Week in Review 7/2/10

God Bless This Great Nation

National debt soars to highest level since WWII

The federal debt will represent 62% of the nation’s economy by the end of this year, the highest percentage since just after World War II, according to a long-term budget outlook released today by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

For more detail on the report, check out this post in USA TODAY’s The Oval.

Republicans, who have been talking a lot about the debt in recent months, pounced on the report. “The driver of this debt is spending,” said New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. “Our existing debt will be worsened by the president’s new health care entitlement programs…as well as an explosion in existing health care and retirement entitlement spending as the Baby Boomers retire.” Read more.

Son of Hamas Founder Granted Asylum in U.S.

Mosab Hassan was more shocked than anyone when a Department of Homeland Security official announced in immigration court today that government officials had changed their mind about him.

Yesterday they saw him as a “threat to U.S. national security.” Today they say he’s welcome to stay in the United States and become a citizen.

Why the change of heart? DHS officials won’t say, but public pressure, Congressional support for Hassan and the word of an Israeli intelligence agent likely all played a part.

Mosab Hassan was born in the West Bank, the son of one of the leaders and founders of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group considered a terrorist organization by the US. Read more.

Burr-Chambliss bill diversifies energy, avoids cap and trade

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and a Republican colleague have introduced energy legislation they say would help the United States diversify its energy portfolio without the political hurdle of a cap-and-trade system.

The bill would provide a bevy of tax credits and taxpayer-financed support for nuclear plants, electric vehicles, natural gas vehicles and a variety of renewable energy sources.

Unlike the Senate’s better-known energy legislation, though, this bill contains nothing about global warming.

“It’s not a climate bill. It’s not a carbon bill,” Burr said in an interview. “But implemented, it would probably have a bigger impact on the reduction of emissions than the Kerry/Lieberman bill.” Read more.

EDITORIAL: Robbing Peter to pay Paul’s health care

Obamacare is a socialist law designed to take money from some Americans and use it to benefit others. The health care bill signed into law by President Obama is full of hidden time bombs. One costly provision buried in the lengthy reconciliation bill at the last minute has taxpayers covering long-term at-home care for the elderly. Through the so-called Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act (CLASS Act), Americans will find between $150 and $250 taken out of their paychecks each month to cover this program nobody knew about.

Democrats claim this isn’t a controversial program, but if they really believed that, they wouldn’t have had to sneak the provision into the reconciliation bill. But it was snuck in the reconciliation bill only two days before the House vote. Read more.

The Secret Agent Brouhaha

According to mainstream media and the FBI, a major Russian spy ring has been exposed and the members arrested. The suspects are believed to have buried stashes of money and exchanged secret messages in invisible ink, swapped bags in passing at a train station, and used Wi-Fi technology as they openly learned about U.S. policy and sought out confidential information. The tabloids were also given the priceless gift of a young, dashing Russian woman who would make the Bond girls of the movies green with envy. This story is simply bizarre, but it is also banal.

Again, Hollywood and memories of the Cold War have collided. However, it will most likely stop there. Until more information is released, it should be expected that both Russia and the United States will hope this story fades away quickly—both countries have more important things to work on together. Read more.

What did Hoover, Truman, and Eisenhower have in common?

Here is something that should be of great interest for you. Back during The Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover ordered the deportation of ALL illegal aliens in order to make jobs available to American citizens that desperately needed work..

Harry Truman deported over two million Illegal’s after WWII to create jobs for returning veterans.

And then again in 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower deported 13 million Mexican Nationals! The program was called ‘Operation Wetback’. It was done so WWII and Korean Veterans would have a better chance at jobs.

It took 2 Years, but they deported them!

Now…if they could deport the illegal’s back then – they could sure do it today. Read more.

Concerns Over Kagan’s Immigration Views Add to Debate Ahead of Hearing

House Republicans want the Senate to grill Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on her involvement in a federal challenge to an Arizona immigration law, adding a new layer of questioning into the mix with Kagan’s hearing set to begin Monday.

The immigration issue would be one of several concerns that have developed among Kagan’s critics in recent weeks. Though her nomination has been overshadowed in Washington by other issues ranging from the BP oil spill to the Afghanistan command shake-up, Republicans are looking to throw up hurdles next week to Kagan’s confirmation. She may not be the most controversial nominee, but she’s still got questions to answer and Republicans are not taking a filibuster off the table.

Fourteen Republican representatives on Thursday wrote to the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions, urging him to press Kagan on her role in the administration’s Supreme Court filing in May challenging a 2007 Arizona law. The law gives the state the right to suspend business licenses of employers hiring illegal immigrants. Read more.

