Your opinion on the job that President Obama is doing so far (1 Viewer)

[Sarnoff]

considering he can't even remember his own daughters age now, he's attained Carteresque levels.

Remember when he was billed as "the greatest orator of our generation"?

 

[Statorama]

Highlighting Obama's inability to think on his feet

Has Obama ever given a bravura performance at a press conference? No wonder he goes three months or so without doing them.

Today he mentioned a tax break for corporate jets six times. He didn’t mention that he signed legislation preserving the tax code provision into law, or that the grand total of the savings of ending that tax break would be about $3 billion over ten years.

The man who flies anywhere he wants, anytime, cost-free, complained at great length that other people’s private jets are insufficiently taxed. Tomorrow, Obama will fly on Air Force One to Philadelphia, Pa., to attend two DNC fundraisers, where he will probably again denounce the current tax rates on corporate jets, without anyone remarking on the irony.

What I think this reveals is that Barack Obama is not used to being challenged. Most of us have scoffed at his predictable straw men, his off-the-cuff references to tonsil-stealing doctors, his exhausted, “some on the right say we should take this extreme path, some on the left take this extreme path, but I choose this sensible path in the middle” framing of every issue.

As we recall from his attacks upon Paul Ryan at GWU, the Supreme Court justices at the State of the Union, and his jabs at Pete Hoekstra, Obama loves to go after his opponents in national addresses, with his targets in the audience, unable to respond. In the setting of the grandiose national address, there is rarely a rebuttal. Any interruption to dispute the facts — like, say, Rep. Joe Wilson yelling out, “You LIE!” during an address to Congress — comes across as rude to the office of the presidency. The Supreme Court is completely unused to being criticized to their faces; members of Congress are used to the back-and-forth of debates on the floor in which every accusation and assertion can be rebutted and cross-examined.

So even ten questions from the White House press corps can take Obama off his game. Among the highlights of today:

- Asked about whether the War Powers Act was constitutional, he responded, “I’m not going to put my constitutional law professor hat on here.” Er, wait, wasn’t that a reason folks were supposed to vote for you?

- Asked whether marriage was a civil right – a yes or no question that obviously put him on the spot about gay marriage – he began talking about separate issues, like hospital visitations.

- Occasionally Obama’s gaffes would seem strangely honest, like when he said, “I’ll keep on giving you the same answer until I give you a different one,” on gay marriage, or “I don’t even have to get to the Constitutional question,” rather bluntly acknowledging he was ignoring Chuck Todd’s actual question on the War Powers Act.

- The President constantly infuriated by the perception that he hates the private sector responded to a question, “The business community always complains about regulations.” Unlike unions, trial lawyers, public sector employees, apparently.

- Asked about the ATF “Fast and Furious” operation, Obama said that Attorney General Eric Holder made very clear that he would have opposed the operation… you know, the one that occurred on his watch.

- Discussing the DREAM Act, Obama said, “Kids who grow up here and think of themselves as Americans… let’s make sure those kids can stay.” There’s no dispute that many of these children and teens often have heartbreaking stories, and no real emotional or physical connection to their country of legal citizenship. But thinking of yourself as an American is not the same as being an American. Citizenship is not a state of mind.

- “It’s time to stop playing games,” he concluded, and then ended the press conference for the next event on his schedule: welcoming the WNBA Champion Seattle Storm to the White House Rose Garden.

Obama survives difficult questions by avoiding them and waiting for the world to move on. His Republican opponents must challenge him, early and often, and consistently.

 

[BoneYardDog]

His lack of vision and partisanship are truly amazing, if he does not go down as the worst president ever then he and his vision of this once great country has won and we as a country has lost... Everything...

 

[timschochet]

Obama is in a win-win when it comes to the debt-ceiling. The Republicans will have to compromise and agree to revenue/tax increases or the economy takes another huge hit. The only thing the Republicans can hold their hat on in 2012 is a bad economy; If we default the state of the economy will be blamed on them. Unless you think when the #### hits the fan and people really start paying attention they are going to side with Wall Street and top 2% wage earners and blame the Democrats for a default.

No reason to play nice with the Republicans at this point. I'd chastize them and take even more credit when they inevitably cave.

While I've been pretty clear about whom I blame for this mess, the bolded statement is not true. If the debt ceiling is not raised, there will be no winners.

Gotta disagree there. Once the debt ceiling isn't raised, Obama can send out his letter to social security recipients that due to Republican obstructionism they won't be receiving their checks. Obviously there's no reason that the debt and SS obligations couldn't be met at existing levels. The Obama administration (via the Treasury) would dictate the priorities of where the existing pool of budgeted money is spent.Obama is praying for the debt ceiling not to be raised, as he can portray any suffering to be a result of those evil Republicans. Or don't you think that's how the media would portray it?

Boy, this is awfully cynical. Today Chuck Shumer said he thinks the Republicans want the economy to crash for political gain in 2012. That's a terrible charge, and now you're making the same charge about Obama. I don't think Obama wants America to suffer, and I don't think Republicans want that either. You might want to reconsider this.

 

[Orange Crush]

CBO - Oh wait a minute, looks like we got that first report wrong. Obamacare is a looming financial disaster

A new CBO report finds that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid will drive federal spending to all-time highs in coming decades.

Remember the much ballyhooed ObamaCare promise to "bend the health care cost curve down"?

Well, a new Congressional Budget Office report on the long-term trend in the federal budget finds that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid will drive federal spending and debt to all-time highs in coming decades. In one scenario, federal health-care spending doubles over the next 25 years, to 11% of GDP in 2035 from 5.6% this year. In another scenario, the debt eclipses 100% of GDP by 2021 and 190% of GDP by 2035. That's higher than where Greece is right now, and we see what the bond vigilantes are doing there.

What is conspicuously missing from this report is the magical windfall from the new health law. CBO reports that it is "using the same growth rates that would have been applied in the absence of the legislation." Now they tell us. Hence, Medicare alone is projected to nearly double over the next 25 years, from 3.7% of GDP to almost 7% by 2035.

