Part 30--August, 2011

* 8/1/11--BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The U.S. Justice Department today filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama's new immigration law, which is slated to go into effect next month. In its lawsuit, the Justice Department says Alabama's law unconstitutionally interferes with the federal government's authority over immigration. Alabama's new immigration law targets unauthorized immigrants, those who don't have federal alien registration or other proof of legal presence in the United States. If it takes effect, the law would criminalize their presence in Alabama and make it a crime for them to work here, among other things. An estimated 120,000 unauthorized immigrants lived in Alabama in 2009 and 2010, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington.--The Birmingham News

* 8/3/11--It may be early in the campaign season, but the Communist Party USA already has seen fit to endorse Barack Obama for the 2012 election. While noting he is disappointed with "some aspects" of the Obama administration's domestic and foreign policy, Sam Webb, chairman of the Communist Party USA, threw his support behind Obama's re-election bid.--WorldNetDaily.com

* 8/4/11--"After months of talk about the nation's runaway debt, lawmakers managed to agree on a plan that, at most, will cut spending by a mere 5%. Is it any wonder federal spending is out of control? ... According to IBD's analysis of available budget numbers, the deal's $2.4 trillion in 10-year cuts amounts to a mere 5% trim off total projected federal spending during that time. It's like a 400-pound man boasting that he plans to drop 20 pounds over a decade, while his doctors warn about the risks of losing weight so fast. Even calling these 'cuts' is a bit of a stretch, since spending will continue to increase, just at a slightly slower pace. ... By 2021, federal spending would still equal 22% of the nation's economy, above the post-World War II average of 20%. Not really a cut, is it? Plus, in the short term, these 'deep,' 'sharp,' 'slashing' cuts would still leave the federal government spending roughly 4% more in 2012 than it did in 2010, and 20% more than it did in 2008. Shorn of all the hyperbole, what this agreement really demonstrates is why it's so hard to get federal spending under control. Both sides routinely use budget gimmicks to exaggerate spending cuts, while armies of special interests swarm Washington to make sure their pet programs don't get touched. All the while, spending marches upward. And reporters too dumb, lazy or biased to understand how budgets work keep falling for this nonsense." --Investor's Business Daily (From Patriot Post Chronicle)

* 8/4/11--NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in May, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. The number of Americans using the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- more commonly referred to as food stamps -- shot to an all-time high of 45.8 million in May, the USDA reported. That's up 12% from a year ago, and 34% higher than two years ago. --cnn.com

* 8/5/11--Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday that the media has the responsibility to not give equal time or credence to the Tea Party's views:

SEN. JOHN KERRY: "And I have to tell you, I say this to you politely. The media in America has a bigger responsibility than it's exercising today. The media has got to begin to not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is not factual."
"It doesn't deserve the same credit as a legitimate idea about what you do. And the problem is everything is put into this tit-for-tat equal battle and America is losing any sense of what's real, of who's accountable, of who is not accountable, of who's real, who isn't, who's serious, who isn't?"--realclearpolitics.com

* 8/5/11--Congress passed and the president signed the increase in the debt ceiling Tuesday, and that, as Leftmedia outlets rejoiced, ended the "crisis" just hours before the default deadline. On the other hand, the Left is grousing that the Tea Party got everything it wanted. But did the deal really end the crisis? Hardly. World markets plummeted in its wake -- the Dow fell 512 points Thursday, erasing all gains from 2011, evoking this response from the White House: "Markets go up and down." Furthermore, credit rating agencies continued to warn of a looming downgrade of the nation's AAA rating. And did the Tea Party come out with everything it wanted? Not a chance. On the contrary, the ship is still sinking. The Tea Party and the markets know that, despite all the back-patting in Washington. The $2.4 trillion debt ceiling increase is the biggest ever. In fact, total U.S. debt didn't reach $2.4 trillion until 1987. Immediately on Tuesday, the Treasury borrowed another $239 billion -- the largest one-day debt binge in history -- bringing total federal debt to $14.532 trillion, or just over 100 percent of our gross domestic product. Debt has not exceeded GDP since 1947 -- immediately after World War II -- and 30 years ago it was just 32.5 percent of GDP. Could there be a connection between the market collapse and this debt "milestone"? Democrats foisted upon the nation the biggest Keynesian spending bonanza in history, and the result has been almost no GDP growth, headline unemployment exceeding 9 percent (despite 117,000 new jobs in July), decreased consumer spending, inflation, debt as far as our great-grandchildren can see and a possible national credit rating downgrade. On Aug. 3, 2010, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner penned an op-ed for The New York Times titled "Welcome to the Recovery." That rings awfully hollow now. In fact, many think that we're headed for a double-dip recession. As for Barack Obama, later this month, he will embark on a three-day bus tour of the Midwest that he's styling as a "listening tour" focused on jobs. That's after his 50th birthday bash this week, which featured dinner at $35,800 a plate. In any case, it's become clear in recent weeks that the American people have lost confidence in Obama's policies and are tuning him out. Not to worry, though. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) says, "[W]e're going to focus on what we know is the number one priority on Americans' minds right now -- that is creating jobs and continuing to get this economy turned around." Um, "continuing"? As for debt "deal" specifics, the House passed the increase 269-161, despite opposition from many Democrats and Tea Party Republicans. The Senate followed suit 74-26. Congress then quickly left for August recess. Barack Obama also signed the increase Tuesday saying the deal was "an important first step for ensuring that, as a nation, we live within our means." He even said it with a straight face. On the contrary, "living within our means" doesn't actually seem to be part of the plan. The debt ceiling was immediately increased by $400 billion. By the end of September, another $500 billion increase is subject to a congressional vote of "disapproval," and Obama can veto that measure. After that, a "blue ribbon" joint committee of Congress (six members from each chamber, divided equally between Democrats and Republicans) will meet to recommend another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by Nov. 23, which Congress must take up by Dec. 23, in exchange for that much more in debt. If the committee or Congress fails, which is possible, if not probable, the debt ceiling will increase by $1.2 trillion anyway, with across-the-board cuts -- including to ObamaCare -- equal to that amount kicking in automatically. Adding insult to injury, every spending cut is over 10 years, while every debt increase is immediate. So even with the deal, the forecast for the next decade is still trillions more in debt. As Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who voted against the bill, put it, "It eliminates no program, consolidates no duplicative programs, cuts no tax earmarks and reforms no entitlement program. The specter of default or a credit downgrade will still hang over our economy after this deal becomes law." Is that what the Tea Party wanted? None of that is to say the deal is the worst possible outcome. In fact, with no tax-rate increases and some spending cuts, despite Democratic control of the White House and Senate, it's quite the opposite. Retaking those two should be paramount in 2012 to work peacefully toward restoration of constitutional Rule of Law. In the meantime, the Tea Party should continue fighting for everything it can win. --Patriot Post Digest

* 8/5/11--Now that the debt deal has been finalized, two vital stories are emerging. First, as we explained earlier in the week, it’s a dirty deal that does not have real “cuts”, institutionalizes Obama’s stimulus-level of government spending, sets America up for huge tax increases and will not save our credit rating. Second, the Left has launched a massive new effort to stick the “terrorist” label on the Tea Party. And it’s working.

**Joe Biden (as reported by Politico): “They have acted like terrorists.” (Biden’s staff denied that the Veep used the “terrorist” label but confirmed that “the word was used by several members of Congress.”)

**Rep. Mike Doyle: “We have negotiated with terrorists.”

**Also from Doyle: “This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.”

**John Walsh (Salon): “It’s hostage-taking. And you shouldn’t negotiate with hostage-takers.”

**Chris Matthews (MSNBC): “I agree. It’s terrorism.”

**More Matthews: “The GOP has become the Wahhabis of American government, willing to risk bringing down the whole country in the service of their anti-tax ideology."

**More Matthews: Tea Party is “terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling.”

**David Brooks (NYTimes): “The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency.”

**Paul Krugman (NYTimes): “Republicans have, in effect, taken America hostage.”

**Joe Nocera (NY Times): “These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people.”

**William Yoemans (Politico): “The tea party’s hostage-taking has evolved into the intentional infliction of harm on innocent Americans to achieve a political objective -- terrorism.”

It is clear the Left has an agenda -- demonize the Tea Party. They are using the nation’s financial crisis to label the Tea Party as terrorists who are holding the nation hostage. This is outrageous and it is the single greatest threat to the success of the Patriot movement that we face today.--Grassroots Action Alert

* 8/5/11-- The El Paso Times reports "U.S. federal agents allegedly allowed the [Mexican] Sinaloa drug cartel to traffic several tons of cocaine into the United States in exchange for information about rival cartels, according to court documents filed in a U.S. federal court. The allegations are part of the defense of Vicente Zambada-Niebla, who was extradited to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges in Chicago. He is also a top lieutenant of drug kingpin Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman and the son of Ismael 'Mayo' Zambada-Garcia, believed to be the brains behind the Sinaloa cartel." The case certainly reminds us of "Operation Fast and Furious," run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in which illegally obtained guns were allowed to be taken into Mexico in return for information on drug cartels and other smuggling operations. We have recounted that scandal on numerous occasions. This time, it's drugs crossing into the U.S., and though not as dangerous, it's an outrage nonetheless. Estimates are that some 3,000 people lost their lives due to Fast and Furious, including some at the hands of the Sinaloa cartel. Information about the cartel is apparently worth a lot of cocaine.--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/5/11--Workers of the World unite ... or else. That's the latest message sent to American workers by the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The union has now resorted to outright blackmail to keep its stranglehold on American industry. The story in a nutshell is "The Godfather" meets "Reds." A few months ago, IAM filed an action with the NLRB to stop Boeing from opening a new plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. Boeing had decided it made more sense to build its new 787 Dreamliner in a business-friendly state, rather than Washington state, where the union is firmly entrenched. The company has already hired 1,000 workers, whom the IAM had no problem putting out of work. Now, however, it has magnanimously offered to withdraw, if Boeing's workers allow the union to "organize" at the new plant. Unions have long been known for their underhanded dealings, but few so blatant as this. Perhaps it's the backing of the White House that has emboldened them to -- as Americans for Tax Reform claims -- violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the extortion law under which several mafia dons have been incarcerated. Neither the IAM nor the NLRB seems to care that American workers already have enough problems. According to the Institute for Supply Management, U.S. manufacturing activity fell to 50.9 percent in July from 55.3 percent in June. This is a new low since July 2009 -- the "official" end of the recession. So much for "Hope and Change."--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/6/11--For the first time in history, the United States last night lost its perfect credit rating, with Standard & Poor’s dropping it from AAA to AA+. The move by the credit-rating agency could affect everyone in America, with mortgage and credit-card interest rates rising and even gas prices heading up. S&P made the stunning move despite the recent congressional deal to raise the country's debt ceiling and heavy lobbying last night from Obama-administration officials, who said S&P's calculations were off by $2 trillion. America had held its AAA rating for 70 years. "The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal-consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said. The debt-ceiling deal was projected to lop off about $2 trillion from America's deficit over the next decade, but S&P had previously warned it would downgrade the credit rating if the cut didn't reach $4 trillion. The rancorous debate that played out in Washington didn't help boost S&P's confidence. The "conclusion was pretty much motivated by all of the debate about the raising of the debt ceiling," John Chambers, S&P's head of sovereign ratings, told The Wall Street Journal. "It involved a level of brinksmanship greater than what we had expected earlier in the year." A US Treasury spokesman last night attempted to downplay the S&P move, saying "a judgment flawed by a $2 trillion error speaks for itself." The move means American consumers will pay more for credit. An average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage could reach as high as 5 percent. Many financial analysts predicted the move would lead to another stock sell-off when the markets open Monday. "I think we will have a knee-jerk reaction on Monday," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said S&P's call was the result of Washington's "out-of-control" spending which "now threatens to send destructive ripple effects across our credit markets." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the decision "reaffirms the need for a balanced approach of deficit reduction." America's new credit status places it on par with China, New Zealand, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Countries that maintain a pristine rating include Germany, Canada, France and Norway. The United States maintains a perfect grade with the two other major credit-rating agencies, Moody's and Fitch.--NY Post

