WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US government plans to offer some 900 million dollars to help rebuild the Gaza Strip following Israel’s December-January military incursion, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The aid will be provided through United Nations and non-governmental organizations and will not go to Hamas, the Islamist group which has ruled Gaza since June 2007, the Times reported citing unnamed administration officials.
Washington considers Hamas a terrorist organization and avoids any direct contact with the group.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will formally announce the assistance at a Palestinian donors’ conference next week in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, officials told the Times.
Asked about the aid early Tuesday at a photo opportunity before a meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, Clinton said “we have made no decision” on the administration’s plans for the donor conference.
“We are working across the government to determine what our approach will be and I am looking forward to attending that meeting. But there is still a lot of work to do,” she told reporters.
Some of the US funds will go to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, officials told the daily.
A day after the March 2 donors’ conference Clinton is due to visit Israel and the occupied West Bank on her first official trip to the region, according to Palestinian officials.
Israel’s 22-day offensive in Gaza, aimed at halting rocket fire into Israel by Hamas militants, ended on January 18. The assault left more than 1,330 Palestinians dead and caused massive destruction throughout the tiny Palestinian territory.
$900 million, incredible. Through United Nations, even more incredible. Will not go to Hamas, completely unbelievable. There is absolutely no way that $900 million will go to Gaza and none of it ends up in the hands of Hamas. We lost $700 billion right here in the US (remember the emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008? ). How could the bureaucrats ever hope to account for any money once it leaves the country?
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen says he’s still among the top candidates for a post in the Obama cabinet, but that hasn’t discouraged him from possibly rejecting some of the stimulus money that President Barack Obama is sending his way.
Bredesen, who says he is “on a fairly short list” of candidates for health and human services secretary, told a Chattanooga paper that he is considering turning down federal funds for unemployment insurance included in the economic recovery package signed by the president last week.
He would be the first Democrat to refuse part of the stimulus for states, joining Republican governors like South Carolina’s Mark Sanford and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal.
Bredesen is concerned that accepting $141 million for Tennessee’s unemployment insurance would force the state to expand the program and leave state taxpayers with the bill in two years’ time.
“We are evaluating this piece of money, whether it makes sense for us to take it,” he said. “We may well be one of the states that say we can’t take on that portion of it.”
In testimony before Congress today, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said it would “reduce the stimulus effect of the package” to leave the unemployment funds unspent. But Bredesen still likes his chances of joining the Obama administration after a breaking with the president on the high-profile issue.
The state of Washington sent out $1 checks to the 250,000 food stamp recipients in the state.
The director of the Community Services Division for the Department of Social and Health Services, Leo Ribas, says the checks mailed Feb. 17 trigger an additional $43 million in federal food benefits. They also connect recipients to an energy assistance program.
Ribas says the $1 check is a one-time move to leverage the federal money. He says next year the state will be able to trigger the federal assistance through a routine deposit in food stamp accounts.
What the hell?
A commenter notes: “Well bulk rate is about 26 cents. Envelop another 5-10 cents. Plus printing at 5-10 cents a copy. Plus handling. I’m sure [the cost to send the checks] was as much if not more then the food stamps.”
Amber Gunn of EFF/Washington adds: “To top it off, a lot of recipients of these checks do not have bank accounts so the fee to cash the check is greater than the check itself (usually $2 to $5). Genius.”
In Fascism, obama on February 24, 2009 at 11:27 am
Arch-conservative Alan Keyes is not giving Barack Obama any honeymoon.
After the Los Angeles Times “Top of the Ticket” column picked up Keyes’ comments – taken from an impromptu interview posted to YouTube – about Obama from last week, those comments have been the buzz of the web this past weekend.
Keyes, a former U.S. ambassador, ran against Obama in 2004 as the Republican Senate candidate in Illinois.
In his diatribe against the new president, Keyes calls Obama a “radical communist” and says “he will destroy this country” and warns that unless he is stopped, America “will cease to exist.”
Keyes also says Obama has failed constitutional muster to become president, since, Keyes argues, Obama was born in Kenya.
Obama has stated he was born in Hawaii. His campaign has released his Certificate of Live Birth – not his actual birth certificate. Hawaii state officials said they reviewed the actual birth certificate and that Obama was born in the state of Hawaii.
Also, Obama’s family placed a legal advertisement in a Hawaii newspaper days after he was born.
There’s something in the air. It’s the smell of roasted pork. President Obama heralded the signing of the trillion-dollar “stimulus” bill in Denver and promoted his massive mortgage entitlement expansion in Mesa, Ariz., at tightly controlled campaign events. But outside the Secret Service perimeters, a raucous grassroots rebellion against Beltway spending binges has caught fire. The new Boston Tea Party is here, baby, and it’s doused in barbecue sauce.
