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

[videoguy505]

Needed a place to keep this:

President Obama "was heckled multiple times during his speech at a Democratic fundraiser in one of the country's most Democratic cities," Politico reports from New York: Obama showed a flash of irritation after he was forced repeatedly off his prepared remarks. "We listened to you, we heard your point," he told the "young lady" who continued shouting at him about AIDS funding. "This is not the time or the place to do what you're talking about."It turns out Obama is in favor of heckling, provided it is at Republican events: The president pointed out that this week Senate Republicans blocked Democrats' attempt to begin debating a bill that would have moved toward repealing the policy. "And as a consequence some of those signs should be going up at the other folks' event. Folks should be hollering at the other folks' event," he said, "because the choice in November could not be clearer."Where has Obama been? "Folks" have been "hollering" at Republican events for years. During President Bush's 2004 convention speech, he was interrupted at least twice by hecklers--who, like the Obama hecklers, were from the political left.Candidate Obama made vague promises about restoring civility to American politics. Instead, President Obama has succeeded only in spreading his side's incivility around.

 

[Statorama]

Democrats shelve 'Net Neutrality' bill

 

[culdeus]

Democrats shelve 'Net Neutrality' bill

What's the spin here?

 

[Ilov80s]

Democrats shelve 'Net Neutrality' bill

What's the spin here?

I haven't heard any yet, should we start it? Is this a Democrats are weak right now and have no unity or a win for free market Republicans over Obama's attempt at taking control of the net?

 

[perry147]

Democrats shelve 'Net Neutrality' bill

What's the spin here?

I haven't heard any yet, should we start it? Is this a Democrats are weak right now and have no unity or a win for free market Republicans over Obama's attempt at taking control of the net?

Honestly, I do not think either side has enough members who understand the implications of the bill to vote on it. Sadly the few that do know are in the pockets of industry lobbyist.Not a D or R thing.

 

[Phurfur]

Democrats shelve 'Net Neutrality' bill

What's the spin here?

I haven't heard any yet, should we start it? Is this a Democrats are weak right now and have no unity or a win for free market Republicans over Obama's attempt at taking control of the net?

Honestly, I do not think either side has enough members who understand the implications of the bill to vote on it. Sadly the few that do know are in the pockets of industry lobbyist.Not a D or R thing.

I agree but this never stopped them before.

 

[Statorama]

Democrats shelve 'Net Neutrality' bill

What's the spin here?

Thought I remembered Net Neutrality being one of Obama's talking points on the campaign trail.

 

[videoguy505]

Democrats shelve 'Net Neutrality' bill

I'm not so sure "Net Neutrality" is a good deal. We might be better off without it.

 

[videoguy505]

Obama subtly misquotes the Bible's "Golden Rule":

"So I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead — being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."

Freudian slip?

 

[gary mexico]

We'll find out in November how awesome he is.

 

[Statorama]

Key provision of Obamacare already failing

WASHINGTON -- It's a centerpiece of President Obama's health care remake, a lifeline available right now to vulnerable people whose medical problems have made them uninsurable.

But the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan started this summer isn't living up to expectations. Enrollment lags in many parts of the country. People who could benefit may not be able to afford the premiums. Some state officials who run their own "high-risk pools" have pointed out potential problems.

"The federal risk pool has definitely provided critical access, in some cases lifesaving access, to health insurance," said Amie Goldman, chair of a national association of state high-risk insurance pools. "That said, enrollment so far is lower than we would have expected."

California, which has money for about 20,000 people, has received fewer than 450 applications, according to a state official. The program in Texas had enrolled about 200 by early September, an official in that state said. Goldman, who runs the pool in Wisconsin, said they've received fewer than 300 applications so far, with room for about 8,000 people in the program.

That's not how it was supposed to work.

Government economists projected as recently as April that 375,000 people would gain coverage this year, and they questioned whether $5 billion allocated to the program would be enough.

Federal officials won't provide enrollment figures, saying several large states have yet to get going.

"We don't think this is getting off to a slow start," said Jay Angoff, director of a new insurance oversight office at the Department of Health and Human Services. "We think this is getting off to a good and orderly start."

Angoff said he's confident more people will sign up, and he pointed out the program was set up in near-record time.

What happens with the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is important because it could foreshadow problems with major changes under the law that are still a few years away.

 

[Statorama]

22,000 Massachusetts senior citizens lose medical coverage due to Obamacare

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has notified customers that it will drop its Medicare Advantage health insurance program at the end of the year, forcing 22,000 senior citizens in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine to seek alternative supplemental coverage.

The decision by Wellesley-based Harvard Pilgrim, the state’s second-largest health insurer, was prompted by a freeze in federal reimbursements and a new requirement that insurers offering the kind of product sold by Harvard Pilgrim — a Medicare Advantage private fee for service plan — form a contracted network of doctors who agree to participate for a negotiated amount of money. Under current rules, patients can seek care from any doctor.

“We became concerned by the long-term viability of Medicare Advantage programs in general,’’ said Lynn Bowman, vice president of customer service at Harvard Pilgrim’s office in Quincy. “We know that cuts in Medicare are being used to fund national health care reform. And we also had concerns about our ability to build a network of health care providers that would meet the needs of our seniors.’’

Under Medicare Advantage plans, the federal government pays private health insurers to sell customers over 65 years old enhanced policies, many of which offer prescription drug coverage not covered by standard Medicare. But the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been seeking to reduce the amount it pays to private insurers for such programs.

Medicare told Harvard Pilgrim to notify customers that its Medicare Advantage program, known as First Seniority Freedom, was being canceled. In a mailing, the insurer was required to list alternative Medicare Advantage plans, including those offered by its competitors.

Harvard Pilgrim in a second mailing this week will urge customers to switch to a new Medicare Supplement plan it will begin offering in October. Unlike Medicare Advantage, which is overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the new Harvard Pilgrim plan will be overseen by the Massachusetts Division of Insurance.

It will be “slightly more expensive’’ than the Medicare Advantage plans, but competitive with supplemental insurance plans offered by rivals such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest health insurer, Bowman said.

She said the Medicare Supplement plan will feature some benefits not covered by the current plan, such as fitness reimbursements, but won’t pay for prescription drugs, which are covered by some versions of the current plan. Instead, seniors can buy separate supplemental drug coverage through a partnership with Coventry Health Care, in Bethesda, Md.

