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What’s Next for Health Care?

After a month long Congressional recess, the health care debate is returning to Washington D.C. With President Obama’s poll numbers slipping, along with the support for the Democrats’ health car proposal, health care reform is at a major crossroads. That is why Obama has been focusing a lot of energy into his top domestic priority, including addressing a joint session of Congress, the first since after 9/11.

Thus far in the reform process, Democrats have almost exclusively worked with other Democrats, ignoring the public’s call for bipartisanship on the issue. Liberal Democrats have refused to part with the so-called “public option”, while Republicans have entirely opposed such an option. Fiscally conservative Democrats, called Blue Dogs, have show some resistance to that detail, but it is unclear which way they would vote on a bill with it. While Congress agrees health care reform is needed, neither side seems willing to compromise anything. Continue reading What’s Next for Health Care?

Media Caught in Bold Faced Lie About Obama/Hitler Poster

Second Stimulus?

The economy continues to dwindle in these harsh economic times. Job losses have fallen in every month since January and the unemployment rate, 9.4%, is at a twenty-six year low. Based on these statistics, Congress has asked themselves if a second stimulus bill is needed. Let me give you a quick answer, NO!

Let’s go back to the first stimulus, named the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The enormous $787 billion bill failed according to President Barack Obama’s predictions. While campaigning for its vote, Obama stated that without this very important bill, the unemployment rate will rise to 9% in 2010. Conversely, he said, if this legislation is passed, unemployment will not exceed 8%. However, the stimulus bill has not succeeded in doing what President Obama thought it would do, as seen by the unemployment rate flirting with 10%.

With his approval ratings decreasing, Obama sent his Vice President to calm the storm in Ohio, where less than half the people approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as President. In a speech from Cincinnati, VP Biden pointed to teaching and law enforcement jobs being saved, because of the stimulus. For the record, there is no statistic that can accurately measure the number of jobs saved. (By the way, there is a statistic that says we’ve lost roughly two million jobs since the stimulus passed). Continue reading Second Stimulus?

Obama’s Broken Promises

Back before the election, President Obama made promises about what he would do as President. Since his Inauguration, the President has broken many of these pledges. Who could have seen this coming? Remember the promise of no lobbyists in the Obama Administration? He broke that, as seen in the list of lobbyists in top jobs.

Then there was the promise of no earmarks. When he addressed Congress in February after the “Stimulus Bill”, President Obama said that “we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks”. However, even Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was popping up behind the President with thunderous applause, received $30M for her district to protect a mouse. Then there was the budget to fund the government for the rest of the year. In it there were an estimated 9,000 earmarks, totaling more than $5B. Another promise broken.

Finally, there was the no tax increases for “families making less than $250,000”. Well, Mr. President. How do you explain supporting a tax on energy, health care benefits, and all items? If the White House supported American Clean Energy and Security Act passes the Senate (which will be difficult), President Obama will place an outrageous tax on all those who drive a car or flip on a light switch, which is to say, nearly every single American. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) estimates that this legislation would amount to be a $2 trillion tax increase to businesses and consumers. Continue reading Obama’s Broken Promises

Biden Makes Fun of Obama for Teleprompter Use; UPDATE: Video Added

In a classically Biden moment our Vice President ripped on our President for his famous reliance on teleprompters. Biden delivered his joke while speaking to new Air Force graduates. From Top of the Ticket:

not content to leave without a jaunty ad lib, Biden noted that heavy winds were gusting through the ceremonies. One of his two teleprompters had toppled over. Alluding to the jokes of Obama’s reliance on the speech-facilitators, Biden added, “What I am going to tell the president when I tell him his teleprompter is broken. What will he do then.”

Oh boy. Please let the man speak more often. Dream Scenario: Obama replaces Gibbs with Biden for Press Secretary… if only.

