Sunday, October 4, 2009

Sunday October 4 -- Got news or an update?

If you have news or an update, leave it in comments.
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39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Danish News: Obama's Arrogance Turned Off IOC (GatewayPundit)

Now we know why Chicago lost out--The IOC did not appreciate Obama's arrogance.

Don Surber posted the translation from the Danish website Berlingske:

“The fact that Barack Obama came, could not do it. I think he lacked emotion, it seemed too empty and business-like.

When Tony Blair promoted London he was around three days to lobby and talk to people. You can not just come with the train one day and try to affect everything. People have felt that it was a lack of respect for the Olympics and sport in general. I think people felt it was too business-like to get into the way we have now seen it many times, and you would have feelings back.”

Hans Bonde, professor of sport history at the University of Copenhagen, told the newspaper:

“Here come the media favorite Obama just before the deadline and made showoff. He clearly won the battle in the media, but it turned out indeed to be indifferent. IOC members did not feel important, and they were indeed

Danish News Ekstra Bladet agreed. Obama showed too much arrogance.

Ekstra Bladet accused Obama of disrespecting the IOC.
It took the former Danish IOC member Kai Holm less than one round of counting to determine that Chicago was the victim of his own disrespect.

Quite remarkably Holm could tell it, all others considered as an advantage in the Olympic optics was a disadvantage.

The world's mightiest man's visit was not an expression of humility and a desire to make the Olympic idea of American and global momentum.

No, it had instead said that Obama does not take the IOC and the Olympic ideals seriously. Having Understood: The American President should have spent more days to 'massage' IOC members' sense of self, so maybe Chicago had won instead.


Of course... This won't stop top McClatchy from blaming Bush for the major embarrassment.

Anonymous said...

Top 10 Reasons Chicago Didn't Get the Olympics
10. Dead people can't vote at IOC meetings

9. Obama distracted by 25 min meeting with Gen. McChrystal

8. Who cares if Obama couldn't talk the IOC into Chicago? He'll be able to talk Iran out of nukes.

7. The impediment is Israel still building settlements.

6 - No teleprompters at IOC presentations.

5. We've been quite clear and said all along that we didn't want the Olympics.

4. This isn't about the number of Olympics "lost", it's about the number of Olympics "saved" or "created".

3. Clearly not enough wise Latina judges on the committee

2. Because the IOC is racist.

1. It's George Bush's fault.

Anonymous said...

Why Did Obama Do It? FOXNews.com

While his trip is certainly within the province of presidential duty, it begs the question, why did he do it?

As the Brazilians celebrate, he looks foolish, not to mention weak to the world. If the president had been able to peddle his influence and bring the games to Illinois, he would have looked effective now, and not coincidentally, effective at the end of his second term (provided he wins one) when the games would take place.

...Talk about historic grandeur and a sure way to memorialize one’s legacy!

Anonymous said...

“...he looks foolish, not to mention weak to the world....”

North Korea, Iran, Iraq, the banking crookocracy, his corrupt cabinet, complete inability to speak without a prompter, never had a real idea, wife who’s never had a real job, ACORN.

But had Chicago got the Olympics, they would have changed the call for opening the games from:

"Let the games begin" to "Let the looting begin"!

Anonymous said...

Gray Lady: White House clueless on Olympic bid (Hot Air)

I must admit I was a little surprised to read this scathing account of cluelessness and incompetence in the effort to land the 2016 Olympics for Chicago in the New York Times...

until I realized it ran in the Sports section.

However, political reporters Jeff Zeleny and Peter Baker wrote it, and their inside look at the run-up and the reaction at the White House shows just how much this administration has bought its own press

Anonymous said...

Obama starpower takes hit over Olympic snub: (Agency France Press)

US newspapers offered various takes Saturday on Chicago's spectacular Olympic flameout, but when it came to President Barack Obama's last-minute lobbying bid, the message was loud and clear:

What was he thinking?

Obama joined his wife Michelle in Copenhagen Thursday just hours before the International Olympic Committee voted out Chicago in the first round, eventually awarding the Games to Rio de Janeiro in a landslide.

The White House was quick to downplay suggestions that the snub was a repudiation of Obama himself, and insisted the presidential dash to the Danish capital was "absolutely" the right decision, despite a host of problems crying out for attention back home.

Anonymous said...

Obama's Olympic Failure Highlights Limits of His International Appeal (Fox)

This wasn't supposed to happen to him.

It may have only been the Olympics but President Obama's high-profile failure to win the games for Chicago has raised serious questions about his perceived international star power.

