This blog is mainly about the spectacular train wreck at The Sacramento Bee and its parent company, the McClatchy Company. But I also post about current events, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, politics, anything else that grabs my attention. Take a look around this blog, hope you enjoy it.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Saturday December 19 -- Got news or an update?
If you have news or an update, leave it in comments. . . .
23 comments:
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Humiliating - Obama to meet 'offended' Chinese premier again in Copenhagen. He's begging now. (timesonline.co.uk)
Diplomatic sources confirmed there had been a major setback after China took huge offence at remarks by President Obama over the need to independently monitor every country carbon emissions.
In his speech President Obama said: "Without any accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page" - remarks the Chinese interpreted as an attempt to humiliate them, prompting Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to return to his hotel.
President Obama will now hold a second round of talks with Mr Wen in an attempt to patch up the disagreement.
Talk about bowing down, the chinese have him over a barrel now, they can demand what they like and probably get it.
Chinese Premiere blows-off Obama; Obama scrambles to meet with Chinese staffer (Fox)
Per Fox, Chinese giving Obama the bum's rush. Premiere leaves for home. WH desperately trying to find some Chinese official to meet with an angry Obama.
Obama says 'meaningful' deal reached on climate (WH & MSM Spin Is On) AP
President Barack Obama declared Friday a "meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough" had been reached among the U.S., China and three other countries on a global effort to curb climate change but said much work was still be needed to reach a legally binding treaty.
"It is going to be very hard, and it's going to take some time," he said at the conclusion of a 193-nation global warming summit. "We have come a long way, but we have much further to go."
The president said there was a "fundamental deadlock in perspectives" between big, industrially developed countries like the United States and poorer, though sometimes large, developing nations. Still he said this week's efforts "will help us begin to meet our responsibilities to leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner planet."
Venezuela's Chavez 'Still' Smells Sulfur After Obama Speech(Fox News )
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he "still" smelled sulfur after President Obama made a keynote speech at the Copenhagen climate conference Friday, accusing the American president of carrying same satanic Chavez believes followed Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush.
Chavez, who was not included on the original list of speakers for the final day of the summit, ended the proceedings with bitter references to the Peace Prize-winning Obama as the "Nobel Prize of War."
"The Nobel Prize of War just finished saying here that he is here to act. Well, show it sir. Don't leave by the back door," he said.
Three years after Chavez likened Bush to the devil during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the socialist strongman tore into Obama, claiming Friday that "it still smells like sulfur in the world."
No Big Deal: Obama Leaves Copenhagen With Little in Hand [Huge Failure "Not Legally Binding"!] National Review
The deal announced by the president may not yet be final.
According to Mother Jones' David Corn, Europe has not yet signed on, leaving the 130-strong bloc of developing nations fuming.
President Obama will leave Copenhagen before the details of the new climate accord are finalized, but his remarks to reporters made its central characteristics clear: the deal will not peg individual countries to specific emissions reductions, it will not feature a clearly-defined international verification mechanism, and it will not be legally binding.
The agreement allows each signatory country to determine the scope of its own emissions cuts and enter them into a ‘fill in the blank’ appendix. The voluntary commitments are then subject to what the president called “an international consultation and analysis” similar to what takes place when the World Trade Organization examines complaints of unfair trade practices.
“We can actually monitor a lot of what takes place through satellite imagery and so forth,” the president said of the scheme.
“I think we'll have a pretty good sense on what countries are doing.” But unlike the WTO, there would be no legal recourse against countries that run afoul of commitments.
Obama acknowledged that the summit fell short of his hopes, saying that the non-binding commitments “will not be by themselves sufficient to get to where we need to get by 2050.”
But a stronger document that would eventuate in an international treaty was, according to the president, “not possible” in Copenhagen.
Washington area prepares for biggest snowfall in six years (Greatest accumulation in 70 years) (The Washington Post)
A major storm was expected to bury the Washington region Saturday with what forecasters said could be the largest snowfall to hit the area in six years and the greatest December accumulation in more than 70 years.
(Time Mag's) Joe Klein Caught Making Things Up (Weekly Standard)
And of course, stories that Joe Klein makes up get recycled in Palestinian propaganda. Ben Smith reports:
U.S. and Israeli officials are dismissing an eyebrow-raising claim from a prominent Palestinian activist and official, Mustafa Barghouti, in today's International Herald Tribune.
"The Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, stands up and walks out on the U.S. envoy, George Mitchell, every time the American envoy mentions East Jerusalem," Barghouti wrote in an op-ed deploring "U.S. and European inaction" in the face of Israeli intransigence.
Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, through a spokesman, dismissed the claim as "nonsense."
"I have never heard such a thing," added the spokesman, Jonathan Peled.
A senior U.S. official who has attended meetings with Lieberman and Mitchell called the claim "absurd" and "patently untrue."
"Never happened," said the official.
Joe Klein had initially written that "The Israelis have been difficult, as always: whenever Mitchell raises East Jerusalem in talks with the Israeli Foreign Minister, the Israeli stands up and walks out of the room."
You know, it kind of reminds me of the time Joe Klein declared, in an item titled "Hamas Wants to Talk," that "the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is a triumph of diplomacy." That was in June.
Six months later Obama has no diplomatic triumphs to show for his first year in office, and Gilad Shalit is still wasting away in a Hamas dungeon somewhere in Gaza.
But Joe Klein keeps attacking the Israelis, and making things up.
No, really. Inbreeding within the Palestinian population has given rise to an excessive amount of children being born with a condition known as male pseudohermaphrodite syndrome.
It is a condition whereby a male is born, but because their genitalia are hidden they are initially categorized as females.
"If you want to go to the root of the problem, this problem runs in families in the genes." Abudaia says. "They want to get married to cousins... they don't go to another family. This is a problem."
Of course the perpetual refugees want some sort of outside financing to pay for the cost of performing the sex change operations that will be necessary to correct the problem caused by their inbreeding habits. Here's an idea. Get a life and marry and mate outside of your immediate family.
And don't kill your girlfriend/wife as revenge for some sort of slight on your honor.
To further show the enlightenment of the Islamic world and the Palestinians, having an ID card with the "correct" gender on it is of utmost importance.
Until the sex-change operation is completed, Palestinian officials won't change the gender on their identity cards to "male," thus restricting their access to higher education.
So just when is the GLBT liberal lobby finally going to quit siding with the Palestinians and moaning and groaning about the injustices they suffer at the hands of the Israelis and start actually raising concern about the horrible human rights records in the Islamic world.
The good news, I guess, in all of this is that it will set back these young men's jihad education and indoctrination.
New York Times Columnist Compares Health Care Filibuster Threat to Blackmail (David Horowitz's NewsRealblog)
Paul Krugman, op ed columnist for The New York Times, wrote today that while Senator Joe Lieberman should be hung in effigy and President Obama should be chastised for caving completely on the public option, the health care bill as it now stands in the Senate should still pass.
Unfortunately, none of us know what exactly is in that bill since Senator Harry Reid is playiing hide-and-seek with it.
Nevertheless, Krugman lists the usual bunch of supposed benefits of the legislation, forgetting to mention that we will all be facing higher taxes, mandates and charges for four years before anyone even sees whatever benefits may be in the offering.
Krugman argues that: Most of a loaf is better than none.
Not in this case. No loaf is better than the moldy bread that we are being served.
Krugman compares the filibuster threat to “blackmail.” He said that the compromises forced by Lieberman and other centrists is like “paying a ransom to hostage-takers.
Chris Matthews: What's Wrong With the Word Liberal...I'm a Liberal' (NewsBusters)
In case you still had any questions about the political leaning of Chris Matthews, he proudly admitted on the air Thursday, "I'm a liberal."
In fact, right from the start of Thursday's "Hardball," the MSNBC host defended liberals claiming, "Most of the elected, the vast majority of the elected liberals, want to go for the gold, grab what victory’s attainable and build on it in the future. You know where I stand."
By the end of the program, it was indeed indisputably obvious where Matthews stands when he actually said with cameras rolling:
You know how you know you are going to win if you pass anything [regarding healthcare reform]?
The Republicans will know they have lost...Let them keep score and it`s easy. It`s complicated when liberals get to keep score.
Minority Leader Fumes: No One Has Been Allowed to See Health Care Bill (LifeSiteNews)
As even more new language continues to pile up in Sen. Harry Reid's massive manager's amendment to the health care bill, which is being constructed behind closed doors, the leader of the Senate Republicans slammed the Democrats for planning to hold a vote on a bill no one has seen yet.
"Here's the most outrageous part: at the end of this rush, they want us to vote on a bill that no one outside the Majority Leader's conference room has even seen," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a release Thursday.
"That's right. The final bill we'll vote on isn't even the one we've had on the floor.
It's the deal Democrat leaders have been trying to work out in private."
McConnell questioned the Democrats' motives for continuing to rush "one of the most significant, far-reaching pieces of legislation in U.S. history" in an effort to have it passed by Christmas.
"This entire process is essentially a charade," he said.
"The only conceivable justification for rushing this bill is the overwhelming opposition of the American people.