The first revolt took place on Presidents Day in Smurf-blue Seattle, where mom-blogger Keli Carender hastily organized a downtown demonstration to oppose what they called the “stimulus rip-off.” A motley band of nearly 100 protesters — moms and their kids, college students, libertarians, taxpayer groups, GOP activists — raised their voices and dined on pulled pork (donated by yours truly). They assailed both the substance of the overstuffed stimulus package and the short-circuited, nontransparent process by which it was passed.
Some wore pig noses. Others waved Old Glory and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags. Their handmade signs read: “Say No to Generational Theft”; “Obama’$ Porkulu$ Wear$ Lip$tick”; and “I don’t want to pay for the SwindleUs! I’m only 10 years old!” The event was peaceful, save for an unhinged city-dweller who showed his tolerance by barging onto the speakers’ stage and giving a Nazi salute.
Carender, a newcomer to political activism, shared advice for other first-timers: “Basically, everyone, you just have to do it. Call up your police station or parks department and ask how you can obtain a permit, and then just start advertising. The word will spread. I am only one person, but with a little hard work this protest has become the efforts of a lot of people.”
Why bother? It’s for posterity’s sake. For the historical record. And hopefully it will spur others to move from the phones and computers to the streets. For Carender, it’s just the beginning. She gathered all the attendees’ e-mail addresses and will keep up the pressure.
“We need to show that we exist. Second, we need to show support for the Republicans and Democrats that voted against the porkulus. If they think, for one second, that they made a bad choice, we have no chance to fight. Third, it sends a message to Obama and Pelosi that we are awake and we know what’s happening and we are not going to take it lying down. It is a message saying, ‘Expect more opposition because we’re out here.’”
The anti-pork activists turned out in Denver, too. On Tuesday, while Obama cocooned himself at the city’s Museum of Nature and Science for the stimulus signing, a crowd of nearly 300 gathered on the Capitol steps on their lunch hour to flame-broil the spending bill and feast on roasted pig (also donated by yours truly). Jim Pfaff of Colorado’s fiscal conservative citizens group Americans for Prosperity condemned the “Ponzi scheme, Madoff style” stimulus and led the crowd in chants of “No more pork!” Free-market think-tank head Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute brought oversized checks representing the $30,000 stimulus debt load for American families.
On Wednesday in Mesa, local conservative talk station KFYI spearheaded a third large protest to welcome Obama as he unveiled a $100 billion to $200 billion program to bail out banks and beleaguered borrowers having trouble paying their mortgages. The entitlement theme played well last week in Florida, where Obama played Santa Claus to enraptured supporters shamelessly seeking government presents. But nearly 500 protesters in Mesa came to reject the savior-based economy with signs mocking gimme-mania.
Their posters jeered: “Give me Pelosi’s Plane”; “Annual Passes to Disneyland”; “Fund Bikini Wax Now”; “Stimulate the Economy: Give Me a Tummy Tuck”; “Free Beer for My Horses.”
And my favorite: “Give me liberty or at least a big-screen TV.”
Plans are underway for anti-stimulus-palooza protests in Overland Park, Kan., Nashville and New York — home of smug Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer. Schumer’s derisive comment on the Senate floor about the “chattering classes” who oppose reckless spending has not been forgotten or forgiven. The insult spurred central Kentucky talk show host Leland Conway to organize a pork rind drive. Angry taxpayers bombarded the senator’s office with 1,500 bags of cracklins.
Disgraced Democratic Sen. John Edwards was right about one thing: There are two Americas. One America is full of moochers, big and small, corporate and individual, trampling over themselves with their hands out demanding endless bailouts. The other America is full of disgusted, hardworking citizens getting sick of being played for chumps and punished for practicing personal responsibility.
Now is the time for all good taxpayers to turn the tables on free-lunching countrymen and their enablers in Washington. Community organizing helped propel Barack Obama to the White House. It can work for fiscal conservatism, too.
In Fascism, obama on February 20, 2009 at 10:30 am
Newsday.com
AP Interview: Transportation secretary says taxing how much we drive may replace gasoline tax
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press Writer
7:17 AM EST, February 20, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn — an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed.
Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation’s transportation system moving, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled,” the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said.
Most transportation experts see a vehicle miles traveled tax as a long-term solution, but Congress is being urged to move in that direction now by funding pilot projects.
The idea also is gaining ground in several states. Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island are talking about such programs, and a North Carolina panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax.
A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it’s an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.
Besides a VMT tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options, LaHood, one of two Republicans in Obama’s Cabinet, said in the interview Thursday.