CBO warns that ObamaCare's purported payment cuts to doctors and hospitals and the hoped-for reductions in the growth of the insurance subsidies would be "difficult to sustain over a long period." Let us translate all this mumbo jumbo: The ObamaCare cost savings are mostly bunk.

None of these scary trends is inevitable, and there is still time to get health-care costs contained. But now even CBO seems to agree that ObamaCare bends our health-care bills up, not down, in the long run.

Holy crap, this writer is hacktacular. Does his reading comprehension suck that bad, or is he just a blatant liar??? The "alternative scenario" that has him so up in arms, assumes that the Republicans are going to repeal Obamacare (as well as keep taxes at currently low levels, pegged at no greater than 18% of GDP), while not offering any other fixes to increasing health care costs. It most definitely does not stand for the proposition that Obamacare doesn't contain the health care costs controls that it actually does contain. And that first scenario, with the much better numbers, comes from keeping Obamacare and all the other law exactly as they are right now.

As I said, this guy's got to be a complete and total hack.

 

[Statorama]

Boy, this is awfully cynical. Today Chuck Shumer said he thinks the Republicans want the economy to crash for political gain in 2012. That's a terrible charge, and now you're making the same charge about Obama. I don't think Obama wants America to suffer, and I don't think Republicans want that either. You might want to reconsider this.

Republicans have nothing to gain from refusing to raise the debt ceiling limit. Obama has incredible motive to let it happen. He can just throw up his hands and say those evil Republicans did it and the press will run with that.Obama won his first election due to a financial crisis he was able to pin on Republicans. Here we go again.

 

[Statorama]

ATF guns used in Arizona crimes

Chickens/Home/Roost

For months the ABC15 Investigators have been searching through police reports and official government documents. We’ve discovered assault weapons linked to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ controversial “Fast and Furious” case strategy have turned up at crime scenes in Glendale and Phoenix communities. …

The ABC15 Investigators uncovered documents showing guns connected to at least two Glendale criminal cases and at least two Phoenix criminal cases also appear in the ATF’s Suspect Gun Database, a sort-of watch list for suspicious gun sales.

All four cases involve drug-related offenses. In one Glendale police report dated July 2010, police investigators working with DEA agents served search warrants at homes near 75th and Glendale avenues in Glendale, and 43rd and Glendale avenues in Phoenix as part of a “large scale marijuana trafficking” investigation.

Police investigators reported they “obtained information that members of the (trafficking) organization were using the homes…as stash houses used to store large amounts of marijuana temporarily.”

They reported finding hundreds of pounds of marijuana, more than $63,000 in U.S. currency and three guns inside the homes. One of the recovered weapons, a Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in November 2009, proving agents knowingly allowed the suspicious gun sale, months before the weapon turned up at the crime scene.

In a separate Glendale Police Department case, dated November 2010, detectives discovered “bulk marijuana and weapons” inside a residence near 75th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in Glendale. Investigators recovered nearly 400 pounds of drugs and several firearms from the home.

One of the recovered weapons, another Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in February 2010.

 

[jamny]

ATF guns used in Arizona crimes

Chickens/Home/Roost

For months the ABC15 Investigators have been searching through police reports and official government documents. Weve discovered assault weapons linked to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives controversial Fast and Furious case strategy have turned up at crime scenes in Glendale and Phoenix communities. …

The ABC15 Investigators uncovered documents showing guns connected to at least two Glendale criminal cases and at least two Phoenix criminal cases also appear in the ATFs Suspect Gun Database, a sort-of watch list for suspicious gun sales.

All four cases involve drug-related offenses. In one Glendale police report dated July 2010, police investigators working with DEA agents served search warrants at homes near 75th and Glendale avenues in Glendale, and 43rd and Glendale avenues in Phoenix as part of a large scale marijuana trafficking investigation.

Police investigators reported they obtained information that members of the (trafficking) organization were using the homes…as stash houses used to store large amounts of marijuana temporarily.

They reported finding hundreds of pounds of marijuana, more than $63,000 in U.S. currency and three guns inside the homes. One of the recovered weapons, a Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in November 2009, proving agents knowingly allowed the suspicious gun sale, months before the weapon turned up at the crime scene.

In a separate Glendale Police Department case, dated November 2010, detectives discovered bulk marijuana and weapons inside a residence near 75th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in Glendale. Investigators recovered nearly 400 pounds of drugs and several firearms from the home.

One of the recovered weapons, another Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in February 2010.

If anything here needs its own thread, this is it.

 

[Statorama]

Tea Partiers protesting Obama in Philly

"One and Done" was my favorite. Lots of Obama supporters there too. It's fun to see so many people actively involved in our political system.

 

[Mello]

Tea Partiers protesting Obama in Philly

"One and Done" was my favorite. Lots of Obama supporters there too. It's fun to see so many people actively involved in our political system.

Yeah, because the Republican we would get in would be so much better....

 

[Mello]

ATF guns used in Arizona crimes

Chickens/Home/Roost

For months the ABC15 Investigators have been searching through police reports and official government documents. We’ve discovered assault weapons linked to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ controversial “Fast and Furious” case strategy have turned up at crime scenes in Glendale and Phoenix communities. …

The ABC15 Investigators uncovered documents showing guns connected to at least two Glendale criminal cases and at least two Phoenix criminal cases also appear in the ATF’s Suspect Gun Database, a sort-of watch list for suspicious gun sales.

All four cases involve drug-related offenses. In one Glendale police report dated July 2010, police investigators working with DEA agents served search warrants at homes near 75th and Glendale avenues in Glendale, and 43rd and Glendale avenues in Phoenix as part of a “large scale marijuana trafficking” investigation.

Police investigators reported they “obtained information that members of the (trafficking) organization were using the homes…as stash houses used to store large amounts of marijuana temporarily.”