Democrats know that the longer Americans see this bill the less they like it."
Change! Team Obama Threatens Rep. DeFazio- “Don’t Think We’re Not Keeping Score”(GatewayPundit)
More Hope and Change…Team Obama threatens vocal democrat; tells him, “Don’t think we’re not keeping score.”
The Hill reported: Rep. Peter DeFazio’s phone rang. On the other end was Rahm Emanuel.
The White House chief of staff last month expressed frustration with DeFazio’s resignation calls for President Barack Obama’s top two economic aides — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House chief economist Larry Summers — and appealed for cooperation, according to DeFazio.
But Emanuel, known for his blunt manner and ability to bend members of his party to his will, did not raise his voice with the Oregon Democrat.
“Rahm does not yell at me,” DeFazio said, “because he knows that I yell back.”
Others are learning that DeFazio, who has served in the House since 1987 and describes himself as a “progressive populist,” is not easily intimidated.
He has emerged in recent months as one of the most vocal liberal critics of the Obama administration, blasting the president’s team for not getting tough enough with Wall Street.
He’s also taken on his own party for failing to move left-leaning legislation through the Congress.
Personal calls from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and former Vice President Al Gore couldn’t persuade him to vote for the Speaker’s climate change bill.
He also opposed the $787 billion stimulus, citing concerns that only 7 percent was devoted to infrastructure spending.
DeFazio was one of only two Democrats to vote against those measures and the $700 billion bank bailout. (The other was Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) a Blue Dog conservative.)
Yet he’s also a pro-gun Democrat who has a B rating from the National Rifle Association.
“I would have less of a voice and I would have less respect if I voted for things I didn’t believe in because of pressure from the leadership,” DeFazio told The Hill in an interview.
Obama himself has taken notice.
“Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother,” Obama told DeFazio during a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, according to members afterward.
President Barack Obama grimly warned America this week that if his health care plans fail, the nation will go "bankrupt." Sure, adding another trillion-dollar entitlement program to our $12 trillion of debt may seem like a counterintuitive way to stave off economic ruin, but who are we to argue?
And as is the case with so many issues, Obama adorned his rhetoric with sharp warnings of calamity should he fail, fabricated consensus to buttress his case and a promise of rapture should he succeed.
You'll remember it was Obama who cautioned that failure to pass the stimulus boondoggle would "turn a crisis into a catastrophe."
He claimed that a failure to act on cap and trade will lead us to "irreversible catastrophe" and that a failure to pass a government-run health care system will mean "more Americans dying every day."
It's like living the Old Testament. Scary. Holy burning bushes!
Did you know that everyone -- and I mean everyone -- agrees with the president?
FoxNews.com Readers Slam Worthless Obama Copenhagen Trip
FoxNews.com has asked readers, "Is Obama's Trip to Copenhagen Worth It?"
Describing a global warming deal as one of Obama's "top priorities," Fox News has asked readers to share their thoughts as to whether Mr. Obama's trip to Copenhagen has been "worth it."
With nearly 45,000 readers responding so far, the results are astonishing, with a full 98% saying NO.
I've followed polls for a long time, and for 98% of 45,000 people to agree on anything is astounding.
Franken talks tough on the floor, runs from press outside (Washingtontimes.com)
Since I posted some audio of Senator Al Franken (D-MN) sending me to his press secretary recently, Mr. Franken has acted up quite a bit on the Senate floor in an unusual fashion for a freshman senator.
He had an intense exchange with Senator John Thune (R - S.D.), the number four Republican in the GOP leadership, on Monday after Mr. Franken introduced a motion for the health care bill to change an excise tax to surtax(video below).
(Government Motors) GM to discontinue Saab after deal talks collapse (Washington comPost)
NEW YORK -- General Motors Co. said Friday it will wind down Saab after talks to sell the brand to Dutch carmaker Spyker Cars collapsed.
GM said in a news release that issues arose during the sale talks that could not be resolved.
"Despite the best efforts of all involved, it has become very clear that the due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time," GM Europe President Nick Reilly said in a statement.
"In order to maintain operations, Saab needed a quick resolution." GM was scheduled to provide more details during a conference call with reporters Friday morning.
The Detroit automaker said it will continue to honor Saab customer warranties.
GM first sought a buyer for Saab in January as part of its restructuring, which included plans to downsize its brands to four from eight.
It was previously in talks to sell Saab to a consortium led by the Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg Group AB, but it turned to Spyker after Koenigsegg withdrew from the talks in November.
Speculation has since been rampant on the future of Saab. Earlier this week, GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre told reporters he had "a sense it's possible" that the sale to Spyker would go through, but conceded the brand would close by the end of the year if the talks fell apart.