Week in Review 04/03/10

Senate hopefuls attempt to set themselves apart

RALEIGH — The Democratic Senate primary took on a slightly sharper tone Wednesday night as the Senate hopefuls sought to draw clearer distinctions among themselves at a candidates forum.

Ken Lewis, the Chapel Hill lawyer who is portraying himself as the heir to the Obama coalition of two years ago, suggested he was the Democrat whose election in the primary May 4 would mark a significant change in the Senate.

“We can’t change a broken Senate by sending a career politician to Washington,” Lewis told about 175 people at a dinner sponsored by the Wake County Democratic Women. Read more.

Incumbents Beware: Term Limits Resurrected by Disaffected Voters

WASHINGTON — Politicians are staying in Congress longer and longer, but in an election year with a noticeably anti-incumbent mood, some Washington outsiders are challenging the idea of making a career out of public service.

“We need folks coming in from the outside who have paid taxes and created jobs and lived under the regulations that these career politicians have created,” said Jim Rutledge, a Republican attorney running to unseat Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who has 33 years in Congress between the House and Senate.

Rutledge is typical of the outsiders running this year, who know statistics are not in their favor.

Between 1789 and 2002, 13.9 percent of House members and 21.9 percent of senators served 12 years or more, according to the Congressional Research Service. Read more.

Obama plays recess with Senate Republicans

As he made final preparations for his trip to Afghanistan over the weekend, President Obama also took a long-expected poke at the Republicans with a slate of 15 recess appointments.

In announcing appointments, Obama said Republican senators are trying to score “political points” in holding up his nominations, and, “I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government.”

Senate Republicans said Obama’s actions will only make things more tense, after Democrats used a legislative budget process known as “reconciliation” to pass the health care bill. Read more.

Labor May Gain, Business Sends ‘Red Alert’ on Becker

March 29 (Bloomberg) — Efforts by labor unions to expand employee organizing may gain after President Barack Obama, rejecting objections from Republicans and business groups, appointed Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.

Obama announced plans on March 27 to name Becker, a lawyer and Democrat who represented the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, using executive powers to bypass confirmation by the Senate, which had blocked a vote this month.

Becker, opposed by groups led by the National Association of Manufacturers, will be named along with lawyer Mark Pearce, a Democrat, providing a quorum to clear a case backlog including disputes with casino owner MGM Mirage and auto-parts maker Dana Holding Corp. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce put business on “red alert” for “radical changes” while unions cheered the action. Read more.

With Every Intervention, Concerns Build Over Size of Federal Government

Health care. The auto industry. Real estate. Wall Street.

As the Obama administration increases regulation and pumps up taxpayer aid in these sectors and beyond, critics say the president is expanding the federal government to unprecedented levels.

Sure, protesters have been on the National Mall for months holding signs about bloated budgets. But it’s not just the Tea Party crowd that’s concerned. With every step, like the signing of the health care bill last Tuesday, the view that Obama is making historic shifts in the role of Washington becomes more widespread. Read more.

Obama blames the Tea Party

WakeUpAmerica.com responds to this immature allegation saying, “it is not only the Tea Party Movement that opposes his bullying tactics of pushing through his own agenda, but Americans at large. He just cannot come to grips with the fact that his agenda is very unpopular with an overwhelming majority of the American people.”

In the recent Rasmussen poll results released today shows Obama’s approval rating at a dismal 47%; and 54% of the American people most likely want the Healthcare Bill Repealed, compared to 42% say it is OK the way it is. Just two examples of America’s displeasure with Obama and his agenda.

In addition, President Obama has broken numerous campaign promises including transparency and bipartisanship. His actions clearly underscore the old cliche – ” it is his way or the highway.” Read more.

Sarkozy Reveals Rift in U.S.-European Relations

Did it really happen, right there in the East Room? Could such a question be asked just one year after a nearly rapturous Europe welcome to President Obama and his promised era of engagement and mutual cooperation? Could Obama’s word actually be a topic of debate among Europe’s top leaders?

It appears so.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was asked to elaborate on his Tuesday comments in New York that the world needs an America “that listens.”

Instead of explaining whether America listens, Sarkozy talked about what happens when Obama speaks — denying a problem no one asked about — and in so doing revealed a surprising rift in U.S.-European relations. Read more.

Rancher’s Murder Exposes Deadly Gaps in Border Policing, Tancredo Says

Former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, reacting to the murder of a well-known Arizona rancher by an assailant authorities believe was an illegal immigrant, said violence on the border has spiraled out of control and the federal government seems powerless to stop it.

Tancredo, who has called on the Obama administration to deploy the National Guard in response, told FoxNews.com Tuesday that the killing shows how bad the situation has become for Americans living north of the Mexican border.