They reported finding hundreds of pounds of marijuana, more than $63,000 in U.S. currency and three guns inside the homes. One of the recovered weapons, a Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in November 2009, proving agents knowingly allowed the suspicious gun sale, months before the weapon turned up at the crime scene.

In a separate Glendale Police Department case, dated November 2010, detectives discovered “bulk marijuana and weapons” inside a residence near 75th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in Glendale. Investigators recovered nearly 400 pounds of drugs and several firearms from the home.

One of the recovered weapons, another Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in February 2010.

If anything here needs its own thread, this is it.

I don't really see why. I think they would have been able to easily acquire other guns if these were not available. The problem here is all of the resources wasted combating a plant.

 

[timschochet]

OK Stat, you asked me to read through this thread so I have- at least the last several pages.

Prior to reading this, my opinion of Barack Obama is that he's a good man, a pretty good president, one that I agree with about 70% of the time, but one whom I couldn't vote for because that 30%, largely economic issues, is decisive for me: I simply don't share his economic philosophy. The only way I could end up supporting Obama is if the Republicans put up a Tea Party candidate like Bachmann.

Nothing that you have posted here has changed my mind on this stuff, Stat. Most of it is rabid, conservative rhetoric which doesn't hold up well. Much of it is a stretch to even pin on Obama, like this ATF stuff. There is certainly nothing here to justify your oft-repeated claim that Obama is the worst president ever. There is nothing to justify your claim that any other President who has done what Obama has done would have been driven from office. In short, there is nothing that I can see to justify your hatred.

This thread seems like a waste of time to me. It's filled with vitriol and hatred rather than thoughtful criticism or praise.

 

[DawgPoundNJ]

This thread seems like a waste of time to me. It's filled with vitriol and hatred rather than thoughtful criticism or praise.

That's how your Tea Party threads are Tim!

 

[Jutz]

ATF guns used in Arizona crimes

Chickens/Home/Roost

For months the ABC15 Investigators have been searching through police reports and official government documents. We’ve discovered assault weapons linked to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ controversial “Fast and Furious” case strategy have turned up at crime scenes in Glendale and Phoenix communities. …

The ABC15 Investigators uncovered documents showing guns connected to at least two Glendale criminal cases and at least two Phoenix criminal cases also appear in the ATF’s Suspect Gun Database, a sort-of watch list for suspicious gun sales.

All four cases involve drug-related offenses. In one Glendale police report dated July 2010, police investigators working with DEA agents served search warrants at homes near 75th and Glendale avenues in Glendale, and 43rd and Glendale avenues in Phoenix as part of a “large scale marijuana trafficking” investigation.

Police investigators reported they “obtained information that members of the (trafficking) organization were using the homes…as stash houses used to store large amounts of marijuana temporarily.”

They reported finding hundreds of pounds of marijuana, more than $63,000 in U.S. currency and three guns inside the homes. One of the recovered weapons, a Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in November 2009, proving agents knowingly allowed the suspicious gun sale, months before the weapon turned up at the crime scene.

In a separate Glendale Police Department case, dated November 2010, detectives discovered “bulk marijuana and weapons” inside a residence near 75th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in Glendale. Investigators recovered nearly 400 pounds of drugs and several firearms from the home.

One of the recovered weapons, another Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in February 2010.

If anything here needs its own thread, this is it.

I don't really see why. I think they would have been able to easily acquire other guns if these were not available. The problem here is all of the resources wasted combating a plant.

The problem is perception. It just looks REALLLLY bad.

 

[timschochet]

This thread seems like a waste of time to me. It's filled with vitriol and hatred rather than thoughtful criticism or praise.

That's how your Tea Party threads are Tim!

Probably so. The difference is, I am right.

 

[DawgPoundNJ]

This thread seems like a waste of time to me. It's filled with vitriol and hatred rather than thoughtful criticism or praise.

That's how your Tea Party threads are Tim!

Probably so. The difference is, I am right.

I laughed.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVBgRg9BErce7Y-bYGghVIO755Xw?docId=0b20207f309046918e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

[timschochet]

My criticisms of the Tea Party are pretty straightforward. You guys are free to agree with them, or not. I have never written that the Tea Party is the worst group ever in the history of American politics. I have never tried to tie the Tea Party to things they are not about. When others claimed the Tea Party was racist, I defended it against that charge. I don't go looking for new ways to attack the Tea Party.

So, really I don't think the comparison is at all apt.

 

[StrikeS2k]

My criticisms of the Tea Party are pretty straightforward. You guys are free to agree with them, or not. I have never written that the Tea Party is the worst group ever in the history of American politics. I have never tried to tie the Tea Party to things they are not about. When others claimed the Tea Party was racist, I defended it against that charge. I don't go looking for new ways to attack the Tea Party. So, really I don't think the comparison is at all apt.

The problem with your rants against the tea party, little Timmy, is that the Tea Party is not a national organization. While many chapters have popped up they aren't affiliated with each other. It's kind of like how you're saying the ATF debacle shouldn't be pinned on Obama. You're putting the entire "Tea Party" under one umbrella when they're all separate distinct groups. They may share some similar ideologies, such as fiscal restraint, but the different groups aren't in any way affiliated.

 

[timschochet]

My criticisms of the Tea Party are pretty straightforward. You guys are free to agree with them, or not. I have never written that the Tea Party is the worst group ever in the history of American politics. I have never tried to tie the Tea Party to things they are not about. When others claimed the Tea Party was racist, I defended it against that charge. I don't go looking for new ways to attack the Tea Party. So, really I don't think the comparison is at all apt.

The problem with your rants against the tea party, little Timmy, is that the Tea Party is not a national organization. While many chapters have popped up they aren't affiliated with each other. It's kind of like how you're saying the ATF debacle shouldn't be pinned on Obama. You're putting the entire "Tea Party" under one umbrella when they're all separate distinct groups. They may share some similar ideologies, such as fiscal restraint, but the different groups aren't in any way affiliated.