As of yesterday afternoon, about 1,000 customers had sought information about the product change.

Newton resident Robert Gray, 68, a retired computer engineer and technology researcher, said he was disturbed to find out his plan was being discontinued. But he said he prefers to remain with Harvard Pilgrim because he is a longtime customer.

“If there’s a big increase in price or the various options in the new plan don’t seem to be the same . . . we might consider going to another plan,’’ Gray said.

More than 60 percent of senior citizens in Massachusetts are covered only by Medicare, according to Harvard Pilgrim research. Those who buy supplemental insurance are divided roughly evenly between Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement plans.

 

[Statorama]

Obamacare worse than originally thought

Six months ago, President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rammed Obamacare down the throats of an unwilling American public. Half a year removed from the unprecedented legislative chicanery and backroom dealing that characterized the bill's passage, we know much more about the bill than we did then. A few of the revelations:

» Obamacare won't decrease health care costs for the government. According to Medicare's actuary, it will increase costs. The same is likely to happen for privately funded health care.

» As written, Obamacare covers elective abortions, contrary to Obama's promise that it wouldn't. This means that tax dollars will be used to pay for a procedure millions of Americans across the political spectrum view as immoral. Supposedly, the Department of Health and Human Services will bar abortion coverage with new regulations but these will likely be tied up for years in litigation, and in the end may not survive the court challenge.

» Obamacare won't allow employees or most small businesses to keep the coverage they have and like. By Obama's estimates, as many as 69 percent of employees, 80 percent of small businesses, and 64 percent of large businesses will be forced to change coverage, probably to more expensive plans.

» Obamacare will increase insurance premiums -- in some places, it already has. Insurers, suddenly forced to cover clients' children until age 26, have little choice but to raise premiums, and they attribute to Obamacare's mandates a 1 to 9 percent increase. Obama's only method of preventing massive rate increases so far has been to threaten insurers.

» Obamacare will force seasonal employers -- especially the ski and amusement park industries -- to pay huge fines, cut hours, or lay off employees.

» Obamacare forces states to guarantee not only payment but also treatment for indigent Medicaid patients. With many doctors now refusing to take Medicaid (because they lose money doing so), cash-strapped states could be sued and ordered to increase reimbursement rates beyond their means.

» Obamacare imposes a huge nonmedical tax compliance burden on small business. It will require them to mail IRS 1099 tax forms to every vendor from whom they make purchases of more than $600 in a year, with duplicate forms going to the Internal Revenue Service. Like so much else in the 2,500-page bill, our senators and representatives were apparently unaware of this when they passed the measure.

» Obamacare allows the IRS to confiscate part or all of your tax refund if you do not purchase a qualified insurance plan. The bill funds 16,000 new IRS agents to make sure Americans stay in line.

If you wonder why so many American voters are angry, and no longer give Obama the benefit of the doubt on a variety of issues, you need look no further than Obamacare, whose birthday gift to America might just be a GOP congressional majority.

 

[hutchins929]

Basically what it comes down to is this...

If you want food stamps vote for Obama!

If you want a job don't vote for Obama!

 

[Fennis]

mildly approve

 

[Statorama]

Praise for Obama - He hates RINOS too

Good on Obama

President Obama stars in an ad for the Democratic candidate looking to unseat Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-La.) in next month’s elections.

Obama cut his first election ad for Cedric Richmond, the Democratic candidate looking to reclaim the heavily-Democratic New Orleans seat that had been held by Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) until Cao’s victory in 2008.

“The city of New Orleans has had its trials, but you’ve also had great champions, fighting to see you through the tough times,” Obama says in the ad. “Cedric Richmond is one of those champions.”

The ad is a particularly shrewd maneuver by the president to reclaim the traditionally Democratic seat from Republicans, despite a close relationship Obama seems to have forged with Cao over the last 20 months.

“I love the president, and I believe he truly likes me,” Cao said in early September.

Cao had voted with Obama on several initiatives, including Wall Street reform and healthcare reform on its first vote in the House. (Cao declined to support the final version after restrictions on funding for abortion services were loosened.)

 

[Statorama]

Constitutional legality of Obamacare continues to be challenged

The legal battle against Obamacare continues. In June, a district court in Richmond denied the government’s motion to dismiss Virginia’s lawsuit (in opposition to which Cato filed a brief). Despite catcalls from congressmen and commentators alike, it seems that there is, after all, a cogent argument that Obamacare is unconstitutional!

Having survived dismissal, both sides filed cross motions for summary judgment—meaning that no material facts are in dispute and each side believes it should win on the law. Supporting Virginia’s motion and opposing the government’s, Cato, joined by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Georgetown law professor (and Cato senior fellow) Randy Barnett, expands in a new brief its argument that Congress has gone beyond its delegated powers in requiring that individuals purchase health insurance.

Even the cases that have previously upheld expansive federal power do not justify the ability to mandate that individuals buy a product from a private business. Those cases still involved people that were doing something—growing wheat, running a hotel, cultivating medical marijuana. The individual mandate, however, asserts authority over citizens that have done nothing; they’re merely declining to purchase health insurance. This regulation of inactivity cannot find a constitutional warrant in either the Commerce Clause, the Necessary and Proper Clause, or Congress’s taxing power. Such legislation is not “necessary” to regulating interstate commerce in that it violates the Supreme Court’s distinction between economic activity (which often falls under congressional power as currently interpreted) and non-economic activity (which, to date, never has), it is not “proper” in that it commandeers citizens into an undesired economic transaction.

Finally, the taxing power claim is a red herring: (a) neither the mandate nor the penalty for not complying with the mandate is a tax, and is not described as such anywhere in the legislation; (b) even if deemed a tax, it’s an unconstitutional one because it’s neither apportioned (if a direct tax) nor uniform (if an excise); © Congress cannot use the taxing power to enforce a regulation of commerce that is not authorized elsewhere in the Constitution.

The district court will hear arguments on the cross-motions for summary judgment in Virginia v. Sebelius later this month and we can expect a ruling by the end of the year.

Obamacare delenda est.

 

[Statorama]

Citing Obamacare, 3M to dump retirees from health care plans

"if you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan." - Jughead Obama

3M Co., citing new federal health laws, said Monday it won’t cover retirees with its corporate health-insurance plan starting in 2013.