* 8/6/11--Everybody dance, now! President Obama ordered guests to spank the planks during his 50th birthday party at the White House, which raged into the wee hours. "Just left the president's birthday party at the White House," comedian Chris Rock tweeted at 1:30 a.m. yesterday. "Herbie Hancock played, Stevie Wonder sang, and yes, they did the electric slide." The president and First Lady Michelle danced all night, and urged others to join in.--NY Post

* 8/6/11--BEIJING — China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, demanded Saturday that America tighten its belt and confront its “addiction to debts” in the wake of Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating. China currently owns $1.2 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt, the largest stake of any central bank. The commentary carried by the state-run Xinhua News Agency was Beijing’s first official response to the S&P decision. “The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone,” Xinhua said. It said the rating cut would be followed by more “devastating credit rating cuts” and global financial turbulence if the U.S. fails to learn to “live within its means.” “China, the largest creditor of the world’s sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets,” it said.--NY Post

* 8/8/11--WASHINGTON — The US credit rating could suffer a second calamitous downgrade — putting our nation on par with countries that are far tinier and have a reputation as tax shelters. There’s a “1 in 3” chance that America’s rating will get knocked down another peg during the next two years because of political bickering, New York Standard & Poor’s Director John Chambers ominously warned yesterday. Chambers -- the same bean counter who, The Post revealed, holds a degree in English literature, not economics -- was at the helm when the credit-rating agency scrapped the government's coveted AAA designation just three days ago. "If the fiscal position of the United States deteriorates further or if the political gridlock becomes more entrenched, then that could lead to a downgrade," Chambers yesterday said on ABC's "This Week." If a further downgrade does occur -- from AA+ to AA -- the United States would join the ranks of:

* Bermuda, which is known as a tax haven for big companies.

* Slovenia, which has a population of 2 million.

* Qatar, a Persian Gulf monarchy.

Even if politicians come together enough to satisfy the ratings agency, it could take "from nine years to 18 years" to regain the triple-A rating, Chambers said. --NY Post

* 8/8/11--(AP) - State and local education officials have been begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law, but school starts soon and Congress still hasn't answered the call. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break. The plan to offer waivers to all 50 states, as long as they meet other school reform requirements, comes at the request of President Barack Obama, Duncan said. More details on the waivers will come in September, he said. The goal of the No Child Left Behind law is to have every student proficient in math and reading by 2014. States have been required to bring more students up to the math and reading standards each year, based on tests that usually take place each spring. The step-by-step ramping up of the 9-year-old law has caused heartburn in states and most school districts, because more and more schools are labeled as failures as too few of their students meet testing goals.

* 8/8/11--"The Obama administration and congressional Democrats are betting their political futures on the hope that the American electorate is ignorant and forgetful, and hence the memo has gone out to functionaries hither and yon, from David Axelrod to John Kerry: This is to be called the 'tea-party downgrade.' That this is said with straight faces bespeaks either an unshakable contempt for the mind of the American voter or an as-yet unplumbed capacity for Democratic self-delusion. Let us revisit the facts. The original debt-ceiling deal put forward by the Democrats totaled $0.00 in debt reduction. This would have fallen approximately $4 trillion short of the $4 trillion in debt reduction the credit-rating agencies suggested would constitute a 'credible' step toward maintaining our AAA rating and avoiding a downgrade. ... The Democrats have suggested that Republicans' refusal to accede to tax hikes is the main reason Standard & Poor's felt it necessary to issue a downgrade, the first in American history, last Friday evening. In their assessment of Standard & Poor's reasoning, the Democrats are acutely at odds with Standard & Poor's. The credit-rating agency did not call for tax hikes in its assessment. ... But S&P, along with the other credit-rating agencies, has long taken a position on one aspect of our fiscal troubles: entitlement reform. ... As anybody who has looked at our long-term deficit projections knows, entitlement spending is the major driver of our future deficits. ... Tea-party leaders, far from being a barrier to entitlement reform, have demanded it. ... The deal that finally did pass would have contained significantly more in deficit-reduction, except for the fact that Democrats categorically refused to consider -- is this sounding familiar? -- entitlement reform, the most important issue. ... Democrats believe that they have discovered a cartoon villain in the Tea Party, and they are hoping that American voters are gullible enough to be distracted by the political theatrics. Come November 2012, Americans should keep in mind both the insult and the injury -- to the nation and its credit." --National Review (From Patriot Post Brief)

* 8/8/11--Stocks took a sharp nosedive in another choppy day Monday to finish at session lows as investors fled from risky assets following S&P's downgrade of U.S.'s credit rating last week in addition to ongoing economic jitters.--cnbc.com

* 8/8/11--Amidst riots in central Europe that have now spread to London and a debt downgrade that threatens to plunge the United States into a double-dip recession, Americans’ lack of confidence in their leadership is so crippled that they are now “pre-revolutionary,” according to pollster Pat Caddell. A new Rasmussen poll shows that just 17 per cent of Americans believe that the U.S. government has the consent of the governed, an all time low. This dovetails with a record low for Congress’ approval rating, which stands at a paltry 6 per cent, while 46 per cent of Americans think most members of Congress are corrupt, with just 29% believing otherwise. “The number of voters who feel the government has the consent of the governed – a foundational principle, contained in the Declaration of Independence – is down from 23% in early May and has fallen to its lowest level measured yet,” according to Rasmussen. The poll was conducted before Friday’s U.S. debt downgrade, indicating that the figures could be even more dire in the aftermath of what some analysts believe is a precursor to a new great depression. The results of this survey indicate that Americans are now “pre-revolutionary” says pollster Pat Caddell, who described the outcome of the poll as “unprecedented”. This conclusion follows Caddell's observation last November that “a sea of anger is churning” amongst Americans who “want to take their country back” and that the nation stood on the brink of a “pre-revolutionary moment”. Caddell’s conclusion that Americans are on the verge of rising up against a system in which they have lost all trust cannot be easily dismissed as partisan rhetoric. Despite working for numerous Democratic presidential candidates, including Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden, Caddell has been a vociferous critic of both Democrats and Republicans on several issues. Back in early 2008, before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the start of the financial crisis, we warned that inflation and economic uncertainty would cause a massive social dislocation, which would lead to riots globally. Gerald Celente and others repeated the warning in late 2008. Over the last 18 months, we have now witnessed such scenes across the Middle East and in France, Spain, Greece, Italy and most recently London. Indeed, the only major western country not to experience significant social unrest since the economic collapse is America, although anecdotal evidence of rising crime and thefts suggests a turning point could be just around the corner. Should violence plague American streets as a result of a deepening economic crisis, U.S. troops have already been prepared to deal with such a crisis. As we reported three years ago, U.S. troops returning from Iraq were being re-allocated to occupy America, running checkpoints and training to deal with “civil unrest and crowd control” under the auspices of a Northcom program that revolved around deploying 20,000 active duty troops inside America to “help” state and local officials during times of emergency. The date set for the completion of this program was 2011, just in time to deal with the “pre-revolutionary” fervor that many fear will now manifest itself in Greece-like mayhem as a result of the fallout from the debt downgrade and America’s slide towards economic collapse.--Paul Joseph Watson, Infowars.com

* 8/9/11--With stock markets in free fall yesterday, a desperate President Obama tried to turn things around by delivering a rallying speech -- but it was so lackluster, it led to a full-scale financial massacre.
Obama took to a White House podium at about 2 p.m., when the Dow Jones industrial average had already plummeted 412 points in frantic trading spurred by Standard & Poor's downgrade of US debt from AAA to AA+. "Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America," Obama said. "No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country." The uninspiring address -- which also called for higher taxes on the rich -- led to even more financial bloodletting. The slaughter continued until the closing bell at 4 p.m., with the Dow down 634 points, or 5.5 percent -- representing some $2.5 trillion in vanished wealth. It was the Dow's lowest level since the financial meltdown of December 2008. Only gold and US Treasuries, still seen as safe investments, defied the downward pressure of the massive stock sell-off. All 500 stocks on the S&P 500, the benchmark used for most Americans' retirement funds, fell.--NY Post

* 8/9/11--Rome is burning, do you know where your President is? This week, after 30 U.S. Troops were killed, the DOW plummeted and the U.S. economy was downgraded, President Obama had three birthday party fundraisers with high profile celebrities and went golfing for the weekend at Camp David. It took Obama until Monday morning to make a public statement about any of the chaos previously mentioned. Gutsy call, Mr. President. --Townhall.com

* 8/10/11--"The White House and much of the chattering class cooed on Friday when unemployment dropped to 9.1 percent and 117,000 jobs were reportedly created in July. But these numbers, upon closer inspection, show no progress on the jobs front. Buried in the job stats was a number -- 193,000 -- that dwarfed all the rest. That is the number of workers who left the job market. If 193,000 left and only 117,000 jobs were added, we lost 76,000 jobs." --Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin (From Patriot Post Chronicle)

* 8/12/11--Confidence among U.S. consumers plunged in August to the lowest level since May 1980, adding to concern that weak employment gains and volatility in the stock market will prompt households to retrench. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment slumped to 54.9 from 63.7 the prior month. The gauge was projected to decline to 62, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. The biggest one-week slump in stocks since 2008 and the threat of default on the nation’s debt may have exacerbated consumers’ concerns as unemployment hovers above 9 percent and companies are hesitant to hire. Rising pessimism poses a risk household spending will cool further, hindering a recovery that Federal Reserve policy makers said this week was already advancing “considerably slower” than projected. "The mood is very depressed,” said Chris Christopher, an economist at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Consumers are very fatigued and very uncertain. In the short term, people are going to pull back on spending.”--bloomberg.com

* 8/12/11--WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law suffered a setback on Friday when an appeals court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require all Americans to buy insurance or face a penalty. The U.S. Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, ruled 2 to 1 that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring Americans to buy coverage, but it unanimously reversed a lower court decision that threw out the entire law. The legality of the individual mandate, a cornerstone of the healthcare law, is widely expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Opponents have argued that without the mandate, which goes into effect in 2014, the entire law falls.