Borders Books to lay off more than 1,000 in U.K. on Christmas Eve (via Twitter Breaking News) (Sky News (UK) Where will the commies get their books now?
More than 1,000 people are to lose their jobs on Christmas Eve as Borders book chain shuts up shop.
The firm has 45 Borders and Books Etc stores across the UK which will close on December 22, with staff finishing work two days later.
Borders went into administration at the end of last month and administrators MCR had been in talks with would-be buyers but was unable to agree a sale.
Sales at the chain declined this year after the firm came under pressure from internet competitors, notably Amazon.
MCR is still in talks with potential buyers for assets of the business such as store leases, although this will not save any jobs.
But MCR has assured staff that they will be paid for the days worked since the group fell into administration.
Nearly 40 head office staff at Borders have already lost their jobs since MCR was appointed, although the stores continued to trade.
The business has struggled with severe cashflow pressure this year and stock levels were also hit as several of the company's suppliers stopped or reduced its credit limits, while a number of credit insurers reduced their cover for the firm.
The chain opened in the UK in 1997 and was originally owned by the US book giant of the same name.
But the UK and Ireland arm was sold to buyout group Risk Capital Partners - headed by Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson - in 2007.
Risk Capital then sold the group back with financing from Valco Capital earlier this year.
President Obama’s athletic prowess is becoming a real advantage in office as he recently has taken the duck-and -run approach to the media.
Instead of defending himself in front of the open microphone, he is dispatching his cronies to defend his policy positions.
Our commander-in-chief isn’t living up to his campaign promise of presidential access and transparency.
Obama hasn’t held a formal press conference since July 22. At that event he infamously gaffed that Cambridge Police had acted stupidly when confronting Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at his home.
Since that time, Obama has avoided off-the-cuff question and answer sessions, preferring to rely on his teleprompter for scripted remarks.
On his recent trip to Asia, Obama limited questions at his joint press conferences to one each from a U.S. reporter and a foreign journalist. At his “joint press statement” with Chinese President Hu Jintao, no questions were allowed.
This is all shocking given the hyperbole that was spewed during the campaign from the media, who referred to Obama as the ‘Great Communicator.’
While the press were admiring Obama’s rhetorical skills, behind the scenes, handlers were scripting all events and carefully controlling the message.
Rather than running one of the most open and transparent administrations ever, team Obama is running one of the most disingenuous and scripted.
As White House Communications Director Anita Dunn boasted, “We controlled the media coverage of the campaign.”
Obama is running a charade. If he were genuine about what he is trying to accomplish, he would not be so afraid to face tough questions.
Obama fears that if he makes himself available to the press, he will make another blooper and be caught in his lies.
This past week, Obama again practised deception. After pointedly declaring in his speech to the joint session of Congress that “my plan will not include taxpayer funding of abortion,”
Obama lobbied Congress in support of abortion funding in the health reform bill. His administration has even lobbied against the pro-life amendments to these bills.
Obama’s spokesman Robert Gibbs argued that these health bills are not the president’s, therefore “his plan does not include taxpayer funding of abortion.”
This is a laughable explanation at best, and one that Obama clearly does not want to say himself.
Therefore he is avoiding a press conference like the plague.
The American people are catching on and it is one reason why his approval rating is down to 47 percent in the most recent Gallup poll.
snip
Obama even recently closed from the media a meeting with federal employees to discuss transparency and public information requests.
His underlings have also held high-profile negotiations with pharmaceutical companies behind closed doors, even though he promised during the campaign that he would televise meetings like these on CSPAN.
The Obama White House has become like a bad reality TV show. Obama is maintaining his appearance of celebrity and his face is everywhere, but at the same time he is refusing to answer tough questions from reporters.
Obama is just a performer dressed as President of the United States.
-Ex-newspaper union head faces charges- New York Post by Keith J. Kelly
The feds are closing in on a former newspaper union official who's been charged with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars during his final two years running a Communications Workers of America local with members at three New York City dailies. According to a complaint filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, Wayne Mitchell is accused of writing checks from union bank accounts to give himself an extra $250,000...
Reid bought his 60th vote for ObamaCare in the Senate. Another step forward for the conservative take-over in 2010. These clueless bozos are on the road to extinction.
No, but the memories of Stalin, Lennin, Mao, Pol Pot, Nicolae Ceauşescu and Fidel Castro just to name a few, do tend to stick around. If, of course, you tend not to think the murder of 10 million people was a good thing.