“What I see this administration doing is this — thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America,” he said.
LaHood said he firmly opposes raising the federal gasoline tax in the current recession.
The program that funds the federal share of highway projects is part of a surface transportation law that expires Sept. 30. Last fall, Congress made an emergency infusion of $8 billion to make up for a shortfall between gas tax revenues and the amount of money promised to states for their projects. The gap between money raised by the gas tax and the cost of maintaining the nation’s highway system and expanding it to accommodate population growth is forecast to continue to widen.
Among the reasons for the gap is a switch to more fuel-efficient cars and a decrease in driving that many transportation experts believe is related to the economic downturn. Electric cars and alternative-fuel vehicles that don’t use gasoline are expected to start penetrating the market in greater numbers.
“One of the things I think everyone agrees with around reauthorization of the highway bill is that the highway trust fund is an antiquated system for funding our highways,” LaHood said. “It did work to build the interstate system and it was very effective, there’s no question about that. But the big question now is, We’re into the 21st century and how are we going to take care of our infrastructure needs … with a highway trust fund that had to be plused up by $8 billion by Congress last year?”
A blue-ribbon national transportation commission is expected to release a report next week recommending a VMT.
The system would require all cars and trucks be equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a transponder, a clock and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven, whether it was driven on highways or secondary roads, and even whether it was driven during peak traffic periods or off-peak hours.
The device would tally how much tax motorists owed depending upon their road use. Motorists would pay the amount owed when it was downloaded, probably at gas stations at first, but an alternative eventually would be needed.
Rob Atkinson, president of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, the agency that is developing future transportation funding options, said moving to a national VMT would take about a decade.
Privacy concerns are based more on perception than any actual risk, Atkinson said. The satellite information would be beamed one way to the car and driving information would be contained within the device on the car, with the amount of the tax due the only information that’s downloaded, he said.
The devices also could be programmed to charge higher rates to vehicles that are heavier, like trucks that put more stress on roadways, Atkinson said.
by Michael P. Farris, J.D. reprinted from The Home School Court Report (vol. XXI, no. 2)
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a threat that longtime homeschoolers know well. If ratified by the United States Senate, it would ban spanking in our country. Homeschooling would no longer be governed by state law, but by a 10-member committee of child welfare “experts” in Geneva. Even our right to teach our children that Jesus is the only way to God would be in jeopardy.
Aware of this threat, homeschoolers and other parental rights advocates have been ready for battle for some time. In fact, the reason that this treaty was never sent from the State Department to the Senate for ratification, after being signed by then President Bill Clinton on February 16, 1995, is that it faced certain defeat. As a friend of traditional families, President George W. Bush has simply not moved it at all.
However, a new challenge to American families and our constitutional republic has been launched by the federal judiciary. Under a legal doctrine sanctioned by the United States Supreme Court, the federal courts have begun to treat unratified treaties as binding on the United States. Already one federal district court has employed this doctrine to declare that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC or CRC) is binding on the United States even though it has never been ratified by the Senate.
The legal doctrine is called “customary international law.” The advocates of this doctrine claim that it is derived from the “law of nations”—a legal concept that is specifically mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.
It seems the Democrats are determined to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine. Earlier this week, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said she would work on bringing back the federal regulation. “I’ll work on bringing it back. I still believe in it,” Eshoo told the Daily Post in Palo Alto. Eshoo said she would recommend the doctrine be applied not only to radio and TV broadcasts, but also to cable and satellite services. “It should and will affect everyone,” she promised.
“The so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine’ would restrict free speech on the public airwaves, stifling dissent at a time when an open national dialogue about our country’s future is essential,” House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) said in response. “The American people do not believe the federal government should be in the business of dictating or restricting the content of political speech. I’m troubled by Rep. Eshoo’s comments, and my hope is that President Obama will speak out against efforts by members of his party to use their majority power to limit free speech and dissent.”
WASHINGTON (AP) – Obama has approved adding about 17,000 U.S. troops for the flagging war in Afghanistan, administration, defense and congressional officials said Tuesday.
The Obama administration is expected to announce on Tuesday that it will send one additional Army brigade and an unknown number of Marines to Afghanistan this spring and summer. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.
About 8,000 Marines are expected to go in first, followed by about 9,000 Army troops.
The new forces represent the first installment on a larger influx of U.S. forces widely expected this year. Obama’s decision would get several thousand troops in place in time for the increase in fighting that usually comes with warmer weather and ahead of national elections in August.
The additional forces partly answer a standing request from the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, who has sought as many as 30,000 additional U.S. forces to counter the resurgence of the Taliban militants and protect Afghan civilians.
The United States has slightly more than 30,000 troops in Afghanistan now.
