Obama’s Endless Summer Of Spending
June 18, 2010 by Duffy
Filed under Government
June 18, 2010
The Washington Times
The White House kicked off a “recovery summer” public relations blitz yesterday to promote the alleged benefits of stimulus spending. The mood of self-congratulation was interrupted by a Labor Department report that found initial jobless claims for the week climbed by 12,000. A Conference Board survey showed the average wait in unemployment lines increased from 30 weeks at the start of the year to 34.4 weeks in May. It won’t be a summer of love in those households.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was enthusiastic, declaring the stimulus “an absolute success” on Wednesday. Before he and the president begin their victory lap, however, they should take a closer look at the numbers. The current recovery has been one of the worst for job creation on record. Private sector hiring has virtually ground to a halt, and the administration was embarrassed last month when it was reported that 90 percent of the jobs created in May turned out to be short-term Census Bureau hires – and even those numbers appear to be exaggerated.
The job losses for this recession have been far deeper in percentage terms than in any of the 11 recessions since the Second World War. Underemployment, home foreclosures, bankruptcy filings and the number of Americans on food stamps have all increased since the stimulus act was passed. If this is “absolute success” we would hate to see what the vice president would call failure.
The administration’s “jobs” are an expensive form of workfare. Mr. Biden toured a $508 million Brooklyn Bridge makeover project on Wednesday where taxpayers contributed at least $30 million to save or create 150 jobs. That is $200,000 per job just from the stimulus money, not including other federal, state and local funding. On Monday Mr. Biden will tour a project in Midland, Mich., which will “stimulate” 1,000 jobs at a cost of $161,000 per job. Jared Bernstein, chief economist and senior economic adviser to the vice president, said last year that the overall average cost per stimulus job is closer to $92,000, which is still good work if you can get it.
The stimulus approach to economic recovery is not complicated. It is based on the belief that expensive make-work jobs funded by deficit spending will at some point lead to economic benefits beyond the fortunate few receiving the grants. It involves opening the spending spigots and then finding enough shovel-ready projects to spend the money on. It’s a wonderful plan for those whose aspirations in life go no further than short-term employment involving shovels.
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Threat For Joe Biden Leads To Arrest
June 18, 2010 by Duffy
Filed under Government
June 18, 2010
1500 AM Federal News Radio
Cybersecurity Update – Tune in weekdays at 30 minutes past the hour for the latest cybersecurity news on The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris (6-10 a.m.) and The DorobekInsider with Chris Dorobek (3-7 p.m.). Listen live at FederalNewsRadio.com or on the radio at 1500 and 820 AM in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
* It’s been said “good fences make for good neighbors.” Now good firewalls make for better neighbors. Barry Ardolf, 45, of Minneapolis has been accused of using his neighbor’s Wi-Fi network to send threatening emails to vice president Joseph Biden. The NewNewInternet reports if that weren’t enough, Ardolf also sent child pornography to his neighbor’s coworkers using a fake email account he set up in his neighbor’s name. Ardolf has turned down a plea deal and now faces a minimum of seven years in federal prison on charges of aggravated identity theft and making threats to the life of the President of the United States and his successors.
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Administration To Sue AZ Over Immigration Law
June 18, 2010 by Duffy
Filed under Government
June 18, 2010
Associated Press
By Amanda Lee Myers
PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Thursday she’s angry over comments by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the Obama administration will sue the state over its new immigration law.
In a June 8 media interview in Ecuador that began circulating Thursday in the U.S., Clinton said President Barack Obama thinks the federal government should determine immigration policy and that the Justice Department “will be bringing a lawsuit against the act.”
Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler on Thursday declined to say whether the department would sue and that “the department continues to review the law.”
The department has been looking at the law for weeks for possible civil rights violations, with an eye toward a possible court challenge.
It’s unclear why Clinton made the comment since it’s not her area. She couldn’t be reached Thursday for comment.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Obama and Clinton have both made it clear that the administration opposes the law.