“The violence on the border is … getting worse all the time,” he said. “This is just a horrible manifestation of it.” Read more.

Patient, Doctor, and Government – Who Decides?

How will the newly enacted health care legislation’s emphasis on comparative effectiveness research (CER) affect patient choice, and the future of America’s health?

Last week, Congress enacted a nearly $1 trillion health care program – claiming it would reduce the cost of care and even lower the deficit by more than $100 billion over the next decade. But how exactly will such a costly government program cut costs? Here’s one major way: by cutting your medical treatment options. And no, that’s not just conservative rhetoric. It’s a simple case of actions (and money) speak louder than words.

The aim of comparative effectiveness research (CER) is to measure the outcomes of different treatments and medications and decide which is most effective. The information is then passed along to doctors, patients and consumers. According to a CBO report, before 2007 CER consumed less than $15 million of the total government budget for research funding.In the past two years, however, the government has poured a tremendous amount of money into CER, allotting $1.1 billion in funding CER through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Read more.

Assessing Voter Partisanship: An Updated Model for North Carolina

In early 2008, the Civitas Institute premiered the North Carolina Partisan Index using data from the 2004 General Election. This year, we have updated the NCPI to reflect voters’ choices in the 2008 General Election.

Modeled after the Cook Partisan Voting Index developed for congressional districts, the North Carolina Partisan Index compares the political leanings of voters in each state house and senate district with the partisan voting tendencies of the state as a whole. The end result is a letter (D or R) followed by a number, indicating the extent to which each district leans one way or the other.

The new NCPI was developed using adjusted 2008 data on the elections for Governor and other council of state offices – Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Commissioners of Agriculture, Labor, and Insurance, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, and Superintendent of Public Instruction. Read more.

Boxer Facing Toughest Re-Election Battle of Her Career

Ever since she was elected to the U.S. Senate 18 years ago, Barbara Boxer has faced little competition in winning another term. But this year, it won’t be that easy.

Polls indicate that the California Democrat may be about to meet her match – who will be determined in a June primary. According to one poll, Boxer is neck and neck with all three of the Republicans who hope to run against her in the general election: former Rep. Tom Campbell, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

In the latest Rasmussen Reports from last month, Boxer led Campbell 43 to 41 percent and was beating Fiorina and DeVore 46 to 40 percent.

“She’s in for tough sledding and she’s got lots of prominent Republicans ready to go after her,” political analyst Juan Williams told Fox News. “So what I sense there is that she knows the economy in California and especially the budget, government budget, state budgets have been a huge issue and there’s a lot of discontent, particularly with her.” Read more.

Feds Approving Bogus Products as ‘Energy-Efficient,’ Investigation Finds

The federal government has been slapping “energy-efficient” ratings on products that don’t even exist — including a bogus space heater with a duster stuck to it and an alarm clock supposedly powered by gasoline.

These fake products were submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy for approval as part of an undercover investigation by the Government Accountability Office.

The office wanted to see how easily the feds could be duped, since the Energy Star program used to identify products as energy savers serves as a guide to businesses looking for such modern marvels and the basis for millions of dollars in incentivizing tax credits — including $300 million from the stimulus. Read more.

Week in Review 3/6/10

You Can Call Him Al … But Al Won’t Call You Back

Al Gore won a Nobel Prize and an Oscar for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. But in the last three months, as global warming has gone from a scientific near-certitude to the subject of satire, Gore — the public face of global warming — has been silent on the topic.

The former vice president apparently finds it inconvenient even to answer calls to testify before the U.S. Senate. You can call him Al . . . but he won’t call back.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe — a prominent skeptic of global warming theory and the Republican leader of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee — issued a request for Gore to come testify on global warming. In an interview with FoxNews.com, Inhofe said he wants Gore to appear because “it will be interesting to ask him on what science he based his movie,” a film the senator considers “science fiction.” Read more.

GOP touts throng of candidates

RALEIGH — North Carolina Republicans have entered races for congressional and legislative seats in big numbers, apparently spurred by recent GOP successes and the grass-roots activism of the Tea Party movement.

When the three-week period for candidates filing for 2010 ended at noon Friday, Republicans were boasting of having set modern records for fielding candidates against nearly every Democratic lawmaker in Raleigh or Washington.

Republican candidates will run in all 50 state Senate districts in North Carolina. “I think that is the first time that has ever happened,” said Senate Republican leader Phil Berger of Eden. “People sense an opportunity.” Read more.

Pelosi Not Prepared to Strip Rangel of Chairmanship After Ethics Violation

Rep. Charlie Rangel’s admonishment by the House ethics panel does not disqualify him from leading the chamber’s influential tax-writing committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday, even as she acknowledged the conflict doesn’t pass the smell test.