The president's last-minute appeal for his home city to host the 2016 Summer Games fell flat when Chicago was knocked out in the first round. The top prize eventually went to Rio de Janeiro.
Now critics are asking:

If Obama can't sway Olympic officials, how can he wring concessions from Iran on its nuclear program, secure crucial support from allies to overhaul two wars or rebuild the U.S. image in the Middle East?

Anonymous said...

The Limits of Egomania (commentarymagazine.com)

Obama received a nasty rebuff and a stern reminder that the rest of the world doesn’t necessarily care what he thinks. Chicago is out of the Olympics bidding process–in the first round. Why did Obama invest so much personal capital and time for this?

Anonymous said...

The Noble 'Sacrifice' of Michelle Obama (CNS News)

It's hard out there for a first lady of the United States. Take it from travel-weary Michelle Obama.

On Tuesday night, she boarded a luxury 757 for Copenhagen. Think of the stairs she had to climb. Oh, the agony of the feet!

Upon arrival, Mrs. O, her "chit-chat buddy," Chicago-based talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, and Chicago powerbroker/interest-conflicted real estate mogul/senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett immediately embarked on a grueling, grip-and-grin campaign to secure the Olympics for their hometown. Our smile muscles ache in sympathy.

You will be comforted to know that the gracious FLOTUS feels your pain for her pain.

"As much of a sacrifice as people say this is for me or Oprah or the president to come for these few days," the first lady told a group of fellow Chicago 2016 boosters, "so many of you in this room have been working for years to bring this bid home."

Translation: Thank me, thank you, for all we do.

Never has self-congratulatory gratitude been raised to such an art form, but there was no time for loyal subjects to dwell.

The selflessly indefatigable Michelle Obama had to rush off for an 800-meter wine-and-cheese dash with International Olympic Committee members, followed by a rigorous aerobic Heads of State luncheon hosted by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and another high-heeled trek to the IOC Opening Ceremony at the Copenhagen Opera House.

Anonymous said...

Wins popularity contests, not much else (The Shrinking President)NY Post

President Obama is following the advice of that great philosopher Woody Allen, who once said that "eighty percent of success is showing up."

In health care legislation, foreign relations and, now, the Olympics, Obama believes his very presence is enough to bend the world to his whim.

But even Allen allowed for 20% of something else. I'm guessing good ideas and effort.

The decision by the International Olympic Committee must have particularly stung. On behalf of his hometown of Chicago, which had invested $50 million in its bid, Obama traveled halfway around the world to swoon IOC officials in Copenhagen.

With his wife, Michelle, in tow, Obama beseeched the scandal-ridden Olympic bureaucracy, the first time ever that an American president had met personally with the body.

Facing a 26-year-high unemployment rate of 9.8% here at home, the White House ought to have done some homework before sending the president off on one knee, putting not only his personal reputation on the line, but the prestige of his nation.

Anonymous said...

Come See the Blood in the Streets (More people murdered in Chicago than Soldiers killed in Iraq) American Thinker

In 2008 for example, America lost 314 fighting men and women in Iraq while 509 unfortunate citizens were murdered in Chicago.

The case this year of nine year old Chastity Turner is illustrative of a city in serious trouble. According to reporter Monica Land:

“In June, Chastity was visiting her grandmother on the city's South Side. While washing the family's dog outside with her father, a van pulled up and at least twenty shots rang out.

Chastity was shot in the back while running for cover. She was only nine years old. Two men, aged 17 and 19, have since been charged with her murder and police are searching for a third suspect.”

Anonymous said...

John and Elizabeth Edwards $53 Million Dollar Divorce (nationalenquirer.com)

Elizabeth Edwards has finally had enough - she's threatened to divorce her cheating husband John and claim her share of their $53 million fortune!

The ENQUIRER has learned Elizabeth dropped the divorce bombshell after learning a former campaign aide is claiming Rielle Hunter, the mother of Edwards' love child, isn't the only woman he seduced on the campaign trail!

Furious at his betrayals, Elizabeth - still battling Stage 4 breast cancer - has vowed to destroy her husband of 32 years by disclosing everything she knows about his political career in divorce court, insiders say.

"Elizabeth had always sworn she wouldn't divorce John. But every person has a breaking point, and Elizabeth's friends believe she's reached hers," an insider told The ENQUIRER.

Anonymous said...

Detroit: (Democrat sewer for 50 years) Too broke to bury their dead

DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) -- At 1300 E. Warren St., you can smell the plight of Detroit.

Inside the Wayne County morgue in midtown Detroit, 67 bodies are piled up, unclaimed, in the freezing temperatures. Neither the families nor the county can afford to bury the corpses. So they stack up inside the freezer.