UPDATE: For your viewing pleasure

Obama: About That Assault Rifle Ban…

Yea. Not gonna happen:

President Obama, after meeting Thursday with Mexico’s president, signaled he is backing away from his pledge to renew the U.S. ban on assault weapons but still wishes to stop the cross-border flow of guns that wind up in the arsenals of drug cartels.

[…]

Obama said Thursday he preferred to focus on enforcing existing laws to keep assault weapons out of Mexico, rather than trying to renew the U.S. ban on the weapons.

“We are absolutely committed to working in partnership with Mexico to make sure we are dealing with this scourge on both sides of the border,” Obama said at a news conference with Calderon outlining their strategy.

Probably a smart move. I mean even Mexico’s President realizes that Americans don’t like when politicians try to screw with their God given rights:

“We know that it is a politically delicate topic because Americans truly cherish their constitutional rights,” Calderon said.

Regardless of the realities though, I highly doubt this signals an Obama administration shift into the pro second amendment camp. I think it’s obvious that this is merely an abandonment of an enviable policy point in favor of pursuing less controversial but perhaps equally gun grabbing initiatives.

This is certainly a victory for bitter clingers everywhere but it is by no means a signal to relax in the fight to preserve what is rightfully ours.

Turkish Police Thwart Obama Assassination Conspiracy

The Saudi daily Al Watan is reporting that Turkish police have arrested a Syrian man who had conspired with at least three other men to try and assassinate President Obama (h/t BNO News):

According to the report, the man, who was arrested on Friday, was carrying a press card identifying him as an employee of Al Jazeera. He reportedly confessed to his intention to stab Obama with a knife and said that he was aided by three accomplices.

The report stated that Turkish authorities were still unsure as to whether the press card was a fake or whether it had actually been issued the man by the Qatari news network.

Al-Jazeera’s Ankara bureau chief, Yussef al-Sharif, told the paper that news of the suspected assassination plot had come as an utter surprise to the network’s staff in Turkey, adding that all of Al-Jazeera’s employees in the country claimed that they were not acquainted with the suspect.

Let me be the first to congratulate the law enforcement involved in stopping this assassination attempt. And let me be the first to say that I hope this brush with the realities of the war on terror will help to convince our President that he needs to commit to the fight. I hope you now see, Mr. President, that the terrorists don’t want to be your friend. They want to kill you, literally.

Pandering to them wont make them like you. Talking with them wont make them civil. Surrendering to them wont make them stop.

UPDATE: Ace links the story. He thinks there isn’t much to the plot because they planned to use a knife but it’s the press passes that make me think otherwise. It seems to me that the press could, at least in theory, get within knife range of the President. Especially considering Obama’s desire to make middle eastern networks like him.

UPDATE: CBN News has a little more information on this story. Apparently the man was planning on carrying out his attack tomorrow but was arrested on Friday. However, President Obama may still be in danger because the man claims that if he was to fail in his attempt his three conspirators were supposed to carry out their own attack. I’m sure the President is safe but this is still unnerving.

I’d also like to thank Hot Air, Tommy Christopher at AOL News, Protein Wisdom, and Memeorandum for linking me on this story. The consensus seems to be that these guys were just a bunch of morons with a knife and a fake press pass. I’m not so sure but I’ll keep you updated.

UPDATE: Some more information over at Today’s Zaman (h/t Gateway Pundit). According to their report two people have been arrested, all the conspirators had press passes and they were planning on throwing a knife at President Obama(?):

Meanwhile, two Syrian nationals purported to be in preparations of an attack against President Obama were reportedly detained by the İstanbul police on Saturday. According to a story that was published in Sunday’s Habertürk daily, the Turkish police and the CIA unearthed a plan of four individuals using fake identity cards belonging to the Al Jazeera television station to follow the US president’s visit as journalists and kill Obama by throwing a knife at him during the president’s Alliance of Civilizations meeting at the Çırağan Palace scheduled for tonight. Three others were being sought by the police yesterday in İstanbul, where the police have been carrying out extensive security operations to make sure that the visit passes without a hitch.