“No, it doesn’t. No, it doesn’t,” Pelosi said. “The fact is, is that what Mr. Rangel has been admonished for is not good. It was a violation of the rules of the House. It was not something that jeopardized our country in any way.”

The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, better known as the ethics committee, admonished Rangel last week for taking corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean, which are a violation of House rules. Read more.

Supreme Court scrutinizes state, local gun control

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gun control advocates think, if not pray, they can win by losing when the Supreme Court decides whether the constitutional right to possess guns serves as a check on state and local regulation of firearms.

The justices will be deciding whether the Second Amendment — like much of the rest of the Bill of Rights — applies to states as well as the federal government. It’s widely believed they will say it does.

But even if the court strikes down handgun bans in Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, Ill., that are at issue in the argument to be heard Tuesday, it could signal that less severe rules or limits on guns are permissible. Read more.

Why Obama is Good for America

You read that right. Now here is why:

He destroyed the Clinton Political Machine – Driving a stake thru the heart of Hillary’s Presidential aspirations – something no Republican was ever able to do.

He killed off the Kennedy Dynasty – The Kennedy’s say no to Obama rule. Read more.

Rangel stepping down from tax-writing chairmanship

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Charles Rangel announced Wednesday he will temporarily step down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, saying he didn’t want his ethics controversy to jeopardize election prospects for fellow Democrats.

The 20-term Harlem congressman held a news conference on short notice, telling reporters, “My chairmanship is bringing so much attention to the press, and in order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, I have this morning sent a letter” asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work.”

The 79-year-old Rangel’s decision was another jarring setback for President Barack Obama and majority Democrats in Congress, coming at a time when the party is scrambling to save sweeping health care overhaul legislation that has been pending on Capitol Hill for well over a year and still assessing a surging anti-incumbent fervor among the voters. Read more.

Iran, Democracy, and Trade Keys to Successful Clinton Visit to Latin America

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is embarking on a tour of Latin America with the intention of shoring up flagging ties with U.S. partners in the region. During her five-day, six-nation trip, the Secretary should enlist key players–notably Brazil–in a campaign to convince Iran’s leaders to abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions.

Clinton should also deliver a strong message regarding the Obama Administration’s commitment to representative democracy and its readiness to put free trade back on its agenda. Finally, she should make it clear to the region’s leaders know that excluding the U.S. from regional organizations or polarizing the Organization of American States (OAS) will have a negative impact on inter-American cooperation. Read more.

Hot Flashes, Dead Bugs, and Cocaine for Monkeys: The 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in North Carolina

Prior to signing his federal “stimulus” bill in early 2009, President Obama warned, “If we do not move swiftly to sign (the act) into law, an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe.”

Here in North Carolina, Governor Perdue similarly declared that we were “facing the consequences of the national economic crisis,” and that failure to pass the stimulus bill would “jeopardize the education of our children and the health care of our citizens.” She further noted that the stimulus will help “create jobs, stimulate the economy, and provide relief to North Carolina’s families.”

One year later, the debate over the stimulus bill’s effectiveness rages on. A close inspection of stimulus grants and contracts awarded to North Carolina reveals a rather questionable strategy for the disbursement of stimulus funds. Many projects seem completely unrelated to avoiding an economic “catastrophe,” but rather an ad hoc satisfaction of countless dubious wish lists.
The Civitas Institute poured through the federal website charged with tracking stimulus spending, and created the following list – The 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in North Carolina. Read more.

Obama backs plan to give health care overhaul fast track in Congress

WASHINGTON — Even after President Barack Obama gave them his blessing Wednesday to push ahead hard and fast on health care, congressional Democrats remained uncertain and divided over whether they can finally pass the legislation.

Liberals and moderates both expressed concern about “reconciliation,” the fast-track procedure Obama endorsed. It strips the Senate minority of the ability to filibuster, or conduct extended debate, which usually can be limited only after 60 of 100 senators agree.

“I don’t like the reconciliation idea,” said Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., one of the moderates. “It does give the appearance of trying to ram something through.” Read more.

McHenry’s initiative: Put Reagan on $50 bill

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry wants to put former President Ronald Reagan on the $50 bill.

McHenry, a Cherryville Republican, has introduced a bill that would replace Ulysses S. Grant with Reagan.

“Every generation needs its own heroes,” McHenry said. “One decade into the 21st century, it’s time to honor the last great president of the 20th and give President Reagan a place beside Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy.” Read more.

