with his “new rules” and investors lose a ton of money. I’m still waiting for the spin from this administration that this crash was Bush’s fault…ed]
Obama has suspicious number of letter-writing fans named ‘Ellie Light’
Ellie Light sure gets around. In recent weeks, Light has published virtually identical “Letters to the Editor” in support of President Barack Obama in more than a dozen newspapers.Every letter claimed a different residence for Light that happened to be in the newspaper’s circulation area. “It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything,” said a letter from alleged Philadelphian Ellie Light, that was published in the Jan. 19 edition of The Philadelphia Daily News. [I would like to know how this letter managed to make it into so many newspaper “letter to the editor” sections because we all know how difficult it is for anyone to get their missives printed let alone the same “person” in so many different publications. (over 50 so far as near as I can tell) Be sure to read the email exchanges between the reporter and “Ellie” at the conclusion of this very interesting article. More info on this here…ed]
It’s Time to ‘Roll Back’ Liberalism
America: the time has come to roll back liberalism. This was the best week for conservatism in modern memory. On Tuesday, Scott Brown won a tremendous victory for the Republican Party in his Massachusetts Senate race. On Thursday, the Supreme Court handed down a decision more important to the Constitution than any it has handed down in decades. The case, entitled Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, dealt with Citizens United’s “Hillary: The Movie,” a 2008 documentary highly critical of the then-Democratic presidential candidate. [It has been a mighty fine week for conservatives and America: we got a Republican Senator from Mass. elected, the McCain-Feingold idiocy struck down, we killed the “progressives'” plan for the governmental takeover of our healthcare system, we saw Obama make an ass out of himself in Ohio, and watched as the uber left wing Air America radio program bit the dust…ed]
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The Far Left Down for the Count
More than anything else, it was the foolishness of the far left that harpooned Martha Coakley in Massachusetts. Independents broke big for Scott Brown, and his own internal polling showed that national security issues like civilian trials for al-Qaida thugs and the president’s seemingly soft approach on terrorism in general helped Brown to a smashing victory. President Obama, of course, is a big loser along with Coakley. His trip to Massachusetts last Sunday was gutsy, but foolish in hindsight. Voters in a very liberal state simply rejected his request to elect another liberal. The president lost face and power and has to know it. [O’Reilly is an arrogant narcissistic boot licking Obama-bot ratings whore, but for the most part he manages to get this one right…ed]
Democrats move to revive single-payer insurance in California
With federal health care reform on life support, California Democrats on Thursday resurrected a $200 billion-a-year state-based single-payer health insurance bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 6-3 on party lines and without comment to lift from suspense the dead file, Senate Bill 810 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. It calls for merging the state’s public and private health insurance systems into a single California-run agency. All Californians would be eligible for insurance coverage with the poor receiving subsidized benefits. The bill does not spell out how California would pay for a program that would cost more than twice the state’s $85 billion general fund. That would be left up to an appointed panel and ultimately, voters. [The unbelievable insanity displayed by the Democrats in the near bankrupt state of California continues…ed]
Five states where GOP might pull another Brown
Republican Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts should be an “air raid siren” for Democrats, alerting them to the possibility of further tough Senate seat losses this fall. That’s what veteran political prognosticator Charlie Cook wrote Friday in National Journal – and he’s not alone in making such a prediction. Brown’s upset win provided the GOP more than just a 41st vote to disrupt President Obama’s agenda, according to Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. It’s also given Republicans momentum, and a big boost in morale. [For some reason Boxer in CA seems to be flying under the radar even though she has been polling less that 50% and is only up by three points over her closest GOP rival. Expect to hear a whole lot more on that situation in a few months. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see the Republicans snag 6-8 Senate seats come November…ed]
For the first time in one of our monthly polls looking ahead to the 2012 Presidential election Barack Obama trails one of his hypothetical opponents, albeit by the smallest of margins. Mike Huckabee has a 45-44 advantage over Obama, aided largely by a 44-38 lead with independents. There continues to be no evidence of any negative fallout for Huckabee after murders of police officers committed by an ex-Arkansas inmate whose sentence he had commuted. His 35/29 favorability breakdown is actually slightly better than it was in November before that incident. [Can it get any worse for the light skinned president? Mike HUCKABEE is out polling him now!…ed]
Holder hasn’t revealed Justice Dept lawyers who defended Gitmo detainees
You may remember that more than two months ago, amid the controversy over the Obama administration’s decision to grant full American constitutional rights to, and hold a civilian trial for, accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley asked Attorney General Eric Holder about Justice Department lawyers who before joining the Obama/Holder team had represented Guantanamo detainees or worked for groups representing them. Grassley pointed to one high-ranking Obama Justice official who formerly represented Osama bin Laden’s driver and another who works on detainee issues despite previous advocacy for detainees. “This prior representation, I think, creates a conflict of interest problem for these individuals,” Grassley said, adding, “I want to know more about who is advising you on these decisions.” Grassley asked Holder to give the committee “the names of political appointees in your department who represent detainees or who work for organizations advocating on their behalf…the cases or projects that these appointees work with respect to detainee prior to joining the Justice Department…and the cases or projects relating to detainees that have worked on since joining the Justice Department.” [Read this article to get an idea of just who is aiding and abetting the enemies of our country. Hint, they work in the Obama administration…ed]