The new units are a Marine Expeditionary Brigade unit from Camp Lejeune, N.C., and an Army Stryker brigade from Fort Lewis in Washington state.
Ahead of his first foreign trip, Obama told a Canadian news organization that the United States will seek a more comprehensive, diplomatic approach to Afghanistan, where the U.S. has been engaged in war since 2001.
“I am absolutely convinced that you cannot solve the problem of Afghanistan, the Taliban, the spread of extremism in that region solely through military means,” the president said in a White House interview with Toronto-based Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Obama is scheduled to make a quick day trip to Ottawa on Thursday.
Earlier this month I, as did millions of other Americans, contacted my U.S. Congressmen about the Democrats’ pork-laden socialist spending bill that they were ramming through to Obama. Just the hypocrisy of the thing was obscene . Obama and the democrats LIED, that’s right, LIED to America when they promised transparency, no pork barrel spending, bipartisanship, and every other talking point they used. Here are two of the replies that I received….
Dear Mr. Yon,
Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to H.R.1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I share many of your concerns and appreciate having your input.
I voted against this legislation because it will add nearly $1 Trillion to our nation’s already unprecedented deficit, direct billions of taxpayer dollars to political pet projects, and further encumber future generations of American taxpayers with a punishing debt burden. Simply put, it is bad policy that will not work. Even the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects the long-term effect of this “stimulus package” will be a slight decrease in gross domestic product. Unfortunately, as you know, Congress approved this legislation with almost no bipartisan support and the President signed it into law on February 17.
If government spending created jobs and prosperity, we’d have the best economy in our nation’s history right now. I believe private citizens and businesses, not politicians and bureaucrats, will turn the American economy around. That is why I offered a common sense alternative during the Senate’s debate on this bill to have Americans keep more of their own money instead of Washington taking it to waste on inefficient government programs. My plan for job growth and economic stability focused on decreasing taxes for all individuals and businesses to reward work, productivity, and growth. My plan would create millions of new jobs to benefit all Americans and provide particularly important tax relief for low-income families. Unfortunately, my alternative was not adopted by the Senate.
Please know that I will continue to fight for fiscal responsibility and smaller government. I believe America’s best course of action to correct the ongoing financial crisis is one that nourishes small business growth, keeps hard-earned money in the hands of American taxpayers, and encourages employment and investment through lower tax rates.
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me again in the future with any issue important to you or your family. It is an honor to serve you and the people of South Carolina.
Sincerely,
Jim DeMint
United States Senator
and
February 12, 2009
Mr. Robert D. Yon
3840 Overbrook Drive
Columbia, South Carolina 29205
Dear Mr. Yon,
Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding H.R.1, the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.” I appreciate your taking the time to write.
I understand your concerns and welcome your interest in this matter. On January 28, 2009, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1 by a vote of 244-188. On February 10, 2009, the Senate passed this measure by a vote of 61-37. The bill will now proceed to a conference between the House and the Senate to reconcile the differences with the two bills.
I originally voted against this legislation because with the South Carolina unemployment rate continuing to rise, this bill did little to create jobs and grow the economy in the immediate future. It is clear that this spending package has become a one stop shop for every item on a spending agenda – a massive and unprecedented spending bill aimed to bypass the normal appropriations process and subsidize a broad range of existing and new government programs. It passes massive debt onto our children and could mean future tax increases on hardworking Americans as well as hyperinflation.
It is my hope that Congress can work in a bipartisan manner to bring forward legislation that will stimulate more jobs for South Carolinians. A targeted stimulus package of tax relief and assistance for small businesses would fuel this nation’s entrepreneurial spirit and help private industry and individuals create jobs. Our focus should be on growing the American economy-not on growing our already massive government. Additionally, I believe Congress can promote job growth through legislation that reduces the corporate tax rate and eliminates the capital gains tax. Please be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind as the debate on the economic recovery package moves forward.
It is an honor to represent the people of the Second Congressional District of South Carolina, and I value your input. If I may be of further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Very Truly Yours,
Joe Wilson
Member of Congress
Thank you Sen. DeMint and Rep. Wilson for recognizing this thing for what it is.
I doubt these people were singing the same tune during the 2008 elections. No, instead they’re pushing the “fairness doctrine”.
And then the author goes on to explain his post by commenting…
TO all you conservative right wingers
Once again, I have to spell out the context of my original article and its significance to Americans.
Back when our Forefathers were being jailed for giving thier own political views, and having to write under “pseudonames” ( like we do here) to protect thier identity from future repression….
The “Free” Press was guaranteed in the 1st amendment, to limit the goverments control of “individual” thought.