Freshman Congressman Won’t Run for Re-election, Denies Harassment Reports

The House Ethics Committee is reviewing allegations that New York Rep. Eric Massa sexually harassed a male member of his staff, Fox News has learned

Massa, after announcing Wednesday that he would not seek re-election because of a cancer recurrence, beat back reports on blogs and in other media outlets suggesting that charges of sexually harassing a male staffer were behind his decision.

“The allegations are totally false. I am a salty old sailor,” Massa, a Democratic freshman congressman, said at a news conference. “These are blogs that are saying that I am leaving because of charges of harassing my staff. Do and have I used salty language? Yes, and I have tried to do better.” Read more.

GOP takes it to Hackney

PITTSBORO — State Republican leaders and legislative candidates, looking to prove they can overcome 100 years of Democratic domination in the legislature, held a rally Thursday in the home district of Democratic House Speaker Joe Hackney.

Since the candidate filing period closed last week, Republicans have touted both the number and quality of candidates they recruited to run for state House and Senate seats. By appearing in Hackney’s district with the Republican candidate challenging him, GOP leaders made a show of their confidence and enthusiasm.

Republicans sought to underline that message by pointing out that they expect to ride a wave of national voter dissatisfaction. N.C. Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer said the party plans to wage a campaign focused on statewide and national politics, not local issues. Read more.

State polls show gathering storm

Congress, it turns out, isn’t the only institution held in low esteem by voters this year.

According to a POLITICO review of publicly available polling data, numerous state legislatures are also bottoming out, showing off-the-charts disapproval ratings accompanied by stunning levels of voter cynicism.

It all adds up to a toxic election-year brew for legislators inside and outside Washington.

The freshest example comes from Pennsylvania, where a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday surveyed the attitudes of residents and reported that just 29 percent of Pennsylvania voters said they approved of the job the state legislature is doing in Harrisburg, a slippage of 13 points since last May. Read more.

President to meet with key senators on immigration

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to focus attention on immigration next week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue.

White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Obama will meet with Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday.

The president is “looking forward to hearing more about their efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill,” Shapiro said Friday. Read more.

Week in Review 02/13/10

Palin says ‘absurd’ not to ponder presidential bid

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sarah Palin says it would be “absurd” for her not to consider running for president in 2012.The former Alaska governor and the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008 says she will run for president if she believes it’s right for the country and right for her family. Palin was asked on “Fox News Sunday” if she knows more today about domestic and foreign affairs than she did two years ago. Her response: “Well, I would hope so.”She says her focus has widened since she was governor of Alaska. Palin says she gets daily briefings by e-mail on domestic and foreign policy issues from advisers in Washington.

Obama: I’m Not Giving Up on Health Reform

Washington – (AP) President Obama on Saturday sought to assure despondent Democrats he would not abandon his commitment to overhauling health care and would work to counter GOP challenges to their congressional dominance.

At its winter meeting, a defiant Democratic Party worked to project a message of strength even as loyalists acknowledged the prospect of several defeats in November. The party that controls the White House typically loses seats during midterm elections at an average rate of 28 net seats. President Bill Clinton, the last Democratic commander in chief, lost control of Congress in his first term and Democrats privately are predicting it could happen again. Read more.

Palin Urges Obama to Take a ‘Do-Over’ on Emanuel, Holder

Sarah Palin said President Obama needs to take a “do-over” on his choice for White House chief of staff, pressing Saturday for Rahm Emanuel’s firing after he used the word “retarded” to lambast a group of Democrats in a strategy session last year.

Emanuel is known for his coarse tongue, but the remarks touched a nerve among disability advocate groups, as well as Palin, when it was reported last week. Emanuel swiftly apologized to Special Olympics head Tim Shriver and then convened a meeting with him and other disability groups at the White House.

But Palin, who has a baby with Down syndrome, told FoxNews.com that Emanuel should still be gone — something she first called for on her Facebook page last week. Read more.

Obama hasn’t ruled out NY trial for 9/11 planner

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Sunday he has not ruled out a New York federal court trial for Sept. 11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but he was taking into account the objections of the city’s mayor and police commissioner.

The Obama administration has come under withering attack, mainly from Republicans, for a decision by his Justice Department to try the terrorist mastermind in a U.S. court near Ground Zero, site of the attack that destroyed New York’s World Trade Center.

Obama said using the traditional judicial method was a “virtue of our system” in which Americans should take pride. Read more.

State Lawmaker Calls for Offshore Drilling, End to Global Warming Commission

RALEIGH — A Davie County Republican is urging fellow state lawmakers to stop wasting time and money on the state’s climate change commission and support energy policy he says will have a tangible impact on the state. Sen. Andrew Brock says the legislature should move to tap the massive natural gas reserve experts believe is sitting off the North Carolina coast.