Instead, the company will direct retirees to Medicare-backed insurance programs, and will provide reimbursement for that coverage. It’ll also reimburse retirees who are too young for Medicare; the company didn’t provide further details.

The company made the changes known in a memo to employees Friday; news of the move was reported in The Wall Street Journal and confirmed Monday by 3M spokeswoman Jackie Berry.

 

[jon_mx]

Citing Obamacare, 3M to dump retirees from health care plans

"if you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan." - Jughead Obama

3M Co., citing new federal health laws, said Monday it won’t cover retirees with its corporate health-insurance plan starting in 2013.

Instead, the company will direct retirees to Medicare-backed insurance programs, and will provide reimbursement for that coverage. It’ll also reimburse retirees who are too young for Medicare; the company didn’t provide further details.

The company made the changes known in a memo to employees Friday; news of the move was reported in The Wall Street Journal and confirmed Monday by 3M spokeswoman Jackie Berry.

Is this the same Medicare that Obama-care policies are pushing more people in, is the Medicare that Obama told us he would cut $400 billion in??? More people, less money....bring on them Death Panels.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Citing Obamacare, 3M to dump retirees from health care plans

"if you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan." - Jughead Obama

3M Co., citing new federal health laws, said Monday it won’t cover retirees with its corporate health-insurance plan starting in 2013.

Instead, the company will direct retirees to Medicare-backed insurance programs, and will provide reimbursement for that coverage. It’ll also reimburse retirees who are too young for Medicare; the company didn’t provide further details.

The company made the changes known in a memo to employees Friday; news of the move was reported in The Wall Street Journal and confirmed Monday by 3M spokeswoman Jackie Berry.

My mother-in-law got a very similar notice from her company last week. She is already on a company retirement health insurance policy and now must find her only insurance. Thanks Jughead!

 

[Statorama]

Private sector "unexpectedly" sheds 39,000 additional jobs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private employers unexpectedly cut 39,000 jobs in September after an upwardly revised gain of 10,000 in August, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.

The August figure was originally reported as a loss of 10,000.

The median of estimates from 38 economists surveyed by Reuters for the ADP Employer Services report, jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, was for a rise of 24,000 private-sector jobs in September.

The ADP figures come ahead of the government's much more comprehensive labor market report on Friday, which includes both public and private sector employment.

That report is expected to show overall nonfarm payrolls were unchanged in September, based on a Reuters poll of analysts, but a rise in private payrolls of 75,000.

Economists often refer to the ADP report to fine-tune their expectations for the payrolls numbers, though it is not always accurate in predicting the outcome.

 

[Statorama]

Food stamp recipients at record high

The number of Americans receiving food stamps rose to a record 41.8 million in July as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high, the government said.

Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program subsidies for food purchases jumped 18 percent from a year earlier and increased 1.4 percent from June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a statement on its website. Participation has set records for 20 straight months.

Unemployment in September may have reached 9.7 percent, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts in advance of the release of last month’s rate on Oct. 8. Unemployment was 9.6 percent in July, near levels last seen in 1983.

An average of 43.3 million people, more than an eighth of the population, will get food stamps each month in the year that began Oct. 1, according to White House estimates.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Private sector "unexpectedly" sheds 39,000 additional jobs

Mission Accomplished!

 

[videoguy505]

Citing Obamacare, 3M to dump retirees from health care plans

"if you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan." - Jughead Obama

3M Co., citing new federal health laws, said Monday it won’t cover retirees with its corporate health-insurance plan starting in 2013.

Instead, the company will direct retirees to Medicare-backed insurance programs, and will provide reimbursement for that coverage. It’ll also reimburse retirees who are too young for Medicare; the company didn’t provide further details.

The company made the changes known in a memo to employees Friday; news of the move was reported in The Wall Street Journal and confirmed Monday by 3M spokeswoman Jackie Berry.

http://reason.com/blog/2010/10/05/how-abou...st-go-ahead-and

How About We Just Go Ahead and Assume You Didn’t Like Your Health Care Plan?

The Wall Street Journal reports on the latest company to announce health benefit changes in response to the new health care law:

3M Co. confirmed it would eventually stop offering its health-insurance plan to retirees, citing the federal health overhaul as a factor.

The changes won't start to phase in until 2013. But they show how companies are beginning to respond to the new law, which should make it easier for people in their 50s and early-60s to find affordable policies on their own. While thousands of employers are tapping new funds from the law to keep retiree plans, 3M illustrates that others may not opt to retain such plans over the next few years.

The key point to remember when reading stories like these isn’t that benefit changes are necessarily good or bad. Instead, it’s that, despite the Obama administration’s repeated promises to the contrary, many people and employers will not, in fact, be able to stick with their current health care plans and arrangements. The folks in the White House had to sell the public—a large majority of whom were actually pretty happy with their existing health insurance—on the virtues of their plan while promising that it wouldn’t upset existing arrangements that people liked. That was obvious nonsense before the law passed, and now we’re seeing regular evidence that yes, massive policy changes have consequences, many of them unintended.

Should probably cross-post this in the "unintended consequences of ObamaCare" thread

 

[Statorama]

Obamas plan to free all Guantanamo Bay prisoners gaining steam

NEW YORK – A judge barred prosecutors Wednesday from calling their most important witness at the first civilian trial of a Guantanamo Bay detainee, delaying the trial and delivering a setback to the government's effort to build criminal cases with evidence gleaned from harsh CIA interrogations.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan's three-page order was passed out in a highly secure courtroom just as Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani's terrorism trial was set to resume. Kaplan delayed jury selection in the trial until next Tuesday at the request of prosecutors, who were deciding whether to appeal.

 

[LHUCKS]

More people, less money....bring on them Death Panels.

Medicare was spending far too much money on persons over 80...spending 25K of taxpayer money on a pacemaker for a 87 year old person is part of the problem.And no, I'm not for mandated health insurance, I think it's un-American.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

More people, less money....bring on them Death Panels.

Medicare was spending far too much money on persons over 80...spending 25K of taxpayer money on a pacemaker for a 87 year old person is part of the problem.

Star Trek :TNG - Ahead of the curve on this one.

 

[Phil Elliott]

More people, less money....bring on them Death Panels.

Medicare was spending far too much money on persons over 80...spending 25K of taxpayer money on a pacemaker for a 87 year old person is part of the problem.And no, I'm not for mandated health insurance, I think it's un-American.

what if that allows the person to live until, say 100? Who should decide how much to spend on your health care when you are 80?

