OMG! = Obama must go!

The Roman Catholic Church objects to Obamacare's mandate requiring Church employees be covered for abortion and contraception. The church has long held the belief that birth control in general, and abortion in particular, are immoral.

Obama claims he offered a compromise: The compromise would require that church employees be covered for abortion and contraception.

This is no compromise at all. Obama is lying again.

The Church has published its formal objection.

Obama is also violating the First Amendment right of religious freedom. Obama Must Go.

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This issue has unfortunately become a major campaign debate. Unfortunately, because this should not be a partisan fight. This is a battle over our most fundamental freedom: freedom of religion. And it’s also a battle over the Constitution--whether Congress can allow government agencies to legislate. It’s a battle that is going to be fought out on Capitol Hill and in the courts.

This is not a partisan question. This is not the Obama Administration vs. the Church. This is a question of whether the Constitution will be respected and the first liberty protected, or whether the bureaucrats will be allowed to make a decision that will override our religious liberties.

Congress would never mandate religious organizations to violate their faith. But in passing the Affordable Health Care Act, Congress in essence delegated its legislative authority to federal agencies—staffed by unelected political appointees.

We want to do our level best to keep this from becoming a partisan issue, and we want to argue always on the high ground, protecting the Constitution and respecting freedom of conscience. It’s at the heart of liberty. When freedom of conscience is lost, all liberty is gone.

~~~~~~~~

The Manhattan Declaration is sending a petition to Obama. Click here to sign.

Get Your "small measure of an American dream"

Obama changed tack. Now he is pretending to champion the American Dream. Much of what he says sounds familiar. But Obama's vision of the American Dream is limited, regulated, metered out --- from Big Government to you.

“If you’re willing to put in the work, the idea is that you should be able to raise a family and own a home; not go bankrupt because you got sick, because you’ve got some health insurance that helps you deal with those difficult times; that you can send your kids to college; that you can put some money away for retirement… That’s all most people want. Folks don’t have unrealistic ambitions. They do believe that if they work hard they should be able to achieve that small measure of an American Dream.” --- BHO

This is what happens when statist thinkers take over the country. The ultimate goal becomes creating the highest level of personal security and the lowest level of personal risk -- all guaranteed by our government. And what is the result? The shrinking of the American dream.

Instead of a vibrant marketplace for ideas in which the sky is the limit, we instead offer people a safe, protected place where no one will tell them they have failed, financial risk is minimized and it's always someone else's fault. The dream becomes a safe, no-risk, government-insured illusion.

The shrinking of the American dream is the precise sentiment of our Marxist In Chief. At a stop in Iowa, Obama said that Americans "don't have unrealistic expectations" but believe "if they work hard they should be able to achieve that small measure of an American Dream.”

~~~~~~~
Steve Elliot says,

The other day, I was visiting my favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch when I struck up a conversation with my server -- a hard working, first-generation legal immigrant. I asked him what "Fair Share" of taxes meant. To my pleasant surprise, he proceeded to express his frustration with those who "want to take from everybody else and think something is owed to him." He then said he wants to own a restaurant some day and live out the American dream.

He didn't mention anything about universal healthcare or government-paid birth control or welfare. He wants to some day own a restaurant and, yes, perhaps own a big house and drive an expensive car. In short, he wants the American dream.

Perhaps like many first-generation immigrants, that dream will be more fully realized in his children and grandchildren who build on his years of sacrifice. Like Luther Powell, a Jamaican immigrant of no personal means who came to New York City, worked hard and supported his family in total anonymity. His son, Colin, became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and one of the most respected military leaders of our time.

So what will it be, America? A "small measure" of a government-shaped illusion or a real, risky shot at the American dream? We will decide in November.

