[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]
Indonesia mulls tearing down Obama statue
Indonesian authorities said Monday they are considering a petition to tear down a statue of US President Barack Obama as a boy, only a month after the bronze was unveiled in Jakarta. The statue of “Little Barry” — as Obama was known when he lived in the capital in the late 1960s — stands in central Jakarta’s Menteng Park, a short walk from the US president’s former elementary school. Critics say the site should have been used to honour an Indonesian and 55,000 people have joined a page on social networking website Facebook calling for the statue to be removed. [The world’s love affair with the light skinned fellow with no discernible negro dialect is starting to fall apart as the largest muslim country in the world is getting ready to pull down little Barry’s statue only a month after they threw the thing up…ed]
here are two explanations (maybe more) for the White House’s eerie indifference to all the available evidence concerning their own shoddy performance and the public’s reaction to the same, which has resulted in losses in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts and sent many Democrats fleeing from the 2010 races. There is the Out-to-Lunch explanation. Fred Barnes observes:
Months of polls on the president and his policies, the Virginia and New Jersey governor’s elections, then last week’s momentous Massachusetts Senate race – all have sent the blunt message to Obama that, for now, he’s lost. But Obama and his team insist on pretending it’s not true. This is a bad sign. One of the important tests of a president, especially a relatively new one like Obama, is how he deals with a serious setback. Does he respond rationally and realistically? In Obama’s case, the answer is no.”
Sounds like the Democrats need to stage an intervention if the president is that immune to evidence. [It ain’t an act. I think the guy really is seriously weird…ed]
Liberals tune out Mass. message
My favorite e-mail after Scott Brown’s stunning Senate victory: “Can You Hear Us NOW?” Answer from Team Obama: “We Know – You Love Us!” There’s a point where blind arrogance becomes comic, and we passed the punch line long ago. Check out this headline from the Boston Globe-Democrat: The Message: Loud But Not So Clear.” Not clear to whom? Bad policies and even worse politics drove this blue state to replace Ted Kennedy with a fiscally-conservative Republican. It wasn’t exactly a subtle message. [Arrogant liberals can’t be bothered with what the little people have to say. They have an agenda and they will continue to push it by hook or crook because they think we are simply too stupid to know what’s best for us. All we have to do is continue to pay close attention to what they are up to and hold em off til November then work on getting the one termer out of office come 2012…ed]
Bayh’s Prognosis: Democrats Must Move to the Middle
Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, the very embodiment of calm understatement, seems an unlikely character to play the role of scold. But in recent weeks—particularly after last week’s Massachusetts mauling—he has been scolding his Democratic Party, and sternly. His message: Democrats and their president need to move decisively to the political center and root themselves there by showing they are serious about controlling spending and the deficit, which angry mainstream voters see as the real sign that Washington is out of touch. Thus, while many Democrats complain that the Obama administration’s problems arise because it hasn’t been aggressive enough in pursuing a liberal agenda, Mr. Bayh arises to make the opposite case. [It is my sincere desire that the Democrat party leadership, the far left fringe in Congress and Barack Hussein Obama do NOT listen to Evan Bayh. We have a great game plan in place for a bunch of these peeps come November…ed]
CNN Poll: Most Americans applaud Democrats’ loss of supermajority
Americans are divided on whether Democratic control of Congress is good for the country, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday also indicates that 7 in 10 Americans believe that the Democrats’ loss of their 60 seat supermajority in the Senate is a positive move for the country. Forty-five percent of people questioned in the poll said Democratic control of Congress is a good thing, with 48 percent disagreeing. The margin is within the survey’s sampling error. But the results are a shift from last June, when 50 percent felt that Democratic control of both chambers of Congress was good and 41 percent felt it was bad for the country. (SNIP) “The poll provides more evidence of the dwindling appeal of the Democratic party in the wake of last week’s special election in Massachusetts,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Fewer Americans have a favorable view of the Democrats, and fewer support Democratic control on Capitol Hill.” [Yeah, I’d say the TAXPAYERS in this country are sick and tired of the never ending stream of government programs created and enacted by the Democrats for the benefit of those who merely vote for a living…ed]
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Cramer Rips Obama ‘Lurch Toward Populism’: ‘Now on an Anti-Shareholder Rampage’