23 comments:
Humiliating - Obama to meet 'offended' Chinese premier again in Copenhagen. He's begging now. (timesonline.co.uk)
Diplomatic sources confirmed there had been a major setback after China took huge offence at remarks by President Obama over the need to independently monitor every country carbon emissions.
In his speech President Obama said: "Without any accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page" - remarks the Chinese interpreted as an attempt to humiliate them, prompting Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to return to his hotel.
President Obama will now hold a second round of talks with Mr Wen in an attempt to patch up the disagreement.
Talk about bowing down, the chinese have him over a barrel now, they can demand what they like and probably get it.
Chinese Premiere blows-off Obama; Obama scrambles to meet with Chinese staffer (Fox)
Per Fox, Chinese giving Obama the bum's rush. Premiere leaves for home. WH desperately trying to find some Chinese official to meet with an angry Obama.
Obama says 'meaningful' deal reached on climate (WH & MSM Spin Is On) AP
President Barack Obama declared Friday a "meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough" had been reached among the U.S., China and three other countries on a global effort to curb climate change but said much work was still be needed to reach a legally binding treaty.
"It is going to be very hard, and it's going to take some time," he said at the conclusion of a 193-nation global warming summit. "We have come a long way, but we have much further to go."
The president said there was a "fundamental deadlock in perspectives" between big, industrially developed countries like the United States and poorer, though sometimes large, developing nations. Still he said this week's efforts "will help us begin to meet our responsibilities to leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner planet."
Venezuela's Chavez 'Still' Smells Sulfur After Obama Speech(Fox News )
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he "still" smelled sulfur after President Obama made a keynote speech at the Copenhagen climate conference Friday, accusing the American president of carrying same satanic Chavez believes followed Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush.
Chavez, who was not included on the original list of speakers for the final day of the summit, ended the proceedings with bitter references to the Peace Prize-winning Obama as the "Nobel Prize of War."
"The Nobel Prize of War just finished saying here that he is here to act. Well, show it sir. Don't leave by the back door," he said.
Three years after Chavez likened Bush to the devil during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the socialist strongman tore into Obama, claiming Friday that "it still smells like sulfur in the world."
No Big Deal: Obama Leaves Copenhagen With Little in Hand [Huge Failure "Not Legally Binding"!] National Review
The deal announced by the president may not yet be final.
According to Mother Jones' David Corn, Europe has not yet signed on, leaving the 130-strong bloc of developing nations fuming.
President Obama will leave Copenhagen before the details of the new climate accord are finalized, but his remarks to reporters made its central characteristics clear: the deal will not peg individual countries to specific emissions reductions, it will not feature a clearly-defined international verification mechanism, and it will not be legally binding.
The agreement allows each signatory country to determine the scope of its own emissions cuts and enter them into a ‘fill in the blank’ appendix. The voluntary commitments are then subject to what the president called “an international consultation and analysis” similar to what takes place when the World Trade Organization examines complaints of unfair trade practices.
“We can actually monitor a lot of what takes place through satellite imagery and so forth,” the president said of the scheme.
“I think we'll have a pretty good sense on what countries are doing.” But unlike the WTO, there would be no legal recourse against countries that run afoul of commitments.
Obama acknowledged that the summit fell short of his hopes, saying that the non-binding commitments “will not be by themselves sufficient to get to where we need to get by 2050.”
But a stronger document that would eventuate in an international treaty was, according to the president, “not possible” in Copenhagen.
Washington area prepares for biggest snowfall in six years (Greatest accumulation in 70 years)
(The Washington Post)
A major storm was expected to bury the Washington region Saturday with what forecasters said could be the largest snowfall to hit the area in six years and the greatest December accumulation in more than 70 years.
(Time Mag's) Joe Klein Caught Making Things Up (Weekly Standard)
And of course, stories that Joe Klein makes up get recycled in Palestinian propaganda. Ben Smith reports:
U.S. and Israeli officials are dismissing an eyebrow-raising claim from a prominent Palestinian activist and official, Mustafa Barghouti, in today's International Herald Tribune.
"The Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, stands up and walks out on the U.S. envoy, George Mitchell, every time the American envoy mentions East Jerusalem," Barghouti wrote in an op-ed deploring "U.S. and European inaction" in the face of Israeli intransigence.
Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, through a spokesman, dismissed the claim as "nonsense."
"I have never heard such a thing," added the spokesman, Jonathan Peled.
A senior U.S. official who has attended meetings with Lieberman and Mitchell called the claim "absurd" and "patently untrue."
"Never happened," said the official.
Joe Klein had initially written that "The Israelis have been difficult, as always: whenever Mitchell raises East Jerusalem in talks with the Israeli Foreign Minister, the Israeli stands up and walks out of the room."