“I will defer to the Justice Department on the legal steps that are available and where they stand on the review of the law,” Crowley said. “The secretary believes that comprehensive immigration reform is a better course of action.”
Brewer, a Republican, said in a statement that “this is no way to treat the people of Arizona.”
“To learn of this lawsuit through an Ecuadorean interview with the secretary of state is just outrageous,” she said. “If our own government intends to sue our state to prevent illegal immigration enforcement, the least it can do is inform us before it informs the citizens of another nation.”
Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said the governor was “outraged” and that Clinton’s comments make it appear that the Justice Department has decided to file suit.
“But she’s confident that in the end, the state of Arizona, the citizens, will prevail,” he said.
On April 23, Brewer signed what is considered the toughest legislation in the nation targeting illegal immigrants. It is set to go into effect July 29 pending multiple legal challenges and the Justice Department’s review.
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$7-a-Gallon Gas?
June 18, 2010 by Duffy
Filed under Government
June 18, 2010
New York Post
By Ben Lieberman
President Obama has a solution to the Gulf oil spill: $7-a-gallon gas.
That’s a Harvard University study’s estimate of the per-gallon price of the president’s global-warming agenda. And Obama made clear this week that this agenda is a part of his plan for addressing the Gulf mess.
So what does global-warming legislation have to do with the oil spill?
Good question, because such measures wouldn’t do a thing to clean up the oil or fix the problems that led to the leak.
The answer can be found in Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s now-famous words, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste — and what I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”
That sure was true of global-warming policy, and especially the cap-and-trade bill. Many observers thought the measure, introduced last year in the House by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), was dead: The American people didn’t seem to think that the so-called global-warming crisis justified a price-hiking, job-killing, economy-crushing redesign of our energy supply amid a fragile recovery. Passing another major piece of legislation, one every bit as unpopular as ObamaCare, appeared unlikely in an election year.
So Obama and congressional proponents of cap-and-trade spent several months rebranding it — downplaying the global-warming rationale and claiming that it was really a jobs bill (the so-called green jobs were supposed to spring from the new clean-energy economy) and an energy-independence bill (that will somehow stick it to OPEC).
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Obama Spends $1.2B In Cycling/Walking Initiatives
June 17, 2010 by Andrew
Filed under Government
June 17, 2010
Telegraph
Spending on biking and walking projects rose from less than $600 million (£407 million) in 2008, according to the Federal Highway Administraion. Twenty years ago, the federal government was spending only $6 million a year on such projects.
The spending on biking and walking projects was scheduled to rise last year anyway, but the administration boosted it with $400 million in funds set aside under the economic recovery program.
The new focus on biking and walking represents a turnaround from the administration of President George W Bush. Mary Peters, transportation secretary under Bush, dismissed biking paths and trails as projects that “really are not transportation,” saying they had no place in federal transportation policy.
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British Pensioners Pick Up $17B Bill For BP
June 17, 2010 by Andrew
Filed under Government
June 17, 2010
Daily Mail
By David Gardner
The crisis engulfing BP has plumbed new depths as President Obama bullied the company into depositing £13.5billion into a fund to settle compensation claims for the calamitous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
After a face-to-face showdown with the President at the White House, BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg revealed the payment meant the oil giant would be forced to suspend dividends to its shareholders until at least next year.
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New Bill Gives Obama “Kill Switch” On Internet
June 17, 2010 by Andrew
Filed under Government
June 17, 2010
Prison Planet
By Paul Joseph Watson
The federal government would have “absolute power” to shut down the Internet under the terms of a new US Senate bill being pushed by Joe Lieberman, legislation which would hand President Obama a figurative “kill switch” to seize control of the world wide web in response to a Homeland Security directive.
Lieberman has been pushing for government regulation of the Internet for years under the guise of cybersecurity, but this new bill goes even further in handing emergency powers over to the feds which could be used to silence free speech under the pretext of a national emergency.
