“We’ve had a visit from them in the middle of the night.”
House Democratic leaders have set up a healthcare “war room” to help their rank-and-file members navigate a tumultuous August in which they find themselves on the defensive on their signature issue. The effort is being run out of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) office, but is being manned around the clock by a rotation of leadership and key committee staff members, according to leadership aides.
“Obamacare” was launched in the wake of a long, persistent Greek Chorus of claims that 46 million Americans lacked health insurance, had to have it and only the federal government could “reform” the system to make it possible. The number of uninsured was climbing steadily, said Dr. Obama.
Corruption among our border “protectors” manifesting itself in “numbers never seen before.”
Corruption along the U.S.-Mexican border takes many forms. It can start as simply as a smuggler’s $50 gift to the child of a reluctant federal agent, quickly escalating to out-and-out bribes. “Everyone does it,” the agent, now in prison, recalls telling himself. Other times, county sheriffs greedily grab thousands from drug dealers. In a few instances, traffickers even place members in the applicant pool for sensitive border protection jobs.
Good read about Islam and left wingers.
I suspect that because George Bush and Condoleezza Rice were so respectful of Muslims, constantly telling us that theirs is a religion of peace, some otherwise sensible Americans actually began to believe it. Now we have a president who not only kowtows to a Saudi prince, but carries on as if Israeli homes are more threatening than Iranian nukes. What is wrong with our leaders? Are they worried that they won’t be invited to those cool Ramadan parties?
A motorist fleeing police ran a stop sign and crashed into a pickup truck in Tulare County southeast of Fresno, killing himself and two passengers, as well as four children who were ejected from the truck, authorities said today. The California Highway Patrol said no one in either vehicle appeared to have been wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision Saturday afternoon.
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Taliban now has upper hand in Afghanistan. Tell me again why we are there in the first place?
The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency’s spiritual home. Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that means U.S. casualties, already running at record levels, will remain high for months to come. [Where are the anti war clowns hiding? Where is Cindy Sheehan? MoveOn.org? Code Pink?…ed]
The Afghan war will last longer and cost more than Iraq according to military analysts.
As the Obama administration expands U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, military experts are warning that the United States is taking on security and political commitments that will last at least a decade and a cost that will probably eclipse that of the Iraq war. Since the invasion of Afghanistan eight years ago, the United States has spent $223 billion on war-related funding for that country, according to the Congressional Research Service. Aid expenditures, excluding the cost of combat operations, have grown exponentially, from $982 million in 2003 to $9.3 billion last year. The costs are almost certain to keep growing. The Obama administration is in the process of overhauling the U.S. approach to Afghanistan, putting its focus on long-term security, economic sustainability and development. That approach is also likely to require deployment of more American military personnel, at the very least to train additional Afghan security forces.
Of course he isn’t a friend of Israel. It’s all that Arab blood in him don’t ya know.
Right of Reply: Barack Obama is no friend of Israel. The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) recently criticized the Web site American Thinker in a Jerusalem Post op-ed entitled The chutzpah of Obama’s Jewish critics for having a “fictional understanding” of Barack Obama’s approach toward Israel. This kind of attack is typical of the NJDC which maintains a “see no evil, hear no evil” approach toward the president on this and every other issue. This willful blindness is both wrongheaded and a disservice to Jews who care about the fate of Israel.
Associated Press to distribute George Soros-funded ‘journalism’ free of charge.
The Associated Press is delivering to its subscribing 1,500 American newspapers content, it has emerged, penned by groups with financing from philanthropist George Soros and another far-leftist billionaire who not only campaigned for President Obama but also topped donor lists to groups like ACORN and MoveOn.org. The AP announced last month it will allow its subscribers to publish free of charge work by four nonprofit groups, the Center for Public Integrity, the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, the Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica. Controversial Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., a friend of President Obama who was embroiled in a recent national race scandal, sits on the board of ProPublica. The group defines itself as “an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.”
Bipartisan opposition is emerging in the Senate to a plan by House lawmakers to spend $550 million for additional passenger jets for senior government officials. The resistance to buying eight Gulfstream and Boeing planes comes as members of both chambers of Congress embark on the busiest month of the year for official overseas travel. The plan to upgrade the fleet of government jets, which was included in a broader defense-funding bill, has also sparked criticism from the Pentagon, which has said it doesn’t need half of the new jets.
Maybe this is why there is some pushback over these fancy pants jets?
When 10 members of Congress wanted to study climate change, they did more than just dip their toes into the subject: They went diving and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. They also rode a cable car through the Australian rain forest, visited a penguin rookery and flew to the South Pole. The 11-day trip — with six spouses traveling along as well — took place over New Year’s 2008. Details are only now coming to light as part of a Wall Street Journal analysis piecing together the specifics of the excursion.
74 year old woman feeds the bears. Literally.
Officials from the Colorado Division of Wildlife are assisting the Ouray County Sheriff’s Department in the investigation of the death of a 74-year-old woman who was found outside her Ouray home with portions of her body eaten by bears. Donna Munson had a long history of feeding bears from her home and shirked warnings not to feed them for more than 10 years, said Division of Wildlife officials.
A premature baby declared dead by doctors was found to be alive hours later when he was taken home for a funeral wake. The baby’s father, Jose Alvarenga, was told by doctors that his son had died shortly after birth.
“Do unto others” It’s a simple standard my mom taught me when I was a kid – yours probably taught it too. It isn’t always easy, but in business it’s a good guiding light if you don’t want your company to be evil. Recently there has been a rising crescendo of finger-pointing, shrieking, braying and teeth-gnashing about the future of the news. In the last couple of weeks there have been many comments on the AP’s proposals, Attributor’s proposals, Ian Shapira’s story and fair use.
Even while conceding that job losses are “horrendous” – 9.4 percent unemployment nationwide – a top Obama administration economic adviser said the $787-billion stimulus plan is working. “The program is working,” said Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. “Millions of unemployed workers have seen an extra $25 a week in their unemployment insurance checks [and] 95 percent of American households saw a tax cut in their paychecks starting April 1.” [How’s all that hope and change workin’ for you folks who just lost your $175 a month in food stamps because of the extra $100 in unemployment money?…ed]
Three of the top four books on the New York Times nonfiction hardcover bestseller list are by conservatives — and none have been reviewed by the Times. The fourth is Malcolm Gladwell’s ubiquitous “Outliers.” Michelle Malkin’s “Culture of Corruption,” the nation’s top-selling nonfiction hardcover book, debuted this week in the top spot, followed by “Liberty and Tyrranny” by Mark R. Levin. Gladwell’s book is third, followed by “Catastrophe,” a critical book about President Barack Obama’s health care agenda by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann.
Quote of the day.
The most tyrannical of governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts.
-Baruch Spinoza, 1677