 

[jonessed]

Private sector "unexpectedly" sheds 39,000 additional jobs

Mission Accomplished!

You would think that at some point they would learn that
strategy isn't effective in spurring economic growth.

 

[Bronco Billy]

Stat is en fuego today, baby!

 

[Statorama]

Israeli Prime Minister and entourage visit White House, served non-kosher food

Man, Obama not even hiding his hatred of the Jewish people anymore

Link provided by The Huffington Post

Netanyahu and his entourage were then left to cool their heels in the Roosevelt Room. At one point, the Israeli delegation asked for something to drink and food. They were served non-kosher food, which some of them wouldn't eat.

 

[Fennis]

Stat is en fuego today, baby!

its only shtick

 

[Statorama]

Had to share this pic

 

[jon_mx]

Poll Shows President Obama is Losing Hoosier Support

Reported by: David Shepherd

INDIANAPOLIS -- New poll numbers showing a growing majority of Hoosiers are not happy with President Barrack Obama's job performance.

The poll was released yesterday by WISH-TV in Indianapolis.

The poll puts the President's approval rating in Indiana at 40 percent.

That same poll showed the majority of Hoosiers are happy with Republican Governor Mitch Daniels' job performance. He has a 62 percent approval rating.

The poll also shows the economy is the number one issue on the minds of Hoosiers.

Only 6 percent of those polled listed family values as the most important issue.

A state Obama won, now he has a 40% approval. And BTW, Mitch Daniels could end up being the GOP 2012 presidential nominee.

 

[Statorama]

Obama the hypocrite

Pot calls kettle . . . .

By: Michael Barone

Senior Political Analyst

10/09/10 6:10 PM EDT

Glenn Reynolds nails this one: the Obama Democrats’ campaign riff against foreign donations to Democrats is bogus—and according to the New York Times, no less. This looks like a matter of projection, since it’s well documented that the 2008 Obama campaign did not put in place address verification software that would have routinely prevented most foreign donations. In effect they were encouraging donations by foreign nationals. Here’s the Washington Post on this back in October 2008: Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is allowing donors to use largely untraceable prepaid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor’s identity, campaign officials confirmed. Faced with a huge influx of donations over the Internet, the campaign has also chosen not to use basic security measures to prevent potentially illegal or anonymous contributions from flowing into its accounts, aides acknowledged.” And here’s our own Washington Examiner editorial from the time: “Then there’s the question of whether foreign nationals are contributing to the Obama campaign. There is more than enough evidence to warrant a full-scale investigation by the Federal Election Commission, including the $32,332.19 that appears to have come from two brothers living in a Hamas-controlled Palestinian refugee camp in Rafah, GA (that’s Gaza, not Georgia). The brothers’ cash is part of a flood of illegal foreign contributions accepted by the Obama campaign.”

The Obama campaign was happy to encourage mass illegal donations from foreign nationals. Now it’s making baseless charges that its opposition is doing the same thing. Hope and change!

 

[Statorama]

Dollar falls to new lows under Obama's "leadership"

The dollar fell against the euro and yen on Monday after the world's top finance officials failed to reach a consensus on measures to head off what some see as a looming "currency war", analysts said.

The euro reached 1.40 dollars, while the US unit hit a fresh 15-year low against the yen amid growing expectation that the Federal Reserve will pump more money to bolster the struggling US economy, they added.

"The euro was given a boost after the IMF meeting, which failed to resolve the so-called currency war," said Kathleen Brooks, an analyst for online trading company Forex.com.

The European single currency reached 1.4012 dollars a few days after breaching the 1.40 level for the first time for eight months.

In mid-morning trading, the euro stood at 1.3946 dollars, compared with 1.3926 dollars late on Friday in New York.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar dropped to 81.39 yen -- the lowest point since April 1995 and below the level which triggered Japanese government intervention in the foreign exchange market on September 15.

International Monetary Fund policymakers failed on Saturday to reach a consensus on measures to head off what some see as a looming currency war but pledged to keep working toward easing global economic imbalances.

With economic recovery painfully slow, recent weeks have seen nations from Japan to Colombia intervene to stop their currencies from rising to levels that would make exports prohibitively expensive, sparking talk of a currency war.

South Korea on Monday warned that failure to settle disputes about currency policy could fuel protectionism and damage the world economic recovery.

President Lee Myung-Bak, in a lunch with foreign correspondents before next month's Seoul G20 summit, urged members not to pursue only national interests.

Analyst Brooks said the euro "may end up being the loser" of the currency war.

"The ECB's stance of continuing with its plans to withdraw special liquidity facilities from Europe's financial system is pushing up inter-bank interest rates in Europe," she explained.

"This is in direct contrast to the UK and the US, where the prospect of further monetary stimulus from their central banks is pushing rates down to near record lows, thus boosting the single currency.

"The ECB's decision to maintain its exit strategy and refusal to engage in any type of currency debasement -- whether direct or indirect -- puts the single currency at risk from further upward pressure if global tensions concerning foreign exchange rates continue to rise," Brooks added.

Expectations of another round of easing by the US Federal Reserve increased after a report Friday by the US Labor Department showed that the world's biggest economy had shed an unexpected 95,000 non-farm jobs in September.

"Private employment continues to expand at a slow and steady pace that is not sufficient to meaningfully bring down the unemployment rate -- a picture that has been consistent with expectations for further Fed easing," said Vassili Serebriakov of Wells Fargo.

The British pound was lower on expectations of fresh stimulus measures from the Bank of England to support Britain's fragile economic recovery, traders said.

Approaching midday in London, the euro changed hands at 1.3946 dollars against 1.3926 dollars late in New York on Friday, at 114.36 yen (114.29), 0.8749 pounds (0.8727) and 1.3434 Swiss francs (1.3419).

The dollar stood at 82.00 yen (82.06) and 0.9633 Swiss francs (0.9635).

The pound was at 1.5939 dollars (1.5959).

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold climbed to 1,348.55 dollars an ounce from 1,341.50 dollars an ounce late on Friday.

 

[Bronco Billy]

Stat is en fuego today, baby!

its only shtick

I'm fairly certain that shtick doesn't means what you think it means.

 

[Phurfur]

When will BHO start acting like a President? This guy is an embarrassment!

