Week in Review 02/06/10

Justice openly disagrees with Obama in speech

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito didn’t like hearing President Barack Obama publicly criticize the high court’s ruling removing corporate campaign spending limits — and he didn’t try to hide it.

Alito made a dismissive face, shook his head repeatedly and appeared to mouth the words “not true” or possibly “simply not true” when Obama assailed the decision Wednesday night in his State of the Union address.

The president had taken the unusual step of publicly scolding the high court, with some of its members in robes seated before him in the House. “With all due deference to the separation of powers,” he said, the court last week “reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections.” Read more.

Deal sought with failed Detroit attack suspect

Authorities are inching toward an agreement that would secure cooperation from the suspect in the failed Detroit airliner attack, according to two sources familiar with the case, even as fresh details emerged about the intense and chaotic response to the Christmas Day incident.

Seizing on the near miss, GOP lawmakers have mounted a sustained attack on President Obama and the Justice Department, saying they may have lost out on valuable intelligence by charging Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in a federal court rather than under the military justice system.

But new details complicate that narrative, suggesting that Abdulmutallab, 23, clammed up even before he was informed of his right to remain silent — a warning that could have come later had he been placed in military custody. He continued to speak to authorities before undergoing treatment for second- and third-degree burns below the waist that occurred during a bid to detonate explosives on Northwest Flight 253. Read more.

Ayla Brown – “The Star-Spangled Banner” with the Boston Pops

Watchdog: Bank Bailouts Created More Risk in System

The government’s bailout of financial institutions deemed “too big to fail” has created a risk that the United States could face a worse fiscal meltdown in the future, an independent watchdog assigned to review the program told Congress on Sunday.

The Troubled Assets Relief Program, known as TARP, has not addressed the problems that led to the last crisis and in some case those problems have festered and are a bigger threat than before, warned Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general at the Treasury Department.

“Even if TARP saved our financial system from driving off a cliff back in 2008, absent meaningful reform, we are still driving on the same winding mountain road, but this time in a faster car,” Barofsky wrote. Read more.

Obama’s Amnesty Footnote

t the very end of his State of the Union address, President Obama said, “we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system -– to secure our borders and enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation.”

Like most Americans, I agree with those broad principles, and that is exactly why Obama was so vague in his speech. His claim that “jobs must be our number one focus in 2010” would be exposed as a complete fraud if he promoted giving amnesty for illegal immigration and importing hundreds of thousands of additional legal foreign workers in the same address.

The situation is already bad enough as it is. At least twelve million illegal immigrants are in this country and eight million illegal aliens are in the American workforce. Additionally, our government issues 75,000 permanent work visas and 50,000 temporary work permits to foreign workers every single month. A recent census study found that one out of every six workers in this country is foreign born. Read more.

Burr’s war chest dwarfs Democrats’

RALEIGH — Republican Sen. Richard Burr, benefiting from incumbency and strong business ties, starts the year with at least a 13-1 money advantage over each of his prospective Democratic challengers.

Burr had $4.3 million in his campaign treasury at the end of the year, compared with $303,175 for former state Sen. Cal Cunningham, $211,113 for Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, and $116,456 for Chapel Hill attorney Ken Lewis, according to campaign disclosure reports filed Monday with the Federal Elections Commission.

“There are only two ways to keep score until Election Day,” said Gary Pearce, a veteran Democratic strategist. “One is money, and one is polls. Burr is in a strong position, no doubt about it.” Read more.

Gates Urges Congress to Approve $768 Billion Defense Budget

WASHINGTON (AP) – Defense Secretary Robert Gates is urging Congress to approve the Obama administration’s $768.2 billion Pentagon budget request, saying America needs “a broad portfolio of military capabilities.”

Gates joined Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in outlining fiscal 2011 budget proposals to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Gates said the United States must “prepare for a much broader range of security challenges on the horizon.”

He said a continuing threat of terrorism from “nonstate groups,” is among the challenges. And Gates added that such 21st century threats “transcend the familiar contingencies that dominated U.S. planning after the Cold War.” He said the proposed budget justifiably exempts defense from spending freezes President Obama is seeking for other government agencies and activities.