To be specific, ,my biggest complaint is not with the groups you've mentioned, but with the House Republicans who call themselves members of the Tea Party caucus. These guys call themselves Tea Party, and they unanimously have expressed political positions which I consider detrimental to the nation: namely, a refusal to compromise in any way with the Democrats over the debt ceiling issue.

 

[tommyboy]

These guys call themselves Tea Party, and they unanimously have expressed political positions which I consider detrimental to the nation: namely, a refusal to compromise in any way with the Democrats over the debt ceiling issue.

best read as a 4 yr old in a whiney voice.you dont' really understand politics, obviously.I think you should start a new thread on this

 

[jamny]

ATF guns used in Arizona crimes

Chickens/Home/Roost

For months the ABC15 Investigators have been searching through police reports and official government documents. We’ve discovered assault weapons linked to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ controversial “Fast and Furious” case strategy have turned up at crime scenes in Glendale and Phoenix communities. …

The ABC15 Investigators uncovered documents showing guns connected to at least two Glendale criminal cases and at least two Phoenix criminal cases also appear in the ATF’s Suspect Gun Database, a sort-of watch list for suspicious gun sales.

All four cases involve drug-related offenses. In one Glendale police report dated July 2010, police investigators working with DEA agents served search warrants at homes near 75th and Glendale avenues in Glendale, and 43rd and Glendale avenues in Phoenix as part of a “large scale marijuana trafficking” investigation.

Police investigators reported they “obtained information that members of the (trafficking) organization were using the homes…as stash houses used to store large amounts of marijuana temporarily.”

They reported finding hundreds of pounds of marijuana, more than $63,000 in U.S. currency and three guns inside the homes. One of the recovered weapons, a Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in November 2009, proving agents knowingly allowed the suspicious gun sale, months before the weapon turned up at the crime scene.

In a separate Glendale Police Department case, dated November 2010, detectives discovered “bulk marijuana and weapons” inside a residence near 75th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in Glendale. Investigators recovered nearly 400 pounds of drugs and several firearms from the home.

One of the recovered weapons, another Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in February 2010.

If anything here needs its own thread, this is it.

I don't really see why. I think they would have been able to easily acquire other guns if these were not available. The problem here is all of the resources wasted combating a plant.

I agree with the last sentence but Operation Fast and Furious was an epic blunder that is not getting the press it deserves.

 

[greenroom]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.co...e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Well he is waiting on congress to get its act together.. what else do you want him to do. Although I think it was very poor of him to turn down dinner/lunch with the Republicans. That has me more pised than him taking a weekend to a remote place calledCamp David, which is so far away from DC to where he cannot work?

 

[Statorama]

This thread seems like a waste of time to me. It's filled with vitriol and hatred rather than thoughtful criticism or praise.

I don't have editorial control over this thread. Plenty of room for praise if he ever does something praise worthy Don't hate the messenger.Page after page in this thread points out the lies, stupidity and rabid anti-Americanism of your President and his administration.This thread is a very good read to balance out what you see about him in the mainstream media. I try to present the stories that "the news" refuses to.If you just want to have the press spoon-feed you Obama love all day, there's plenty of it out there. You'd hardly think this was Obama's recession at all.

 

[Sweet J]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVBgRg9BErce7Y-bYGghVIO755Xw?docId=0b20207f309046918e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Unless you highlight one of your prior posts complaining about our last president's vacation time, you probably should not be complaining here.

 

[Statorama]

What the left thinks the real problem is

Best if read in a pouty teen-age girl voice

Right now, the Republican Party is threatening to blow up the world economy unless Democrats agree to savage cuts in spending while refusing any of the revenue increases that all serious economists say are necessary to actually address the national debt. Obama, whose greatest fault in office has been a misplaced faith in the GOP’s capacity for reasonableness, went on television and chided the party for this stance. Apparently, this struck Halperin as unreasonable. His response embodies all that’s rotten and shallow about D.C.’s pundit class, which fetishizes bipartisanship even as it only demands it of one political party.

You really can't make this stuff up. We're watching a real time sequel with Chauncey Gardner assuming the Presidency, with a lapdog media covering for him at every turn.

 

[Sarnoff]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVBgRg9BErce7Y-bYGghVIO755Xw?docId=0b20207f309046918e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Unless you highlight one of your prior posts complaining about our last president's vacation time, you probably should not be complaining here.

I did. Hope & change!

 

[Orange Crush]

ATF guns used in Arizona crimes

Chickens/Home/Roost

For months the ABC15 Investigators have been searching through police reports and official government documents. We've discovered assault weapons linked to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' controversial "Fast and Furious" case strategy have turned up at crime scenes in Glendale and Phoenix communities. …

The ABC15 Investigators uncovered documents showing guns connected to at least two Glendale criminal cases and at least two Phoenix criminal cases also appear in the ATF's Suspect Gun Database, a sort-of watch list for suspicious gun sales.

All four cases involve drug-related offenses. In one Glendale police report dated July 2010, police investigators working with DEA agents served search warrants at homes near 75th and Glendale avenues in Glendale, and 43rd and Glendale avenues in Phoenix as part of a "large scale marijuana trafficking" investigation.

Police investigators reported they "obtained information that members of the (trafficking) organization were using the homes…as stash houses used to store large amounts of marijuana temporarily."

They reported finding hundreds of pounds of marijuana, more than $63,000 in U.S. currency and three guns inside the homes. One of the recovered weapons, a Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in November 2009, proving agents knowingly allowed the suspicious gun sale, months before the weapon turned up at the crime scene.

In a separate Glendale Police Department case, dated November 2010, detectives discovered "bulk marijuana and weapons" inside a residence near 75th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in Glendale. Investigators recovered nearly 400 pounds of drugs and several firearms from the home.

One of the recovered weapons, another Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in February 2010.

If anything here needs its own thread, this is it.

I don't really see why. I think they would have been able to easily acquire other guns if these were not available. The problem here is all of the resources wasted combating a plant.

I agree with the last sentence but Operation Fast and Furious was an epic blunder that is not getting the press it deserves.