Anonymous said...

Time Wants Digital Newsstand
Newsmax.com

Time Inc. is gathering U.S. magazine publishers to start a jointly run digital newsstand next year that would deliver their titles to mobile devices like increasingly popular electronic book readers.

TRANSLATION: Time Pamphlet (formerly "Magazine") is on to something here.

After all, why would anyone get news online for free, when they could PAY to have all the pro-America truths filtered out?

In fact, this is bigger than big. In fact, I can even propose a name... The New Eight Track!

Anonymous said...

Michael Moore's Latest Pro-Commie Flick Tanks At Box Office (GatewayPundit)

What a shame. After all of the state-run media publicity, Michael Moore's latest capitalism-bash tanked at the box office this weekend.

Big Hollywood reported this from Steve Mason:

The biggest disappointment of the weekend is Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story.

After a $57K per theatre average on 4 screens last weekend, the picture broke to a wider 962 locations with terrible results.

The “documentary” only sold an estimated $1.3M in tickets to start the weekend, and it will finish at about $3.9M for a PTA of less than $4,000.

That soft opening will almost certainly make Capitalism Moore’s weakest-grossing movie since 2002’s Bowling for Columbine ($21.5M domestic gross).

Anonymous said...

The case against Charlie Rangel: Forty years of tax evasion, misdeeds and contempt (NY Post)

On April 9, 1965, a 34-year-old lawyer named Charles Rangel took out a low-interest mortgage to renovate his childhood home — a row house on West 132nd Street that he had just inherited from his grandfather.

The $39,350 loan came from a New York City program to develop low-income housing. Rangel and his sister Frances were to use the money to turn the family home in Central Harlem, which Rangel affectionately called Buckingham Palace, into six apartments.

While Rangel may have thought he scored a sweetheart deal, the loan came back to haunt him during his first run for Congress in 1970. An opponent in the Democratic primary accused him of violating the conditions of the mortgage because he was living in one of the apartments that were supposed to be rented only to poor people

Anonymous said...

NYT Scrubs Passages Embarrassing to Obama PATTERICO

The umpteenth reason, give or take, that we don’t trust Big Media: these lines have been scrubbed from a New York Times article (h/t Hot Air):

And the prospect of winning was too irresistible. After all, Mr. Obama has already envisioned the day when he could welcome the world to his hometown, never mind that small matter of reelection.

“In 2016, I’ll be wrapping up my second term as president,” he told a rally in Chicago in June 2008.

“So I can’t think of a better way than to be marching into Washington Park … as president of the United States and announcing to the world: Let the Games begin!”

. . . .

“They shouldn’t try to make politics of this,” Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff and a Chicagoan himself, told ABC News. “I think they should take some pride in the U.S.’s win, and you know, we’ll make sure they get some good seats once Chicago does host the games.”

These passages — demonstrating as they do the glaringly unfounded arrogance of Obama’s administration — have been conveniently removed from view.

And you know in your bones that, were it Bush who had gloated so, we would hear nothing else from Big Media for a week.

They’re still living in the world of a decade ago . . . when they could have gotten away with it.

Anonymous said...

Not a Catholic Priest? Boston Globe Pretty Quiet on Child Rapist Polanski (Newsbusters)

When it comes to the awful abuse of children, it sure seems like the Boston Globe doesn't get too worked up unless the words Cardinal, bishop, or priest is in someone's job title.

Over seven years ago, beginning on January 6, 2002, the Boston Globe initiated a relentless, no-stone-unturned investigation into terrible abuse in the Catholic Church. By the time the calendar year 2002 ended, the Globe had published a mind-blowing 989 articles. (That's not a typo. Yes, the paper ran an average of over two-and-a-half articles a day on the scandal in a single year.

Yet this past week, the Globe's response to the apprehension of Roman Polanski has been a proverbial shrug.

No stinging editorials about the despicable abuse by Polanski. No blistering op-eds about the callous Hollywood celebrities who actually ran to the defense of the sick Polanski. The Globe has not even devoted any of their own columnists to the story.

Rather the paper has simply run a few news pieces from other newspapers.

Anonymous said...

President is AWOL as our commander(NY Post)

IF you still doubt Presi dent Obama is trying to do too many things and is giving short shrift to the most important ones, consider this pathetic scene at the Copenhagen airport. It was Friday, and the president went to Denmark to make his pitch for the Chicago Olympics.

Before Air Force One took off for home, Obama met with Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Our commander in Afghanistan was summoned from London and got 25 minutes of face time with the commander-in-chief.

