And so it begins! As I have said before this entire thing is getting way out of control. Mr. President please reconsider you agenda, if this is what is being created by your mission is it really going to bring together a country or divide it even further?
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel takes Obamacare to task. The list includes many treatments that affect the elderly.
Former US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, says a military strike against Iran will be the only way for Israel to shield itself, before Iran develops its nuclear weapons program.
Is Hillary Clinton going to laugh this one off as well?
In an excerpt from an interview with Fareed Zakaria, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defends her husband Bill's mission to rescue journalists Euna Lee and Linda Ling from North Korea.
When asked to comment on former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton's criticism, Hillary immediately broke into laughter upon hearing his name mentioned.
What is it with her and uncontrollable nervous laughter? Remember that whole pirate debacle?
Cavuto gets it! I especially like his line that he has no problem with Obama's skin color, but of the thickness of his skin!
And he is correct, this not a Republican/Democrat dispute. It is everyday Americans demanding their representatives read bills before they vote on them, double and triple check the pricetags, and cross all the "Ts" and dot all the "Is"!
Patriotic Americans practicing Freedom of Speech are not a "mob" or Nazis as Madame Speaker would like you to believe.
Former UN Ambassador John Bolton confirms my thinking. I agree, Bill Clinton's negatiotions with Kim Jong-Il are akin to negotiating with terrorists.
More propaganda from the State Run Media! It's still socialism! It will still bankrupt America and the level of care will be, at best, bad.
Sen. Cornyn appeared on Fox News to discuss the letter he sent to President Obama expressing serious concern about the White House's new program requesting Americans to forward email chains and other communications opposing the President's health care policies.
Here comes the "Secret Police" I have been warning you about. Fascism in action! The Obama Admin. continues its trend of intimidation towards those who dare to question "Dear Leader".
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, accusing the White House of compiling an "enemies list," has asked President Barack Obama to stop an effort to collect "fishy" information Americans see about a health care overhaul.
Cornyn, who leads the Republicans' Senate campaign effort, said Wednesday in a letter to Obama that he's concerned that citizen engagement on the issue could be "chilled." He also expressed alarm that the White House could end up collecting electronic information on its critics.
"I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward e-mails critical of his policies to the White House," Cornyn wrote.
Cornyn was responding to a post on the White House's blog Wednesday in which users are asked to help stop the spread of disinformation about legislation to overhaul health insurance. The post offers an e-mail address, flag@whitehouse.gov, for users to forward anything "on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy."
The White House said the post was merely designed to fight "intentionally misleading" information in the health care debate.
"We want to be sure people have the facts about health insurance reform that will lower costs, protect consumers from insurance regulations that deny them coverage and assure quality and affordable health care for all Americans," said Adam Abrams, a White House spokesman. He said no lists or sources of the information would be compiled.
In his letter, Cornyn asked that the effort cease immediately and that the administration inform Congress what it's doing to ensure that names and electronic information about citizens weighing in on health care are not collected.
Kevin McLaughlin, a spokesman for the senator, said that the office had received no response from the administration.
He said Cornyn had not yet considered whether he would push for legislation to address the matter if necessary.
Shepard Smith reports Sonia Sotomayor has just been confirmed as Supreme Court Justice, then talks about the historic moment with Judge Andrew Napolitano, who ends the clip by saying, "If you're a Republican, you've got some 'splainin' to do."
Hide the children!
Malkin and Hannity lay down the facts that the Democratic Fascist might want to take a look at...Hannity makes the best argument here: It's one thing to attack Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin etc, but for The Obama Administration to launch an Alinsky-esque attack on average citizens is despicable and irresponsible.
Shocker! Princess-in-Chief of The Obama Ministry of Misinformation (aka State Run Media) Rachel Maddow reads directly from the Liberal talking points to attack those who dare question "Dear Leader".
Nancy Pelosi falsely accused American voters who oppose Obama's healthcare plan of wearing SWASTIKAS when they show up at townhall meetings to press their Congresspeople on the details of this bill.
Are you fucking kidding me Madame Speaker? You got the wrong guy! You're buddy in the White House is closer to a Nazi than those Americans practicing their Constitutional rights to assemble, speak and question their leaders!
This is getting SOOOOO out of hand!