Yeah, occasionally I'll look into one of Stat's posts to see just how full of crap his posts are that day. This is one of the very few that looks worthwhile. The ATF suspect gun strategy looks like a catastrophe. Whatever ATF official came up with that program should be fired, at minimum.

 

[Statorama]

Yeah, occasionally I'll look into one of Stat's posts to see just how full of crap his posts are that day. This is one of the very few that looks worthwhile.

I feel like William Wallace sacking York

 

[Orange Crush]

This thread is a very good read to balance out what you see about him in the mainstream media. I try to present the stories that "the news" refuses to.

Which is why over the last three pages of this thread you have posted 3 stories by the Wall Street Journal, 2 from the Associated Press, 1 from Reuters, 1 from Newsweek, 1 from ABC news, 1 from Real Clear Politics (a MSM-wannabe), 1 from a conservative news magazine, and 2 from conservative blogs.Yeah, you're really going outside the mainstream media to present "the truth."

 

[StrikeS2k]

The problem with your rants against the tea party, little Timmy, is that the Tea Party is not a national organization. While many chapters have popped up they aren't affiliated with each other. It's kind of like how you're saying the ATF debacle shouldn't be pinned on Obama. You're putting the entire "Tea Party" under one umbrella when they're all separate distinct groups. They may share some similar ideologies, such as fiscal restraint, but the different groups aren't in any way affiliated.

To be specific, ,my biggest complaint is not with the groups you've mentioned, but with the House Republicans who call themselves members of the Tea Party caucus. These guys call themselves Tea Party, and they unanimously have expressed political positions which I consider detrimental to the nation: namely, a refusal to compromise in any way with the Democrats over the debt ceiling issue.

Doesn't fly. Some idiot politicians are jumping on the bandwagon of a popular movement and you blame the movement, which as I noted isn't even an organized entity. Nope. If you mean what you say you mean then you need to start calling them "tea party wannabes" or something. You've been starting negative threads about the "tea party" for at least a year now. Now you're suggesting that you didn't mean the tea party but those who would ride it's coattails? Come on.

 

[Statorama]

This thread is a very good read to balance out what you see about him in the mainstream media. I try to present the stories that "the news" refuses to.

Which is why over the last three pages of this thread you have posted 3 stories by the Wall Street Journal, 2 from the Associated Press, 1 from Reuters, 1 from Newsweek, 1 from ABC news, 1 from Real Clear Politics (a MSM-wannabe), 1 from a conservative news magazine, and 2 from conservative blogs.Yeah, you're really going outside the mainstream media to present "the truth."

To be fair the ABC news piece was just a local affiliate. No way the big dogs there tackle that one.I'm trying to reach the pocket of independents that get their news from places like "The Today Show" or CBS nightly news with Katie. All they're hearing is that Obama eats skittles and craps rainbows. That everything that's going on is in some way the Republicans fault and Obama deserves no criticism for his time in office.Ultimately I'd love to think that I can help flip some 2008 Obama votes to someone else in 2012. Everyone is different. Some people might be on the fence and then I post that one story (say the ATF one) and it tilts them over. So I'll stay vigilant and keep reporting the truth.That's why I always urge people to keep watching whatever they're watching, but check in here for a counter balance.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.co...e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Unless you highlight one of your prior posts complaining about our last president's vacation time, you probably should not be complaining here.

I am referring to Obama taking a vacation only days after scolding congress they should cancel their vacation plans to work on the debt issue. I do not think this is setting a very good example, especially when Obama's leadership has been challenged. Your thoughts?

 

[Orange Crush]

When a party refuses to consider bipartisanship

Ezra Klein asked this week whether it’s even possible for President Obama to be bipartisan given congressional Republicans’ approach to governance.

Let’s say you were the Democratic president of the United States, and you wanted to cut a deal with the Republican Party on the debt ceiling. What would you do? Well, you’d probably start with quiet negotiations to give both sides maximum room to compromise. And then you’d go back to what Republicans had said about deficit reduction in March, which is that a successful plan would be about 85 percent spending cuts and 15 percent tax increases, and you’d offer them that. Your base wouldn’t like it, of course, but hey, you want a deal.

And let’s say you wanted to cut a deal on health-care reform. Presumably, you’d go back to past health-care reform plans the Republican Party had offered and try to craft something similar. You’d notice that Republicans particularly seemed to like the individual mandate — no surprise, given that they invented the thing — so even though you opposed it during the campaign, maybe you’d add that. Sure, liberals wanted Medicare for All, or an employer mandate, but hey, you want a deal.

Global warming? Well, Republicans came up with cap-and-trade in the 1990s, and in 2007, Newt Gingrich had said he’d “strongly support” extending it to carbon emissions, so that’d be an obvious approach.

The point, of course, is that Ezra described President Obama’s approach to enacting his agenda. In 2008, then-candidate Obama promised voters he’d be pragmatic and fair, solving problems by embracing ideas from both parties, building consensus, and trying to bridge the partisan divide.It’s gone largely unnoticed, but it’s hard to overstate the extent to which Obama kept his word. But dysfunction, partisan acrimony, and gridlock all continue to get considerably worse, due entirely to the deliberate choices of congressional Republicans.

I’ve lost count of how many Republicans ideas Democrats have agreed to accept, only to find that GOP leaders have begun rejecting their own ideas.

As recently as 2008, it was very common for Republican officials at a variety of levels to support cap-and-trade, an individual health care mandate, the DREAM Act, comprehensive immigration reform, trying terrorist suspects in civilian U.S. courts and then imprisoning them on American soil, a payroll tax cut, a bipartisan deficit commission, infrastructure spending, the Economic Development Administration, routinely raising the debt ceiling without preconditions, and funding for Planned Parenthood. If we go back just a little further, we see that GOP officials also used to occasionally support modest tax increases as a way to maintain fiscal sanity.

As recently as three months ago, House Republicans wanted a deficit-reduction plan that included 85% spending cuts and 15% increased revenue.