You know, it kind of reminds me of the time Joe Klein declared, in an item titled "Hamas Wants to Talk," that "the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is a triumph of diplomacy." That was in June.
Six months later Obama has no diplomatic triumphs to show for his first year in office, and Gilad Shalit is still wasting away in a Hamas dungeon somewhere in Gaza.
But Joe Klein keeps attacking the Israelis, and making things up.
Palestinians Suffer Effects of Inbreeding
No, really. Inbreeding within the Palestinian population has given rise to an excessive amount of children being born with a condition known as male pseudohermaphrodite syndrome.
It is a condition whereby a male is born, but because their genitalia are hidden they are initially categorized as females.
"If you want to go to the root of the problem, this problem runs in families in the genes." Abudaia says. "They want to get married to cousins... they don't go to another family. This is a problem."
Of course the perpetual refugees want some sort of outside financing to pay for the cost of performing the sex change operations that will be necessary to correct the problem caused by their inbreeding habits. Here's an idea. Get a life and marry and mate outside of your immediate family.
And don't kill your girlfriend/wife as revenge for some sort of slight on your honor.
To further show the enlightenment of the Islamic world and the Palestinians, having an ID card with the "correct" gender on it is of utmost importance.
Until the sex-change operation is completed, Palestinian officials won't change the gender on their identity cards to "male," thus restricting their access to higher education.
So just when is the GLBT liberal lobby finally going to quit siding with the Palestinians and moaning and groaning about the injustices they suffer at the hands of the Israelis and start actually raising concern about the horrible human rights records in the Islamic world.
The good news, I guess, in all of this is that it will set back these young men's jihad education and indoctrination.
New York Times Columnist Compares Health Care Filibuster Threat to Blackmail (David Horowitz's NewsRealblog)
Paul Krugman, op ed columnist for The New York Times, wrote today that while Senator Joe Lieberman should be hung in effigy and President Obama should be chastised for caving completely on the public option, the health care bill as it now stands in the Senate should still pass.
Unfortunately, none of us know what exactly is in that bill since Senator Harry Reid is playiing hide-and-seek with it.
Nevertheless, Krugman lists the usual bunch of supposed benefits of the legislation, forgetting to mention that we will all be facing higher taxes, mandates and charges for four years before anyone even sees whatever benefits may be in the offering.
Krugman argues that: Most of a loaf is better than none.
Not in this case. No loaf is better than the moldy bread that we are being served.
Krugman compares the filibuster threat to “blackmail.” He said that the compromises forced by Lieberman and other centrists is like “paying a ransom to hostage-takers.
Chris Matthews: What's Wrong With the Word Liberal...I'm a Liberal' (NewsBusters)
In case you still had any questions about the political leaning of Chris Matthews, he proudly admitted on the air Thursday, "I'm a liberal."
In fact, right from the start of Thursday's "Hardball," the MSNBC host defended liberals claiming, "Most of the elected, the vast majority of the elected liberals, want to go for the gold, grab what victory’s attainable and build on it in the future. You know where I stand."
By the end of the program, it was indeed indisputably obvious where Matthews stands when he actually said with cameras rolling:
You know how you know you are going to win if you pass anything [regarding healthcare reform]?
The Republicans will know they have lost...Let them keep score and it`s easy. It`s complicated when liberals get to keep score.
We’re always arguing. Well, I`m a liberal, too.
Minority Leader Fumes: No One Has Been Allowed to See Health Care Bill (LifeSiteNews)
As even more new language continues to pile up in Sen. Harry Reid's massive manager's amendment to the health care bill, which is being constructed behind closed doors, the leader of the Senate Republicans slammed the Democrats for planning to hold a vote on a bill no one has seen yet.
"Here's the most outrageous part: at the end of this rush, they want us to vote on a bill that no one outside the Majority Leader's conference room has even seen," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a release Thursday.
"That's right. The final bill we'll vote on isn't even the one we've had on the floor.
It's the deal Democrat leaders have been trying to work out in private."
McConnell questioned the Democrats' motives for continuing to rush "one of the most significant, far-reaching pieces of legislation in U.S. history" in an effort to have it passed by Christmas.
"This entire process is essentially a charade," he said.
"The only conceivable justification for rushing this bill is the overwhelming opposition of the American people.
Democrats know that the longer Americans see this bill the less they like it."
Change! Team Obama Threatens Rep. DeFazio- “Don’t Think We’re Not Keeping Score”(GatewayPundit)
More Hope and Change…Team Obama threatens vocal democrat; tells him, “Don’t think we’re not keeping score.”