“The legislation says that companies such as broadband providers, search engines or software firms that the US Government selects “shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed” by the Department of Homeland Security. Anyone failing to comply would be fined,” reports ZDNet’s Declan McCullagh.
The 197-page bill (PDF) is entitled Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, or PCNAA.
Technology lobbying group TechAmerica warned that the legislation created “the potential for absolute power,” while the Center for Democracy and Technology worried that the bill’s emergency powers “include authority to shut down or limit internet traffic on private systems.”
The bill has the vehement support of Senator Jay Rockefeller, who last year asked during a congressional hearing, “Would it had been better if we’d have never invented the Internet?” while fearmongering about cyber-terrorists preparing attacks.
The largest Internet-based corporations are seemingly happy with the bill, primarily because it contains language that will give them immunity from civil lawsuits and also reimburse them for any costs incurred if the Internet is shut down for a period of time.
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LAPD Chief Warns Of Strong Force After Lakers/Celtics Game 7
June 17, 2010
Yahoo News
By Daisy Nguyen
LOS ANGELES – City officials are warning basketball fans to stay away from downtown unless they have tickets to Game 7 of the NBA finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.
In an attempt to prevent the kind of unrest that broke out after the Lakers won last year’s championship, police will deploy hundreds of officers around Staples Center and other parts of the city Thursday to deter anyone from spoiling a potential celebration should the Lakers seize their 16th national championship.
“Win or lose let’s honor our hometown team for the amazing season they’ve given us and let’s honor our city and our neighbors by respecting all our laws,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged fans Wednesday.
Police Chief Charlie Beck said officers will set up a perimeter around Staples Center to let in only those with tickets to the game. Tactical units will stick around afterward to dissuade fans from congregating outside the arena.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said he has notified hundreds of deputies to be on hand in case the police department needs backup.
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FDA Questions Safety Of Female Viagra
June 17, 2010
The Wall Street Journal
By Jennifer Corbett Dooren
U.S. regulators questioned the effectiveness of a proposed drug for treating low-sex drive in women and raised concerns about how safe the pill would be if used widely.
The drug, flibanserin, developed by German pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim GMBH, is currently under review at the Food and Drug Administration as a proposed treatment for hypoactive sexual-desire disorder, or HSDD, in pre-menopausal women.
Flibanserin is set to come before the FDA’s Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee on Friday. The panel of outside medical experts will vote whether to recommend flibanserin—called “female Viagra” or “pink Viagra,” after Pfizer Inc.’s blue pill to treat erectile dysfunction in men—for approval. The FDA usually follows the panel’s recommendation.
At present, there are no FDA-approved products to treat low-sex desire in women. An FDA review of flibanserin released Wednesday in advance of the vote suggests flibanserin faces an uphill path.
In 2004, an FDA panel unanimously voted down a Procter & Gamble Co. testosterone patch that aimed to boost sexual desire in women. The panel said the benefit of slightly increasing the number of sexually “satisfying” events wasn’t significant enough to outweigh unknown safety risks.
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Toxic Airline Cabin Air Could Be Making You Sick
June 17, 2010
Natural News
By Mike Adams
(NaturalNews) Have you ever flown on an airplane and later become mysteriously ill? Maybe you developed a headache, had trouble breathing or experienced severe brain fog? These symptoms (and many others) just might be the result of breathing toxic fumes that regularly circulate throughout many commercial airline cabins.
Aerotoxic Syndrome, the unofficial name now being used to identify the laundry list of both acute and chronic symptoms caused by breathing contaminated jet cabin air, include things like chronic fatigue, respiratory difficulties, vision problems and cognitive disorder.
For some, the symptoms may be short-lived, but for others, persistent neurological damage may occur as a result of exposure, and many don’t even realize it’s happening until it’s too late.
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