Inquiries Take Toll on Easley Team

RALEIGH — When a federal grand jury indicted former Gov. Mike Easley’s legal counsel Ruffin Poole Jan. 21, it was just the latest setback for an Easley associate since the state’s media began investigating the former governor’s activities.

Poole’s indictment came nearly four years after Carolina Journal first reported that Easley bought a waterfront lot for a bargain price in the Cannonsgate community on Bogue Sound in Carteret County.

The former gubernatorial legal counsel was charged with 51 counts of corruption related to his involvement with a group of politically active coastal developers behind Cannonsgate. Read more.

Intelligence officials say al-Qaeda will try to attack U.S. in next 6 months

The Obama administration’s top intelligence officials on Tuesday described it as “certain” that al-Qaeda or its allies will try to attack the United States in the next six months, and they called for new flexibility in how U.S. officials detain and question terrorist suspects.

The officials, testifying before the Senate intelligence committee, also warned of increased risk of cyber-attacks in the coming months, saying that the recent China-based hacking of Google’s computers was both a “wake-up call” and a forerunner to future strikes aimed at businesses or intended to cause economic disruption.

“Al-Qaeda maintains its intent to attack the homeland — preferably with a large-scale operation that would cause mass casualties, harm the U.S. economy or both,” Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told the committee in a hearing convened to assess threats against the country. Read more.

Obama Backs Down After Anti-Vegas Remarks

LAS VEGAS — President Barack Obama is known for having a way with words, but some lawmakers from Nevada wish he would pipe down about trips to Sin City.

After sparking a firestorm of criticism from Nevada’s elected officials for suggesting that people saving money for college shouldn’t blow it in Las Vegas, Obama told U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a letter that he wasn’t saying anything negative about Las Vegas.

It was the second time since taking office that Obama singled out Las Vegas as a potential example of spending excessively.

“I was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars, not college tuition money, to have fun,” Obama said, according to the letter released by Reid’s office. “There is no place better to have fun than Vegas, one of our country’s great destinations.” Read more.

Kissell Walks Tightrope on Health Care

RALEIGH — North Carolina Rep. Larry Kissell was one of three Tar Heel Democrats to break ranks with party leaders and vote against the House version of health care reform in November. Political observers say that vote could play a role in Kissell’s bid for re-election this year as he walks the fine line between pleasing Beltway Democrats and his constituents — many of whom are more conservative than his party’s leaders.

“[Kissell] took a position against his sitting president. It was pretty unpopular with the left,” said David McLennan, a political science professor at Peace College in Raleigh, in a telephone interview with Carolina Journal.

Kissell, who represents the state’s 8th Congressional District stretching from Charlotte to Fayetteville, joined 39 House Democrats in voting against the health care reform bill. It passed by five votes Nov. 7. Read More.

House faces tough vote on $1.9 trillion more debt

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a politically excruciating vote, House Democratic leaders are counting on new budget deficit curbs to help smooth the way for a bill allowing the government to go $1.9 trillion deeper into debt over the next year – or about $6,000 more for every U.S. resident.

The debt measure set for a House vote Thursday would raise the cap on federal borrowing to $14.3 trillion. That’s enough to keep Congress from having to vote again before the November elections on an issue that is feeding a sense among voters that the government is spending too much and putting future generations under a mountain of debt to do it.

Already, the accumulated debt amounts to $40,000 per person. And the debt is increasingly held by foreign nations such as China. Read more.

Newt Gingrich: Impeach judges – Crush and Replace the Left – 2012 “Victory or Death!”

ACORN’s Web of Connections in North Carolina

A Single Seed Grows Many Branches: ACORN’s Web of Connections in North Carolina

The Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) has woven itself into the fabric of the left in North Carolina. Listed below are short explanations of the ties between the groups.

Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN)

ACORN NC – ACORN’s North Carolina arm – has offices in Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte. ACORN NC is a member of Blueprint NC and partners with NC Housing Coalition, NC Policy Watch and the NC Justice Center, among others. Read more.