The Hill reported: Rep. Peter DeFazio’s phone rang. On the other end was Rahm Emanuel.
The White House chief of staff last month expressed frustration with DeFazio’s resignation calls for President Barack Obama’s top two economic aides — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House chief economist Larry Summers — and appealed for cooperation, according to DeFazio.
But Emanuel, known for his blunt manner and ability to bend members of his party to his will, did not raise his voice with the Oregon Democrat.
“Rahm does not yell at me,” DeFazio said, “because he knows that I yell back.”
Others are learning that DeFazio, who has served in the House since 1987 and describes himself as a “progressive populist,” is not easily intimidated.
He has emerged in recent months as one of the most vocal liberal critics of the Obama administration, blasting the president’s team for not getting tough enough with Wall Street.
He’s also taken on his own party for failing to move left-leaning legislation through the Congress.
Personal calls from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and former Vice President Al Gore couldn’t persuade him to vote for the Speaker’s climate change bill.
He also opposed the $787 billion stimulus, citing concerns that only 7 percent was devoted to infrastructure spending.
DeFazio was one of only two Democrats to vote against those measures and the $700 billion bank bailout. (The other was Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) a Blue Dog conservative.)
Yet he’s also a pro-gun Democrat who has a B rating from the National Rifle Association.
“I would have less of a voice and I would have less respect if I voted for things I didn’t believe in because of pressure from the leadership,” DeFazio told The Hill in an interview.
Obama himself has taken notice.
“Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother,” Obama told DeFazio during a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, according to members afterward.
Obama's Imaginary Consensus (realclearpolitics.com)
President Barack Obama grimly warned America this week that if his health care plans fail, the nation will go "bankrupt." Sure, adding another trillion-dollar entitlement program to our $12 trillion of debt may seem like a counterintuitive way to stave off economic ruin, but who are we to argue?
And as is the case with so many issues, Obama adorned his rhetoric with sharp warnings of calamity should he fail, fabricated consensus to buttress his case and a promise of rapture should he succeed.
You'll remember it was Obama who cautioned that failure to pass the stimulus boondoggle would "turn a crisis into a catastrophe."
He claimed that a failure to act on cap and trade will lead us to "irreversible catastrophe" and that a failure to pass a government-run health care system will mean "more Americans dying every day."
It's like living the Old Testament. Scary. Holy burning bushes!
Did you know that everyone -- and I mean everyone -- agrees with the president?
FoxNews.com Readers Slam Worthless Obama Copenhagen Trip
FoxNews.com has asked readers, "Is Obama's Trip to Copenhagen Worth It?"
Describing a global warming deal as one of Obama's "top priorities," Fox News has asked readers to share their thoughts as to whether Mr. Obama's trip to Copenhagen has been "worth it."
With nearly 45,000 readers responding so far, the results are astonishing, with a full 98% saying NO.
I've followed polls for a long time, and for 98% of 45,000 people to agree on anything is astounding.
Franken talks tough on the floor, runs from press outside (Washingtontimes.com)
Since I posted some audio of Senator Al Franken (D-MN) sending me to his press secretary recently, Mr. Franken has acted up quite a bit on the Senate floor in an unusual fashion for a freshman senator.
He had an intense exchange with Senator John Thune (R - S.D.), the number four Republican in the GOP leadership, on Monday after Mr. Franken introduced a motion for the health care bill to change an excise tax to surtax(video below).
(Government Motors) GM to discontinue Saab after deal talks collapse (Washington comPost)
NEW YORK -- General Motors Co. said Friday it will wind down Saab after talks to sell the brand to Dutch carmaker Spyker Cars collapsed.
GM said in a news release that issues arose during the sale talks that could not be resolved.
"Despite the best efforts of all involved, it has become very clear that the due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time," GM Europe President Nick Reilly said in a statement.
"In order to maintain operations, Saab needed a quick resolution."
GM was scheduled to provide more details during a conference call with reporters Friday morning.
The Detroit automaker said it will continue to honor Saab customer warranties.
GM first sought a buyer for Saab in January as part of its restructuring, which included plans to downsize its brands to four from eight.
It was previously in talks to sell Saab to a consortium led by the Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg Group AB, but it turned to Spyker after Koenigsegg withdrew from the talks in November.
Speculation has since been rampant on the future of Saab. Earlier this week, GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre told reporters he had "a sense it's possible" that the sale to Spyker would go through, but conceded the brand would close by the end of the year if the talks fell apart.
Borders Books to lay off more than 1,000 in U.K. on Christmas Eve (via Twitter Breaking News) (Sky News (UK) Where will the commies get their books now?