Now, literally all of these policies aren’t just deemed problematic by Republicans, but are rejected as wholly unacceptable extremism. This week, the leading Senate Republican went so far as to characterize Democratic support for bipartisan compromises as “acting in bad faith.”

Seriously. That’s what he said.

How did all of these policies — some of which originated in Republican circles — go from sensible to radical? The ideas didn’t change; Republican standards did. A Democratic president got elected, telegraphed an openness to proposals the GOP has traditionally supported, and suddenly Republicans didn’t want to take “yes” for an answer anymore.

To Ezra’s question, how is President Obama supposed to work in a bipartisan fashion under these circumstances? He isn’t. I assume that next year, one of the more common complaints from the GOP will be, “Obama said he’d bring people together and reach across the aisle. He failed.”

But he really didn’t. He made good faith efforts to work cooperatively with Republicans, only to find GOP officials who are against the ideas they’re for.

 

[dickey moe]

What the left thinks the real problem is

Best if read in a pouty teen-age girl voice

Right now, the Republican Party is threatening to blow up the world economy unless Democrats agree to savage cuts in spending while refusing any of the revenue increases that all serious economists say are necessary to actually address the national debt. Obama, whose greatest fault in office has been a misplaced faith in the GOP’s capacity for reasonableness, went on television and chided the party for this stance. Apparently, this struck Halperin as unreasonable. His response embodies all that’s rotten and shallow about D.C.’s pundit class, which fetishizes bipartisanship even as it only demands it of one political party.

You really can't make this stuff up. We're watching a real time sequel with Chauncey Gardner assuming the Presidency, with a lapdog media covering for him at every turn.

The talking points invariably revolve around terms such as "savage," "draconian," or "hurtful," cuts.

 

[Spiderman]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.co...e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Well he is waiting on congress to get its act together.. what else do you want him to do. Although I think it was very poor of him to turn down dinner/lunch with the Republicans. That has me more pised than him taking a weekend to a remote place calledCamp David, which is so far away from DC to where he cannot work?

Obama has spent as much as twenty times more golfing and vacationing with his family as he has spent in direct negotiations on the debt crisis. This "you handle it and let me know where to sign" leadership is getting old.

 

[jonessed]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.co...e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Unless you highlight one of your prior posts complaining about our last president's vacation time, you probably should not be complaining here.

I am referring to Obama taking a vacation only days after scolding congress they should cancel their vacation plans to work on the debt issue. I do not think this is setting a very good example, especially when Obama's leadership has been challenged. Your thoughts?

Yeah, that was pretty weak. He criticized them to the point they cancelled the 4th of July recess and then promptly told them they could stuff their proposed meeting and went on vacation anyway.

 

[Sarnoff]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.co...e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Well he is waiting on congress to get its act together.. what else do you want him to do. Although I think it was very poor of him to turn down dinner/lunch with the Republicans. That has me more pised than him taking a weekend to a remote place calledCamp David, which is so far away from DC to where he cannot work?

Obama has spent as much as twenty times more golfing and vacationing with his family as he has spent in direct negotiations on the debt crisis. This "you handle it and let me know where to sign" leadership is getting old.

It's called "voting present"

 

[Statorama]

But he really didn’t. He made good faith efforts to work cooperatively with Republicans, only to find GOP officials who are against the ideas they’re for.

He took a lot of ideas that RINOS thought were the cats meow years ago. These are different times. I wish we had a president that understood how much trouble we're in. Haven't had one for going on...over 20 years now.

 

[Statorama]

Obamacare high risk pool antipated 4,000 members only 830 joined

The federally sanctioned high-risk insurance pool for Colorado is signing up fewer patients and burning through its limited cash faster than expected, as the plan attracts the sickest of the sick.

Planners for GettingUsCovered, meant to bridge patients with pre-existing conditions to health-care reform's full arrival in 2014, might have to raise premiums, lower benefits and add waiting lists.

Federal health officials gave Colorado $90 million to run the high-risk pool, expecting at least 4,000 patients to join.

Instead, about 830 have taken the insurance since the program began a year ago, but they have used $12 million of the federal subsidy money.

 

[Statorama]

Obama's economists admit Stimulus cost $278,000 per job "saved" or created

When the Obama administration releases a report on the Friday before a long weekend, it’s clearly not trying to draw attention to the report’s contents. Sure enough, the “Seventh Quarterly Report” on the economic impact of the “stimulus,” released on Friday, July 1, provides further evidence that President Obama’s economic “stimulus” did very little, if anything, to stimulate the economy, and a whole lot to stimulate the debt.

The report was written by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, a group of three economists who were all handpicked by Obama, and it chronicles the alleged success of the “stimulus” in adding or saving jobs. The council reports that, using “mainstream estimates of economic multipliers for the effects of fiscal stimulus” (which it describes as a “natural way to estimate the effects of” the legislation), the “stimulus” has added or saved just under 2.4 million jobs — whether private or public — at a cost (to date) of $666 billion. That’s a cost to taxpayers of $278,000 per job.

In other words, the government could simply have cut a $100,000 check to everyone whose employment was allegedly made possible by the “stimulus,” and taxpayers would have come out $427 billion ahead.

Furthermore, the council reports that, as of two quarters ago, the “stimulus” had added or saved just under 2.7 million jobs — or 288,000 more than it has now. In other words, over the past six months, the economy would have added or saved more jobs without the “stimulus” than it has with it. In comparison to how things would otherwise have been, the “stimulus” has been working in reverse over the past six months, causing the economy to shed jobs.

Again, this is the verdict of Obama’s own Council of Economic Advisors, which is about as much of a home-field ruling as anyone could ever ask for. In truth, it’s quite possible that by borrowing an amount greater than the regular defense budget or the annual cost of Medicare, and then spending it mostly on Democratic constituencies rather than in a manner genuinely designed to stimulate the economy, Obama’s “stimulus” has actually undermined the economy’s recovery — while leaving us (thus far) $666 billion deeper in debt.