“This whole thing was based on a false set of principles and false data,” says Brock, referencing e-mails leaked last year from the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. Climate-change activists have relied on East Anglia data to justify massive government intervention, including caps on greenhouse gas emissions and limits on fossil fuel consumption. “There’s no credible evidence that supports that all the production by mankind is affecting the global climate.” Read more.

N.C. Democrats dealing with an election year mass exodus

At the Grammys, Oscars and other annual award shows, there’s always a clip showing which big industry stars have departed over the previous year. Forgive voters, especially Democrats, if they feel like they need to watch one of those “dearly departed” clips when they go to the polls in May and November. Because the story this year might not be who is running for elected office, but who isn’t.

As candidate filing season starts on Monday, seven Democratic state senators have already left or announced that this will be their last year in office – and the list includes some important movers and shakers from eastern North Carolina. Read more.

Russian military calls US missile defense a threat

Gen. Nikolai Makarov said that a revised U.S. plan to place missiles in Europe undermines Russia’s national defense, rejecting Obama administration promises that the plan is not directed at his country.

“We view it very negatively, because it could weaken our missile forces,” Makarov, the chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, said in televised remarks.

Makarov’s comments are the strongest yet on the revamped U.S. missile effort and signal potential new obstacles to an agreement on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expired Dec. 5. Read more.

Winners will get to draw the map

RALEIGH – The 2010 political season formally opened Monday, with the next nine months potentially having an outsized influence on Tar Heel politics for the next decade. Of all the elections that will be held – from the marquee U.S. Senate race to courthouse contests – none will be more closely watched than the 170 seats of the state legislature.

That is because the legislature, as required by the U.S. Constitution, will draw new district maps for the legislature and for Congress in 2011 based on the census that will be conducted this year. Whether those maps are drawn by Democrats or Republicans – or jointly by both parties – could go a long way in deciding who holds power in Raleigh and who goes to Washington. Read more.

NY governor says he’ll step aside only ‘in a box’

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – New York Gov. David Paterson, defying calls from even fellow Democrats to drop out of the race for a full term, said Tuesday that he would leave only if the voters turned him out through the ballot box, or he’s carried out “in a box.” Paterson spoke to reporters after several days of rumors sweeping the state Capitol about carousing in the governor’s mansion, all of which Paterson strongly denied.

A few months after Paterson took over from his predecessor, who resigned in a prostitution scandal, his popularity plummeted and many Democrats voiced their preference that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo run for governor when Paterson’s term is up. Read more.

Alabama poll: Mike Huckabee is 2012 front-runner

In a reminder of his strength with social conservatives, Mike Huckabee leads his nearest GOP competitor by 10 percentage points, according to a new poll of Alabama Republicans.

Thirty-three percent of Alabama Republicans polled support the former Arkansas governor for the 2012 presidential nomination, while 23 percent said they would back Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee. The next closest Republican to Huckabee and Palin is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who takes 12 percent of the vote. Read more.

Only 8 percent say incumbents should be reelected

A stunning 8 percent of Americans believe members of Congress should be reelected, a staggering indictment of the legislative branch as Democrats prepare to defend their majority in the midterm elections. Eighty-one percent of people surveyed in a New York Times poll believe “it’s time to give new people a chance” to serve in Congress, the worst assessment of Congress since the newspaper began polling on this question in 1992.

But the 8 percent figure is staggering. Republicans see it as a reason to throw Democrats out of Congress, while Democrats want to blame Republican obstruction for the overwhelmingly negative feelings reflected in the poll. Read more.

Obama, Republicans spar over starting point for health care summit

Washington (CNN) — President Obama said Tuesday his televised health care summit with Republican leaders on February 25 should involve true give-and-take negotiations instead of mere “political theater.” In a rare appearance at the daily White House media briefing, Obama said he wants the meeting — which also will include health care experts — to “establish some common facts” on the health care issue and reach agreement on the most pressing health care problems facing the country.

To signal his willingness to compromise, Obama said he would consider a Republican push to include limits on medical malpractice lawsuits in a health care bill if the proposal can be shown to truly reduce overall health care costs. The president acknowledged the issue could “make my party uncomfortable,” an apparent nod to traditional Democratic support among trial lawyers who oppose such limits. Read more.

Kennedy won’t seek re-election, marking end of era

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s decision not to seek re-election will leave Washington without a Kennedy in political office for the first time in more than 60 years. The Rhode Island Democrat’s term ends early next year but he says in a television message viewed by The Associated Press on Thursday that his life is “taking a new direction” and he will not seek a ninth term. The video was provided to the AP by Kennedy’s congressional office.

