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links for 2009-06-24
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While still good, President Barack Obama's political health is deteriorating, threatened by what he thought would be balm — his ambitious plan for a government takeover of health care.
Mr. Obama remains slightly more popular than most presidents have been in their opening months. But his job approval rating has drifted down to 60% in the RealClearPolitics.com average. His disapproval numbers have nearly doubled to 33%.
More troubling to Team Obama is the growing gap between the president's approval rating and declining support for major items on his policy agenda. Independents are increasingly joining Republicans in opposition to administration initiatives that range from reviving the economy to closing the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo.
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Protesters and riot police clashed in the streets around Iran's parliament Wednesday as hundreds of people converged on a Tehran square in defiance of government orders to halt demonstrations demanding a new presidential election, witnesses said.
Security forces appeared to vastly outnumber the demonstrators, and they beat protesters gathered on Baharestan Square with batons and fired tear gas canisters and rounds of ammunition into the air, witnesses told The Associated Press. They said some demonstrators fought back while others fled to another Tehran plaza, Sepah Square, about a mile (2 kilometers) to the north.
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Below are excerpts of e-mails, obtained by The State newspaper in December, between Gov. Mark Sanford's personal e-mail account and Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The State has removed the woman's full name and other personal details, including her address, e-mail address and children's names.
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Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax recently tightened standards for mortgages on new condominiums, saying they could threaten the viability of some developments and slow the housing-market recovery, the Wall Street Journal said.
In March, Fannie Mae (FNM.N)(FNM.P) said it would no longer guarantee mortgages on condos in buildings where fewer than 70 percent of the units have been sold, up from 51 percent, the paper said. Freddie Mac (FRE.P)(FRE.N) is due to implement similar policies next month, the paper said.
In a letter to the CEO's of both companies, Representatives Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Anthony Weiner warned that a 70 percent sales threshold "may be too onerous" and could lead condo buyers to shun new developments, according to the paper.
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In a live interview on CNBC today, Warren Buffett said there has been little progress over the past few months in the "economic war" being fought by the country. "We haven't got the economy moving yet," he told Becky Quick
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In his first daytime news conference yesterday, President Obama preempted "All My Children," "Days of Our Lives" and "The Young and the Restless." But the soap viewers shouldn't have been disappointed: The president had arranged some prepackaged entertainment for them.
After the obligatory first question from the Associated Press, Obama treated the overflowing White House briefing room to a surprise. "I know Nico Pitney is here from the Huffington Post," he announced.
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Thirty-nine percent (39%) of likely voters now expect their personal taxes to rise under the Obama administration, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
That's up three points over the past two weeks,up eight points since the inauguration, and the highest level of concern measured to date.
Still, 40% don’t expect their taxes to change under the new administration. Only 10% now say they expect their personal taxes to decrease under Obama.
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South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford: Don’t Cry for Me Argentina
Or, was that he was crying for five days in Argentina over his mistress? Good Grief……What was Sanford thinking?
In any case, Mark Sanford should immediately resign from office, man up, divorce his wife and move on.
What other options does he really have?
Technorati Tags: Mark Sanford
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North Korea Threatens to Wipe United States Off the Map
North Korean soldiers participate in the Pyongyang City People’s Rally, held to denounce the U.S – led U.N. punishment toward North Korea, at the Kim Il Sung Plaza in Pyongyang June 15, 2009
Sounds like WAR talk to me.North Korea threatened Wednesday to wipe the United States off the map as Washington and its allies watched for signs the regime will launch a series of missiles in the coming days.
Off China’s coast, a U.S. destroyer was tailing a North Korean ship suspected of transporting illicit weapons to Myanmar in what could be the first test of U.N. sanctions passed to punish the nation for an underground nuclear test last month.
The Kang Nam left the North Korean port of Nampo a week ago with the USS John S. McCain close behind. The ship, accused of transporting banned goods in the past, is believed bound for Myanmar, according to South Korean and U.S. officials.
The new U.N. Security Council resolution requires member states to seek permission to inspect suspicious cargo. North Korea has said it would consider interception a declaration of war and on Wednesday accused the U.S. of seeking to provoke another Korean War.
“If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will … wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.
The warning came on the eve of the 59th anniversary of the start of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in state of war.
Is the Obama Administration taking this treat seriously?
Or do they want to continue talking to Russia and China in the United Nations?
Technorati Tags: North Korea
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Day By Day by Chris Muir June 24, 2009 – Can’t Touch This
Day By Day by Chris MuirThe protests in Iran ARE legitimate but whether they will gather enough support to affect real change in Iran is anyone’s guess at this point. The Mulllahs who really run the country will not go away silently in the night. They will push back and use whatever means it takes to retain power.The Obama Administration has chosen “appeasement” and a negotiate at any cost strategy in dealing with the situation so far.
Prior to this month’s disputed presidential election in Iran, the Obama administration sent a letter to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for an improvement in relations, according to interviews and the leader himself.
Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed the letter toward the end of a lengthy sermon last week, in which he accused the United States of fomenting protests in his country in the aftermath of the disputed June 12 presidential election.
U.S. officials declined to discuss the letter on Tuesday, a day in which President Obama gave his strongest condemnation yet of the Iranian crackdown against protesters.
An Iranian with knowledge of the overture, however, told The Washington Times that the letter was sent between May 4 and May 10 and laid out the prospect of “cooperation in regional and bilateral relations” and a resolution of the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
Dramatically hardening the U.S. reaction to Iran’s disputed elections and bloody aftermath, President Barack Obama condemned the violence against protesters Tuesday and lent his strongest support yet to their accusations the hardline victory was a fraud.
Obama, who has been accused by some Republicans of being too timid in his response to events in Iran, declared himself “appalled and outraged” by the deaths and intimidation in Tehran’s streets — and scoffed at suggestions he was toughening his rhetoric in response to the criticism.
He suggested Iran’s leaders will face consequences if they continue “the threats, the beatings and imprisonments” against protesters. But he repeatedly declined to say what actions the U.S. might take, retaining — for now — the option of pursuing diplomatic engagement with Iran’s leaders over its suspected nuclear weapons program.
“We don’t know yet how this thing is going to play out,” the president said. “It is not too late for the Iranian government to recognize that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy and prosperity for the Iranian people. We hope they take it.”
Actions speaker louder than words, particularly with Obama who changes his positions every time the wind blows in a different direction.
So, stay tuned……..
And, with regards to the LEFT, Iran and the JEWS – cuckoo, cuckoo…….
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Technorati Tags: Iran, Barack Obama, Day By Day