* 8/12/11--Capitol Hill Democrats and Republicans have announced their 12 picks for the so-called Congressional Super Committee that is charged with finding a way to reduce the debt by $1.5 trillion over 10 years. The evenly split bipartisan committee will have until Thanksgiving to agree on a plan, and speculation is rampant about what that plan will look like, or if it will even materialize. Based on the picks, the latter is most likely. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) chose Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to co-chair the committee while also managing her duties as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. It's a sure bet that any debt decision she makes will be geared toward holding on to the Democrats' majority in 2012, regardless of the cost. The other Democrats are Sen. John Kerry (MA), fresh from his labeling of the Standard & Poor's credit move a "Tea Party downgrade," and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (MT), who is somewhat more reasonable than either of his colleagues. From the Republican side of the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appointed Sens. Jon Kyl (AZ), Rob Portman (OH), and Pat Toomey (PA), the only member of the committee who voted against the debt-ceiling hike. On the House side, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) named House Republican Conference Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) as co-chair with Murray. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp (R-MI) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) were also named to the committee. Upton is probably the only one of the three with a spotty record. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the Budget Committee, would have been an obvious choice, but, though he approved of the selections, he requested that Boehner not appoint him so he could focus on the budget process. House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) chose three defenders of the entitlement status quo in Minority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (SC), Chris Van Hollen (MD) and Xavier Becerra (CA). The Republican picks demonstrate a wide degree of fiscal experience in the congressional, executive and private sectors. The GOP's goal is to reform entitlements -- the biggest drivers of the debt. They also want to tackle tax reforms that will aid our bleak economy, not punish the wealthy. Democrats have signaled with their picks that they are entrenched in calling for higher taxes and resisting entitlement reform. No surprise at all.--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/12/11--Earlier this year, Wisconsin's Republican legislature and GOP Gov. Scott Walker made a series of reforms that took a bite out of public unions' lavish benefits. Predictably, the unions threw a tantrum. First, they spent millions to defeat a conservative justice on the state supreme court to help them win legal challenges. That didn't work, but they also forced several GOP lawmakers into recall elections. Those were held Tuesday, and, for the most part, that didn't work either. Republicans won four out of six elections -- a major blow to the unions and their allies, who once again spent millions to try to buy victory. One of the losing Republicans represented a heavily Democrat district, and the other was plagued by scandal and lost only narrowly. The four victors, however, also represented districts Barack Obama won in 2008. Round three will be recall elections next Tuesday for two Democrats who fled the state earlier this year in a vain attempt to obstruct Republicans in passing budget legislation. Delusional Democrats are trying to cast Tuesday's outcome as a win, but it's possible that the unions could go 0-for-3 if Democrats lose next week. Who would have thought it possible in Wisconsin, the home of "progressivism"?--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/12/11--In a typical example of the economic failure of Barack Obama's big government policies, the S&P downgraded not just the credit rating of the nation but also those of government mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other agencies linked to long-term U.S. debt. While Democrats continue to blame the refereeing of the S&P in addition to scapegoating the Tea Party (which, by the way, didn't incur $15 trillion in national debt) or the inability of voters to understand the genius of Mr. Obama, we think what leftists aren't saying is the true reason. It's also the very reason cited by the S&P for downgrading these government mortgage entities: too much debt. Since Fannie Mae was seized by the U.S. government in 2008, it has been given about $104 billion in taxpayer funds to stay afloat. Together with Freddie Mac, the two entities' bad debt has consumed $169 billion of taxpayer money. As if wasting that isn't enough, a 2010 report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency estimated Freddie and Fannie might end up costing taxpayers as much as $363 billion through 2013. The only reservation is that the report assumes the U.S. housing market recovers and the country doesn't experience a double-dip recession. Never content with bungling everything, the federal government reportedly is considering turning repossessed Freddie and Fannie homes into cheap rentals with burdensome and complicated rules. What could possibly go wrong?--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/15/11--WASHINGTON -- President Obama has hit an all-time low in the polls. Obama's job-approval rating sunk yesterday to 39 percent for the first time in Gallup's daily tracking poll. And 54 percent of Americans said they now disapprove of the job the president is doing. The dismal ratings reflect the beating Obama has taken from a stagnant economic recovery, a 9.1 percent jobless rate, a historic US credit downgrade and a brutal fight with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling.--NY Post

* 8/15/11--AMES, Ia. This has been quite a week or 10 days for Republicans. Rick Perry has just announced he’s running for president. Pundits will parse the polling to determine which candidate is up and which down or out. But more important than the fate of individual candidates has been the rush of events going the Republicans’ way. President Obama’s job rating has slid to record lows in the Gallup poll, and his job approval fell under 50 percent even in New York. His Aug. 8 speech had a deer-in-the-headlights quality even as he turned mechanically from one teleprompter to another. Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the government’s credit rating for the first time. The stock market went through a week of horrifying gyrations. Then, on Friday, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals struck down as unconstitutional ObamaCare’s individual mandate to buy health insurance. Obama’s policies are in shambles; things aren’t working out the way he and his advisers expected. His journalist cheering section has been voicing doubts and dismay. But it’s not clear where Republicans want to go, either, or whether they have candidates with the potential to take them there.--Michael Barone, (NY Post)

* 8/17/11--WASHINGTON -- President Obama is barnstorming the heartland to boost US jobs in a taxpayer-financed luxury bus the government had custom built -- in Canada, The Post has learned. The $1.1 million vehicle, one of two that Quebec-based Prevost sold the government, has been tricked out by the Secret Service with state-of-the-art security features and creature comforts. It's a VIP H3-45 model, the company's top of the line, and is used by major traveling rock bands. "That's the more luxurious model," Christine Garant of Prevost told The Post.--NY Post

* 8/18/11--More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, signaling the labor market is struggling two years into the economic recovery. Jobless claims climbed by 9,000 to 408,000 in the week ended Aug. 13, the highest in a month, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a rise in claims to 400,000, according to the median forecast. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls rose, while those receiving extended payments fell.--bloomberg.com

* 8/18/11--PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the United States has fallen back to 11%, the lowest level since December 2008 and just four percentage points above the all-time low recorded in October 2008.--gallup.com

* 8/18/11--The Homeland Security Department said Thursday it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria such as attending school, having family in the military or are primarily responsible for other family members’ care. The move, announced in letters to Congress, comes after Hispanic activists and Democrats had urged President Obama to exempt broad swaths of illegal immigrants from deportation while Congress wrestles with the issue. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said her department and the JJustice Department will review all ongoing cases and see who meets the new criteria on a case-by-case basis.--Washington Times

* 8/18/11--There‘s some curious merchandise for sale in CBS News’ online store. Alongside a travel mug, tote bag and T-shirt that all bear the CBS News logo, the store also includes the following:

“Dreams From My Father,” by Barack Obama

“Dreams From My Father,” by Barack Obama (hardcover)

“Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama‘s Plan to Renew America’s Promise”

“The American Journey of Barack Obama,” by Life Magazine

“Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs”

“The Official Inauguration Celebration DVD”

In fact, out of the 13 items for sale, seven are Obama-related, in addition to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s memoir, “True Compass.” The only CBS-related item is a DVD copy of “60 Minutes Presents — Obama: All Access – The Road to the White House.” There is so much merchandise that a side bar on the site even has a separate “Barack Obama” tab for quick browsing. All of this raises a simple question: Why is CBS selling it? A note at the bottom of the site says the merchandise has “national importance:”

CBS News t-shirts and CBS News hoodies will show you’re a true newshound. And don’t forget all the latest DVDs and books with historical significance. Choose from 60 Minutes Barack Obama DVDs, Barack Obama books and other timely tales with national importance.

Again, in addition to the five Obama books, the only other “timely tale” is Kennedy’s memoir. When The Blaze reached out to CBS for comment, no one initially knew who was in charge of the store, or indeed, that one existed. One woman even asked, “There’s a CBS News online store?” After several hours being bounced around through various departments, CBS directed The Blaze to a spokesman for CBS Interactive, the arm that manages the network’s online content. So what’s the reason for the items? In a statement, the spokesman said the merchandise posted for sale was a mistake by the store’s third-party provider and would be taken down:

“It has come to our attention that merchandise unrelated to CBS News was inadvertently made available by our third-party provider on the webpage that is located in the CBS Interactive online store. The items will be removed. We’d like to thank The Blaze for their vigilance in this important matter.”
Important, indeed.
UPDATE: Minutes after publication, CBS removed the items from the website. Note that “Change We Can Believe In” is still visible in the lower-left corner under “recently viewed.”
UPDATE II: The merchandise is still visible if you type “obama” into the search bar. (h/t Blaze reader Aaron)--theblaze.com

* 8/19/11--WASHINGTON -- His vacation couldn't come soon enough. President Obama landed on posh Martha's Vineyard late yesterday for 10 days of fun and sun with the family -- as a worrying array of economic indicators hit new lows. The bleak figures won't make for tranquil summer reading:

* The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 419 points, and new jobless claims climbed by 9,000 to 408,000 last week.

* Morgan Stanley lowered its global economic forecast for the United States and the euro zone -- calling the economies "dangerously close to a recession."

* Home sales dropped 3.5 percent in July, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The White House -- citing family obligations -- defended the Obama vacation amid the gloom and doom. "The president understands that he has important responsibilities to fill, and it's his job to fill those responsibilities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "At the same, he's also a husband and a father. And I don't think the American people begrudge the president spending a little time with his wife and daughters at the end of the summer, before his daughters head back to school." Earnest said a member of Obama's National Economic Council would fly to the Vineyard to brief the president, who was accompanied by counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan. But the Republican NNational Committee continued its series of slams on the Obama getaway, where the first family once again is staying at the 29-acre Blue Heron Farm, which rents for $50,000 per week. The RNC invited backers to send "Obama Getaway Cards" to the vacationing president. Obama found a sympathetic voice of support in Mayor Bloomberg, who's known to prize his weekend trips to his Bermuda compound. "Look, everybody deserves a vacation, and he's got to decide what's right and set his own schedule, and I'll leave that to him," Bloomberg said yesterday. "And, incidentally, the phones work from Martha's Vineyard, so he's not exactly out of touch." Sarah Palin was not nearly so forgiving, calling the decision "tone deaf" in a Fox interview from her Alaska home.--NY Post

* 8/20/11--“They have created a working group that appears to have the specific purpose of overruling, on a ‘case-by-case’ basis, an immigration court’s final order of removal, or preventing that court from even issuing such an order. [It’s a] plan to grant back-door amnesty to illegal immigrants.”--House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), referring to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s initiative drastically reducing deportations of illegal immigrants.--NY Post

* 8/22/11--WASHINGTON (AP) — Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency. Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs. The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants — many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved — and worsening the financial problems of a program that's been running in the red for years. New congressional estimates say the trust fund that supports Social Security disability will run out of money by 2017, leaving the program unable to pay full benefits, unless Congress acts. About two decades later, Social Security's much larger retirement fund is projected to run dry as well.

* 8/22/11-- (Reuters) - Consumer confidence has fallen further after weeks of intensified economic concerns and broad stock market declines, and Conference Board data due later this month could be even weaker than current projections suggest, Consumer Edge Research said on Monday. Readings from high, middle and low-income consumers all deteriorated sharply, due mainly to dramatic declines in outlook, the independent equity research firm said. The firm's Consumer Economic Index is now at 45.4, down 10 percentage points from July and down 1.5 points from the 46.9 level it reported on August 10. Two days after that report, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary August reading showed that U.S. consumer sentiment had fallen to its lowest point since May 1980. The 45.4 reading is the lowest since Consumer Edge Research began its index in March 2010.

