• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2009-07-30

    • India has plans to add about 100 warships to its navy over the next decade as it seeks to modernise its armed forces, and develop its low-cost shipbuilding capabilities.

      Captain Alok Bhatnagar, director of naval plans at India’s ministry of defence, said on Thursday that 32 warships and submarines were under construction in the country’s shipyards. Work on 75 more ships, including aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and amphibious vessels, would begin over 10 years.

      (tags: India)
    • The surge in British casualties in Afghanistan has left military surgeons so exhausted that a US surgical team has been drafted in to help.

      The British doctors have also been overwhelmed with casualties from other nations, including US Marines, Afghan troops and civilians.

      Extra British plastic surgeons have had to be sent to the field hospital at Camp Bastion in central Helmand along with additional X-ray technicians and specialist nurses.

      The Ministry of Defence revealed that 57 soldiers had been wounded in action in the first two weeks of this month, the worst casualty figure since British troops deployed to Helmand province in 2006. The previous highest toll of those injured, 46, was in June — but that was for the whole month. In the same two-week period, 15 soldiers were killed.

    • A House leadership deal with Blue Dogs and an aggressive marketing push by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) shifted the healthcare debate sharply toward centrist positions Wednesday, sparking threats of rebellion from the left.

      The day’s events left the Senate Finance Committee’s emergent bill as the most viable vehicle on Capitol Hill, but also made clear that House Democrats are still riven by bitter disagreements. Democrats postponed a floor vote until after the August recess, meeting a top demand of centrist Blue Dogs.

      (tags: Obamacare)
    • California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earns the worst approval numbers of his tenure, according to a new poll, becoming another governor whose ratings have been dragged down along with the battered economy.

      Today's poll from the Public Policy Institute of California shows just 28% of Californians give a thumbs-up to Schwarzenegger's job performance. Those are the lowest numbers for a Golden State governor since August 2003, when former Gov. Gray Davis was facing a recall election.

    • A smart Democrat points out the most alarming number, to his party, in the poll of Virginia voters Survey USA released today.

      It's not the top line, which has McDonnell up by 15 percentage points. It's what the pollster figures as the composition of the electorate: 52% McCain voters, 43% Obama voters.

      Obama carried Virginia with 51% of the vote, so the pollster's data suggests that — if voters are responding accurately to questions about their plans to vote in the governor's race — the electorate that Obama activated — young and African-American voters primarily — will sink back into passivity in the off years. Black voters were 20% of the electorate last November; they're 17% in that survey.

      There are two ways to read this: The poll's sample is off; or this is a danger sign for Democrats heading into the midterms,. If the latter, it may affect legislators' calculations about how closely to align themselves with the president.

    • A day after formally delaying a vote on a healthcare bill and having to accept a further weakening of a public option to compete with private insurers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lashed out at the health insurance industry and urged her members to do the same during the August recess.

      “They are the villains in this,” Pelosi said of private insurers. “They have been part of the problem in a major way. They are doing everything in their power to stop a public option from happening. And the public has to know that. They can disguise their arguments any way they want, but the fact is that they don’t want the competition.”

    • More than 90 percent of the nation's largest metropolitan areas saw their unemployment rates climb in June from the previous month.

      Some of the biggest increases hit college towns, where the annual summertime exodus of students causes bars, restaurants and other businesses to cut staff. The Detroit area, hit hard by manufacturing layoffs tied to the beleaguered auto industry, also got stung in June.

      Unemployment rates rose from May to June in 348 of more than 370 metro areas, according to an Associated Press analysis of Labor Department data released Wednesday.

    • The results of the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll are a major warning sign for Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress. On some key issues, the gains that Democrats had made on Republicans in the last couple of years have disappeared, and the GOP has begun to reassert itself. In other policy areas, traditional Democratic leads are diminishing.

      The results are found in the answers to the Journal's questions about whether respondents believe the Democratic or Republican party would do a better job of handling a particular issue. In the past, Democrats have usually led in areas like health care and education, while Republicans have led in issues like national security and taxes.

    • Because of President Obama's frantic approach, health care has run off the rails. For the sake of 47 million uninsured Americans, we need to get it back on track.
    • His eloquence is a big part of the reason that Barack Obama got to the Oval Office. There's always been a sense that his ability to explain things was tantamount to his ability to fix them. But the sheer complexity of health care has so far defied both his ability to explain and his power to fix. And in this case, the latter is an even greater challenge than the former.
      +++++++
      GAD – the MSM loves Obama as his policies sink America.
      Give it a rest time – 12 covers of Obama – WTF?
  • Barack Obama,  Obamacare

    Shocker: Federal Government to Suspend “Cash for Clunkers” Program

    ramireztoon073109
    Political Cartoon by Michael Ramirez

    The Obama Administration’s “Cash for Clunker’s” program is apparently running out of money.