More than 1,000 people are to lose their jobs on Christmas Eve as Borders book chain shuts up shop.
The firm has 45 Borders and Books Etc stores across the UK which will close on December 22, with staff finishing work two days later.
Borders went into administration at the end of last month and administrators MCR had been in talks with would-be buyers but was unable to agree a sale.
Sales at the chain declined this year after the firm came under pressure from internet competitors, notably Amazon.
MCR is still in talks with potential buyers for assets of the business such as store leases, although this will not save any jobs.
But MCR has assured staff that they will be paid for the days worked since the group fell into administration.
Nearly 40 head office staff at Borders have already lost their jobs since MCR was appointed, although the stores continued to trade.
The business has struggled with severe cashflow pressure this year and stock levels were also hit as several of the company's suppliers stopped or reduced its credit limits, while a number of credit insurers reduced their cover for the firm.
The chain opened in the UK in 1997 and was originally owned by the US book giant of the same name.
But the UK and Ireland arm was sold to buyout group Risk Capital Partners - headed by Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson - in 2007.
Risk Capital then sold the group back with financing from Valco Capital earlier this year.
Duck-and-Run Obama (Frontpagemagazine)
President Obama’s athletic prowess is becoming a real advantage in office as he recently has taken the duck-and -run approach to the media.
Instead of defending himself in front of the open microphone, he is dispatching his cronies to defend his policy positions.
Our commander-in-chief isn’t living up to his campaign promise of presidential access and transparency.
Obama hasn’t held a formal press conference since July 22. At that event he infamously gaffed that Cambridge Police had acted stupidly when confronting Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at his home.
Since that time, Obama has avoided off-the-cuff question and answer sessions, preferring to rely on his teleprompter for scripted remarks.
On his recent trip to Asia, Obama limited questions at his joint press conferences to one each from a U.S. reporter and a foreign journalist. At his “joint press statement” with Chinese President Hu Jintao, no questions were allowed.
This is all shocking given the hyperbole that was spewed during the campaign from the media, who referred to Obama as the ‘Great Communicator.’
While the press were admiring Obama’s rhetorical skills, behind the scenes, handlers were scripting all events and carefully controlling the message.
Rather than running one of the most open and transparent administrations ever, team Obama is running one of the most disingenuous and scripted.
As White House Communications Director Anita Dunn boasted, “We controlled the media coverage of the campaign.”
Obama is running a charade. If he were genuine about what he is trying to accomplish, he would not be so afraid to face tough questions.
Obama fears that if he makes himself available to the press, he will make another blooper and be caught in his lies.
This past week, Obama again practised deception. After pointedly declaring in his speech to the joint session of Congress that “my plan will not include taxpayer funding of abortion,”
Obama lobbied Congress in support of abortion funding in the health reform bill. His administration has even lobbied against the pro-life amendments to these bills.
Obama’s spokesman Robert Gibbs argued that these health bills are not the president’s, therefore “his plan does not include taxpayer funding of abortion.”
This is a laughable explanation at best, and one that Obama clearly does not want to say himself.
Therefore he is avoiding a press conference like the plague.
The American people are catching on and it is one reason why his approval rating is down to 47 percent in the most recent Gallup poll.
snip
Obama even recently closed from the media a meeting with federal employees to discuss transparency and public information requests.
His underlings have also held high-profile negotiations with pharmaceutical companies behind closed doors, even though he promised during the campaign that he would televise meetings like these on CSPAN.
The Obama White House has become like a bad reality TV show. Obama is maintaining his appearance of celebrity and his face is everywhere, but at the same time he is refusing to answer tough questions from reporters.
Obama is just a performer dressed as President of the United States.
-Ex-newspaper union head faces charges-
New York Post
by Keith J. Kelly
The feds are closing in on a former newspaper union official who's been charged with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars during his final two years running a Communications Workers of America local with members at three New York City dailies. According to a complaint filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, Wayne Mitchell is accused of writing checks from union bank accounts to give himself an extra $250,000...
Reid bought his 60th vote for ObamaCare in the Senate. Another step forward for the conservative take-over in 2010. These clueless bozos are on the road to extinction.
ACORN, not Al Qaeda is America's greatest enemy. We must destroy communism in America just like we did in Eastern Europe.
11:27: Ah, yes, a reminder that the days of Joe McCarthy and the John Birch Society live on in the memory of a few bitter old men.
No, but the memories of Stalin, Lennin, Mao, Pol Pot, Nicolae Ceauşescu and Fidel Castro just to name a few, do tend to stick around. If, of course, you tend not to think the murder of 10 million people was a good thing.
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