Archive for July, 2009
-
For the second time this month, congressional budget analysts have dealt a blow to the Democrat's health reform efforts, this time by saying a plan touted by the White House as crucial to paying for the bill would actually save almost no money over 10 years.
A key House chairman and moderate House Democrats on Tuesday agreed to a White House-backed proposal that would give an outside panel the power to make cuts to government-financed health care programs. White House budget director Peter Orszag declared the plan "probably the most important piece that can be added" to the House's health care reform legislation.
But on Saturday, the Congressional Budget Office said the proposal to give an independent panel the power to keep Medicare spending in check would only save about $2 billion over 10 years- a drop in the bucket compared to the bill's $1 trillion price tag.
-
IN a speech delivered earlier this year, during Black History Month, Attorney General Eric Holder drew headlines by criticizing the tenor of public discourse on race. “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot,†Mr. Holder said, “in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.†The nation’s leading law enforcement officer — who happens also to be an African-American man — was widely criticized for making this provocative comment.
-
David Axelrod, one of President Obama’s most trusted political advisers, said Sunday that he does not spend time thinking about what Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin might do next.
“I can tell you with absolutely honesty,†Axelrod said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, “that when I sit around with my political friends . . . there’s very little or no discussion of Sarah Palin.â€
“And I really have no idea what Gov. Palin is going to do,†the Obama aide told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. “She’s entering private life now. We wish her well and it’s up to her to decide what role she’s going to play in the future. She’s got plenty of advice, I’m sure. She doesn’t need mine.â€
-
President Obama has become quite the golf fanatic since he began his presidency.
The commander in chief is out on the links again today, playing a round at Andrews Air Force Base. This is the 10th time in as many weeks that Obama has found time to squeeze in some golf (all weekends, except for one Monday.)
In fact, the White House press corps has come up with a nickname to refer to the President's golfing habits: "The First Duffer," as they refer to him in pool reports when he's hitting the links.
Today, Obama is playing with White House aides Ben Finkenbinder and Marvin Nicholson, as well as David Katz, the official photographer for his 2008 campaign.
In the past, Obama has played with U.S Trade Representative Ronk Kirk, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and personal aide Reggie Love, among others.
-
After watching their stimulus package fail to stimulate and an increasing number of Americans wondering whether President Barack Obama has the first clue on economics, Vice President Joe Biden steps back into the fray to rescue his partner. In a New York Times op-ed, Biden argues that voters have misunderstood Porkulus. It wasn’t intended to deliver a big “jolt†to the economy, Biden says — apparently forgetting what he himself said last month:
1 Comment »
Sarah Palin is out as Governor of Alaksa as she resigns today.
Sarah Palin stepped down Sunday as Alaska governor to write a book and build a right-of-center coalition, but she left her long-term political plans unclear and refused to address speculation she would seek a 2012 presidential bid.
In a fiery campaign-style speech, Palin said she was stepping down to take her political battles to a larger if unspecified stage and avoid an unproductive, lame duck status.
“With this decision, now, I will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right, and for truth. And I have never felt that you need a title to do that,” Palin said to raucous applause from about 5,000 people gathered at Pioneer Park in downtown Fairbanks.
Her first order of business as a private citizen is to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. She also wants to campaign for political candidates from coast to coast, and continue to speak her mind on the social networking site Twitter, one of her favorite venues to reach out to supporters.
Free speech was a theme of her farewell speech at a crowded picnic in Fairbanks, as the outgoing governor scolded “some seemingly hell bent on tearing down our nation” and warned Americans to “be wary of accepting government largess. It doesn’t come free.”
She also took aim at the media, saying her replacement, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, “has a very nice family too, so leave his kids alone!”
And she told the media: “How about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit makin’ things up?”
She didn’t elaborate, but Palin said when she announced her resignation July 3 that she was tired of the media focus on her family and felt she had been unfairly treated by reporters and bloggers.
First, will come a few speaking engagements and Sarah will work on her book.
Then,will come the campaigning for conservative Congressional candidates and the fundraising in a full court press towards a possible 2012 Presidential run.
Also, she will intensify her criticism of President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden
Stay tuned……
Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin
Tags: Sarah Palin
Comments Off
Day By Day by Chris Muir
Chris, ultimately CHOICE in health care decisions is what will sink Obamacare as we know it today. Americans do not want a government bureaucrat telling them what medicine to take or when they can obtain a necessary medical test or MRI.
Listening the Senate Democrats on the Sunday talk shows demonstrates how scared they are of removing CHOICE from the American people.
As far as taxing health care benefit plans, the White House and the Obama Administration in their flip flop may indeed be endangering Democrat control of the Congress in the next two election cycles. I can see the ads now, being led by John McCain and Sarah Palin saying that you beat us over the head about taxing health care benefits and you LIED – YOU were gong to do it all along.
++++++++++
Today is a travel day for me as I head back to Thousand Oaks from San Francisco. Blogging will resume in a more normal fashion by this evening.
Previous:
The Day By Day Archive
Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Obamacare, Barack Obama
1 Comment »
-
Having trouble saying the magic words, "I'm sorry"? Put the Sorry Times to work for you!
President Acting Stupidly can't quite bring himself to apologize to Sgt. Crowley and the Cambridge Police for saying they "acted stupidly", but fortunately he has the NY Times on his side to pretend he did.