Depositions Could Pose Legal Peril for Easley Aides

RALEIGH — Several aides to former Gov. Mike Easley could be in legal jeopardy based on conflicting statements they gave in sworn depositions.

Former Press Secretary Renee Hoffman recalled separate orders from communications directors Cari Boyce and Sherri Johnson for public information officers to delete e-mails to and from Easley — who used a private e-mail account to conduct public business. Under oath, Boyce and Johnson denied such a blanket order was issued.

Raleigh attorney and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kieran Shanahan says these inconsistencies could pose problems. Read more.

Sen. Larry Shaw Becomes 7th Dem to Not Seek Re-Election for N.C. Senate

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Another veteran Democrat in the state Senate won't return after 2010 as Sen. Larry Shaw announced Thursday he won't seek an eighth two-year term. The decision means the Legislature will lose its only openly practicing Muslim.

Shaw, a Democrat from Cumberland County who also served a term in the House, brings to seven the number of Senate Democrats since last fall who have resigned or said they won't run for re-election. The candidate filing period begins Monday.

Shaw, 60, didn't give a specific reason for stepping aside, and he wasn't immediately available for comment Thursday, according to a person who answered the phone at his Fayetteville home. Shaw said in a news release he plans to keep working with the family business -- he's the owner of a food services company -- and "in the international faith communities." Read more.

Week in Review 01/16/10

Muslim Mafia: CAIR’s Ties to Terrorism

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, has long been accused of having ties to terrorists. Now the group may be facing its most serious charges yet.

Four Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina, are calling for a federal investigation into CAIR. At a press conference on Capitol Hill, they cited explosive new documents contained in a new book about CAIR called “Muslim Mafia.” View video.

Rules change as Congress’ veterans depart

WASHINGTON — Congress is breaking down under the pressures of a number of modern, rapidly changing political dynamics.
Among them: the rise of hyper-partisanship magnified by today’s Internet, talk radio and cable TV ideologues; the drawing of legislative district lines to maximize partisan purity and to avoid making lawmakers have to appeal to voters of all stripes; and the passing from the scene of legislative veterans who came of age politically in the pre-technology age and who were schooled in the art of compromise.
This week’s news that veteran Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., wouldn’t seek re-election added their names to a growing roster of old-timers who once made the Capitol tick. Read More.

Myrick talks terrorism in a series on YouTube

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick says the American people aren’t being told the truth about terrorism.

In the wake of a failed attack on a plane bound for Detroit in December, Myrick warns on two new videos that citizens haven’t been told that some people are willing to blow themselves up to hurt Americans, that jihadists exist who want to destroy western democracies, that extremists are being radicalized through the Internet.

Myrick, a Charlotte Republican, has launched an ongoing YouTube video series. In the first video, called “Beyond Terrorism: The Whole Story,” she warns that extremists may live in our midst, perhaps even in our government. View video.

GOP: Response to Reid remark shows double standard

WASHINGTON — Republicans on Sunday accused Democrats of a double standard by accepting Sen. Harry Reid’s apology for racial remarks about Barack Obama instead of demanding Reid’s ouster as majority leader.

In a private conversation reported in a new book, Reid described Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign as a “light-skinned” African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

Reid, D-Nev., apologized to Obama on Saturday, and the president issued a statement accepting the apology and saying the matter was closed. Read more.

Soles decides not to seek another term

TABOR CITY – For the past 42 years state Senator R.C. Soles (D-Pender, Columbus, Brunswick) has had a seat in Raleigh in the General Assembly but all that will change this year as the state’s longest serving member has decided not to seek another term.

Sen. Soles’ announcement came last week in a press release where he stated, “After careful consideration I have decided not to seek re-election to the Senate.”

For the past several months Sen. Soles, 72, has been under the investigation by the SBI in regards to the shooting of a former client at his home outside Tabor City in August, and allegations a few weeks earlier that he tried to molest a teenager 12 years earlier. Read more.

Stimulus money sent to phantom ZIP codes in North Carolina

RALEIGH — The federal government sent 2.5 million stimulus dollars to North Carolina ZIP codes that don’t exist.