Nancy Pelosi claims protesters are "carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare." Not surprisingly, this is not the first time the Wicked Witch referred to conservative protests as "astroturf".
Here is the official "Alinsky-esque" attack ad:
Unbelievable!!!!
During an appearance on MSNBC's "Hardball," Barbara Boxer comments on the attire of the health care protesters, saying she hasn't seen such "well-dressed" people since the 2000 Florida recount!
Good god! It's freaking ridiculous that the Liberals are launching an all out attack on Free Speech! And the Libs don't encourage ACORN and Obama's Army to do the exact same thing? Come on!
This is why people like Mark Levin talk about the "Brown Shirts" and "State Run Media"! It is really happening! If you disagree with "Dear Leader" you will be punished!
Dr. Rand Paul on "Your World" announcing he will run for U.S. Senate in his home state of Kentucky.
Rep. Brad Sherman on how people speaking out against health care reform are being portrayed in the media and by politicians as "mob like".
Saw this earlier today on "Cavuto". Neil kills this guy! It's amazing that the Liberal talking points include referring to those they serve as having a "mob mentality" and "a threat".
Under Team Obama/Pelosi/Reid, free speech and civil disobedience is now a "threat"?
And again, another double standard -- where were these Libs for the anti-Bush rallies? It's such bullshit! These Democrats amaze me with their anti-American rhetoric!
Really? Another "leg thrill"? I sense some tongue in check self-mockery from Matthews here...
Again, as happy I am to see these women back home; I am skeptical of the North Korean motivation.
As Congressmen return to their districts and take Obama's health care plan out to try to sell it to a skeptical American public, the kind of confrontation which greets House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is becoming only too commonplace.
Taxpayers throughout the United States are reacting with frustration, outrage and genuine anger as America recoils from the incredible deficit spending of Barack Obama and left-wing politicians in Congress.
Expect public support -- already low -- for Obama's expensive health care reform proposal to wane even more as scenes like this continue to play out across America.
And this is how the Alinsky left treats American's who choose to speak out under their Constitutional rights.
How To Fake A Protest: Right-Wing Media & Corporate Lobbyists Pretend To Be Grassroots
Hillary should thank her lucky stars that Bill was around for North Korea's publicity stunt/photo op release of these young woman.
I seem to recall North Korea calling Hillary an "unintelligent, funny lady" recently...
Politico adds some historical perspective:
A controversy-prone ex-president rides to the rescue to defuse a crisis provoked by an erratic dictatorship on the Korean Peninsula. Most people breathe a sigh of relief, but there are skeptics who wonder if the breakthrough was won through appeasement.
Not only has Bill Clinton seen this movie before, he’s starred in it — though in a different role than the one he’s playing this week with his burst of globe-trotting diplomacy in North Korea.
The 42nd president’s success in forging a behind-the-scenes deal for the release of two American journalists in exchange for Clinton’s surprise appearance in Pyongyang may signal a new chapter in one of the United States’s most vexing and dangerous relationships. Or it may turn out to be another false start with an isolated and paranoid regime.
In either event, however, this week marks a curious full circle in the life of Bill Clinton, who until this week was an elder statesman who seemed without a clear identity or useful role in Barack Obama’s presidency. A Clinton adviser said the former president is ready and eager for more Obama assignments.
History, it turns out, is full of inside jokes.
The first time Clinton found himself in a stare-down with North Korea was in the spring of 1994. Then, Clinton was an unseasoned new president, still seen by many in the public and some of his own aides as wobbly in the face of foreign crises.
With deep reluctance, Clinton was on the brink of ordering a major military buildup in response to North Korea’s decision to end international inspections and start a nuclear bomb-building program. Inside Clinton’s government, many thought the buildup itself might provoke war on the peninsula. North Korea, delicate as ever, was warning of a “sea of flames.”
In 1994, the ex-president roaming on the Korea scene was Jimmy Carter. The Clinton White House had not exactly invited him to go to North Korea, but — since Carter made clear he was going anyway — it had not tried to dissuade him either.
At the last minute, even as Clinton was in a meeting to approve the buildup, Carter struck a deal in which North Korea claimed it would halt its nuclear program in exchange for direct talks with the United States. Carter went on CNN to announce the deal, while Clinton’s aides in Washington stared at their sets and groaned at the former president’s grandstanding.