They wanted a society that was allowed to question the government.
Unfortunatly, today, with Television, radio, and newspapers…we have another problem.
As the above post stated.
This corporate “Media” is designed to sell products thru advertising.
What is advertising? What do commercials do?
It is designed to influence your point of view.
If they are so concerned with making money, then they might form a “bias”.
The corporate media is not designed to provide readers an “objective” viewpoint exposing both sides of the argument with clear, concise points.
It is designed to SELL products that are owned by either a subsidiary of the same company, or some other product.
The press was designed to promote independent thought, (hense, Independent media).
The problem (and the context) is when you have corporate media promoting a certain “way of thinking” (contributing to GW) or taking a stand on one side of the governmnet, it leads to corruption of thought.
If the CEO and the owner of the media outlet has complete editorial control (ie reupert murdock),
or another subsidiary of the corporation sells weapons to the military, we might have a problem with “objectivity”.
GE owns Hughes aircraft (defence contractor) and also owns NBC and MSNBC
If a Media company is run by people with contacts to the govenmental agencies (carlucci) that wish to promote a specific anti- or pro- (fill in the blank) ways of thinking, we might have a problem with “objectivity”.
Or if another corporation wishes to give only religious “fundementalist” viewpoints, we might have a problem with objectivity.
All a real American wishes, is that they are able to see the whole argument, not just a slanted view.
The more options of thought we have, the better solution we have to come up with.
This guy actually thinks NBC/MSNBC are biased toward Bush.
There’s not much else you can say to describe the agonizing events surrounding this craptastic spending bill other than Nancy Pelosi sucks. This time it’s because she rushed the vote on nearly 1,071 page stimulus so she can jet off to Europe. Not only have Democrats already broken their promise to give 48 hours consideration to any major bill – they are about to pass the biggest spending bill in the history of the planet, without even reading it. Glenn Beck crunches the numbers on how fast those voting would have to read the bill in order to finish before the vote and even has his voice digitally sped up to see if it’s possible to finish the bill on time. The results aren’t pretty…
In a press conference Thursday, the House Republican leadership spoke candidly about being kept out of the House-Senate conference on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid so-called “economic stimulus” bill. They confirmed they had not yet seen the text of the bill as of 4 p.m.
Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was unsure how many Democrats would vote with Republicans again on this bill but that he thought Republicans “may get a few” Democrats to side with them. The fact that the Demos have now broken their promise to have the public able to see the bill for 48 hours may drive more Dems into the Republican camp.
“[I] don’t know, ‘cause they haven’t seen the bill either,” Boehner said.
“Around here language means a lot. Words weigh a ton and one person’s understanding of a spoken description might vary from another’s. We wanted to see it. And not only just I had to see it, I had to show it to my colleagues and my caucus. We wanted to take all the time that was necessary to make sure it was right.”
Congressional members are also exchanging barbs via the popular social network Twitter. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) twittered, “Don’t know when we’re going to vote. Will the no votes delay vote just because they can? Speed is important. They know that.”
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) twittered back, “Those in favor of speed over commonsense may just be afraid of letting the People know what they are ramming through.”
This is the exchange between Julio the fry cook and Obama at the Florida town hall meeting….
QUESTION: All right, Mr. President. My name is Julio Asegueda (ph). I’m currently a student at Edison State College in my second semester.
And, OK, I’ve been at the same job, which is McDonald’s, for four-and-a-half years because of the fact that I can’t find another job. Now, with the fact that I’ve been there for as long as I’ve been there, do you have any plan or any idea of making one that has been there for a long time receive any better benefits than what they’ve already received?
OBAMA: Well, I tell you what. First of all, a couple things I’d like to say. Number one, the fact that you are working as hard as you’re working at a job that I know doesn’t always pay as well as some other jobs, I think that’s a source of pride for you. That shows that — that you’re doing the right thing.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, the second thing is, is that you will actually benefit from the tax breaks that we’re talking about, so you’ll be able to keep a little bit extra money, because we’re going to offset your payroll tax. That’s going to help.
I don’t — I assume that you’re not getting health care through your job, and so one of the things that we want to do is reform the health care system so that you will have access to health care in your job.
But the thing that I’m really interested in is — you say you’re going to school. What are you studying?
QUESTION: I’m looking to study and major in communications, hopefully being a broadcaster or a disc jockey.
OBAMA: Well, you sound like you’ve got good communication skills.
QUESTION: Thank you so much.
OBAMA: So — so part of what we want to do is we want to make it easier for you to afford going to college by giving you this refundable tax credit for your tuition, because young people like Julio, who have that much enthusiasm and that much energy, we’ve got to make sure that we are giving them a pathway so that they can educate themselves and go as far as their dreams take them.