 

[Statorama]

Government snatches baby from parents, cites fathers affiliation with a group as reason

Welcome to the "Big Brother" world of Obama. Belong to a group that questions the orders of the government? They'll snatch your baby.

 

[Statorama]

Donated to a Republican candidate lately? Get ready for the Federal IRS goons to dig into you

More "big brother" Obama antics.

If at first you don't succeed, get some friends in high places to shut your opponents up. That's the latest Washington power play, as Democrats and liberals attack the Chamber of Commerce and independent spending groups in an attempt to stop businesses from participating in politics.

Since the Supreme Court's January decision in Citizens United v. FEC, Democrats in Congress have been trying to pass legislation to repeal the First Amendment for business, though not for unions. Having failed on that score, they're now turning to legal and political threats. Funny how all of this outrage never surfaced when the likes of Peter Lewis of Progressive insurance and George Soros helped to make Democrats financially dominant in 2006 and 2008.

 

[videoguy505]

Obama rants against "foreign money" influencing US elections in 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/us/polit...ref=todayspaper

WASHINGTON — Ever since he raised the issue in his State of the Union speech nearly nine months ago — prompting head-shaking by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. of the Supreme Court — President Obama has been warning about the danger of foreign money creeping into elections as a result of the court’s landmark campaign finance ruling.

In two campaign stops Thursday, Mr. Obama invoked what he portrayed as a specific new example, citing a blog posting from a liberal advocacy group as he teed off on a longtime adversary, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, over its political spending.

“Just this week, we learned that one of the largest groups paying for these ads regularly takes in money from foreign corporations,” Mr. Obama said. “So groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections.”

White House officials acknowledged Friday that they had no specific evidence to indicate that the chamber had used money from foreign entities to finance political attack ads.

“The president was not suggesting any illegality,” Bob Bauer, the White House counsel, said. Instead, he said Mr. Obama’s reference to the chamber was meant to draw attention to the inadequacies of campaign disclosure laws in allowing groups to spend large amounts of money on politics without disclosing their donors.

It's all hypocrisy anyway from Big O.

Because he accepted unlimited undisclosed foreign money donations to his 2008 presidential campaign.

He accepted credit card donations from overseas through his campaign website.

Also noted here and here and here

Barack Obama has proved the greatest fund-raiser of all time by a long shot. His campaign has raised more than $600 million - $150 million in September alone. But the campaign has also failed to adopt standard protections against fraudulent giving.

The average contribution to Obama in September was just under $86. And federal law only requires the disclosure of identifying information for contributions in excess of $200. Campaigns must keep running totals for each donor and report them once they exceed $200.

The Federal Election Commission says the Obama campaign has reported well over $200 million as coming from contributions of $200 or less. Only a small portion of that sum is attributable to donors the Obama campaign has disclosed.

No presidential campaign has ever before received such a gargantuan sum of money from unidentified contributors.

The campaign's records reveal big contributors with names like "Doodad Pro" (employer: "Loving," profession: "You") and "Good Will" (same employer and profession). Both donated via credit card. Other reports have suggested that some donations come from overseas - raising the question of whether Obama is accepting donations from foreigners, another violation of federal law.

All of which prompted an enterprising citizen to test the controls put in place to enforce compliance with federal campaign law by the Obama and McCain campaigns. Last Thursday, he decided to conduct an experiment.

He went to the Obama campaign Web site and made a donation under the name "John Galt" (the hero of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged"). He provided the equally fictitious address "1957 Ayn Rand Lane, Galts Gulch, CO 99999."

He checked the box next to $15 and entered his actual credit-card number and expiration date. He was then taken to the next page and notified that his donation had been processed.



He then tried the same experiment on the McCain site, which rejected the transaction. He returned to the Obama site and made three more donations using the names Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Bill Ayers, all with different addresses but the same credit card. The transactions all went through. By Saturday, he'd reported that the transactions had all posted to his credit-card account.

Others repeated "John Galt's" experiment last week, giving to Obama under such fictitious names as Della Ware, Joe Plumber, Idiot Savant, Ima BadDonation (with a Canadian bank card) and Fake Donor.

What accounts for the Obama campaign's acceptance of these fraudulent donations? Most merchants selling goods and services use the basic Address Verification System that screens credit-card charges for matching names and addresses. (It can also screen cards issued by foreign banks.) The McCain campaign uses AVS and provides a searchable database of all donors, including those who fall below the $200 threshold. The Obama campaign apparently has chosen not to use the AVS system to screen donations.

"Della Ware" contacted The New York Times to report her experience contributing under a fictitious name and address ("12345 No Way") to the Obama campaign, while her contribution was rejected by the McCain campaign. Times reporter Michael Luo verified "Della Ware's" account and reported it online at the Times' campaign blog. But Luo missed the story's point.

"To be fair to the Obama campaign," he wrote, its "officials have said much of their checking for fraud occurs after the transactions have already occurred. When they find something wrong, they then refund the amount."

But the Obama campaign is running a system that complicates the discovery of "something wrong." It has chosen to operate an online contribution system that facilitates illegal falsely sourced contributions, illegal foreign contributions and the evasion of contribution limits.

Obama backers making such contributions may not be worried that "something wrong" will be detected if they have no intention of complaining about it.

According to journalist Kenneth Timmerman, the Obama site did not ask for proof of citizenship until just recently - in contrast not just with McCain but also with Hillary Clinton. Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign required US citizens living abroad to fax copies of their passports before it would accept donations. By contrast, foreign donors to Obama can just use credit cards and false addresses.

Why has the Obama campaign chosen to operate without the basic automated credit-card controls that would prevent or hamper fraud and illegal contributions? Has it made a conscious decision to assist the evasion of federal campaign law or worry about it after it has had the use of the money?

It's hard to see any other motive.

Then there’s the question of whether foreign nationals are contributing to the Obama campaign. There is more than enough evidence to warrant a full-scale investigation by the Federal Election Commission, including the $32,332.19 that appears to have come from two brothers living in a Hamas-controlled Palestinian refugee camp in Rafah, GA (that’s Gaza, not Georgia). The brothers’ cash is part of a flood of illegal foreign contributions accepted by the Obama campaign. Potentially at issue, according to a complaint filed last week by the Republican National Committee, is as much as half of the $427 million he’s already collected. In any case, a complete FEC audit became an even more urgent matter after MSNBC reported that Obama’s Muslim outreach director quietly met with top Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) officials in an uncharacteristically unpublicized event in Springfield, Virginia on September l5th. The FEC’s primary job is to protect the integrity of our federal election process. With this many red flags flying and barely three week left before election day, there’s no time to lose if voters are to have all the information at hand before casting their ballots.