The 42-year-old son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy does not give a reason for the decision but says it has been a difficult few years for many people and he mentions the death in August of his father. Read more.

Obama Poll Results 2/12/10

• In your opinion, is President Obama governing only to please the far left, or is he governing for the betterment of all Americans?


• just to please the left (58%, 262 Votes)


• neither (29%, 129 Votes)


• to better all Americans’ lives (12%, 52 Votes)


• both (1%, 9 Votes)


• 
  


• Total Voters: 452 WakeUpAmerica.com Online Poll

Family feud: Nancy Pelosi at odds with President Obama

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s increasingly public disagreements with President Barack Obama are a reflection of something deeper: the seething resentment some Democrats feel over what they see as cavalier treatment from a wounded White House.

For months, the California lawmaker has been pushing Obama hard in private while praising him in public. But now she’s being more open in her criticism, in part because she feels the White House was wrong — in the wake of the Democrats’ loss in Massachusetts — to push the Senate health care bill on the House when she knew there was no way it would pass.

Earlier this month, Pelosi criticized the president’s State of the Union call to exempt defense spending from a budget freeze. And in a White House meeting with leaders of both parties this week, she questioned the effectiveness of his plan to give small businesses tax breaks to hire workers. Read more.

Week in Review 01/09/10

Senate Dem Asks South Carolina’s Top Attorney to ‘Call Off the Dogs’

In a phone call Thursday, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., urged South Carolina Republican Attorney General Henry McMaster, the head of a group of 13 GOP state attorneys general who are threatening to file a lawsuit against the Senate health care bill, to reconsider, Politico reported.

A Democratic senator from Nebraska who played a crucial role in getting health care legislation passed in the Senate last month has asked South Carolina’s top attorney to “call off the dogs” — a reference to the state official’s threat to challenge the constitutionality of the bill. Read more.

How Much Did Big Banks Lend to Small Business in ’09?

Subprime lending was a leading factor in the collapse of the economy, and entrepreneurial advocates say small-business lending is crucial to its full resurrection. FOXBusiness.com asked the nation’s big banks: how much did you give the “little guy” in 2009?

Employing more than half of the nation’s nonfarm private workforce and, according to the Labor Department, generating 64% of net new jobs between 1993 and the third quarter of 2008, it is not hard to argue that small businesses are key to an economic recovery in the United States. Read more.

We’re losing faith in Obama’s ability

President Obama’s policies, performance, and attitudes are putting all of us, including his staunchest supporters, at higher levels of risk. The “underwear” bomber incident is just the latest example where I believe the president is not measuring up.

His Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, in whom the president has expressed full confidence, told the American people that the system worked! No it didn’t! Read more.

GOP makes Obama foil in state races

In governor’s races across the country, top GOP candidates are concentrating their attacks on the White House, the surest sign yet that Republicans see opportunity in nationalizing the 2010 election and a departure from the strategy that elected two Republicans to governorships in November.

While Chris Christie in New Jersey and Bob McDonnell in Virginia both refrained from overt criticism of President Barack Obama in their successful 2009 races, the current crop of GOP gubernatorial contenders seems intent on making the 2010 election a referendum on Obama’s policies. Read more.

More than two years’ income on his Raleigh home was never reported as required

RALEIGH — Former Gov. Mike Easley failed to list income from the rental of his Raleigh home on at least three consecutive annual economic interest statements — a violation of state ethics laws.

The home on East Lake Drive was rented for $1,500 a month for three years while Easley served as governor. Concealing income or failing to fully disclose it on a Statement of Economic Interest is a misdemeanor. Providing false information is a felony. Read More.

Steps Back Towards a Citizen Run Government

Proposed:

Congressional Reform Act of 2010





















1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.



A. Two Six year Senate terms

B. Six Two year House terms

C. One Six year Senate term and three Two Year House terms

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work. Read more.

High Maintenance First Lady

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Servant List and Pay Scale.

First Lady Requires More Than Twenty Attendants- Here are their salaries, Names, and Titles.
1. $172,2000 – Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)
2. $140,000 – Frye, Jocelyn C . (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)
3. $113,000 – Rogers, Desiree G (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary)
4. $102,000 – Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)
5. $100,000 – Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady) Read More.

Wilmington mayor Saffo says he will not run for N.C. Senate

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo will not seek New Hanover County’s state Senate seat in 2010, he said Monday afternoon.

“I felt that I had made a commitment to run for mayor of the city, and I needed to fulfill that commitment,” he said.

It was a “very tough decision,” Saffo added. “I was very humbled at the amount of people that thought enough about me to say, ‘Make the run. Read More.