U.S. will appeal Blackwater court ruling: Biden
Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday his government would appeal against a court decision to dismiss charges against Blackwater security guards accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians. The U.S. federal court decision last month, which found that the defendants’ constitutional rights had been violated, angered Iraqis. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government has hired U.S. lawyers to prepare a law suit against Blackwater, a security contractor now called Xe Services. “The United States will appeal this decision,” Biden said on a visit to Baghdad. [You read that right folks. A U.S. federal court decision said OUR people had their CONSTITUTIONAL rights violated in this case and dismissed the charges against them. This administration is going to APPEAL that ruling with the hopes of putting our guys on trial in order to appease the Iraqis. How’s all that hope and change crap workin’ for ya these days?…ed]
Alert: Female Suicide Bombers May Be Heading Here From Yemen
American law enforcement officials have been told to be on the lookout for female suicide bombers who may attempt to enter the United States, law enforcement authorities tell ABC News. One official said at least two of them are believed to be connected to al Qaeda in Yemen, and may have a non-Arab appearance and be traveling on Western passports. The threat was described as “current” but not imminent, said the official. “They have trained women,” said former White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant. (SNIP) The man accused of attempting to explode a bomb on Northwest flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, told FBI agents there were a number of other people who trained with him in Yemen. [The Fruit of the Boom bomber was about to spill the beans about a whole bunch of terrorist related stuff until Eric Holder’s Justice Department made sure he got a lawyer and he then quickly clammed up…ed]
Organized labor lost 10% of its members in the private sector last year, the largest decline in more than 25 years. The drop is on par with the fall in total employment but threatens to significantly limit labor’s ability to influence elections and legislation. On Friday, the Labor Department reported private-sector unions lost 834,000 members, bringing membership down to 7.2% of the private-sector work force, from 7.6% the year before. The broader drop in U.S. employment and a small gain by public-sector unions helped keep the total share of union membership flat at 12.3% in 2009. In the early 1980s, unions represented 20% of workers. Labor experts said theunion-membership losses would have a long-term impact on unions and their finances, because unions wouldn’t automatically regain members once the job market rebounded. In many cases, new jobs will be created at nonunion employers or plants. [I don’t know how much more good news I can stand this week but honestly, why do these union peeps keep voting Democrat when that party time and again screws them right in the neck?…ed]
John McCain: Palin’s Political Bridge to Nowhere
Sarah Palin’s decision to campaign for John McCain’s reelection bid is dismaying some of her staunchest allies and defenders on the web. This serves as a much-uninvited buzz-kill to conservatives, who finally had the beam of hope shone on them Tuesday night. Grassroots conservatism made a historic comeback with Scott Brown, who defeated Martha Coakley for Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat in the very liberal state of Massachusetts. Aside from her personal allegiance to John McCain, it is incomprehensible what Palin thinks this will do for the country or her political career, which has made her one of the main inspirations of grassroots enthusiasm. [OK I’ve tried to think about this in several different ways. The media was salivating like hungry hyenas hoping Palin would endorse Brown so they could savage him over the endorsement. She smelled the trap, stayed on the sidelines, he won. What will the media do now that Palin has jumped on the McCain bandwagon? Will they rip him and her apart and risk having a REAL conservative win the primary? Or will they be forced to go easy, for the first time ever, on the governor so their favorite open borders RINO has a chance to get reelected? Maybe, just maybe she is crazy like a fox on this one after all folks…ed]
Climate researchers and the Weather Channel’s founder accuse NASA of the same data manipulation as Britain’s Climate Research Unit. Were weather stations cherry-picked to hide the temperature drop? We recently commented on how our space agency for two years refused Freedom of Information requests on why it has had to repeatedly correct its climate figures. In a report on global warming on KUSI television by Weather Channel founder and iconic TV weatherman John Coleman, that reticence has been traced to the deliberate manipulation and distortion of climate data by NASA. As Coleman noted in a KUSI press release, NASA’s two primary climate centers, the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C., and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University in New York City, are accused of “creating a strong bias toward warmer temperatures through a system that dramatically trimmed the number and cherry-picked the locations of weather observation stations they use to produce the data set on which temperature record reports are based.” [We need to stay on top of this issue and bury this man made global warming garbage for good, and maybe, just for grins, smack around a bunch of those envirowhacks while we’re at it…ed]
Quote of the day.
The reason both wings of American liberalism — congressional and mainstream media — were so surprised at the force of anti-Democratic sentiment is that they’d spent Obama’s first year either ignoring or disdaining the clear early signs of resistance: the tea-party movement of the spring and the town-hall meetings of the summer. With characteristic condescension, they contemptuously dismissed the protests as the mere excrescences of a redneck, retrograde, probably racist rabble.
-Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist, very smart guy and conservative.