And here

Obama Accepting Untraceable Donations

By Matthew Mosk

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is allowing donors to use largely untraceable prepaid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor's identity, campaign officials confirmed.

Faced with a huge influx of donations over the Internet, the campaign has also chosen not to use basic security measures to prevent potentially illegal or anonymous contributions from flowing into its accounts, aides acknowledged. Instead, the campaign is scrutinizing its books for improper donations after the money has been deposited.

The Obama organization said its extensive review has ensured that the campaign has refunded any improper contributions, and noted that Federal Election Commission rules do not require front-end screening of donations.

In recent weeks, questionable contributions have created headaches for Obama's accounting team as it has tried to explain why campaign finance filings have included itemized donations from individuals using fake names, such as Es Esh or Doodad Pro. Those revelations prompted conservative bloggers to further test Obama's finance vetting by giving money using the kind of prepaid cards that can be bought at a drugstore and cannot be traced to a donor.

The problem with such cards, campaign finance lawyers said, is that they make it impossible to tell whether foreign nationals, donors who have exceeded the limits, government contractors or others who are barred from giving to a federal campaign are making contributions.

"They have opened the floodgates to all this money coming in," said Sean Cairncross, chief counsel to the Republican National Committee. "I think they've made the determination that whatever money they have to refund on the back end doesn't outweigh the benefit of taking all this money upfront."

The Obama campaign has shattered presidential fundraising records, in part by capitalizing on the ease of online giving. Of the $150 million the senator from Illinois raised in September, nearly $100 million came in over the Internet.

The Obama campaign was happy to encourage mass illegal donations from foreign nationals. Now it’s making baseless charges that its opposition is doing the same thing. Hope and change!

 

[videoguy505]

"Even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us--the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of 'anything goes.' Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America--there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America--there's the United States of America."--state senator Barack Obama, Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004

"A Republican majority in Congress would mean 'hand-to-hand combat' on Capitol Hill for the next two years, . . . President Obama warned Wednesday. Speaking on Michael Baisden's syndicated radio show, Obama also made a direct appeal to African Americans. . . . 'The reason we won [in 2008] is because young people, African Americans, Latinos -- people who traditionally don't vote in high numbers--voted in record numbers. We've got to have that same kind of turnout in this election,' he said."--Los Angeles Times, Oct. 7, 2010

 

[bg0546]

This poll need a reset. Would be interesting to compare the poll results if this were held now to the original results from last year.

 

[videoguy505]

This poll need a reset. Would be interesting to compare the poll results if this were held now to the original results from last year.

Right now it's about 41% approve (mildly + strongly). RealClearPolitics has the national average at 45%.Poll's also got 55% disapprove, and the national average is 49%.Within 5/6 points for however long this thread's been around is interesting. Apparently the FFA is ahead of the curve.

 

[Statorama]

Good stuff Videoguy!

$25 Million in Stimulus money fails to save 18,000 GE jobs

(CNSNews.com) - The Obama administration gave corporate giant General Electric—the parent company of NBC--$24.9 million in grants from the $787-billion economic “stimulus” law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009, according to records posted by the administration at Recovery.gov.

Despite getting $24.9 million from U.S. taxpayers, GE decreased its U.S.-based employees by 18,000 in 2009, according to the company’s 2009 annual report.

According to Standard & Poor's, GE took in $156 billion in revenue in 2009.

GE was the primary recipient of 14 stimulus grants, a spokeswoman for Recovery.gov confirmed to CNSNews.com. These 14 grants provided GE with $24.9 million in tax dollars. On four additional stimulus grants, the primary recipient of the federal money hired GE as a contractor. Recovery.gov is the administration’s website that tracks stimulus expenditures.

At the end of 2008, GE employed 152,000 U.S. workers, according to its 2009 annual report. But at the end of 2009, according to the report, it employed only 134,000 U.S. workers, a decline of 18,000 workers.

The Energy Department provided GE with 9 stimulus grants, the Department of Health and Human Services provided the company with 3, and the Justice Department and the Commerce Department each gave the company 1 stimulus grant.

All of these federal stimulus grants went to GE’s Global Research Center.

The earliest of the stimulus grants went to GE in July 2009 and the latest in April 2010.

CNSNews.com asked a GE spokesperson if the company contested Recovery.gov’s representation that GE had received 14 stimulus grants worth $24.9 million, and also whether the company now employed more or fewer workers as a result of receiving the grants.

In an e-mail response, GE spokeswoman Anne Eisele said, “I’m afraid I must politely decline to comment.”

What did all the money to GE go for? Recovery.gov posts brief explanations of each grant. For example, the Department of Justice gave GE $999,955 in stimulus money. “The goal of this program,” said Recovery.gov, “is to develop a comprehensive reasoning system for event and scenario recognition for an intelligent video system.”

In addition to the $24.9 million it received in stimulus grants, GE was also awarded $5 million in federal contracts under the economic stimulus law. These contracts were payment for services provided by the company.

 

[Statorama]

Seven reasons Barack Obama should apologize to the American people

Barack Obama is a petty little man whose grandiose sense of self importance has always far outstripped his abilities and accomplishments. Putting a man such as that in the most important job on the planet is like taking a five year old off an airplane ride at a carnival and putting him at the control of a jet airplane in mid-flight.

Obama, who was so far over his head that he couldn't see the surface from day one, took over the country at a crucial time and then boldly strode forth and made the situation dramatically worse. His whole presidency, from start to finish, has been the living embodiment of that famous Talleyrand quote:

They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

The rest of America, however, has learned quite a bit about Obama, which is why his approval rating has fallen like a stockbroker on Black Friday. At this point, not only should Barack Obama change course, he should apologize for what he's done wrong:

1) For lying to the American people: Calling a politician a liar is a bit like accusing a fish of being fond of water, but even amongst politicians, Barack Obama is a particularly hamfisted and prolific liar. Obama's strategy is simple: He promises everything to everybody and then points the finger elsewhere when people are inevitably disappointed. This has led to some jaw dropping whoppers than would even make Bill Clinton say, "Wow, that guy is a shameless liar."