* 8/23/11--Swallow all liquids in your mouth before reading any further. Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It's now $14,639,000,000,000. When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS' amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000. That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies including China has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days. That's the fastest increase under any president ever. Remember the day the Democrat promised to close the embarrassing Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility within one year? That day the national debt increased $4,247,000,000. And each day since that the facility hasn't been closed. Same for the day in 2009 when Obama flew all the way out to Denver to sign the $787 billion stimulus bill that was going to hold national unemployment beneath 8% instead of the 9.1% we got today anyway? Another $4,247,000,000 that day. And every day since, even Obama golfing and vacation days. Same sum for the day Obama flew Air Force One nearly four hours roundtrip to Columbus, Ohio for a 10-minute speech about how well the stimulus was working in the politically crucial Buckeye state. Ohio's unemployment rate just jumped to 9% from 8.8% anyway. Or last week's three-day Midwestern tour in the president's new $1.1 million Death Star bus? National debt went up $16,988,000,000 while he rode around speaking and buying ice cream cones. Numbers with that many digits are hard to grasp, even for a Harvard head. So, let's put it another way:

One billion seconds ago Bill Clinton was nearing the end of his two terms and George W. Bush's baseball collection was still on the shelves in the Austin governor's office. The nation's debt increased $4.9 trillion under President Bush too, btw. But it took him 2,648 days to do it. Obama will surpass that sum during this term. Now, how to portray a trillion, or 1,000 billions. One trillion seconds ago much of North America was still covered by ice sheets hundreds of feet thick. And the land was dotted by only a few dozen Starbuck's. Obama is saying yes, we can get control of the national debt. But ominously every time he says that he adds that trillions of dollars in infrastructure repairs are badly needed across the country. And with interest rates so low, according to the thinking on Obama's planet, now is an excellent time to borrow even more money. So, it looks like not too long before Americans learn what comes after 1,000 trillions. It's quadrillion. But for Bernanke's sake, please don't tell anyone in Washington.--LA Times

* 8/23/11--WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of people who bought new homes fell for the third straight month in July, putting sales on track to finish this year as the worst on records dating back half a century. Sales of new homes fell nearly 1 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 298,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That's less than half the 700,000 that economists say represent a healthy market. Housing remains the weakest part of the economy. Last year was the worst for new-home sales on records that go back nearly 50 years.

* 8/24/11--"Following a pattern of making law by regulation and executive order, the Obama administration [last week] announced it will impose a version of the Dream (development, relief and education for alien minors) Act on America through administrative fiat. This is blatant political pandering in an election cycle at the expense of American citizens. On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress she has authority to halt deportation of illegal aliens not perceived to be a criminal threat as long as they meet certain criteria, such as attending school or having family in the military. The new rules would cover up to 300,000 illegal aliens. In 2010, the government deported 200,000 with no criminal records. Under the new rules, most would now likely be allowed to stay and apply for permits. Opposed by a majority of Americans and twice defeated in Congress, the federal Dream Act essentially grants amnesty to any illegal alien in America if they agree to enlist in the military or attend a U.S. college. It's called a 'path to citizenship,' a path that leads right past the U.S. Border Patrol. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, a sponsor of the federal Dream Act, praised the DHS announcement. 'These students are the future doctors, lawyers, teachers and maybe senators who will make America stronger,' he said in a statement. So are the children of America's jobless. ... 'If you look at immigrants from Mexico, they register 3-to-1 Democrat, so the Democratic Party is for easy citizenship and allowing them to vote,' says Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. This is about making the Democratic Party, not America, strong." --Investor's Business Daily (From Patriot Post Chronicle)

* 8/26/11--We have noted on numerous occasions the scandal that is Operation Fast and Furious. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began the operation, part of which was Project Gunrunner, ostensibly to track firearms headed from the U.S. to Mexico. At least 2,000 guns have been lost, however, and many have turned up at crime scenes, including numerous instances in the U.S. Such guns were also used to kill two American officials, ICE Agent Jaime Zapata and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Despite this egregious incompetence, none of the ATF's players involved has been held accountable. In fact, three of the agents responsible for this disastrous operation were just promoted. According to Pajamas Media's Bob Owen's, "The three supervisors have been given new management positions at the agency's headquarters in Washington. They are William G. McMahon, who was the ATF's deputy director of operations in the West, where the illegal trafficking program was focused, and William D. Newell and David Voth, both field supervisors who oversaw the program out of the agency's Phoenix office." The whistleblower, Vince Cefalu, was fired. Somehow, the Obama administration, the Justice Department and the ATF must be held accountable for this continuing outrage.--Patriot Post Digest

Part 29--July, 2011

* 7/1/11--Allowing hundreds of illegal aliens to participate in a congressional hearing sends a dangerous signal that it's okay to flout immigration laws in the U.S. That’s what some immigration watchdogs are saying about a Senate hearing Tuesday that intended to commend those who came to this country at a young age with their parents but were never granted legal status. Adding to the oddity of the occasion, which HUMAN EVENTS reported on earlier this week, the high-ranking witness testifying at the hearing was Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the nation’s chief immigration enforcement official. “It sends a signal that one of the top law enforcement officials in the country is clearly on their side and ignoring the rule of law,” said Bob Dane, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “It’s one of the most profound and outrageous juxtapositions we have ever seen in a public hearing,” Dane said. “If ever there was a doubt which side of the law this administration is on, this visual graphic told the full story,” Dane said. The panel was led by Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D. –Ill.), who is sponsoring legislation called the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act to give legal status to those under age 35 who arrived in the United States before age 16, provided they complete two years of college or serve two years in the military. “The young people who would be eligible for the DREAM Act call themselves dreamers,” Durbin said at the hearing. “Over the years, I have met hundreds of these dreamers, and hundreds of them are here today.” After introducing about a half dozen of those in the audience by name, Durbin asked “everyone here today who is a DREAM Act student to stand and be recognized.” Nearly everyone in the audience, which seats more than 300 people, stood. “Thank you so much for being here,” Durbin said. "When I look around this room, I see America 's future. Our doctors, our teachers, our nurses, our engineers, our scientists, our soldiers, our congressmen, our senators and maybe our President." “Maybe he’s expecting to change the Constitution,” said Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies. Camarota, who testified at the hearing, described the packed audience as a “well-organized showing.” “Durbin knew explicitly who would be there, and it was all planned, nothing was spontaneous,” Camarota said. “It sent a signal that we do not take our laws seriously. That you can come into a Senate chamber and admit it publicly and to the press, in large numbers, and it does not matter. It’s extremely troubling,” Camarota said. Press staffers for the Republican members who serve on the subcommittee did not respond to requests for comment on the incident. The intent of the hearing was to reassure some factions of the Democrat base that their issue was being tended to, “and yes, he's [Durbin’s] hoping that it will help him at election time,” Camarota said. Dane said that Democrats used the hearing to create a “visual symbol” and “mainstream” the issue that children of illegal aliens were brought here through no fault of their own, and should therefore be given citizenship through congressional action. Dane called the bill a “massive amnesty bill designed as an education initiative.” “It’s a game to suggest they have legitimate standing. It’s audacious and represents the scraping of the rule of law by the Senate,” Dane said.--humanevents.com

* 7/1/11--President Obama today threw down the Big Government gauntlet. Not only did he demand that Congress raise taxes but he fixed August 2, as the "hard deadline" for getting it done. Obama and the Big Government forces in D.C., have now raised the stakes and are saying they will accept nothing less than HIGHER TAXES AND MORE DEBT! Fortunately, tens of thousands of citizens are issuing their own clear DEMANDS to Congress regarding spending and debt: Cut, Cap and Balance! A strong coalition of grassroots organizations and members of Congress are uniting behind this straightforward solution to runaway government spending and debt. The "Cut, Cap and Balance" pledge demands that the following conditions are met before any increase in the debt ceiling:

#1 -- Substantial CUTS in spending that will reduce the deficit.

#2 -- Spending CAPS that put the government on a path to a balanced budget.

#3 -- Passage of the Balanced Budget Amendment BEFORE any votes on raising the debt ceiling!--Grassroots Action Alert

* 7/8/11--WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. jobs growth ground to a near halt in June, with employers hiring the fewest workers in nine months, frustrating hopes the economy would bounce back quickly from a slowdown in the first half of the year. Nonfarm payrolls rose only 18,000, the weakest reading since September, the Labor Department said on Friday, well below economists' expectations for rise of at least 90,000. The unemployment rate climbed to a six-month high of 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent in May even as jobseekers left the labor force in droves. "The message on the economy is ongoing stagnation," said Pierre Ellis, senior economist at Decision economics in New York. "Income growth is marginal so there's no indication of momentum. Stocks on Wall Street opened lower on the data, while U.S. Treasury debt prices rallied. The dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies. The government revised April and May payrolls to show 44,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported. The report shattered expectations the economy was starting to accelerate after a soft patch in the first half of the year.--Reuters

* 7/8/11--Has it really been 800 days since Senate Democrats began failing to pass a budget? Why, it seems like only yesterday. Time flies when you’re watching out-of-control politicians throw around huge piles of money without even the pretense of restraint. The Tea Party Patriots commemorated the 800-day anniversary with a trenchant press release:

“The Senate has a legal obligation to pass a budget every year but has not done so for more than two years,” said Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. “Democrats have controlled the Senate and the White House since the election of 2008, and the House of Representatives up until this year. Certainly they could have passed any budget they desired, including one with tax increases and spending increases. But they chose to ignore the 800-day gorilla in the room because they don't want to be on record supporting a budget that actually does what they want. Then the public could hold them accountable for their cowardly and irresponsible behavior in the face of national fiscal calamity.”
“This week marks the 800 Days of Infamy—800 days without passing a budget,” said Mark Meckler, National Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. “This Senate, controlled by Democrats, will go down as one of the most irresponsible, do-nothing Senates in the history of the institution. May history judge them as harshly as they deserve, and may the electorate throw many of them out on their collective hind ends in 2012.” A couple of days ago, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) offered these thoughts in a National Review piece written with Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee:

While the House has passed a serious, credible budget that tackles this debt crisis head-on, 800 days — and $7.3 trillion dollars — have come and gone since the Democrat-led Senate has adopted a budget. Not only is a budget a concrete fiscal plan, but it expresses a philosophy of governing. Democrats’ refusal to pass a budget — and refusal to put their big-government economic theories on paper — is of extraordinary significance. Making matters worse, the only budget submitted by the president is a fundamentally unserious plan that doubles our debt and speeds us to economic decline. The Democrats have not even proposed a budget. President Obama gave a speech on the topic a few months ago, but it was a demagogic campaign speech intended primarily to attack Paul Ryan – author of the Republican “Path to Prosperity” package of very concrete proposals – who was sitting in the front row. Back in May, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stated, “There’s no need to have a Democratic budget in my opinion. It would be foolish for us to do a budget at this stage.” Does he still consider it “foolish” fifty days later? Eight hundred days of political cowardice, reckless irresponsibility, and dereliction of duty. Enjoy your milestone, Democrats. May the American people remember it well in 2012.--humanevents.com

* 7/8/11--The truth always comes out, as Barack Obama is discovering. Despite having the Leftmedia in his corner, his epic mishandling of the economy is coming to light, and people are taking notice. The economy added a paltry 18,000 jobs in June, "far less than expected." (Who are these experts that continue putting forth wrong expectations?) This follows just 25,000 added in May, and, for the second straight month, the unemployment rate increased -- to 9.2 percent. Things aren't so bad for members of Obama's staff, though. The administration recently released a report confirming that 454 White House aides will earn a whopping $37,121,463 this year. By law, the information must be made public, but the ever-savvy Obama released the information on Friday afternoon before the July 4th holiday weekend. Obama said that those salaries had been "frozen," but apparently that means that only 75 percent of staffers got raises between 2009 and 2010. The average increase was about 15 percent. The report also excluded the identities of the 41 Obama staffers who owe $831,000 in back taxes. One would think a president so outraged at the tax breaks afforded to "millionaires, billionaires and corporate jet owners" would have a zero tolerance for this sort of thing. Also late Friday afternoon, the White House's Council of Economic Advisers released some interesting literature -- a report on the impact of the stimulus. The three advisers, handpicked by Obama himself, tried to sugarcoat the numbers, but the results are clear: The 2.4 million jobs that the stimulus has allegedly "saved or created" have cost, er, $666 billion, which comes out to $278,000 per job. The most telling part of all this is that six months ago, the stimulus had supposedly saved 2.7 million jobs. In other words, it's now leeching jobs from the economy instead of adding them. Some of those jobs may be coming from the banking industry. Banks across the country -- including the country's largest, Bank of America -- are closing branches left and right. In fact, for the first time in 15 years, they're closing them faster than they can open them. For Obama, self-proclaimed champion of the poor, this exposes another ironic truth: Low-income communities could be those most affected by the closures.--Patriot Post Digest