If you read the report it outlines the very stringent security measures that should be reassuring. I still won’t be happy until they catch the other conspirators or the President leaves Turkey.

If Only Christopher Buckley Was Half as Intelligent as He Fancies Himself to be

And if only he was half as intelligent as his father.

Alas, he’s a moron.

(Photo courtesy of Steve Giralt)

After his shocking realization that just because someone is pompous enough to write two autobiographies before accomplishing anything significant with their life doesn’t mean they are presidential he re-affirmed his presidential pick (H/T Hot Air). But, of course, his reassurance does little more than insult John McCain and Sarah Palin as well as heaping a heavy load of absurdly naive hope on Barack Obama. I guess you can’t teach an old fool… well, anything:

I’ll cop to getting Obama wrong, though it seems a bit early to give up on him entirely; who knows, perhaps he’ll view this egregious budget misstep as a “teachable moment.”

or, in other words, Buckley still thinks Obama isn’t a hard core liberal ideologue…

Our choice, last fall, was between an angry 73 year old with a legislative record far from consistently conservative, who nominated as his running mate a know-nothing religious extremist; on the other side was an appealing, thoughtful man who–for a brief shining moment–seemed to be more than the sum of his ideological parts.

If I had to vote all over again, I’d pull the same lever. Maybe I’m obtuse. Or maybe I just haven’t yet entirely given up on the old audacity of hope.

Yea… I can’t stand this guy. Not in the least.

UPDATE: Hello everyone from Ace of Spades HQ. Make yourselves at home and try not to break anything…

Bitter Ex-Pastor: Obama ‘Ain’t Jesus’

Well, look whose popped back up in the news. Yup it’s mister God Damn America himself. Sounding perhaps a bit bitter and maybe even a little religion-clinging Rev. Wright had this to say on Thursday:

On Thursday, Wright was addressing more than 700 people at a mass meeting that kicked off the 44th anniversary celebration of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.

The event was held at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, site of the first mass meeting that led to the watershed voting rights movement in Selma.

During his address, Wright cautioned against putting too much faith in Obama.

“Barack’s name ain’t Jesus. Barack ain’t gonna improve your child’s reading score. There are things we’ve got to do on our own,” he said.

The odd thing is that his statement is actually relatively coherient. I suppose I am actually forced to agree with the nutbag for once… ewww that sends a cold shiver down my spine.

I guess that bus Obama threw him under must have knocked a very small amount of sense into him. or maybe it’s the taxes Obama wants to pub on his mansion that is changing Wright’s mind?

Pajamas Media No Longer Paying Any Attention to the Ads it Runs

So… now that we are in the last days of the Pajamas Media blog advertising network it seems they’ve completely given up screening the ads it runs on its affiliate’s sites. I say this because of these beauties that I found on none other than HotAir.com (click to enlarge):

Here it is closer up:

Here’s the ad this banner leads to:

Yea… somehow I don’t think that blatantly pro-Obama ads from the New York Times of all places are going to get good click-through rates. This makes me wonder if anybody at PJM is even bothering to look through the ads they’re running anymore. Though, I guess this isn’t the first time PJM has run ads that couldn’t possibly make them any money. In fact, I remember when there were some rather racy and offensive ads on Malkin’s site. She was able to get them removed but I’d say its a disgrace that PJM ever put them up to begin with.

So really this probably isn’t a symptom of imminent death since they never did manage their advertising very well. After all, they are killing their ad network shortly and will soon be dead all together, unless of course internet tv explodes in popularity soon (which is sooooo likely by the way). And while PJM might blame poor revenue on the collapse of their ad network it sure is hard to make money when more than half the ads you put up are for your own idiotic poorly produced pay-video network. But that’s just my opinion I guess…

P.S. What will the collapse of the premier revenue source for a large majority of the conservosphere mean to the movement? Can the movement really gain momentum online without an experienced core of bloggers? Or am I overrating the importance of bloggers?