It was initially thought the election of President Barack Obama was just going to hit your pocketbook in the form of higher taxes. But if the past several days are any indication, the president has found another way to hit it – by attacking your stock portfolio. On CNBC’s Jan. 25 “Mad Money,” host Jim Cramer advised his viewers to be aware of this and to strategically position their stock portfolio with an eye on Obama and Washington’s expanded role in the private economy. “In the last week the world of investing has been turned upside down by Washington,” Cramer said. “We can no longer afford to look at stocks the same way we did before the GOP upset in Massachusetts. With the Obama administration now on an anti-shareholder rampage, we now have to factor in political risk when we evaluate different sectors. And the risk may be higher than anytime since Jimmy Carter, who truly hated profits, especially if they were big. In the midst of earnings season, suddenly politics has become just as important as revenue growth or market share gains or earnings’ beats. So we need a new prism for valuing stocks.” [Cramer is another in a long line of blithering idiots who enthusiastically voted for and supported Obama then quickly figured out his intentions were to screw anybody who made money in this country right in the neck…ed]
To re-empower our states: Repeal the 17th Amendment to shift influence out of Washington
As I was preparing to write a column on the ludi -crous maligning of the Tea Party movement by liberals, Democrats and the mainstream media (which I hope to write next week instead) I started thinking about one of the key objectives of the Tea Party people – the strict enforcement of the 10th Amendment (“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”). (SNIP) But just as the Tea Party movement seems in so many ways to represent the 2.0 version of our movement, so I again thought about the 10th Amendment anew. After about 10 seconds’ thought, it struck me that the best way to revive the 10th Amendment is to repeal the 17th Amendment – which changes the first paragraph of Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution to provide that each state’s senators are to be “elected by the people thereof” rather than being “chosen by the Legislature thereof.” [This is a great start but while we’re at it how about abolishing the UN-Constitutional 16th amendment too?…ed]
Al Qaeda terror leaders have eye on chemical, biological or nuclear attack on U.S. soil: report
Al Qaeda planners are lying in wait, plotting another major attack on U.S. soil involving weapons of mass destruction, according to a dire new report. Osama bin Laden’s terror network has made several attempts to acquire large-scale biological, chemical or nuclear weapons in the years since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a new report. Former high-ranking CIA official Rolf Mowatt-Larssen reported in a paper for Harvard’s Kennedy School that al Qaeda operatives are desperate to launch the most devastating terror attack yet. [The terrorists are already here, have been for years and they’re just kicking back waiting for instructions. Because of the wide open borders policy and a stifling politically correct atmosphere in this country it’s just a matter of time before we get hammered again. Keep your powder dry folks…ed]
Obama Gets ‘F’ on Stopping Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction
A bipartisan, independent commission on stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction says that the Obama administration has failed in its first year in office to do enough to prevent a germ weapons attack on America or to respond quickly and effectively should such an attack occur. In a 19-page report card being published Tuesday, the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation and Terrorism, chaired by former Senators Bob Graham, a Democrat from Florida, and Jim Talent, a Missouri Republican, gives the new administration the grade of “F” for failing to take key steps the commission outlined just over a year ago in its initial report. [Naturally the Obama administration rejected the findings and claim they have done a masterful job of putting procedures in place to protect the American people. Tell that to the people on Northwest Airlines flight 253 Christmas day. Oh, and just in case you missed this news…ed]
Senators rebel over treating Detroit airline terrorist as a civilian
A bipartisan revolt is brewing in the Senate over the Obama administration’s handling of accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. A small but growing number of lawmakers is asking the president to undo what many regard as the disastrously wrong-headed decision to grant Abdulmutallab full American constitutional rights. Once he was told he had the right to remain silent, the accused terrorist stopped talking to U.S. investigators, possibly denying them valuable intelligence about the threat from al Qaeda. The revolt started last week when top administration counterterrorism officials testified they had not been consulted about the decision to read Abdulmutallab the Miranda warning and give him a court-appointed lawyer. Several senators were aghast, including Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, the committee’s ranking Republican Susan Collins, and the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Republican Jeff Sessions. How could the Justice Department have done something so consequential without even consulting the administration’s own experts on terrorism and intelligence? [This administration sees no reason to consult anyone. Obama won the election last November and he thinks that gives him the mandate to do whatever HE wants whenever HE wants to do it…ed]