* 7/11/11--"There's no good way to spin the news that came out of [Friday's] monthly U.S. jobs report. The economy generated only 18,000 total new jobs, the unemployment rate increased to 9.2 percent, and the number of unemployed Americans has gone up by 445,000. In other words, the recovery appears to have slowed markedly. President Barack Obama's stimulus-infused 'recovery' refuses to ignite, unsurprisingly to all but him. And to make matters worse, May's paltry job growth numbers were revised even farther downward, from the initial estimate of 54,000 to 25,000. Sadly, the record continues -- the Obama recovery remains the weakest recovery of the post-World War II era. In past recessions, employment fully recovered within two to three years. Today, U.S. job growth is stopped dead in its tracks. If you want a comparison of what job growth could look like, go back to the 1980s' Reagan recovery. By the 20-month mark, the unemployment rate had dropped from 10.8 percent to 7.5 percent -- a 3.3-point drop. In contrast, under Obama, the unemployment rate has risen a full percentage point to today's 9.2 percent. ... The pace of America's economic recovery is unacceptable, and it's being made worse by the Obama Administration's adherence to a flawed philosophy of relying on government to do the work of the private sector." --Heritage Foundation's Mike Brownfield (From Patriot Post Brief)

* 7/11/11--"According to a shocking news report, California legislators have enacted legislation that gives the state the dubious distinction of being the first state in the nation to require public schools to include the contributions of gays and lesbians in their social studies curriculum. ... The bill, SB 48, passed on a party-line vote, adds lesbian, gay, bisexual and so-called transgendered people as well as those with physical or mental disabilities to the list of groups that schools must include in the lessons. It also would prohibit material that reflects adversely on gays. ... It will prove instructive to see how the state's lawmakers go about the job of implementing this absurd legislation. ... The matter of the content of school textbooks has long been a controversial subject, but until now it has never reached the point where specific parts of the population are singled out for preferential treatment, especially when the segment of the population is distinguished solely by their sexual preferences." --columnist Michael Reagan (From Patriot Post Brief)

* 7/13/11-- Opposition is building on Capitol Hill to President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Commerce Department, a cabinet position to which some Republicans say John Bryson is completely unsuited. "This is so ironic, because here's a guy who wants to kill commerce," said Sen. James Inhofe (R.-Okla.). Inhofe is the latest Republican to put a hold on the nomination, a process that is usually kept secret unless the member announced the hold during a press conference. And during a press conference Tuesday, Inhofe did just that. Along with two conservative organizations, Inhofe hopes to derail Obama's pick: "This is a recipe for disaster for our economy," Inhofe said. "With sky high unemployment and a struggling economy, who does President Obama choose to promote job growth? The founder of the radical Natural Resources Defense Council, a left-wing environmentalist organization, which in the name of global warming, seeks to increase drastically the price of electricity and gasoline across America," Inhofe said.--human events.com

* 7/13/11--"The ignorance about our country is staggering. According to one survey, only 28% of students could identify the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. Only 26% of students knew that the first 10 amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights. Fewer than one-quarter of students knew that George Washington was the first president of the United States. ... Ignorance and possibly contempt for American values, civics and history might help explain how someone like Barack Obama could become president of the United States. At no other time in our history could a person with longtime associations with people who hate our country become president. ... The fact that Obama became president and brought openly Marxist people into his administration doesn't say so much about him as it says about the effects of decades of brainwashing of the American people by the education establishment, media and the intellectual elite." --economist Walter E. Williams (From Patriot Post Chronicle)

* 7/20/11-- As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama said he believed marriage was a union between a man and a woman, but this week the president says he is proud for pride and is supporting a bill that would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. Just hours before Senate Democrats began their hearing on the measure sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the White House said Obama is "proud to support" it. DOMA passed on a bipartisan vote in 1996 and was signed into law by President Clinton. The law defined marriage as between a man and a woman and blocked the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. "Despite the clear will of the people we have this legislation before us today," said Rep. Steve King (R. Iowa), who testified before the Senate panel this morning. "President Obama has directed the Justice Department to stop defending the constitutionality of these laws. It is not the role of the executive branch to determine what is constitutional, but to uphold the laws," King said.
"It is clearly the will of the American people to maintain and uphold [DOMA]. This is good for families, good for society and good for government," King said. Civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D. Ga.) testified in favor of Feinstein's bill calling it "an issue of dignity." "As a child, I tasted the bitter fruit of racism and discrimination, and I did not like it," Lewis said. Under Obama's leadership and the Democrat-led Senate, Lewis said Congress should lead the way and overturn the law. "We are called to be a headlight, not a taillight," Lewis said.--humanevents.com

* 7/20/11--A new study found that even a brief exposure to an American flag shifts voters to Republican beliefs, attitudes and voting behavior. Via US News and World Report: Just a brief exposure to an image of the American flag shifts voters, even Democrats, to Republican beliefs, attitudes and voting behavior even though most don’t believe it will impact their politics, according to a new two-year study just published in the scholarly Psychological Science. What’s more, according to three authors from the University Chicago, Cornell University and Hebrew University, the impact had staying power. “A single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants’ Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months,” the study found. “These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.” Theirs is the first study to look at the political impact on Americans who have seen an American flag, and it seems to back up another recent Harvard University professor’s study that found that kids who attended a July 4th parade ended up leaning Republican when they grew up. It’s also sure to prompt GOP presidential candidates to add more U.S. flags at their events and speeches.--thegatewaypundit.com

* 7/21/11--(Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, pointing to a labor market that is struggling to regain momentum. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 418,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 410,000 from a previously reported 405,000.

7/21/11--Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign trumpeted hope for the future, but his legacy may include presiding over the withering of the American Dream. Belief that the American Dream is possible has dropped by nearly 20 points since his election, falling just below one-half of U.S. adults.--John Zogby, Forbes Magazine.

* 7/29/11-- The Wall Street Journal reports, "The U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace than expected in the spring as consumers cut back on spending, while revisions showed the slowdown since the beginning of the year was much more drastic than previously thought. The Commerce Department Friday said gross domestic product rose at an annualized seasonally adjusted rate of 1.3% in April through June, while first-quarter growth was revised down sharply to a 0.4% rate from the earlier estimate of a 1.9% gain."--Patriot Post Digest

* 7/31/11--Iraq is more dangerous than it was just a year ago, after a surge in bombings, assassinations and violence by Shi'ite militias, according to a report released today. In his quarterly review to Congress, a top government adviser accused the U.S. military of glossing over the issue, just months before soldiers are due to leave the country. The findings come during a 'summer of uncertainty' in Baghdad over whether American forces will stay past a year-end withdrawal deadline and continue military aid for the unstable nation. The review follows the bloodiest month for the U.S. military in two years, after 15 soldiers died in June.--dailymail.co.uk

Part 28--June, 2011

* 6/1/11--President Obama’s faith adviser, Eboo Patel, likened television evangelist Pat Robertson to Osama bin Laden, calling both “totalitarians” who worked collectively against coexistence. The statements by Patel mark the latest in a series of controversial remarks by the faith adviser to be reported by WND, including comments against the U.S. and Christianity. In February 2010, Obama named Patel to his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Patel, a Muslim activist, is the founder and executive director of Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, which says it promotes pluralism by teaming people of different faiths on service projects.--WorldNetDaily

* 6/2/11--Yesterday, amidst a triple-digit Wall Street slide, Peter Yastrow, market strategist for Yastrow Origer, told CNBC... "We're on the verge of a great, great depression. The [Federal Reserve] knows it." According to Yastrow there is a strong "discontent with the American economy." CNBC today reported, "The last month has been a horror show for the U.S. economy, with economic data falling off a cliff, according to Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London." Many economists agree that out-of-control Government spending is wreaking havoc on our nation's economic recovery. The government's stalemate over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling - and how to curb future government spending and debt keeps the economy and American's hopes for recovery in a precarious position. After the budget compromise was exposed as a SHAM, Congress now wants us to believe that we must raise the debt ceiling to avoid a colossal meltdown of epic proportions. That rhetoric is also a sham!--Grassroots Action Alert

* 6/2/11--As you probably remember, while ObamaCare was being ram-rodded through Congress, the Obama/Reid/Pelosi machine promised that ObamaCare's individual mandates were NOT taxes. In passing the Act, Congress explicitly stated that it was doing so under the Commerce Clause, and not creating a new tax. In court however, Eric Holder's Department of Justice has argued that these mandates ARE taxes and that Congress has a constitutional right to levy taxes. Now that ObamaCare is moving through the courts, this question of "Tax or not a Tax?" has become crucial. In fact, the Fourth Circuit Court recently asked Liberty Counsel and the Department of Justice to file a "supplemental brief" in large part to address this question. If ObamaCare is a "tax" then the Fourth Circuit would no longer have jurisdiction. In a stunning development, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has essentially agreed with Liberty Counsel that ObamaCare's mandates are in fact penalties and the Fourth Circuit should rule on this case! This concession is huge! That means both sides agree on this potentially sticky point that could have derailed the case. Liberty Counsel now expects a ruling by the end of the month, most likely on the merits of the case. From there the case is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.--Liberty Counsel (Grassroots Action Alert)

* 6/2/11--An international expert on scanners and document-imaging software filed a 22-page criminal complaint with the FBI, charging that the long-form birth certificate released by the White House is criminally fraudulent. “What the Obama administration released is a PDF image that they are trying to pass off as a Certificate of Live Birth Long Form printed on green security paper by the Hawaiian Health Department,” Doug Vogt writes, “but this form is a created forgery.” Vogt’s criminal complaint asserts: “I have irrefutably proven that the Certificate of Live Birth that President Obama presented to the world on April 27, 2011, is a fraudulently created document put together using the Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator programs, and the creation of this forgery of a public document constitutes a class B felony in Hawaii and multiple violations under U.S. Code section Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 47, Sec.1028, and therefore an impeachable offense.” When the Obama birth certificate “forgery” comes to the public’s attention, Vogt continues, “It will surpass all previous scandals including the Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration.” Since 1993, Vogt has owned Archive Index Systems Inc., in Bellevue, Wash., a company that sells a wide variety of document scanners worldwide and develops document imaging software. Before that, Vogt owned Nova Typesetting for 11 years.--WorldNetDaily

* 6/2/11--PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans break into two roughly evenly matched camps on the question of whether the government should enact heavy taxes on the rich to redistribute wealth in the U.S. Forty-seven percent believe the government should redistribute wealth in this way, while 49% disagree, similar to views Gallup found four years ago. Republicans and Democrats have sharply different reactions to the government's taking such an active role in equalizing economic outcomes. Seven in 10 Democrats believe the government should levy taxes on the rich to redistribute wealth, while an equal proportion of Republicans believe it should not. The slight majority of independents oppose this policy.--gallup.com