1. In the words of John Edwards, WHY, WHY, WHY is Obama out stumping in Florida when the greatest crisis we’ve ever faced is happening and something must be done by Washington immediately? Like what some idiot in Florida says is going to make any difference? – (besides there has been a simple majority in the Senate all along. Obama doesn’t need any republican support at all – nobody was threatening a filibuster. Even if so, this thing they call a rescue package would’ve eventually passed anyway. This was simply a PR stunt – nothing more…)
2. I really don’t want to attack Julio the fry cook in the same manner that the liberals attacked Joe the Plumber before the election, but I’m going to do it anyway.
3. Julio the fry cook couldn’t find a job in 4 1/2 years? liar – he didn’t look.
4. What’s wrong with Asst. Manager? I’m sure that position probably pays a little more. Granted, it’s still at McDonald’s, but if Julio’s not going to get up off of his ass and go get a real job, Asst. Mgr. might suit him. I don’t know – maybe he has to wake up before 3pm for that job.
5. Obama says ” were gonna offset your payroll tax”. What does that come to? ( no state income tax in Fl by the way ) according to Julio in the CBS interview, he makes $7.85 an hour . $15,072 / year – $3650 standard deduction = $11,422. At 15% tax rate (according to Federal tax brackets) comes to $1312. Thats about $27.00 per week. Don’t spend all that extra money in one place there Julio…
6. Julio the fry cook already has access to health care benefits. Notice Obama is careful to not say ” We’re going to pay for your health care” or “ You won’t have to pay for health care”. Obama only says “one of the things that we want to do is reform the health care system so that you will have access to health care in your job.”
7. Why is Obama interested that Julio is going to school? because that’s where LIBERAL CONDITIONING takes place. Kids learn to be good liberals at the college level.
8. I think it’s funny that Obama, the great communicator, tells Julio the fry cook that he has “good communication skills”. This coming from a person who says”uh” repeatedly in every sentence, and needs a teleprompter at a press conference. Go back and read julio’s question – just read it…
With the Senate poised to vote Tuesday on an $827-billion version of the economic recovery plan, 62% of U.S. voters want the plan to include more tax cuts and less government spending.
Just 14% would like to move in the opposite direction with more government spending and fewer tax cuts, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty percent (20%) would be happy to pass it pretty much as is, and five percent (5%) are not sure.
Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly want to see more tax cuts and less government spending. Democrats are more evenly divided: 42% agree with the Republicans, 32% want to pass the plan as is, and 22% would like to see more government spending and fewer tax cuts.
Most conservative and moderate voters want to see more tax cuts. A plurality of liberals say the plan should be passed pretty much as it is.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? Sign up now. If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls).
An analysis by Scott Rasmussen notes that the stimulus debate is now driven by a tug-of-war between the popularity of President Obama and the nation’s deeply ingrained reluctance to increase government spending. Forty-eight percent (48%) of voters believe that increased spending is generally bad for the economy. On the other hand, 57% say tax cuts are generally good for the economy.
Overall, 37% of voters favor the stimulus plan and 43% are opposed. Most of those who are undecided have a favorable opinion of the new president and are likely to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Some congressional Democrats are clearly nervous about the negative reaction many voters are having to the plan, but Obama assured them at a weekend retreat in Williamsburg, Va., that he will go all out to publicly campaign for it. Republicans argue that the 700-page-plus plan is loaded with excessive spending, much of which does not directly address the country’s economic needs. The Senate version which reduced government spending and added more tax cuts will have to be reconciled with the $819-billion version that passed the House, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi already has vowed to restore many of the spending cuts.
Liberal Group Praises Crossover Republicans as Minority Leaders Balk at Partisanship Americans United for Change has drawn up ads thanking Republican Sens. Snowe, Collins and Specter for crossing the aisle and backing an economic recovery plan that GOPers roundly oppose as wasteful spending. Usually, Americans United for Change buys ads to lambaste Republicans for opposing issues backed by the liberal, union-supported issue advocacy group initially founded in 2005 to rally against President Bush’s Social Security reform plan. But when three Republicans crossed the aisle over the weekend to say they will support a compromise economic recovery plan opposed by every other Senate minority Republican, Americans United for Change bought up radio time urging voters to call and thank Sens. Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Arlen Specter for “providing the leadership we need to get the job done.” “Senators Snowe and Collins have worked with President Obama and other senators to reach agreement on a plan that has support from a broad range of groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce and organized labor,” says the new ad out in the senators’ state of Maine Sunday. “Call Senators Snowe and Collins today at 202-224-3121. Thank them for their leadership and tell them to keep fighting for a plan to get our economy moving again.”