    Congressional officials say the government plans to suspend the popular “cash for clunkers” program amid concerns it could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates for new car purchases.

    The Transportation Department called congressional offices late Thursday to alert them to the decision to halt the program, which offered owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

    The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

    Through late Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased through the program and nearly $96 million had been spent. But dealers raised concerns of large backlogs in the system, prompting the suspension.

    And, President Obama wants to have the government run the health care industry?

    What a joke…..


    Technorati Tags: , ,

  • Henry Gates

    ALE to the Chief: Obama’s Beer Summit

    Obama Beer-Summit

    Don’t Obama and Biden have anything MORE important to do?

    Like putting people back to work?

    But, Noooooo – Obama makes a stupid remark about cops being stupid about African American Harvard Professor Henry Skip Gates and it is beer summit time at the White House.

    ramireztoon072709

    Obama is indeed a rookie. And, an increasingly unpopular one at that.

    This one incident may just taint Obama’s entire Presidency.


    Technorati Tags: ,

  • Barack Obama,  Polling

    Obama’s Approval Sinks to Lowest Level of His Presidency – 51 Per Cent Disapprove

    obama_index_july_30_2009

    President Obama continues to sink in the polls.

    The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 28% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12. That’s the lowest rating yet recorded for President Obama.

    Overall, 48% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. That is the lowest level of total approval yet recorded for this President. Fifty-one percent (51%) now disapprove. A plurality of voters now believe the President views American society as unfair and discriminatory.

    Chickens are coming home to roost for Barack Obama as his honeymoon with the American people expires. Americans expect results and Obama has NOT performed. Speeches, teleprompters and tax and spend don’t cut it.

    Of course, neither have the Democrats in Congress who have huge majorities in the House and Senate.

    Winds of change are in the air.


    Technorati Tags: ,

  • Barack Obama,  Black Panthers,  Thomas Perrelli

    WTF? Who in the Obama Administration Let the Black Panthers Off?

    “Security Patrols” Stationed at polling places in Philadelphia

    You remember the FLAP, right?

    Well, this is now answered in this revealing piece in the Washington Times.

    Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the No. 3 official in the Obama Justice Department, was consulted and ultimately approved a decision in May to reverse course and drop a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party of intimidating voters in Philadelphia during November’s election, according to interviews.

    The department’s career lawyers in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division who pursued the complaint for five months had recommended that Justice seek sanctions against the party and three of its members after the government had already won a default judgment in federal court against the men.

    Front-line lawyers were in the final stages of completing that work when they were unexpectedly told by their superiors in late April to seek a delay after a meeting between political appointees and career supervisors, according to federal records and interviews.

    The delay was ordered by then-acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King after she discussed with Mr. Perrelli concerns about the case during one of their regular review meetings, according to the interviews.

    Ms. King, a career senior executive service official, had been named by President Obama in January to temporarily fill the vacant political position of assistant attorney general for civil rights while a permanent choice could be made.

    And, who is Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli?

    A Democrat Party HACK that raised over $500,000 for Obama. What a shock.

    Mr. Perrelli, a prominent private practice attorney, served previously as a counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno in the Clinton administration and was an Obama supporter who raised more than $500,000 for the Democrat candidate in the 2008 elections. He authorized a delay to give department officials more time to decide what to do, said officials familiar with the case but not authorized to discuss it publicly. He eventually approved the decision to drop charges against three of the four defendants, they said.

    There needs to be a Congressional investigation of this matter since the Justice Department has been stonewalling this issue. But, will the Democrat majority allow hearings on this racially charged flap?

    Stay tuned…..

    Previous:

    WTF? Obama Justice Department Political Appointees Overrule Career Lawyers in Black Panther Voter Intimidation Case


    Technorati Tags: ,

  • Day By Day,  Obamacare

    Day By Day by Chris Muir July 30, 2009 – Market Forces – Oh Yeah

    day by day 073009

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Chris, the markets are likely to recover since Obamacare is more than likely DEAD. Well, at least DEAD in its current form.

    My take is that the Congress will make some changes to make Obama’s health care reforms revenue neutral (with accounting tricks, assumptions and a few new taxes) and then discover in order to get the legislation passed……

    They will need to sweeten the deal with more PORK.

    Then, the entire reform package will come crashing down like a house of cards.

    The midterm Congressional elections may be sweet indeed for the GOP.

    Previous:

    The Day By Day Archive


    Technorati Tags: ,