Here is the Times story, which specifically notes the non-apology:
He did not apologize but softened his language. “I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station,†he said. “I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well.â€
-
Statement from Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
"It was very kind of the President to phone me today. Vernon Jordan is absolutely correct: my unfortunate experience will only have a larger meaning if we can all use this to diminish racial profiling and to enhance fairness and equity in the criminal justice system for poor people and for people of color.
And to that end, I look forward to studying the history of racial profiling in a new documentary for PBS. I told the President that my principal regret was that all of the attention paid to his deeply supportive remarks during his press conference had distracted attention from his health care initiative. I am pleased that he, too, is eager to use my experience as a teaching moment, and if meeting Sgt. [James] Crowley for a beer with the President will further that end, then I would be happy to oblige.
-
In 2005, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., known to all as "Skip," set up the nonprofit Inkwell Foundation, named after a famous beach/gathering place for African-Americans on Martha's Vineyard.
Public records indicate that the charity, domiciled in Gates's Cambridge home, has been dormant since its inception. Jill Butterworth, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office, says Inkwell has never filed the required, annual form PC, for public charities. "They are currently not in compliance," Butterworth said. "It's possible they are inactive or have dissolved. We are checking into it." Gates declined to comment.
-
Henry Louis Gates, Jr controls a tax-exempt, non-profit charity, Inkwell Foundation, Inc, that managed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct support in one year, yet only gave out $27,500 in grants, the bulk of which went to Gates' employees and Harvard colleagues. Also, as recently as September 2008, the Boston Globe reported that Gates' charity was not in compliance with the law for failing to register the proper paperwork, despite the charity existing since 2005. The charge at the time was that it was "bogus," as you'll see below. In fact, the state Attorney General's office told the Globe the charity was likely either inactive, or dissolved. Yet, documents below show the charity is healthy, wealthy and active.
Is it possible that Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was acting strange when law enforcement showed up at his door because he didn't want the story below to come out? It may take a tax lawyer to answer that question, but based on this research, it can't be ruled out.
1 Comment »
Day By Day by Chris Muir
Americans are certainly NOT going to buy Obama’s crawl back about the arrest of the Harvard African-American scholar. This is an issue in which the President of the United States has NO business meddling.
Obviously, Obama is receiving pressure from somebody because prolonging this flap is not in Obama’s best political interest.
Now, watch the Obama supporting media. The stories about Bush, Cheney, and Sarah Palin will accelerate as they try to bury this racial charged issue.
But, Obama has been harmed and will continue dropping in the polls – even as Obama arranges a “peace meeting” between the warring parties at the White House.
++++++++++
In blogging matters, Flap is in San Francisco for a Saturday wedding this afternoon. Blogging will be somehat lighter for the weekend but follow me on Twitter ———>
Previous:
The Day By Day Archive
Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Barack ObamaTags: Barack Obama, Day By Day
3 Comments »
-
A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.
Sgt. Leon Lashley says Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley says Gates' reaction to Crowley was "a little bit stranger than it should have been."
Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said supported Crowley "100 percent."
Gates has said he was the victim of racial profiling.
-
In an attempt to tamp down the escalating controversy over his comments on the Monday arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. by the Cambridge, Mass., Police Department, President Obama made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room and placed calls to both Gates and Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley, who arrested the Harvard professor.
Taking the briefing-room podium just hours after Cambridge police union officials called on Obama to apologize for saying the officers involved in the incident with Gates behaved "stupidly," Obama conceded that he erred in his "choice of words."
-
The police sergeant who arrested Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week in his own home may be considering a defamation lawsuit against Gates who has implied his arrest was racially motivated.
<p>Alan McDonald, who represents Sgt. James Crowley, said the veteran cop who teaches a <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/07/black-caucus-chair-obama-right-on-target-about-gates.html" target="external">racial profiling</a> class for rookie police officers has not ruled out filing a defamation of character or libel lawsuit.
</p><p>
"He is exploring all of his options,'' McDonald told ABC News.
</p><p>
Though charges were dropped, Gates has loudly asserted <a href="javascript:openPopup('http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8143760', 'popup', 1010, 700, 'status=1, resizable=1');">his arrest</a> was a result of racial profiling.
3 Comments »
Day By Day by Chris Muir
Even the Congressional Democrats are believing that Obmacare is a crap sandwich as they postpone voting out a bill before their August summer recess.
The Democrats can read the poll numbers and President Obama is sinking like a stone.
And, what is the preposterous statement that Obamacare will help the economy by REDUCING the federal deficit?
Come on now.
The Congressional Budget Office is skeptical and so is common sense.
As Flap has said all along, there may be some health care reforms but the major tenets of Obamacare will NOT be adopted. And, if they are, there will be a change in the partisan makeup of the Congress within four years and the next President (also in four years) will roll them back.
Obama’s plan is way too radical and redistributionist for the American people.
++++++++++
In blogging matters, Flap is heading to San Francisco for a Saturday wedding this morning. Blogging will be somehat lighter for the weekend but follow me on Twitter ———>
Previous:
The Day By Day Archive
Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Barack Obama, Obamacare
1 Comment »
|
Entries (RSS)