Pelosi said “500,000,000 people will lose their jobs each month until we have an economic package.” Chris Wallace corrected her saying – “you mean 500,000 each month” but then a few days later she says the very same thing. If Sarah Palin had made this mistake we would never hear the end of it.
Just so you know the current US population is 305,762,839 .
What was on her mind when she made these references?
1. new people they plan to let in to the country when they pass the new immigration laws
2. the new folks ACORN has discovered and registered to vote
3. the couple of hundred million people that we don’t know about in those extra 7 states that Obama campaigned in..
4. hundred -thousand, million, gozillion whats the difference?
5. now how much do I need to raise for re-election?
6. the commoners know not anyway, so let them eat cake…
The entertainment world may be in a swoon over Obama, but one legendary soul singer is fuming at the new president and the pop star who serenaded the first couple on inauguration night.
Etta James, famous for her rendition of the song “At Last,” is apparently miffed that pop star Beyonce was tapped to perform the ballad as the president and first lady slow-danced during the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball on January 20.
“You guys know your president, right?” the singer asked an audience in Canada last week, according to audio posted on TMZ.com. “You know the one with big ears? Yeah, wait a minute. He ain’t my president.”
She then went after Beyonce: “That woman singing for him, singing my song? She’s gonna get her ass whipped.”
James added that she “can’t stand Beyonce” and that the starlet “has no business up there singing, singing up there on a big old President day, singing my song that I been singing forever.”
U.S. Rep. Hilda L. Solis, Obama’s choice for Labor secretary, faced new obstacles after lawmakers who were expected to vote on her confirmation Thursday abruptly canceled the hearing amid reports of back taxes owed by her husband.
Solis, a Democrat from El Monte, is at least the fourth Obama nominee whose confirmation has been complicated by tax troubles.
Public records show that since 1993, two state and 14 Los Angeles County tax liens totaling about $11,640 have been lodged against Sayyad and his business, Sam’s Foreign and Domestic Auto Center.
The documents indicate that $6,468 in county liens remained unresolved until Wednesday, when Sayyad paid off the balance, according to the Los Angeles County treasurer and tax collector’s office.
Solis’ nomination had already faced snags. In her appearance before the Senate committee last month, she appeared evasive in certain answers, leaving some GOP members unimpressed.
Then Republican senators suggested that her ties to a tax-exempt group that promotes unionization might pose a conflict of interest. Solis has denied any conflict and says she is within her rights to serve as an unpaid board member and treasurer of the group, American Rights at Work.
The group is a strong proponent of the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier for workers to form bargaining units. As a congresswoman, Solis has been a co-sponsor of the bill.
House Bill HR 45, ‘Blair Holt Licensing and Record Act of 2009′. It will make it illegal to own a firearm unless it is registered with the database in Washington D.C. As a gun owner you will have to be finger printed, you will be required to provide your DL#, SS#, you must maintain a valid address at all times, submit to mental and physical health records being put on file, you will also be required to file any address changes and any ownership changes even if a private sale. Each update will cost $25 and if you fail to comply you will lose your right to own firearms.
This bill and its language mirror almost completely one defeated last year in the House of Representatives by soon to be Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Will we the citizenry be as lucky this time?
Pass this on to everyone who believes in strict Constitutionalism and remember that laws only apply to those who obey them. Criminals by definition and nature do not abide by laws. New laws and restrictions only apply to the law abiding citizen and are not written with the criminal in mind. With guns, it is not about having laws on the books to prosecute individuals, it is about taking guns away from the people so that no one has them in the first place. One last item to note, when assuming power and creating a facist state, Hitler was a proponent of strong gun laws because a disarmed populace was much easier to control than an armed one. The kings of old also outlawed weapons of any kind in any region that they conquered to quell the ability of the citizens to uprise against them.
The Founding Fathers of this nation understood all of the above and because of this they included the second amendment in the constituti on. In fact, they knew that at some point in every society’s life span that the need for the population to arise came about. To this end they made the right to keep and bear arms against a tyrannical state an absolute right that could not be revoked.
They did this because the first thing tyrants and despots do is to remove a population’s right to defend themselves When this is done, the tyrants have
no problem with the destruction of society as we know it.
Send this on to all true patriots! Protect your Second Amendment!
The following is a summary of the bill as provided by the Congressional Research Service. If you read the whole bill, you’ll find it will effectively preclude the ownership of ANY firearms by law-abiding people unless licensed by the Attorney General. How long do you think THAT would take??
Congressional Research Service Summary The following summary was written by the Congressional Research Service, a well-respected nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress.
GovTrack did not write and has no control over these summaries.
1/6/2009–Introduced.
Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 – Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to prohibit a person from possessing a firearm unless that person has been issued a firearm license under this Act or a state system certified under this Act and such license has not been invalidated or revoked. Prescribes license application, issuance, and renewal requirements.
Prohibits transferring or receiving a qualifying firearm unless the recipient presents a valid firearms license, the license is verified, and the dealer records a tracking authorization number. Prescribes firearms transfer reporting and record keeping requirements. Directs the Attorney General to establish and maintain a federal record of sale system.
Prohibits: (1) transferring a firearm to any person other than a licensee, unless the transfer is processed through a licensed dealer in accordance with national instant criminal background check system requirements, with exceptions;
(2) a licensed manufacturer or dealer from failing to comply with reporting and record keeping requirements of this Act;
(3) failing to report the loss or theft of the firearm to the Attorney General within 72 hours;
(4) failing to report to the Attorney General an address change within 60 days; or
(5) keeping a loaded firearm, or an unloaded firearm and ammunition for the firearm, knowingly or recklessly disregarding the risk that a child is capable of gaining access, if a child uses the firearm and causes death or serious bodily injury.
Prescribes criminal penalties for violations of firearms provisions covered by this Act.
Directs the Attorney General to: (1) establish and maintain a firearm injury information clearinghouse; (2) conduct continuing studies and investigations of firearm-related deaths and injuries; and (3) collect and maintain current production and sales figures of each licensed manufacturer.
Authorizes the Attorney General to certify state firearm licensing or record of sale systems.
Pleased be advised and pass this along: House Bill HR 45, Blair Holt Licensing and Record Act of 2009 Will, in my opinion, be the first of 2 or 3 steps toward confiscation of privately owned firearms.
You can follow the sequence as it already happened in Canada and the UK . First the government needs to register the guns so they will know where to find them .
Obama promised on Monday to establish a review board to oversee the government’s $700 billion rescue package aimed at averting a financial meltdown, declaring that some of the nation’s banks would have to write down bad debts, while other banks may fail.
Obama said he was taking full responsibility for rescuing the U.S. economy, in its worst downturn in 80 years.
“If I don’t have this done in three years then there’s gonna be a one-term proposition,” Obama said, already looking ahead to the 2012 presidential election.
Heh, heh, heh…
Then there’s this. We all know that the voters responsible for Obama’s win couldn’t care less about about what he does or doesn’t do. They voted in the first black pres., made history, blah, blah, blah. Very few of them had any idea what any of his plans were. Most of them thought that they were voting Bush out of office, not knowing that he couldn’t run again. Not getting this pork bill passed probably wont affect Obama’s re-election bid at all.
We also know that the democrats are not going to let Obama take the blame for this. It’s too easy to just blame Bush. They’ve been doing that since this thing began anyway.
The Senate took its first hacks Monday at cutting the pork-barrel projects stuffed into Obama’s massive economic package.
The GOP pounced on Obama’s own suggestion that the Senate’s $900 billion version of the bill needed to be trimmed.
“I hope that he’s going to be able to put the Democrat leaders of the House and Senate in line,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. “He needs to let them know that the measures that they are moving forward don’t meet his own standard.”
Items Republicans want stripped from the measure include $25 million for all-terrain vehicle (ATV) trails, $20 million to remove fish passage barriers, $400 million for preventing sexually transmitted diseases, $34 million for remodeling the Commerce Department and $150 million for honey bee insurance.
Fighting to salvage his Cabinet nomination, Tom Daschle pleaded his case Monday evening in a closed meeting with former Senate colleagues after publicly apologizing for failing to pay more than $120,000 in taxes. Obama said he was “absolutely” sticking with his nominee for health secretary, and a key senator added an important endorsement.
The White House both underscored the magnitude of the problem and tried to downplay it in the space of seven words. “Nobody’s perfect,” said press secretary Robert Gibbs. “It was a serious mistake. …”
Nobody was predicting defeat for Daschle’s nomination as secretary of health and human services, but it was proving an unsavory pill to swallow for senators who only last week confirmed Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary despite his separate tax-payment problems. It’s an issue that strikes a nerve among lawmakers’ constituents who are struggling with their own serious money problems.
Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, expressed his remorse in a letter to the Finance Committee, saying he was “deeply embarrassed and disappointed” about what he said was an unintentional failure to pay taxes that he owed. He recently filed amended returns for 2005-07 to report $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest.
Well hell, he said he’s sorry already. What’s the deal?
At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in the year 1787, Alexander Tyler (a Scottish history professor at The University of Edinborough) had this to say about “The Fall of The Athenian Republic” some 2,000 years prior: A democracy is always temporary in nature; it ... Continue reading »