Obama promised not to hire lobbyists and not to raise taxes on people making less than $250,000 per year. He would post every bill online before he signed it and he promised to negotiate health care reform publicly -- those are all lies. Then after going on the biggest spending spree in American history, Obama turned around on a dime and talked about how important deficit reduction was to him. He lied about health care. You can go on and on with these examples. There's not an honest bone in Barack Obama's body and the American people deserve better than that from their President.

2) For the nasty class warfare: Barack Obama must be unfamiliar with the seven deadly sins because never before has an administration so openly advocated envy. Successful Americans have been treated like villains and whole industries have been slimed for no other reason than it's politically convenient. Obama supporter Bill Maher perfectly captured the attitude when he wrote,

The next rich person who publicly complains about being vilified by the Obama administration must be publicly vilified by the Obama administration.

Trying to destroy innocent people for political reasons. Demonizing success. Turning Americans against each other. For all the talk of unity during his campaign, Barack Obama has worked obsessively to divide Americans since he got into office.

3) For Obamacare: Everybody in D.C., Barack Obama included, knew the American people didn't want Obamacare. The polls showed that they hated it. Scott Brown won "Ted Kennedy's seat" by promising to vote against health care reform. There were angry townhalls, Tea Parties, and tens of millions of phone calls and emails spurred by that legislation.

Yet, Obama helped push it through anyway, methodically lied about what the bill would do, and arrogantly claimed people would learn to like the bill in time. This bill will cause the deficit to explode, kill private insurance, pay for abortions with our tax dollars, create death panels, ration medical care, and destroy the quality of medical care in this country. Obamacare would be a bad idea at any point in our history, but creating a massive new entitlement program when America is on the verge of a debt-driven meltdown caused by entitlement programs has set a new standard for irresponsibility. Let us hope, God willing, that no other American President ever matches that standard.

4) For putting our children so deep into debt: Barack Obama's stimulus plan cost more than the race to the moon, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Marshall Plan -- in real dollars -- and it did nothing for the economy. Obamacare is a massive new entitlement program that we cannot afford. His 10 year budget? It will leave America with "more debt than has been accumulated by all previous Presidents in American history combined."

As he did all that, Obama was in public saying things like this,

I refuse to leave our children with a debt they cannot repay, and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.

Have you no shame, Barack Obama?

5) For the abuse of power: Obama appointed a staggering number of czars to get around the congressional confirmation process. He spent tens of billions in taxpayer dollars and broke legally binding contracts to give his union pals a fat pay-off from the auto industry. He issued a creepy, dictatorial ultimatum to BP demanding that it give the government 20 billion dollars just because he said so. Obama took over the census process so it could be twisted to help the Democrats. Barack Obama is not a man who respects democracy, the Constitution, the American people, or the rule of law and he should be trusted even less than you should trust most politicians, which is to say, not at all.

6) For the racial polarization of America: The unspoken promise behind Barack Obama's campaign was that his election would enable America to finally achieve its long held dream of being a post-racial nation. Yet, Obama's election has led to a flurry of finger pointing, grievance mongering, and race based accusations.

Some of that has come from Obama's own administration. Eric Holder said America is a "nation of cowards" on race. Barack Obama even publicly sided with his friend Henry Louis Gates based on reasoning that really didn't go much deeper than Gates wass black and the cop was white; so the cop must be racist.

That being said, Obama has allowed his followers to do most of the dirty work. In other words, Mr. Post Racial Healer is happy to see anyone who disagrees with him smeared as a racist as long as he gets to keep his hands clean. If you don't believe that, ask yourself, "What has Barack Obama done to stop the tidal wave of false accusations of racism that have been made in his defense?" Absolutely nothing of significance. For that vile and cynical tactic, Barack Obama should personally apologize to the staggering number of Americans who have been falsely called racists on his behalf.

7) For the arrogance: The good news about being President is that it doesn't seem to have gotten in the way of Barack Obama's golf game. Nor his vacations. Moreover, despite the fact that Obama seems to be completely baffled by the fundamentals of governing, it hasn't stopped him from saying things like,

But I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking.

Then there's this story, which is turning out to be one of my personal favorites, given how the election seems to be shaping up,

Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark., fears that these midterm elections are going to go the way of the 1994 midterms, when Democrats lost control of the House after a failed health care reform effort.

But, Berry told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the White House does not share his concerns.

“They just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.’ We’re going to see how much difference that makes now.”

At what point does Barack Obama actually accomplish something not just worthy of the Nobel Prize he was given, but of any worth at all?

 

[Phase of the Game]

Seven reasons Barack Obama should apologize to the American people

Barack Obama is a petty little man whose grandiose sense of self importance has always far outstripped his abilities and accomplishments. Putting a man such as that in the most important job on the planet is like taking a five year old off an airplane ride at a carnival and putting him at the control of a jet airplane in mid-flight.

Obama, who was so far over his head that he couldn't see the surface from day one, took over the country at a crucial time and then boldly strode forth and made the situation dramatically worse. His whole presidency, from start to finish, has been the living embodiment of that famous Talleyrand quote:

They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

The rest of America, however, has learned quite a bit about Obama, which is why his approval rating has fallen like a stockbroker on Black Friday. At this point, not only should Barack Obama change course, he should apologize for what he's done wrong:

1) For lying to the American people: Calling a politician a liar is a bit like accusing a fish of being fond of water, but even amongst politicians, Barack Obama is a particularly hamfisted and prolific liar. Obama's strategy is simple: He promises everything to everybody and then points the finger elsewhere when people are inevitably disappointed. This has led to some jaw dropping whoppers than would even make Bill Clinton say, "Wow, that guy is a shameless liar."

Obama promised not to hire lobbyists and not to raise taxes on people making less than $250,000 per year. He would post every bill online before he signed it and he promised to negotiate health care reform publicly -- those are all lies. Then after going on the biggest spending spree in American history, Obama turned around on a dime and talked about how important deficit reduction was to him. He lied about health care. You can go on and on with these examples. There's not an honest bone in Barack Obama's body and the American people deserve better than that from their President.

2) For the nasty class warfare: Barack Obama must be unfamiliar with the seven deadly sins because never before has an administration so openly advocated envy. Successful Americans have been treated like villains and whole industries have been slimed for no other reason than it's politically convenient. Obama supporter Bill Maher perfectly captured the attitude when he wrote,

The next rich person who publicly complains about being vilified by the Obama administration must be publicly vilified by the Obama administration.