Unlike Carter, Clinton was plainly not freelancing on his assignment to win the release of documentary journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Though ostensibly in Pyongyang as a “private citizen,” he was there with the approval of the White House and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Like Carter, however, Clinton is finding that the best place to prove his relevance as an ex-president is in international hot spots.
A Clinton admirer, Democratic commentator Donna Brazile, said the North Korea trip shows “Bill Clinton still has the juice.
“I hope this is a sign of things to come,” she added, “given all the fires that this country faces. People trust him, and he has an important role to play. And this shows President Obama’s determination to try all kinds of diplomacy, including third-party diplomacy.”
Obama advisers were not willing to discuss Clinton’s role on the record. On background, one said, “This big victory helps him get his groove back.” The sentiment is notable, given the skepticism that still exists in many quarters of Obama’s inner circle since the Obama-Clinton sniping during the 2008 Democratic primaries.
The media just will not leave her alone, will it?
Politico has more:
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tells POLITICO that widespread blogosphere reports about a possible divorce from her husband, Todd, are “made up.”
In a brief telephone interview on Tuesday night, Palin quipped that she loves finding out “what’s goin’ on in my life from the news.”
“Do you want to talk to Todd?” she teased. “He’s sitting right next to me.” But he didn’t come on the line.
The former governor and her family were in New York City to visit her publisher, HarperCollins Publishers.
Palin said her memoir, due out next spring, will convey a “pioneering spirit” and will “inspire those doing battle in their own lives.” She said she and the family had been doing “fun kids’ things” during her trip to Manhattan.
Palin was eating dinner at Michael’s restaurant with her husband; her adviser, Meg Stapleton; and Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, her book agent.
Michelle Malkin continues her book tour for "Culture of Corruption".
Malkin had this to say on her site:
Just finished up on The View, where I sparred with the ladies about Culture of Corruption.
Best part: Every single member of the audience got a copy of the book!
Second best part: Whoopi Goldberg, who didn’t read the book, asserting that I called the administration the most corrupt ever in the book when I was on the set — and then waiting for me to leave to falsely assert that “that young lady” said it on the Today Show.
No, I didn’t. Here’s the video.
As I said on the show, my argument is that the Obama administration needs to be held to its own standards and rhetoric — and by that standard, it is one of the most corrupt in recent history — a point I made on the Hannity show last Monday when I launched.
You know you’ve won the argument when the ladies of the View are reduced to arguing how corrupt Team Obama is, and not whether.
How cute! The two Liberal Socialists share a birthday moment!
Just another example of Alinsky-esque attacks on those who dare to question "Dear Leader". Unreal.
“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”
-Barack Obama in 2003
The AP reports:
WASHINGTON – The White House is turning to the Internet to hit back at a Web posting that claims to show President Barack Obama explaining how his health care reform plans eventually would eliminate private insurance.
The three-minute White House video features Linda Douglass, a former network television correspondent and now White House Office of Health Reform communications director, sitting in front of a computer screen showing the Drudge Report Web site. That site carries a series of video clips from another blogger who strings together selected Obama statements on health care to make it appear he wants to eliminate the private health insurance business.
In the video Douglas says the site is "taking sentences and phrases out of context, and they're cobbling them together to leave a very false impression."
The video the White House seeks to rebut, labeled “SHOCK UNCOVERED,” was linked by Andrew Breitbart on his video site, Breitbart.tv, after a site called Naked Emperor News brought it to his attention.
The clip is labeled, “SEIU Health Care Forum 3/24/07,” and shows Obama saying: “I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There’s going to be, potentially, some transition process: I can envision a decade out, or 15 years out, or 20 years out.”
Rahm Emanuel has a long history of brutal intimidation tactics.
Darrell Issa put him in his place!
WASHINGTON. D.C. – Following reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been orchestrating an effort to intimidate members of Congress and Governors who raise legitimate concerns regarding the effectiveness of the stimulus, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Emanuel saying “While this type of scare tactic may work In Chicago, it will not work to intimidate me or other Members of the United States Congress.”
“I and others have dared to bring these facts to the attention of President Obama, the Congress and the American people,” Issa wrote. “You’ve unfortunately reacted by once again resorting to the playbook of the Chicago political machine.”