The information came from the government’s own Web site — Recovery.gov. The site was set up to track the distribution of the $787 billion made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

It lists 479 North Carolina ZIP codes as the destination of $4.2 billion in grants, contracts, and loans. Four of those ZIP codes — 24858, 28389, 23854, and 27600 — are nowhere to be found on U.S. Postal Service maps. In the four ZIP codes, the Web site reports, the $2.5 million created 0.5 jobs all told. Read more.

N.C. Rep. Sandra Spaulding Hughes won’t seek re-election

N.C. Rep. Sandra Spaulding Hughes won’t seek re-election in House District 18 this year, she said in a news release.

Hughes, a retired teacher and consultant, cited “personal and family reasons” for deciding not to try to go back to Raleigh for another term. She said public service is an important part of her life and that she appreciates the support and trust of residents in the district, which includes parts of New Hanover and Pender counties. Read more.

N.J. to vote on bill to let illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition

(CNN) — Both houses of the New Jersey legislature plan to vote Monday on a controversial bill backed by Democrats that would qualify illegal immigrants for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.
Supporters hope to pass the measure before Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine leaves office. Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie, a Republican who takes office January 19, has said he opposes the bill.
On Thursday, a Senate vote on the legislation was postponed.
After hours of heated debate January 4, the bill passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee, 7-4, and the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, 8-6. Both votes were along party lines.
To qualify under the bill, New Jersey high school graduates who are illegal immigrants must be enrolled at a public university or college and file an affidavit with the institution stating that they have applied for legal immigration status or will do so when eligible. Read more.

Obama Team Has Too Many Vacancies, Report Says

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has filled key government jobs about as fast as the Bush administration, but too many top positions — about 40 percent — remain vacant nearly one year after Obama took office, says a report being released Wednesday.

While the study by the Partnership for Public Service praised Obama for a well-organized transition last year, it also knocked the president’s team and Congress for filling top posts too slowly. Among them: the Transportation Security Administration and the Customs and Border Protection agency — two agencies tasked with keeping terrorists off planes, a key area of failure in the attempted Christmas Day airliner attack. Read more.

Small Business Owners End 2009 Downbeat

The sentiment of U.S. small business owners stalled in December, hurt by weak sales and worries about government policies, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The National Federation of Independent Business said its small business optimism index fell for the second straight month, dropping 0.3 point to 88.0 in December.

“Continued weak sales and threatening domestic policies from Washington have left small business owners with little to be optimistic about in the coming year,” said the federation’s chief economist, William Dunkelberg, in a statement. Read more.

The Man Who’ll Kill “Obamacare?

(Weekly Standard) Ask a typical 50-year-old Republican running for office when and why he became a Republican, and you’ll likely hear a nostalgic story related to Ronald Reagan. Ask GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown, and he replies, “I’d really have to check that far back. I really don’t have the time, nor do I care” to do “all this self-analysis. “He says he’s “fiscally more in tune with the Republicans,”but hastens to add that “recently Republicans have kind of lost their way” on such matters.

Welcome to Massachusetts, where Democrats outnumber Republicans three to one and where state senator Brown, who’s making a bid for Ted Kennedy’s seat in the January 19 special election, would rather point out similarities between himself and JFK and sometimes even Barack Obama. Republicans and Tea Party activists are nonetheless flooding the phone banks and knocking on doors for Brown. “The pro-life movement is really excited,” says John Rowe of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. Yet Brown declares on his website that abortion is a decision that should be made by a “woman in consultation with her doctor, “i.e., he’s (moderately) pro-choice. Read more.

Time For A Change? Obama’s Mistakes Say So

I’ve been focusing on how President Obama’s radical ideology and programs are destroying America, as we know it. (“Wake Up Before Obama Destroys America” and “Obama and His Aides Dismantling U.S.” (Dec. 13 and Dec. 19, 2009, respectively) in The Bulletin). Recent developments, however, have suggested that America is not only in danger from Mr. Obama’s ideology and programs, but also from the sheer incompetence that Mr. Obama and his appointees have brought to the White House and that the Democratic Congress has brought to recent legislative misadventures. After the Christmas day terrorist attack, Mr. Obama and his Homeland Security Secretary demonstrated gross incompetence beyond belief and beyond imagination. This means America faces a deadly cocktail of gross incompetence combined with radical ideology, running contrary to American values and America. Read more.