* 6/2/11--A federal judge has ordered a Texas school district to prohibit public prayer at a high school graduation ceremony. (Clinton appointee) Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery’s order against the Medina Valley Independent School District also forbids students from using specific religious words including “prayer” and “amen.” The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Christa and Danny Schultz. Their son is among those scheduled to participate in Saturday’s graduation ceremony. The judge declared that the Schultz family and their son would “suffer irreparable harm” if anyone prayed at the ceremony. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the school district is in the process of appealing the ruling, and his office has agreed to file a brief in their support. “Part of this goes to the very heart of the unraveling of moral values in this country,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott told Fox News Radio, saying the judge wanted to turn school administrators into “speech police.” “I’ve never seen such a restriction on speech issued by a court or the government,” Abbott told Fox News Radio. “It seems like a trampling of the First Amendment rather than protecting the First Amendment.” Judge Biery’s ruling banned students and other speakers from using religious language in their speeches. Among the banned words or phrases are: “join in prayer,” “bow their heads,” “amen,” and “prayer.” He also ordered the school district to remove the terms “invocation” and “benediction” from the graduation program. “These terms shall be replaced with ‘opening remarks’ and ‘closing remarks,'” the judge’s order stated. His ruling also prohibits anyone from saying, “in [a deity’s name] we pray.” Should a student violate the order, school district officials could find themselves in legal trouble. Judge Biery ordered that his ruling be “enforced by incarceration or other sanctions for contempt of Court if not obeyed by District official (sic) and their agents.” The Texas attorney general called the ruling unconstitutional and a blatant attack from those who do not believe in God -- “attempts by atheists and agnostics to use courts to eliminate from the public landscape any and all references to God whatsoever.” “This is the challenge we are dealing with here,” he said. “(It’s) an ongoing attempt to purge God from the public setting while at the same time demanding from the courts an increased yielding to all things atheist and agnostic.” Ayesa Khan, an attorney representing the student and his parents, told KABB-TV she was delighted in the judge’s decision. “It caused him a great deal of anxiety,” she said, referring to her teenage client. “He has gone to meet with the principal to try and talk in a civilized way about long-standing problems, and the school district has continued to thumb its nose.” The judge did grant students permission to make the sign of the cross, wear religious garb or kneel to face Mecca. But that’s not good enough for some students at the high school. “It’s just a big surprise that one kid can come in and change what’s been a tradition since Medina Valley started,” student Abigail Russell told KABB-TV. Fellow student Alicia Jade Geurin agreed. “At graduation, I would love to be able to speak from my heart,” she told the TV station. “But in this situation I feel my freedom of speech and my First Amendment is being infringed upon if I can’t say what I feel.” But the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, hailed the judge’s decision. “This is a high school graduation,” he told Fox News Radio. “It is not a church service.” Lynn was critical of the attorney general’s allegation that the ruling was an attempt to purge Christianity from the public square. “Any attorney general worth his salt would know that’s the issue and that this is not about promoting atheism,” he said. “That’s ludicrous.”--foxnews.com

* 6/2/11--Documents made public yesterday by Judicial Watch describe extensive collusion by Federal Communications Commission officials with a left-wing advocacy group in a campaign to expand government regulation of the Internet. The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch in a December 2010 Freedom of Information Act request, were created after Democrat appointees solidified their 3-2 control of the agency in March 2009. Judicial Watch is a conservative nonprofit that specializes in using the FOIA and other avenues to expose corruption in government. The coordination between FCC officials and Free Press, the advocacy group, supported a proposal for the agency to regulate access to the Internet as if it were a public utility, in the interest of ensuring "Net Neutrality." Proponents said doing so would assure equal access for all Internet users by barring companies from offering preferred rates for higher delivery speeds. Other users, especially in communities with limited Internet access, would be forced to accept poorer service. But critics said the proposal would actually give the FCC a tool to regulate content, and they argued that the FCC has no authority over the medium in the first place. It would be akin to forcing FedEx and UPS to treat all packages the same way the U.S. Postal Service does. Free Press is the most vocal of a number of far-left and liberal advocacy groups that for nearly a decade have pushed numerous proposals for vastly increasing government regulation of the Internet. The evidence of coordination between FCC Democrats and Free Press uncovered by Judicial Watch includes:

Emails between former Free Press president John Silver and Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps from October 2010, coordinating "how we'd like to proceed during these next three months on NN [net neutrality]."

Documents summarizing a phone call between Silver and Copps in which, before an FCC vote on the proposal in November 2010, Silver "emphasized that a strong net neutrality rule is critical to preserving the Internet as a vibrant forum for speech, commerce, innovation and cultural expression."

Correspondence between FCC Special Counsel David Tannenbaum and Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott coordinating speakers for a taxpayer-funded series of FCC "internet workshops" that were intended to generate public support for the proposal.

Free Press was co-founded by Monthly Review editor Robert McChesney and the Nation contributor John Nichols. The Monthly Review is "an independent Marxist journal," while the Nation has long described itself as "the flagship of the left." Free Press is partially funded by George Soros' Open Society Institute. In April 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the FCC did not have the legal authority to regulate the Internet. Despite this ruling, in December the FCC voted 3-2, along party lines, to begin the Net Neutrality regulation process anyway. As an independent agency, the FCC is required to regulate impartially. Internal FCC rules require all employees to disclose all communication made by interested parties and "directed to the merits or outcome of a proceeding" unless they fit a narrow set of exceptions (e.g., the communication "directly relates to an emergency in which the safety of life is endangered or substantial loss of property is threatened"). An FCC spokesman failed to return multiple calls seeking comment. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the documents released by his organization suggest "nothing less than the Obama administration's attempt to stage a government takeover of the Internet under the guise of Net Neutrality. So it should come as no surprise that Free Press, the hard-left organization with socialist ties, is improperly driving the so-called Net Neutrality agenda from inside the Obama administration." Fitton added that "the FCC is supposed to be an independent agency that follows the law. The American people should be deeply troubled by the fact that the Obama administration, on issue after issue, seems to be run by shadowy leftist organizations." --washingtonexaminer.com

* 6/3/11--WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employers hired far fewer workers than expected in May and the jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent, raising concerns the economy might be stuck in a painful slow-growth mode.--Reuters

* 6/6/11--"The president and his supporters call for tax increases as a means to cover the deficit, but higher tax revenues cannot eliminate the deficit. Controlling for inflation, federal tax revenue today is 23 times greater than it was in 1960, but congressional spending is 42 times greater. During the last half-century, except for five years, the nation has faced a federal budget deficit. It's just simple math. If tax revenues soar, but congressional spending soars more, budget deficits cannot be avoided. People ask what can be done to save our nation from decline. To ask that represents a misunderstanding of history and possibly a bit of arrogance. After all, how different are Americans from the Romans, Spaniards, French and the English? These were once mighty nations standing at the top of civilization. At the height of these nation's prosperity, no one would have predicted that they'd become third-rate nations, especially England. ... One chief causal factor for the decline of these former great nations is what has been described as 'bread and circuses,' where government spends money for the shallow and immediate wants of the population, and civic virtue all but disappears. For the past half-century, our nation has been doing precisely what brought down other great nations. We might have now reached the point of no return. If so, do we deserve it?" --economist Walter E. Williams (From Patriot Post Brief)

* 6/6/11--The Iranian regime is closer than ever before to creating a nuclear bomb, according to RAND Corporation researcher Gregory S. Jones. At its current rate of uranium enrichment, Tehran could have enough for its first bomb within eight weeks, Jones said in a report published this week. He added that despite reports of setbacks in its nuclear program, the Iranian regime is steadily progressing towards a bomb. Unfortunately, Jones says, there is nothing the US can do to stop Tehran, short of military occupation. The researcher based his report on recent findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), published two weeks ago. Making the bomb will take around two months, he says, because constructing a nuclear warhead is a complicated step in the process. Jones stresses that stopping Iran will require deploying forces on the ground, because airstrikes are no longer sufficient. The reality is that the US and Israel have failed to keep Iran from developing a nuclear warhead whenever it wants, Jones says. It's time to recognize that this policy has failed and decide on the following steps, based on realistic assessment of Iranian uranium-enrichment efforts, he adds. According to Jones, Tehran has produced 38.3 kg of uranium enriched at 19.7%. If its centrifuges continue to work at the current capacity, it will take around two months for the Iranian regime to produce the 20 kg of uranium enriched to 90% required for the production of a nuclear warhead.--ynetnews.com

* 6/7/11--The federal government's financial condition deteriorated rapidly last year, far beyond the $1.5 trillion in new debt taken on to finance the budget deficit, a USA TODAY analysis shows. The government added $5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. That brings to a record $61.6 trillion the total of financial promises not paid for. This gap between spending commitments and revenue last year equals more than one-third of the nation's gross domestic product. Medicare alone took on $1.8 trillion in new liabilities, more than the record deficit prompting heated debate between Congress and the White House over lifting the debt ceiling....The $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations amounts to $534,000 per household. That's more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else — mortgages, car loans and other debt. It reflects the challenge as the number of retirees soars over the next 20 years and seniors try to collect on those spending promises. "The (federal) debt only tells us what the government owes to the public. It doesn't take into account what's owed to seniors, veterans and retired employees," says accountant Sheila Weinberg, founder of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, a Chicago-based group that advocates better financial reporting. "Without accurate accounting, we can't make good decisions."--USA Today

* 6/7/11--Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne today blasted the Obama Administration for filing a late amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that would push for the ability for illegal immigrants to vote. In the Gonzalez v State case, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that Arizona could not require persons registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship. The Ninth Circuit has granted en banc review and Attorney General Horne will personally be arguing the case before an eleven-judge panel on June 21, 2011. Late Friday afternoon, the Obama Administration filed a late, eleventh-hour amicus brief arguing that Arizona should not be able to request information to check if applicants wanting to vote are citizens. Horne stated: “First, the Obama Administration fails to do its job on the border. Then it sues Arizona to prevent us from helping to fight illegal immigration. Then it tries to create a false sense of complacency by arguing that the border is safe, when it isn’t. Now it argues that persons should be able to register to vote without providing adequate information enabling verification of citizenship, thus enabling illegal aliens to register to vote. This is contrary to the interests of the people of the United State of America.”--freerepublic.com

* 6/8/11--Most voters still believe President Obama is more liberal than they are, while just one-out-of-four say they share the same ideological views as the president. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 54% of Likely U.S. Voters think Obama is more ideologically liberal than they are, while only 13% view him as more conservative. Twenty-four percent (24%) say their political views are about the same as the president's. The number who see the president as more liberal than they are stayed at 57% in three-out-of-four previous surveys conducted since August of last year. That number climbed to 61% in late February. The number who view the president as more conservative ranged from nine percent (9%) to 12% in that same period. The number of voters who say they share about the same political views as the president ties the lowest result measured since August and, interestingly, compares exactly with the number who say the same of Congress. Only 24% of voters hold about the same ideological views as the average Republican member of Congress, and another 24% feel that way about the views of the average Democratic congressman. Forty-five percent (45%) of Democratic voters, however, say their views are about the same as the president’s, although that ties the lowest finding to date. The number of Democrats who felt this way peaked at 60% in late February. Twenty-four percent (24%) of Democrats say the president is more conservative than they are, while 22% think he is more liberal.--rasmussenreports.com

* 6/8/11--"You've got to hand it to President Obama and his White House economic team. Faced with [Friday's] dreary May jobs report, they did their best and rolled out the old 'bump in the road' analogy for comfort. As chief White House economist Austan Goolsbee put it, 'there are always bumps on the road to recovery, but the overall trajectory of the economy has improved dramatically over the past two years.' Nice try, but there's no way to spin news that the economy in May created only 54,000 new jobs, which is about one-third the number necessary to keep up with the growth in the labor force. The jobless rate rose for the second straight month to 9.1%, which is especially depressing nearly two years after the end of a very deep recession. At this stage in the Reagan expansion, after a comparably deep 1981-82 recession, the economy was growing by 7% a year and the jobless rate was plunging. This time the economy is growing by less than 2%, and we still have 6.8 million fewer jobs than when the recession began in late 2007. ... The same economists and pundits who promoted the economic policies of the last four years are now lamenting the jobs bust and demanding that Washington double down: More stimulus spending, more Federal Reserve easing, more temporary tax rebates. They can't explain why these policies have failed to date, but we are supposed to rinse and repeat. ... The economy doesn't need more of this. It needs a return to the growth agenda that created the long post-1982 boom."--The Wall Street Journal (From Patriot Post Chronicle)