Last month, Politico reported that Emanuel had “launched a coordinated effort to jam” Senator Kyl and other Administration critics… “[A]fter seeing Kyl and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) again paint the legislation as a failure on Sunday talk shows, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel directed that the letters from the Cabinet secretaries be sent to [Governor] Brewer, according to two administration officials.”
Issa noted, “The fact that the letters were coordinated by you to maximize the level of intimidation is supported by the timing, structure, and content of each letter. Not only were the four letters all sent the day following Senator Kyl’s remarks, but they were also remarkably similar in tone and sentence structure.”
Letter from Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation:
On Sunday, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl publicly questioned whether the stimulus is working and stated that he wants to cancel projects that aren’t presently underway. I believe the stimulus has been very effective in creating job opportunities throughout the country. However, if you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to your state, as Senator Kyl suggests, please let me know [emphasis added].
Letter from Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior:
Some key Republican leaders in Congress have publicly questioned whether the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is working and suggested cancelling all projects that are not currently in progress. I believe they are wrong. The stimulus funds provided through the Recovery Act are a very effective way to create job opportunities throughout the Country. However, if you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to Arizona, please let me know [emphasis added].
“At what point do you believe your practice of Chicago-style politics violates a public official’s right to speak out in favor of alternative policies,” Issa asks. “The American people have a right to know what role you played in developing the threatening letters to Governor Brewer and whether you intend to continue to engage in these tactics in the future.”
In order to assist the Committee with its investigation of this issue, please provide the following information by close of business on Tuesday, August 11, 2009:
Your response to Politico’s report that “White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel directed that the letters from the Cabinet secretaries be sent to [Governor] Brewer, according to two administration officials.”
A full and complete explanation of the development of the four July 13 letters from the cabinet secretaries to Governor Brewer, including but not limited to the role you or any other White House official played in writing the letters or encouraging the writing of the letters.
All records and communications between you and Secretary LaHood, Secretary Salazar, Secretary Donovan, and Secretary Vilsack referring or relating to the decision to send the July 13 letters to Governor Brewer.
A full and complete explanation of the role of the Democratic National Committee and the White House Office of Political Affairs in authoring, encouraging, facilitating, or directing the four July 13 letters from the cabinet secretaries to Governor Brewer.
You can view a copy of the full letter to Emanuel by clicking here.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan suggests to George Stephanopoulos that "there's been a very significant improvement in the financial system... where the problems have been," and that as far as the retracting economy: "I'm pretty sure we've already seen the bottom... Collapse is now off the table."
"The state of confidence in the economy is beginning to pick up," he suggests.
Bloomberg reports:
Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The most severe recession in at least five decades may be ending and growth may resume at a rate faster than most economists foresee, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said.
“We may very well have 2.5 percent in the current quarter,” Greenspan said in an interview today on ABC’s “This Week” program. “The reason is there has been such an extraordinarily high rate of inventory liquidation that the production levels are well under consumption.”
The U.S. economy contracted at a better-than-forecast 1 percent annual pace in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported July 31. Stabilization of housing markets and consumer spending, a lessening of financial turmoil and increased government spending all suggest the longest recession since the 1930s may be close to ending.
“I’m short-term optimistic, but with many caveats,” the former Fed chairman said. Housing markets have “stabilized temporarily” though it is “possible” the economy might relapse if there is a further slide in home prices of more than about 5 percent.
‘Close to Stabilization’
“I don’t think it’s going to happen, but I do think it is possible that we could get a second wave down,” he said. “But the important issue is that if we don’t, and I think the probability is that we won’t, that we are close to stabilization.”
Economic growth will average 1 percent in the current quarter, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists in July.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve already seen the bottom,” Greenspan said. “In fact, if you look at the weekly production figures for various different industries, it’s clear that we’ve turned, perhaps in the middle of last month, the middle of July.”
He predicted “the unemployment rate is going to continue to rise, but more slowly than it’s been. We’ll continue to have job loss, but that’s slowing as well.”
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke projected a week ago the U.S. unemployment rate will top 10 percent, up from 9.5 percent in June, even as the economy recovers. Growth of about 1 percent is likely in the second half of the year, Bernanke said at a town- hall-style meeting.
In the Green Room following the end of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Al Hunt remarks that for such a smart guy, Barack Obama has a tendency to speak out when he would be better served saying nothing or else making less inflammatory statements.