The actual employment numbers from the administration’s own Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the unemployment rate was 7.3 percent when the “stimulus” was being debated. It has since risen to 9.1 percent. Meanwhile, the national debt at the end of 2008, when Obama was poised to take office, was $9.986 trillion (see Table S-9). It’s now $14.467 trillion — and counting.

All sides agree on these incriminating numbers — and now they also appear to agree on this important point: The economy would now be generating job growth at a faster rate if the Democrats hadn’t passed the “stimulus.”

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.co...e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Well he is waiting on congress to get its act together.. what else do you want him to do. Although I think it was very poor of him to turn down dinner/lunch with the Republicans. That has me more pised than him taking a weekend to a remote place calledCamp David, which is so far away from DC to where he cannot work?

Obama has spent as much as twenty times more golfing and vacationing with his family as he has spent in direct negotiations on the debt crisis. This "you handle it and let me know where to sign" leadership is getting old.

He can do whatever he likes with his off days.Has he had more off days then his predecessor to this point? Hell no he hasnt. Quit crying. Your snarky comparison is a ##### move.

 

[bostonfred]

Obamacare high risk pool antipated 4,000 members only 830 joined

The federally sanctioned high-risk insurance pool for Colorado is signing up fewer patients and burning through its limited cash faster than expected, as the plan attracts the sickest of the sick.

Planners for GettingUsCovered, meant to bridge patients with pre-existing conditions to health-care reform's full arrival in 2014, might have to raise premiums, lower benefits and add waiting lists.

Federal health officials gave Colorado $90 million to run the high-risk pool, expecting at least 4,000 patients to join.

Instead, about 830 have taken the insurance since the program began a year ago, but they have used $12 million of the federal subsidy money.

Wow. 1) They expected 4000, and 830 signed up. MORE than 20% of the exected people have used less than 15% of the money. How exactly do they get "burning through its limited cash faster than expected"?

2) The plan is SUPPOSED TO ATTRACT THE SICKEST OF THE SICK. That's what the high risk pool is for - the people with pre existing conditions.

3) It's easy to say they "Might have to raise premiums, lower benefits, and add waiting lists". They might also get attacked by giant six legged cats with pitchforks on their tails. The article gives no reason to believe this.

4) The fact that this article was written with such bias calls into question the other criticisms of Obamacare.

5) The fact that you reposted this article calls into question your other criticisms of Obama, as well.

Let's take a look at another one.

 

[bostonfred]

the “stimulus” has added or saved just under 2.4 million jobs — whether private or public — at a cost (to date) of $666 billion. That’s a cost to taxpayers of $278,000 per job.

In other words, the government could simply have cut a $100,000 check to everyone whose employment was allegedly made possible by the “stimulus,” and taxpayers would have come out $427 billion ahead.

Furthermore, the council reports that, as of two quarters ago, the “stimulus” had added or saved just under 2.7 million jobs — or 288,000 more than it has now. In other words, over the past six months, the economy would have added or saved more jobs without the “stimulus” than it has with it. In comparison to how things would otherwise have been, the “stimulus” has been working in reverse over the past six months, causing the economy to shed jobs.

This one's fun. 1) The so-called trillion dollar stimulus package now cost 666 billion in this report, because they're trying to create an association. That number is neither accurate nor useful, but they do a fine job of pandering.

2) The math it takes to get to $278,000 per job assumes that the only thing the stimulus did was pay people. It does not assume we get anything in return. For example, if you pay people to build a road, not only do you give them a job, you get a road.

3) The math works better when you talk about tax breaks. And the stimulus plan included hundreds of billions in tax breaks, which they conveniently fail to mention in this article. If anything, that shows that tax breaks don't do what they've been saying they do all along.

4) The bit about the council reporting that the economy had added more jobs six months ago - that's the census workers, dumb###.

When you write or forward propoganda like this, you make your message more palatable to the people who already agree with you, but you do nothing to convince moderates such as myself that Obama has been anything but a huge success in his first term.

 

[RCon]

Obamacare high risk pool antipated 4,000 members only 830 joined

The federally sanctioned high-risk insurance pool for Colorado is signing up fewer patients and burning through its limited cash faster than expected, as the plan attracts the sickest of the sick.

Planners for GettingUsCovered, meant to bridge patients with pre-existing conditions to health-care reform's full arrival in 2014, might have to raise premiums, lower benefits and add waiting lists.

Federal health officials gave Colorado $90 million to run the high-risk pool, expecting at least 4,000 patients to join.

Instead, about 830 have taken the insurance since the program began a year ago, but they have used $12 million of the federal subsidy money.

Wow. 1) They expected 4000, and 830 signed up. MORE than 20% of the exected people have used less than 15% of the money. How exactly do they get "burning through its limited cash faster than expected"?

2) The plan is SUPPOSED TO ATTRACT THE SICKEST OF THE SICK. That's what the high risk pool is for - the people with pre existing conditions.

3) It's easy to say they "Might have to raise premiums, lower benefits, and add waiting lists". They might also get attacked by giant six legged cats with pitchforks on their tails. The article gives no reason to believe this.

4) The fact that this article was written with such bias calls into question the other criticisms of Obamacare.

5) The fact that you reposted this article calls into question your other criticisms of Obama, as well.

Let's take a look at another one.

As I read the article, and I could be wrong, it seems to say that approximately 20% of the expected users have burned through 40% of this year's cash. It reads as if the $90m was supposed to last 3+ years, but they've burned $12m already.

 

[RCon]

When you write or forward propoganda like this, you make your message more palatable to the people who already agree with you, but you do nothing to convince moderates such as myself that Obama has been anything but a huge success in his first term.

You might be right about this article, but you're not a moderate. Heck, I'm closer to a moderate than you are.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.co...e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Well he is waiting on congress to get its act together.. what else do you want him to do. Although I think it was very poor of him to turn down dinner/lunch with the Republicans. That has me more pised than him taking a weekend to a remote place calledCamp David, which is so far away from DC to where he cannot work?