* 6/8/11--Fish, fowl and politicians, they’re all in cahoots to kill jobs, say congressional Republicans, who are circling the wagons out West to protect their way of life. First there’s the dune sagebrush lizard that is ganging up with the prairie chickens to halt oil and gas development. It seems that the lizard doesn’t like walking across the ground if it has been disturbed by a tractor, or mating near the thump-thump of an oil rig. Then there’s the Delta smelt out in California, it needs billions of gallons of water to survive, causing a man-made drought that is turning farmlands into dust bowls. And in the Gulf region where oil production is but a trickle of its former self to avoid another blowout that could destroy that environment, job losses are running in the tens of thousands. “If Salazar’s job is to kill jobs, then he gets an A plus,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R. –Calif.). “His department has killed more jobs in the U.S. than any other federal agency.” Nunes and other Republicans say the Interior Department is waging a war against jobs using radical environmental policies as its weapon of choice. And in some cases, even eco-friendly energy development is getting the cold shoulder. "You can’t make this stuff up,” Nunes says.--Audrey Hudson, Daily Events
* 6/9/11--Clearly, the "homosexual normalization" is a high priority for the Left, and they are focusing most of their energy on two fields of opportunity. The first is overturning federal laws which "discriminate against gays," beginning with proscriptions concerning homosexuals in our military service branches. Until 1993, when Bill Clinton instituted the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" policy giving legal standing to homosexuals in our military and intelligence institutions, those organizations maintained long-standing moratoriums prohibiting homosexual employment because they posed a high risk of compromise, and moreover because of the obvious degradation of morale associated with homosexuals in military ranks. However, in 2008, Obama made it a "top priority" of his administration to repeal DADT and allow open homosexual access to any and all military operations. In 2010, the United States suffered the largest intelligence compromise in history, by a disgruntled homosexual, Army PFC Bradley Manning. Devastated over news that his "partner" was leaving him, Manning attempted to win back his boyfriend's affections by "heroically" stealing, according to allegations, some 500,000 classified documents and communiqués from the government's SIPRNet and JWICS intelligence sharing networks. He then provided them to WikiLeaks for publication. Manning is now in lockdown at Ft. Leavenworth, charged with "aiding and abetting the enemy," which is a capital offense. Obama's response? He has had scant to say about Manning's treason, and just months after Manning's arrest, and before Democrat congressional ranks were decimated by incoming Republicans from the midterm election, Obama had Democrats in Congress push through "Do Ask, Do Tell" legislation, which ended any proscription against homosexuals in the military. This will open the gate for the other primary "gay agenda" items, such as legal recognition of their partners for insurance and other financial benefits. Obama already ordered Navy chaplains to perform same-sex unions, but Congress pulled the reigns back on that maneuver, reminding Obama that the Defense of Marriage Act is still intact.--Patriot Post

6/11/11--The trove of more than 13,000 emails detailing almost every aspect of Sarah Palin’s governorship of Alaska, released late on Friday, paints a picture of her as an idealistic, conscientious, humorous and humane woman slightly bemused by the world of politics. One can only assume that the Left-leaning editors who dispatched teams of reporters to remote Juneau, the Alaskan capital, to pore over the emails in the hope of digging up a scandal are now viewing the result as a rather poor return on their considerable investment. If anything, Mrs Palin seems likely to emerge from the scrutiny of the 24,000 pages, contained in six boxes and weighing 275 pounds, with her reputation considerably enhanced. As a blogger at Powerline noted, the whole saga might come to be viewed as “an embarrassment for legacy media”.--telegraph.co.uk

* 6/14/11--(CNSNews.com) – Twenty-eight months after Congress passed President Obama’s signature economic stimulus law, and nearly one year after he declared the summer of 2010 to be “Recovery Summer,” 1.9 million fewer people are employed. In February 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that 141.7 million people were employed. By the end of May 2011 – the last month for which data are available – that number had fallen to 139.8 million, a difference of 1.9 million.

* 6/17/11--When it comes to measuring the combination of unemployment and inflation, it doesn’t get much more miserable than this. In fact, misery, as measured in the unofficial Misery Index that simply totals the unemployment and inflation rates, is at a 28-year high, reflective of how weak the economic recovery has been and how far there is to go. The index, first compiled during the soaring inflation days of the 1970s by economist Arthur Okun, is registering a nausea-inducing 12.7—9.1 percent for unemployment and 3.6 percent for annualized inflation—a number not seen since 1983. The index has been above 10 since November 2009 and had been under double-digits from June 1993 through May 2008.--cnbc.com

* 6/17/11--Where are the jobs? Given to those who raise money for Obama. "More than two years after Obama took office vowing to banish 'special interests' from his administration, nearly 200 of his biggest donors have landed plum government jobs and advisory posts, won federal contracts worth millions of dollars for their business interests or attended numerous elite White House meetings and social events," Politico reports. "These 'bundlers' raised at least $50,000 -- and sometimes more than $500,000 -- in campaign donations for Obama's campaign." For comparison's sake, Public Citizen in 2008 found that George W. Bush had appointed about 200 bundlers to administration posts during his eight years in office. That's roughly the same number Obama has appointed in little more than two years. The White House insists that all these jobs were on the up-and-up, but it's hard to deny the correlation. Somehow, this makes all those promises about "Hope and Change" seem even hollower.--(From Patriot Post Digest)

* 6/17/11--The Wisconsin Supreme Court this week reinstated the state's recently passed law eliminating collective bargaining for state employees. It had been struck down by Judge Maryann Sumi, who said that Republicans broke procedural rules when passing it. The Supreme Court wrote, "This court will not determine whether internal operating rules or procedural statutes have been complied with by the legislature in the course of its enactments." In other words, separation of powers carried the day. Recently re-elected Justice David Prosser was part of the majority. He had been challenged by union-backed leftist JoAnne Kloppenburg earlier this year. The victory isn't final, either, as unions have filed a challenge in federal court, this time arguing, according to Reuters, that the law "creates two classes of public workers in the state -- those covered by the new rules and those exempt from them." --(From Patriot Post Digest)

* 6/17/11--In December 2010, the Senate ratified one of the Obama regime's key international efforts, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). At the time, Obama and his minions sold the treaty as a great benefit to the U.S. and world peace. It required, or so we were told, both the U.S. and Russia to reduce the number of strategic nuclear warheads by 30 percent, from 2,200 to 1,550 warheads each, and it capped the number of allowed strategic launchers, including both missiles and bombers, at 700 each. Both sides are required to be at or below these ceilings by 2018. Skeptics noted that the treaty would buy the U.S. nothing, would not reduce existing weapons by 30 percent, and in fact would require only the U.S. to eliminate weapons. As usual, the skeptics were savaged by the Left as warmongers, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee that treaty skeptics "just don't believe in arms-control treaties at all and from my perspective are very unfortunately slanting a lot of what they say." Well, the truth has now come out. On June 1, the results of the weapons data exchange between the U.S. and Russia required by the treaty were released by the State Department, and they conclusively demonstrate that the skeptics were right. The treaty requires nothing of Russia in terms of lowering her strategic force numbers. The day the treaty went into force, Feb. 5, Russia was already below the START ceilings for both strategic nuclear launchers and warheads. Russia had 521 strategic launchers, well below the treaty limit of 700, and 1,537 warheads, below the new ceiling of 1,550. So rather than reducing forces, the treaty allows Russia to build additional weapons to reach the new limits, and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has said that Russia will do so by 2028. As for the U.S? We must make weapon reductions, of course, including a 25 percent cut in strategic launchers. So the truth is that the Obama regime lied (again) to the American people about this treaty and falsely accused skeptics of being warmongers, all the while knowingly selling out America's nuclear forces. There's a word that comes to mind here. It starts with a "t" and has seven letters, but for some reason we're drawing a blank... --(From Patriot Post Digest)

* 6/17/11-- WASHINGTON — President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.--NY Times

* 6/18/11--The U.S. economy remains in the doldrums and Obamanomics is making matters worse, as every day seems to bring another dose of bad business news. Not for the faint at heart, here are the Top 10 Scariest Economic Developments:

1. Jobs surge, but only at McDonald’s: The Labor Department’s June unemployment report shows anemic job growth and that the jobless rate ticked up to 9.1%. Even worse, of the 54,000 jobs created, fully half were people hired by the McDonald’s fast-food chain. With jobless benefits starting to end for some, there is little hope for millions of unemployed Americans.

2. National debt exploding: Under 44 Presidents, it took America 235 years to rack up some $10 trillion in debt. Since taking office, President Obama has added another $4 trillion to the nation’s debt, with annual trillion-dollar deficits projected for years to come. Without meaningful deficit reduction, the United States is on a path that leads to interest payments on the nation’s debt exceeding total federal spending by the end of the century.

3. Housing slump continues: A recent report shows that the housing market continues to decline, as Obama administration efforts for distressed homeowners have done nothing to help. The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller housing index showed that prices in 20 key U.S. markets fell 3.6% in the past year and are now at 2002 levels. The only market in which prices rose is, not surprisingly, Washington, D.C., where the growth of the federal government is a boon to the local economy.

4. Economy stalls: The Commerce Department’s revised report on the gross domestic product (GDP) shows that the economy grew at an anemic 1.8% rate in the first quarter of 2011, and economists are trimming their forecasts for the rest of the year. With increased government spending failing to jump-start the economy, a double-dip recession looks more likely.

5. Price of oil skyrocketing: When Obama took office, the price of oil was $1.61 a gallon. With the Middle East turmoil, the decline of the dollar and the administration’s lack of an energy policy, oil has soared to $4 a gallon. How about letting oil companies drill in America instead of subsidizing Brazilian offshore drilling?

6. Implementation of ObamaCare: Despite lawsuits by states and waivers given to the President’s supporters, ObamaCare is still being implemented in baby steps across the nation. A study published in the McKinsey Quarterly found that 30% of companies say they are likely to end their health care coverage and dump their employees into the government exchanges. Businesses that will keep their plans face exploding costs because ObamaCare is failing to contain health care price increases as advertised.

7. Democrats resist spending cuts: Negotiations over extending the federal debt ceiling are at an impasse as Obama and congressional Democrats continue to resist seeking meaningful spending cuts to help rein in the red ink. Amazingly, since 2000 the amount the federal government spends annually has doubled after spending sprees by Presidents Bush and Obama. While the debt ceiling needs to be raised with a deadline approaching, Republicans are absolutely correct to insist on slashing government spending.

8. Credit rating threatened: Moody’s recently said that it is considering lowering America’s Triple-A credit rating because of the impasse over increasing the debt ceiling. Moody’s action came after Standard & Poor’s lowered its outlook in April for the U.S. to “negative” because of the lack of a long-term deficit reduction plan. A lower credit rating could compel the Treasury Department to offer higher yields when it sells its T-Bills, with higher interest rates for U.S. consumers sure to follow.