Onine advertisers: Boucher putting Internet

infrastructure at risk

The online advertising industry’s top lobbyist blasted Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) for “misunderstanding” how interactive media work, saying his proposed bill to protect consumers’ online privacy is horribly misguided. Interactive Advertising Bureau president and CEO Randall Rothenbergsaid in an op-ed that such a bill will stunt the growth of the online media market and put 3.1 million jobs at risk. “Advertising is the engine of the consumer economy, and fundamentally the only way American shoppers can compare prices, discover products, and learn about new stores and sales in their neighborhood – and the sole way businesses can get this information to them,” Rothenberg wrote. “Yet the Congressman wants to legislate its elimination.” Read more.

Senator’s Company Receives a Slice of $25 Million Pie

Basnight Construction was awarded subcontracted work on part of the new $25 million Jennette’s Pier project currently under construction in Nags Head. The amount of money the construction company is being paid and the scope of work being performed are currently undisclosed.

President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight (D-Dare) was the leading advocate to push the multimillion dollar project through the General Assembly in 2009. Due to his efforts, House Bill 628, “Aquarium Satellite Areas Funding” was able to fly through the Legislature and receive unanimous approval from lawmakers. Later attempts to strip funding for the pier were blocked through procedural motions by House and Senate leadership. Read more.

Critics Question $705,000 For Art

View video.

Perdue Silent on Unfunded Medicaid Mandate

RALEIGH — In July, Gov. Bev Perdue said she would oppose a federal health care bill that placed additional financial burdens on the states. “We are all hungry for a solution,” she said, “but the absolute dealbreaker for me as governor is a federal plan that shifts costs to the states.” Six months later, Congress is finalizing a bill that would do just that by expanding Medicaid — the government health program for the poor. The federal government and the states share the costs of Medicaid, so any new obligation eventually would be borne, at least in part, by state taxpayers. And so far, Perdue has neither opposed the legislation nor stated any strong objections to the financial toll the bills being negotiated in Washington would take on North Carolina residents. Read more.

Democrats’ Rocky Mountain high takes a tumble in Colorado

Barack Obama claimed the party’s presidential nomination at a football stadium here, in a state where Democrats had won the governorship, both houses of the state Legislature, and were about to pick up both U.S. Senate seats.

Now President Obama and his party’s approval ratings in the West are lower than elsewhere in the country. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. abruptly announced last week that he would not seek reelection. The state’s junior senator is, like Ritter, trailing badly in the polls. Analysts think Democrats could even lose their majorities in the Legislature.

“To lose this state at this moment, almost across the board, is a pretty profound statement that that party is in deep trouble,” said Floyd Ciruli, a Denver-based independent pollster. Read more.

Brown Takes Lead Over Coakley in Massachusetts Race, Poll Shows

Republican candidate Scott Brown has taken the lead over Democrat Martha Coakley in the race for the Massachusetts Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy, the latest poll shows.

The Suffolk University/7News poll showed Brown leading Coakley by 4 percentage points. Brown had 50 percent, Coakley had 46 percent and independent candidate Joseph Kennedy, who is not related to the late senator, had 3 percent.

The race is still within the 4.4-point margin of error, but David Paleologos, the university’s political research center director, said in a statement that the survey shows Brown has “surged dramatically.” Read more.

NC state Sen Charlie Albertson won run this year, adding to list of Democratic departures

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Another long-serving Democrat in the North Carolina Senate isn’t seeking re-election this year.

Budget-writer Sen. Charlie Albertson said Friday he won’t seek another term so he can spend more time with his family.

The 78-year-old Duplin County Democrat said he’s tired after being in the Legislature for 22 years and wants to see if there’s something else out there that interests him. Read more.