That's it -- 25 minutes on the plane for the man Obama picked to lead 68,000 troops and rescue a war he calls one of "necessity." Compare that to the 14 hours or so Obama wasted flying and speaking about the Olympics, and you get a snapshot of a president off course.

Anonymous said...

From CNN: ‘Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh...
communism still can win’

Daily Inter Lake [Montana]
by Frank Miele

Reporter Carol Costello had a report on CNN's "American Morning" Friday asking whether the time was ripe for a third party in the United States. That's certainly an interesting topic, and one well worth featuring in a news report, but what was really interesting was that the third party Costello chose to feature was communism.

Anonymous said...

Early retirements mean it is
worse than 9.8% unemployment

Charleston Daily Mail [WVA]
by Don Surber

The stimulus backfired. It undermined confidence in the economy.And people are reacting. Not only are companies cutting back on employees, but workers are throwing in the towel. Rather than look for another job, they are retiring or filing for a disability. (Snip) Social Security officials had expected applications to increase from the growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement, but they didn’t expect the increase to be so large.”

Anonymous said...

Another unvetted czar must go! What is Zero thinking? Parents must keep the pressure on until this creep goes back into the gutter.
--
Obama's lewd schools czar
Washington Times, by Editorial

The Obama administration isn't adequately vetting important presidential appointees. When it was exposed that former "green jobs czar" Van Jones believed in crazy conspiracies about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it was questionable whether anyone had even bothered to Google individuals before they received presidential appointments.

**In that case, the White House strategy was to refuse to answer questions and hope interest faded away.**

Anonymous said...

Gee, It used to work, until that evil Glenn Beck smeared Van my man.

-the White House strategy was to refuse to answer questions and hope interest faded away.-

That approach worked for most of the media, which carried water for President Obama's scandal-plagued pick. Stonewalling scandal is not what Americans were expecting from an administration that promised to usher in an "unprecedented level of openness in government." Instead, a pattern of presidential obfuscation is developing.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/04/obamas-lewd-schools-czar/

Anonymous said...

Michigan is a lost cause state, any money given to a state overrun with environmental loons and socialist Democrats, is money down a rat hole.
However, allowing them to endanger our troops is beyond even the liberal’s lunacy, IMHO.
====
Fighting terrorists with pond scum and choo-choos
The Washington Times

Those are just two brainy ideas from your Congress

Sen. Carl Levin and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, both Michigan Democrats, are taking a fortune away from U.S. troops for "battery development," a "lithium iron phosphate battery system," "hydraulic hybrid vehicles for the tactical wheeled fleet," a "smart plug-in hybrid electric vehicle program," and a "vehicle fuel cell and hydrogen logistics program." Total cost: $26.5 million

Anonymous said...

Letterman is booking John Edwards as we read.
Bwhahahahaha

John Edwards – from golden
boy to national disgrace
Independent [UK], by Rupert Cornwell

Once upon a time (less than two years ago, to be exact) John Edwards was a narrowly defeated one-time candidate for the vice-presidency, who along with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was one of the "big three" Democratic contenders for the White House in 2008. Today, he is a pariah, shunned by those he used to count as friends, ruined beyond redemption by the scandal that will not die.

Anonymous said...

The revenge of Cerubim, AKA Liz Edward?
Apparently, Elizabeth Edwards has been commenting on the internet under the commenter name "Cherubim. There are lots of blog comments tearing Rielle Hunter limb from limb. At first Cherubim flamed Rielle, and wrote as if John-boy was a victim, but later her posts for Mr. Sleaze hardened into disgust. Liz has a ‘friend?’ who disclosed her online posting therapy, and said Liz researched Cherubim before adding it to her son’s gravestone, which is engraved with a boy in the arms of Cherubim.

Whatever floats your boat Liz, but the thought of a couple once cheered now being jeered, is deserved. John Edwards brought this upon himself. He loved Rielle Hunter more than Liz, his family, and his career, and that is how simple this sordid story is. The media blackout for Edwards is the real scandal. A tabloid had to bring the truth to the people. Selected news? It doesn’t play in Peoria any longer!

Anonymous said...

Me, me, me - Or bombing out in Denmark. Obama keeps stepping on his own shtick.
-----
The Obamas Violated
First Three Rules of Selling
American Thinker
by C. Edmund Wright
Of course Barack and Michelle Obama failed in Copenhagen. Their strategy could not possibly succeed. In their academic arrogance, they thought they could sell a product they clearly do not believe in (the United States) and moreover, they could do so by stressing the benefits to the seller (Chicago) and not the buyer (the IOC). And to top it off, they committed the faux pas of talking too much about the sales force (themselves) and…
Via: Lucianne.com

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:44 Great article!