9. China dumps T-Bills as dollar declines: China gobbled up Treasury bills when the U.S. ramped up its deficit following the 2008 economic crisis, but now has divested 97% of its holdings of short-term U.S. government securities. China held a total of $1.175 trillion of the securities last October as the Obama administration’s deficits skyrocketed. Those holdings have now fallen to $5.69 billion, and China has also started to sell off its long-term Treasury bonds as the decline in the dollar is eroding their value.

10. Consumer confidence down: Consumer spending is considered the engine of the U.S. economy, accounting for about two-thirds of the nation’s GDP. But a survey from the business-advisory firm AlixPartners found that 63% of Americans said they feel “not good” or “bad” about the economy, up from 49% from a year ago. And those surveyed said they will delay by at least a year making major purchases on vacations or buying a new car. Not good news for a certain President seeking reelection next year.--Human Events

* 6/22/11--"Acting ATF director Kenneth Melson is apparently ready to take the fall for what may be the most morally repulsive scandal to befall the Obama administration so far. Our neighbor Mexico lies bleeding from a long, vicious war to fight seven major drug cartels at once. Some 38,000 have been left dead since 2006. Amid all this, U.S. ATF agents had orders from on high to supply U.S. weapons to cartel middlemen buying them on U.S. soil for the odd purpose of 'tracing' them. The news that Melson is resigning seems to be a bid by the Obama administration to paint this as simply an example of Keystone Kop-style bungling being corrected. But many things suggest the operation may have been done for political purposes, and not merely stupidity. The idea behind 'Operation Fast and Furious' was to let gun dealers sell weapons to cartel middlemen, who would then ship them to criminal gangs in Mexico, and damn the consequences. ... There was no effort to trace the weapons even after letting them get out. If the weapons weren't traced, why was this operation sanctioned? ... [Barack Obama ... wanted to reinstate an assault-weapon ban in 2008, but said he did not have the political capital to do it.] Bob Owens, writing for Pajamas Media, noted that the administration seemed to want to whip up a crisis requiring a crackdown on guns in the U.S. It gets worse. President Obama has long wanted gun-control-oriented ATF agent Andrew Traver to head the agency. Now, with Melson rumored to be ready to quit this week, he may get his way and benefit. There are real questions that must be answered about who knew about this, and when. An American lies murdered for what may be political aims. He has a right to justice -- as high up as it goes."--Investor's Business Daily (From Patriot Post Chronicle)

* 6/21/11--This week, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa held the first Congressional hearing about the Obama Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Operation Fast and Furious. An operation where the government was willingly putting semi-automatic weapons into the hands of killers, resulting in the deaths of two federal agents and countless innocents in Mexico. The hearing opened up a slew of questions and Issa is just getting started in gathering of information about the lethal project, however, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich couldn't answer one simple question: Who in Washington authorized Operation Fast and Furious? In his opening statement, Weich said that the Justice Department had complied and cooperated with the Oversight Committee, adding the DOJ had provided information requested through subpoenas from Issa in his investigation. The problem is, the Justice Department has not complied and has refused to give the Chairman any valuable information surrounding the case. Issa has said he believes Eric Holder knew about this operation and won’t stop until information requested is provided and justice is served. ATF Director Kenneth Melson is expected to resign over the scandal.--townhall.com

* 6/21/11--In recent years, the job of United States Senator has evidently been added to the list of ‘jobs that Americans won’t do.’ Harry Reid’s Senate has categorically shirked its core constitutional responsibility by refusing to pass a budget for over two years. Concurrently, the Senate has been preoccupied with feckless, unconstitutional legislation that fails to deal with any of the paramount public policy problems facing the nation. Today, Chuck Schumer, with the help of Mitch McConnell and Lamar Alexander, plans to vitiate one of the Senate’s few remaining constitutional duties; advising and consenting to presidential appointees. The Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act (S.679), which was never reported out of a committee, would eliminate the confirmation requirement for 200 presidential appointees. This bill would completely abrogate the safeguards against tyranny that were established in the “Appointments Clause” of the constitution. The bill has seven Republican co-sponsors: Lamar Alexander, Scott Brown, Susan Collins, Mike Johanns, Jon Kyl, Richard Lugar, and Mitch McConnell. One would think that without the inconvenient burden of dealing with the budget process, the Senate would have plenty of time to execute its ‘advise and consent’ duties. They are claiming that the confirmation process is too cumbersome and time-consuming, and as such, is precluding other more important legislation. The reality is just the opposite. Their abdication of their core responsibilities has left them with nothing other than executive confirmations on their plate. Senator Marco Rubio succinctly observes the priorities of the Senate in a piece for the Daily Caller today:

Meanwhile, in the five months I have been in the Senate, Democratic leaders have focused on a reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, a patent bill, a bill to increase spending on the Small Business Administration and a plan to increase spending on the Economic Development Administration, a relic of the Great Society that funnels debt-financed cash to states and localities (never mind that the president’s own Fiscal Commission recommended eliminating it entirely). The Senate has taken just 91 roll call votes, many on non-controversial nominations, and a third of our time has been spent in “quorum calls,” literally doing nothing. No one should be under any illusion about the desire of leaders in the Senate to confront our sagging economy and looming debt crisis. Now, they have the moxie to complain that the confirmation process is distracting them from more important legislation! Undoubtedly, there is a need to expedite the presidential appointee process. However, ceding more power to an administration that is overzealous to impose policy by administrative fiat, is not the way to go. Congress has slowly abjured its power to the executive branch by writing open-ended legislation, granting federal agencies wide latitude to promulgate destruction over our economy. Obama has already used radical executive appointees for the purpose of consolidating power in the executive branch. Why would any Republican sign on to such a dangerous expansion of executive power? Whom do they think Obama will appoint to these positions if there is no oversight? Here’s a novel idea for streamlining the confirmation process of presidential appointees: shrink the size of government so there will be no need for most of these jobs. It’s high time for Congress to halt its self-immolation, and reign in the executive department behemoth. The Senate is scheduled to hold the first cloture vote on S.679 later this evening or on Wednesday, following the expected failure on passage of the inane Economic Development Revitalization Act. Call your senators and ask them if they plan to outsource their jobs to Obama. Tell them to keep the presidential appointment process in the hands of the elected branch of government and vote no on S.679--redstate.com

* 6/22/11--(CNSNews.com) - The average monthly casualty rate for U.S. military forces serving in Afghanistan has increased 5-fold since President Barack Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009. 1,540 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Oct. 7, 2001, when U.S. forces began fighting in that country to oust the Taliban regime that had been harboring al Qaeda and to track down and capture or kill al Qaeda terrorists. During the Bush presidency, which ended on Jan. 20, 2009 with the inauguration of President Obama, U.S. troops were present in Afghanistan for 87.4 months and suffered 570 casualties—a rate of 6.5 deaths per month. During the Obama presidency, through today, U.S. troops have been present in Afghanistan for 29.1 months and have suffered 970 casualties—a rate of 33.3 deaths per month. This evening President Obama is expected to announce the scope of U.S. troop withdrawals set to begin next month. Of the 1,540 U.S. casualties in Afghanistan, according to CNSNews.com’s database of all casualties in the war, 1,340 have resulted from enemy action and the other 200 have resulted from non-combat accidents, illnesses and other non-combat causes. The 970 U.S. casualties that have occurred while President Obama has been commander in chief equal 63 percent--or almost two-thirds—of all U.S. casualties that have taken place in the nearly-ten-year-long war. 889 of the 970 U.S. casualties in Afghanistan that have occurred during the Obama presidency—or about 92 percent—have been combat-related casualties. During Obama’s presidency, U.S. troops have given their lives in the service of their country in Afghanistan at an average rate of more than one per day. CNSNews.com’s database of U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan is derived from official casualty reports issued by the Department of Defense (DOD) augmented by information taken from media accounts.

* 6/23/11--U.S. jobless claims increased 429,000 last week, exceeding the highest estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 47 economists.--bloomberg.com

* 6/28/11--A generic Republican candidate now holds a four-point lead over President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup. It's a fifth week in a row that the GOP candidate has been ahead and the widest gap between the candidates to date. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds a generic Republican candidate earns support from 46% of Likely U.S. Voters, while the president picks up 42% of the vote. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided. Last week, the Republican held a 45% to 43% advantage. In weekly surveys since the beginning of May, support for Obama has ranged from 42% to 45%, while the Republican has earned 43% to 46% of the vote. Rasmussen Reports will provide new data on this generic matchup each week until the field of prospective Republican nominees narrows to a few serious contenders. Republicans also hold a seven-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, June 26. Republicans have led on this ballot every week since June 2009.--rasmussenreports.com

* 6/28/11-- This week, a memo written by ICE Director John Morton and sent to all agents in charge, chief counsel, office directors and special agents, states ICE doesn't have enough resources to deal with illegal immigrants who happen to be students, and therefore, they should have less of a chance of deportation due to the criteria used when making decisions about who will be deported known as "prosecutorial discretion." The memo encourages agents to keep education status, mode of illegal entry into the United States and illegal alien connection to the military in mind before issuing a deportation, encouraging agents to give illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria more tolerance. Despite Congressional rejection, the DREAM Act has been enacted by a process of ICE agents deciding who should and should not be deported on a case-by-case basis rather than equally under the law.--townhall.com

* 6/28/11--President Obama and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton have, in effect, decreed their own version of the DREAM Act virtually bypassing Congress! Under expanded guidelines set in place Friday by an ICE "prosecutorial discretion" memo, agents are instructed to exercise discretion on a case-by-case basis to NOT enforce immigration laws if illegal immigrants committing minor crimes are enrolled in an education center or if there are ties to the US military. Reacting quickly to the memo, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is now crafting a bill that would halt the Obama administration's overreaching power to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. Smith said that under the new guidelines ICE agents could defer the deportations of "millions of deportable illegal and criminal immigrants" and said the legislation is necessary because, "The Obama administration cannot continue to pick and choose which laws it will enforce." Countering Rep. Smith's initiative, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is now calling for a Senate hearing on the DREAM Act. --Grassroots Action Alert
* 6/29/11--LONDON — Iran has carried out secret tests of missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload in breach of UN resolutions, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday. Hague's comments came a day after Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said they had fired 14 missiles in an exercise, one of them a medium-range weapon capable of striking Israel or US targets in the Gulf. In a statement to lawmakers, Hague said: "Iran has also been carrying out covert ballistic missile tests and rocket launches, including testing missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload in contravention of UN resolution 1929." He said Iran had also announced plans to triple its capacity to produce 20 percent enriched uranium, adding: "These are enrichment levels far greater than is needed for peaceful nuclear energy. "We will maintain and continue to increase pressure on Iran to negotiate an agreement on their nuclear programme," including sanctions, he said. On Tuesday US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Iran was "bragging" about its assets, but did not specify whether Washington thought the tested missiles were nuclear-capable. Iran's missile programme, which is under the control of the powerful Guards along with its space projects, has been a mounting source of concern in the West. Western governments fear Tehran is seeking to develop a ballistic capability to enable it to launch atomic warheads under cover of its civil nuclear programme. Tehran denies any such ambition. --AFP

* 6/30/11--On economic growth, real GDP has risen 0.8% over the 13 quarters since the recession began, compared to an average increase of 9.9% in past recoveries. From the beginning of the recession to April 2011, real personal income has grown just .9% compared to 9.4% for the same period in previous post 1960 recessions. The standard response from Obama apologists is that recession of 2008 and 2009 was different because, as former Clinton administration economist Robert Shapiro puts it, 'this was a financial crisis, and these take longer to recover from.' In fact, in most cases, the deeper the recession, the stronger the recovery to make up for lost ground." --columnist Stephen Moore(From Patriot Post Chronicle)