Obama has spent as much as twenty times more golfing and vacationing with his family as he has spent in direct negotiations on the debt crisis. This "you handle it and let me know where to sign" leadership is getting old.

Perhaps you should complain to the Founding Fathers, who assigned the task of making law to the legislature rather than the chief executive. You thinking maybe we should have just stuck with the monarchy thing instead?

 

[StrikeS2k]

Obama tries to stop execution in Texas of Mexican killerUS president warns Texan authorities that execution would put America in breach of international legal obligations * Chris McGreal in Washington * guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 July 2011 16.39 BST * Article historyPresident Barack Obama has asked the Texan authorities not to execute the convicted rapist and murderer Humberto Leal Garcia. Photograph: Bob Strong/ReutersPresident Barack Obama is attempting to block the execution in Texas on Thursday of a Mexican man because it would breach an international convention and do "irreparable harm" to US interests.The White House has asked the US supreme court to put the execution of Humberto Leal Garcia on hold while Congress passes a law that would prevent the convicted rapist and murderer from being put to death along with dozens of other foreign nationals who were denied proper access to diplomatic representation before trials for capital crimes.The administration moved after the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, brushed aside appeals from diplomats, top judges, senior military officers, the United Nations and former president George W Bush to stay Leal's execution because it could jeopardise American citizens arrested abroad as well as US diplomatic interests.Leal, 38, was convicted in 1994 of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio. Few question that he was responsible for the killing but the Texas authorities failed to tell Leal, who was born in Mexico and has lived in the US since the age of two, that under the Vienna convention he was entitled to contact the Mexican consulate when he was arrested.Leal's lawyers argue that the lack of consular access played a role in the death penalty being applied because the Mexican national incriminated himself in statements made during "non-custodial interviews" with the police on the day of the murder. Had Leal had access to the Mexican consulate it would have been likely to have arranged a lawyer who would have advised the accused man to limit his statements to the police. As it was, the Mexican authorities were never informed of his arrest.In a 30-page brief to the supreme court, the administration said that the carrying out of the execution "would place the United States in irreparable breach of its international law obligation" under the convention.The White House said it was in the US's interests to meet its treaty obligations."These interests include protecting Americans abroad, fostering co-operation with foreign nations, and demonstrating respect for the international rule of law," it said.Carrying out Leal's execution would cause "irreparable harm" to US interests abroad, the administration added."That breach would have serious repercussions for United States foreign relations, law-enforcement and other co-operation with Mexico, and the ability of American citizens travelling abroad to have the benefits of consular assistance in the event of detention," it said.The legal situation has been complicated by earlier court rulings.In 2004, the international court of justice (ICJ) ruled that the US authorities had failed to meet its legal obligations to 51 Mexicans awaiting execution in American prisons when they were not informed of their right to contact their consulates.The then president, George W Bush, a former Texas governor who backs the death penalty, said the US would adhere to the ICJ ruling which, in effect, meant the death sentences would be reviewed or commuted. But in 2008 the supreme court ruled that while the US government was obliged to comply with the ICJ ruling it did not have the power to force individual American states to do so. Only Congress could require adherence by passing a law.The Obama administration has told the supreme court that a bill has recently been introduced in to the Senate to do just that but it is unlikely to win the approval of both houses of Congress before next year. The White House wants Leal's execution put on hold until the law is passed but two courts have already ruled that pending legislation has no effect on the legal process.The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, has appealed to Perry to commute Leal's sentence to life imprisonment.Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said that if Leal was put to death it would be "tantamount to an arbitrary deprivation of life".Perry's office has said Texas laws had been abided by and that Leal would be executed for "the most heinous of crimes".

To hell with States Rights.

 

[Jutz]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.co...e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Well he is waiting on congress to get its act together.. what else do you want him to do. Although I think it was very poor of him to turn down dinner/lunch with the Republicans. That has me more pised than him taking a weekend to a remote place calledCamp David, which is so far away from DC to where he cannot work?

Obama has spent as much as twenty times more golfing and vacationing with his family as he has spent in direct negotiations on the debt crisis. This "you handle it and let me know where to sign" leadership is getting old.

Perhaps you should complain to the Founding Fathers, who assigned the task of making law to the legislature rather than the chief executive. You thinking maybe we should have just stuck with the monarchy thing instead?

I think you are missing the point? Regardless of who does it, I think it would go faster if the POTUS was there, in the room, telling the people that need to get it done to get their head out of their ### and do some work. You know, like a leader does. You are acting like even thought eh POTUS doesn't write the law, that he has NO effect on the process.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Glad to see Obama is taking a much needed holiday rest this weekend. He has been working hard lately. "Do as I say, not as I do"... Good example of leadership.

http://www.google.co...e381835cd9536db

Obama takes a break at Camp David (AP) – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Well he is waiting on congress to get its act together.. what else do you want him to do. Although I think it was very poor of him to turn down dinner/lunch with the Republicans. That has me more pised than him taking a weekend to a remote place calledCamp David, which is so far away from DC to where he cannot work?

Obama has spent as much as twenty times more golfing and vacationing with his family as he has spent in direct negotiations on the debt crisis. This "you handle it and let me know where to sign" leadership is getting old.

Perhaps you should complain to the Founding Fathers, who assigned the task of making law to the legislature rather than the chief executive. You thinking maybe we should have just stuck with the monarchy thing instead?

I think you are missing the point? Regardless of who does it, I think it would go faster if the POTUS was there, in the room, telling the people that need to get it done to get their head out of their ### and do some work. You know, like a leader does. You are acting like even thought eh POTUS doesn't write the law, that he has NO effect on the process.

Why do you think that? I think the GOP's primary mission between now and November 2012 seems to be making Obama look bad. Why do you think they'd suddenly be willing to stop acting like petulant children on things like revenue increases and cooperate just because the president shows up? They know that if they did that, he'd get the credit for the deal. If anything I think his presence could be counterproductive. They want the credit for a deficit reduction measure to go to John Boehner, not Obama.