Virginia man had weapons cache, grenade launcher stashed in N.J. hotel room
A Virginia man who once spent eight years on the run from naval investigators was arrested in Somerset County early today with a trove of high-powered weapons, including a grenade-launcher and two assault rifles, along with maps of a U.S. military base and a civilian neighborhood, authorities said. The federal government’s Joint Terrorism Task Force quickly joined the investigation into Lloyd R. Woodson, 43, who had been staying at a Branchburg motel since last week. Woodson, whose last known address was in Reston, Va., was wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying one of the assault rifles — customized to shoot .50-caliber rounds — when police arrested him after a chase and a scuffle in a local trailer park. (SNIP) Mixed in among Woodson’s belongings, the prosecutor said, was a Middle Eastern, red-and-white traditional headdress. [Red and white traditional middle eastern headgear huh? But authorities quickly came to the conclusion this guy is not a terrorist. Whew!….ed]
Clinton ‘deeply resents’ foreign criticism on Haiti
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she “deeply resents” foreign criticism of the US response to the earthquake in Haiti, saying the United States was doing as much as it could. “I deeply resent those who attack our country, the generosity of our people and the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous conditions after the earthquake,” Clinton told State Department employees at a forum marking one year in office. Clinton did not single out critics but said that “some of the international press either misunderstood or deliberately misconstrued” the US decision to send thousands of troops to Haiti. [While for once in her political life she is actually correct here the bottom line is if the response to this Haiti mess was being orchestrated by a Republican administration you can bet your upside down mortgage she would be first in line to criticize the effort purely for political purposes. That’s just how these lefties roll…ed]
A look at Dominican Republic-Haiti relations
The sunny, happy Dominican Republic of international tourist promotions seemed a bit less cordial on the road out of Haiti. Along the way, soldiers brandishing black assault weapons manned 11 military checkpoints. On a rural stretch of Highway 46, about 50 miles into the Dominican Republic on the road that leads from the Haitian border, soldiers waved our van to the side and a captain peered into the passenger window. He studied my passport and managed to convey, with a withering expression, that this was damn serious stuff. (SNIP) Even as the Dominican Republic sends truckloads of relief supplies into earthquake-stricken Haiti, the army has continued a months’-long crackdown against Haitians suspected of crossing the border from the opposite direction. [Seems to me this country could learn quite a bit from the Dominican Republic when it comes to immigration policy…ed]
Feds find dubious home tax credit claims from Texas
Federal inspectors scouring tax returns that contain a credit for first-time homebuyers have found something curious about claims from Texas. Nearly 1,000 were filed by people employing a special taxpayer identification number primarily used by illegal immigrants, who are not entitled to the credit. The Texas filings represented nearly one-third of the 3,200 suspicious homebuyer credit claims submitted by noncitizens around the country. The value of the credits from all the noncitizen claims was $20.8 million, a U.S. Treasury Department inspector general said. [Gee, I’m shocked that a government entitlement program is riddled with fraud. Don’t expect any prosecutions or follow up because we all know that ACORN is behind this and we all know nothing happens to the crooks in that criminal organization which exists solely to promote the left wing agenda…ed]
5 Things Americans Need To Understand About How Government Really Works
One of the biggest problems we have in this country is that so few Americans understand how our government works in the real world. Since that’s the case, most people simply aren’t capable of making an informed judgment about whether politicians can deliver on a promise. With that in mind, it seems like a good idea to go back to basics and explain what so many of us have already learned the hard way about the government. [For those of us who do understand how government really works it’s aggravating knowing so many Americans, DON’T…ed]
Quote of the day.
I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president. You know, there is a tendency in Washington to believe our job description, of elected officials, is to get re-elected. That’s not our job description. Our job description is to solve problems and to help people.
-Barack Hussein Obama.
[In reality the country sees you as a mediocre ONE YEAR president as evidenced by your poll numbers that for the last seven months have been firmly entrenched in negative territory…ed]
Charles Krauthammer wonders about that third option: a mediocre ONE TERM president….