Newt Gingrich: ‘We are not safe’

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday night that Americans are less “safe” than they were a year ago.

During an interview with Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly, the former Republican congressman from Georgia blamed a federal bureaucracy that is “so lacking in focus” that even though the father of the accused Christmas Day bomber warned a U.S. embassy about his son, “we couldn’t find a way to stop him.”

“We are not safe. We are in much greater danger than we were a year ago,” Gingrich said, though adding that “it’s not just Bush vs. Obama.” Read More.

Burr: Obama should copy Bush on terror

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr says President Barack Obama’s administration isn’t tough enough on terrorism.

In an interview on the Bill LuMaye radio show on WPTF-AM, Burr said last week that the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing was the result of a “colossal communications failure” between federal agencies that should have prevented the attempted attack.

Obama’s administration has not handled the incident well, Burr said. Read More.

Wake Up America: Senate Ignores Criminal Liability For Bribery

In an effort to take away our freedom and liberty under the guise of “reforming health care,” the Senate has sunk to new lows in its effort to gain favor with an inexperienced, egotistical president.

We have all heard the phrase “the issue isn’t the issue” and so it is with the health care atrocity that this Administration and runaway Congress are forcing us to swallow. Despite the fact that 60 percent of Americans are against these 2000 page tomes that give the government control over one-sixth of our economy and remove our choices, Congress, in its zeal to ensure that President Obama “makes history,” is ignoring us. Is that because they are so enamored with this legislation? I think not. Rather, they are in love with the thoughts of having total control over the American people — wake up, America. These people are leading us down a dangerous path toward socialism and communism because they crave power. Their insatiable hunger has led them to acts that would be considered criminal if you or I performed them. Read more.

Obama, Dems Agree to Closed-Door Health Negotiations

President Obama and congressional Democrats head into another strategy session Wednesday over health care reform after deciding Tuesday night to keep the final negotiations as GOP-free as possible by bypassing the traditional conference committee process.

The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress decided to keep the last leg of talks a closed-door affair. They concluded that the House will work off the Senate’s version, amend it and send it back to the Senate for final passage, according to a House leadership aide, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the private meeting.

The move streamlines the process to avoid Republican efforts to slow it down. Read more.

C-SPAN Challenges Congress to Open Health Care Talks to TV Coverage

The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open “all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings,” to televised coverage on his network.

“The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety,” he wrote. Read more.

United States Elections – 2010 and 2012

Elections to the United States Senate will be held on November 2, 2010, for at least 36 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate.

Thirty-four of the seats are for six-year terms, beginning January 3, 2011. They will join Senate Class III, which traces its roots back to the Senators who served full six-year terms from March 4, 1789 to March 3, 1795.

The Senate is currently composed of 58 Democrats, 40 Republicans, and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. Of the seats expected to be up for election in 2010, 19 are held by Democrats and 18 are held by Republicans. Read more.

Economy Loses 85000 Jobs in December 2009

WASHINGTON – Lack of confidence in the economic recovery led employers to shed a more-than-expected 85,000 net jobs in December even as the unemployment rate held at 10 percent. The rate would have been higher if more people had been looking for work instead of leaving the labor force because they can’t find jobs.

The sharp drop in the work force — 661,000 fewer people — showed that more of the jobless are giving up. Once people stop looking for jobs, they’re no longer counted among the unemployed. Read more.

CIA Bombers Wife Says War Must Go On Against US

ISTANBUL – (AP) The Turkish wife of a Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attackin Afghanistan says her husband was outraged over the treatment of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison and the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defne Bayrak, the wife of bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, said in an interview with The Associated Press that his hatred of the United States had motivated her husband to sacrifice his life on Dec. 30 in what he regarded as a holy war against the U.S. Read more.

Steele slaps ’singular focus’

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele released a statement Friday reacting to the December unemployment report by attacking President Barack Obama’s “singular focus on enacting his government-run liberal policies.”

Steele pointed to Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D-Neb.) recent comment that the White House should have focused on the economy before health care and added his own urging that the president ”put his full and undivided attention on fixing our economy.” Read more.

Geithner Called to Explain AIG Bailout Secrecy

WASHINGTON (AP) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will face a congressional grilling later this month about the suppression of details on deals that funneled billions to big investment banks while he was president of theFederal Reserve Bank of New York.

Lawmakers reacted angrily Friday to revelations in e-mails sent in late 2008 and early 2009 between lawyers for the New York Fed and American International Group Inc. The exchanges show the New York Fed wanted AIG to withhold information about deals that sent billions from the taxpayer bailout of AIG to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Societe Generaleand other major banks. Read More.