Anonymous said...

Re: Me, me, me- The apologizer-in-chief talked down our country, and then says, BTW, I expect to be award the Olympics in Chicago; I need to fill-in the graft gap for Daley and the machine.

Anonymous said...

“The bottom line is this: this was an Obama epic fail period. They were the sales force, they were the focus of the sales presentation and they were the product. The Obamas were there to sell the Obamas with the Obamas. All Obama all the time. And the world said no thanks.”
@American Thinker

Anonymous said...

“a [newspaper] subsidy model is a temporary solution”
--
Google CEO: We have a moral responsibility to help solve the newspaper industry's problems
Search Engine Land

"The next question that the journalists who inevitably ask these questions say is, OK then why don't you just write us a large check?" says Eric Schmidt. "You're fundamentally better off building the new product that is profitable and growing -- again with the news, with magazines and so forth. It's better for everyone. [Because ultimately a subsidy model is a temporary solution. It's not a long-term solution."]
@Poynter Online

Anonymous said...

N&O staffers can make extra Christmas cash by selling subscriptions

Romenesko Memos
The News & Observer's circulation veep writes: "Each of you will be able to sell discounted orders and receive 50% commission on all orders paid by December 1. For example: sell one paid daily and Sunday order for one year at $100 (regular price $195) and your commission will be $50. Commission will be paid out on the December 11 paycheck - just in time for the holidays."

Anonymous said...

Moral responsibility to solve newspapers' problems? There is an excellent comment to the Google statement.
---
Google has no responsibility for newspapers' lack of vision
Posted by Bradley Fikes 10/3/2009
Excerpt:
“While their de facto monopoly lasted, newspapers did the rational economic thing in the short term: They cheapened content and raised ad rates as high as the market would bear. But Internet-enabled competition exposed the shoddiness of their products and provided alternatives to readers and advertisers. Their very success in the monopoly era made it easier for competitors to swoop in with new technology and undercut their prices.”
http://www.poynter.org/article_feedback/article_feedback_list.asp?user=&id=171161

Anonymous said...

Kevin Jennings should not be a safe schools czar! Glenn Beck, one or two newspapers, and the bloggers will have to bring him down. The old MSM exults such reprobates. As we watch Roman Polanski not being guilty of rape-rape, we have to push Barry to do the right thing. Just as Van Jones was relieved of his decision making position, so must Jennings go back to his seamy side of life, and be kept miles away from our children.
Mmm, mmm, mmm

Anonymous said...

The so-called transparency policy of the O’Barry regime is not forthcoming about Kevin Jennings.
----------
"For more than a 1 1/2 weeks now, The Washington Times has tried unsuccessfully to get the Obama administration to answer questions about the controversies surrounding Kevin Jennings, the president's "safe schools czar”

Anonymous said...

BREAKING: Eight U.S. troops die in attacks in Afghanistan
---
Where is the front page news release? Where are the Code Pink loons? Was that body count only important BEFORE the election? The corruption of the MSM is unbelievable. Only when the last of the biased media is dead and gone, will justice be served.

Anonymous said...

Video: ACORN Hired People "Still In Prison" Convicted of Identity Theft For Canvassing Voters

Gateway Pundit
Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller, a democrat, told Eric Shawn on FOX News that ACORN was hiring convicts still in prison -CONVICTED OF IDENTITY THEFT- for canvassing voters. Ross said that by executing a search warrant at ACORN headquarters in Nevada the authorities were able to substantiate charges and have a very solid case against ACORN. They believe they can prove that it's not just a few bad apples it went much higher up in the organization. Ross believes that ACORN and the regional director should be held accountable for the criminal activity that took place in the state.

Anonymous said...

Video: ACORN Hired People "Still In Prison" Convicted of Identity Theft For Canvassing Voters

Gateway Pundit
Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller, a democrat, told Eric Shawn on FOX News that ACORN was hiring convicts still in prison -CONVICTED OF IDENTITY THEFT- for canvassing voters. Ross said that by executing a search warrant at ACORN headquarters in Nevada the authorities were able to substantiate charges and have a very solid case against ACORN. They believe they can prove that it's not just a few bad apples it went much higher up in the organization. Ross believes that ACORN and the regional director should be held accountable for the criminal activity that took place in the state.

Anonymous said...

...Where is the front page news release?...

Well, the news was at the top of Page 1 in my newspaper today, you idiot, and probably many others.