Trying to destroy innocent people for political reasons. Demonizing success. Turning Americans against each other. For all the talk of unity during his campaign, Barack Obama has worked obsessively to divide Americans since he got into office.

3) For Obamacare: Everybody in D.C., Barack Obama included, knew the American people didn't want Obamacare. The polls showed that they hated it. Scott Brown won "Ted Kennedy's seat" by promising to vote against health care reform. There were angry townhalls, Tea Parties, and tens of millions of phone calls and emails spurred by that legislation.

Yet, Obama helped push it through anyway, methodically lied about what the bill would do, and arrogantly claimed people would learn to like the bill in time. This bill will cause the deficit to explode, kill private insurance, pay for abortions with our tax dollars, create death panels, ration medical care, and destroy the quality of medical care in this country. Obamacare would be a bad idea at any point in our history, but creating a massive new entitlement program when America is on the verge of a debt-driven meltdown caused by entitlement programs has set a new standard for irresponsibility. Let us hope, God willing, that no other American President ever matches that standard.

4) For putting our children so deep into debt: Barack Obama's stimulus plan cost more than the race to the moon, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Marshall Plan -- in real dollars -- and it did nothing for the economy. Obamacare is a massive new entitlement program that we cannot afford. His 10 year budget? It will leave America with "more debt than has been accumulated by all previous Presidents in American history combined."

As he did all that, Obama was in public saying things like this,

I refuse to leave our children with a debt they cannot repay, and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.

Have you no shame, Barack Obama?

5) For the abuse of power: Obama appointed a staggering number of czars to get around the congressional confirmation process. He spent tens of billions in taxpayer dollars and broke legally binding contracts to give his union pals a fat pay-off from the auto industry. He issued a creepy, dictatorial ultimatum to BP demanding that it give the government 20 billion dollars just because he said so. Obama took over the census process so it could be twisted to help the Democrats. Barack Obama is not a man who respects democracy, the Constitution, the American people, or the rule of law and he should be trusted even less than you should trust most politicians, which is to say, not at all.

6) For the racial polarization of America: The unspoken promise behind Barack Obama's campaign was that his election would enable America to finally achieve its long held dream of being a post-racial nation. Yet, Obama's election has led to a flurry of finger pointing, grievance mongering, and race based accusations.

Some of that has come from Obama's own administration. Eric Holder said America is a "nation of cowards" on race. Barack Obama even publicly sided with his friend Henry Louis Gates based on reasoning that really didn't go much deeper than Gates wass black and the cop was white; so the cop must be racist.

That being said, Obama has allowed his followers to do most of the dirty work. In other words, Mr. Post Racial Healer is happy to see anyone who disagrees with him smeared as a racist as long as he gets to keep his hands clean. If you don't believe that, ask yourself, "What has Barack Obama done to stop the tidal wave of false accusations of racism that have been made in his defense?" Absolutely nothing of significance. For that vile and cynical tactic, Barack Obama should personally apologize to the staggering number of Americans who have been falsely called racists on his behalf.

7) For the arrogance: The good news about being President is that it doesn't seem to have gotten in the way of Barack Obama's golf game. Nor his vacations. Moreover, despite the fact that Obama seems to be completely baffled by the fundamentals of governing, it hasn't stopped him from saying things like,

But I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking.

Then there's this story, which is turning out to be one of my personal favorites, given how the election seems to be shaping up,

Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark., fears that these midterm elections are going to go the way of the 1994 midterms, when Democrats lost control of the House after a failed health care reform effort.

But, Berry told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the White House does not share his concerns.

“They just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.’ We’re going to see how much difference that makes now.”

At what point does Barack Obama actually accomplish something not just worthy of the Nobel Prize he was given, but of any worth at all?

 

[Statorama]

33 months after recession began, Unemployment numbers continue to rise

 

[Parrothead]

33 months after recession began, Unemployment numbers continue to rise

c'mom man, its a "lagging indicator".. we are out the recession.. ALL IS WELL!!!

 

[Statorama]

The only thing shovel ready is Obama's career

It’s quite remarkable to think about and unfortunately it is true.

Throughout the 2009 stimulus debate early in his term, President Barack Obama and other Democrats argue it was time to put America to work with the aid of the government and so-called “shovel-ready jobs.” But in a startling admission in an interview with The New York Times’ White House correspondent Peter Baker, Obama said “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.”

So after the American taxpayers were sold a stimulus bill that was supposed to repair the country’s ailing infrastructure and stem the rise in unemployment, the president’s economic policies haven’t lived up as advertised. On the Oct. 13 broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Special Report with Bret Baier,” syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer offered a spot-on explanation.

“Well, that is quite an admission,” Krauthammer said. “A year-and-a-half and half-a-trillion dollars later he says, ‘Well, these things I talk about endlessly don't exist.’ It's not surprising that he doesn't know a shovel-ready project didn't exist because having never worked in the private sector he wouldn't sure what a project is and there isn't shoveling in Harvard Law School, so I can understand.”

Krauthammer said the president’s admission could prove costly for Democrats in upcoming elections.

“This is one of the greatest ‘oops’ in American history,” he continued. “And it’s going to be hard for a Democrat when you show, you know one tape against another, and you’re going to say, ‘You supported $1 trillion offered by a president who didn't know that this is not going to happen?’ And that is probably why – since everybody expected it would affect unemployment and didn't this is probably one of the reasons why – things weren’t shovel-ready.”

Also in the Baker interview, Obama discussed his appearance to the American people. However, Krauthammer suggested this was proof the White House was more concerned with appearance and less with real policy.

“The other admission I think is even worse – the one of which he said he ended up looking like a tax-and-spend Democrat,” Krauthammer continued. “Obama and his staff really think this is all about appearances and communication – that he isn't a tax and spend Democrat, but he didn't communicate it or as the vice president said today, ‘It's too hard to explain,’ meaning, that the American electorate is too thick to understand it. He is a tax-and-spend Democrat. He spent a trillion dollars and we’re going to have to borrow or tax it on the stimulus. He will spend $2-to-$3 trillion on health care. He’s going to have to borrow or tax it. Cap-and-trade is spending that you’re going to have to -- that's what he is. That’s why electorate is against him. It’s not appearances. It's substance.”