Steve Elliott
Grassfire Nation

~~~~~~~~
Stimulating side note.

Last Friday marked the third anniversary of the 'stimulus' being signed into law. Obama promised the American people that that trillion-dollar package would keep unemployment under 8 percent.

We're in the 36th month for which unemployment has exceeded that figure. The Stimulus money went somewhere, but it did not go to the good of the nation. Obama is a liar at least, an incompetent at best, and a criminal we best live without.

The Emporer's New Budget

Obama’s new budget proposal calls for annual federal government spending to increase by $192 billion in 2012 and $928 billion by 2017.

The budget documents show federal spending of $3,603 billion for 2011 growing to $3,795 billion in 2012 and $4,531 billion in 2017.

“Today (February 13), President Obama sent Congress a $3.8 trillion budget request for Fiscal Year 2013 that includes a $1.9 trillion tax increase on American families and small businesses, $47 trillion in government spending over the next decade and another year of trillion dollar-plus deficits. Four years ago, candidate Obama promised to cut the deficit in half during his first term.

"President Obama failed to keep this promise, instead adding trillions to our federal deficit in the three years since he took office. If this budget is any indicator, he has no intention of changing course and will continue with his same failed policies that have dug our nation deeper into debt.

"After a failed stimulus, record unemployment, and a sluggish economic recovery, the American people need real solutions to get our economy back on track."

Doc Hastings (R - WA)

Obama - Budget - Lies

One could argue that Obama's just-announced budget is a great big lie. But let's be specific. Here are three lies...

Lie #1 -- $4 trillion in deficit reduction

"If Congress adopts this budget, then along with the cuts that we’ve already made, we’ll be able to reduce our deficit by $4 trillion by the year 2022 -- $4 trillion." -- BHO, 2/13/12

This is pure political deception. According to Obama's own budget, the projected increase in the total U.S. debt over 11 years (2012-2022) is $11.189 TRILLIION. (p. 245) There is no deficit reduction in Obama's budget. ZERO. But in Obama's world, an $11 trillion increase in the debt is called a deficit reduction. How? By taking credit for not spending money that either the government has already agreed to not spend or will not spend anyways, Obama is saying his budget saves $4 trillion. As the National Review explained:

Fully half of the savings come from the administration’s claiming as its own the $2 trillion in cuts won by congressional Republicans in the debt-limit deal. Some $850 billion comes from not spending war dollars that were never going to be spent anyway. Another $430 billion comes from jury-rigging the baseline to hide the cost of the infamous Medicare “doc fix.”

Of course, the $11.2 trillion increase is buried on page 245 of Obama's budget (see link below, download the .pdf, and see Table S-15, last line). So the fact is, Obama is lying.

Lie #2 -- Tax rate reductions amount to government spending.

This one will take a little explaining. In Obama's world, any tax rate below what he deems is the "fair share" is the equivalent of government spending. As our Marxist In Chief explained:

"Right now, we’re scheduled to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was intended to be a temporary tax cut for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. We’ve already spent about that much. Now we’re scheduled to spend another trillion." BHO, 2/13/12

The "spending" Obama is talking about is government revenue (i.e. taxes) that the government isn't collecting because of the tax rates Obama doesn't like. So a tax rate below what Obama deems to be appropriate is government spending. Take this to its logical conclusion and the government owns all income. Anything we keep is government spending.

Lie #3 -- This isn't about class warfare

A classic debating tactic is to attack your opponent's best argument head-on with a direct denial followed by a restatement of your core beliefs which actually confirms your opponent's argument. Look at how Obama addresses the "class warfare" charge in reference to his budget:

"Some people go around, they say, well, the President is engaging in class warfare. That’s not class warfare. That’s common sense. That’s common sense. Asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary when it comes to his tax rate -- that’s just common sense. Because Warren Buffet is doing fine, I'm doing fine. We don’t need the tax breaks. You need them. You're the ones who see your wages stall. You're the one whose costs of everything from college to groceries has gone up. You're the ones who deserve a break." -- BHO, 2/13/12

Here, Obama issues a direct denial to the "class warfare" charge and then proceeds to lay out the classic class warfare argument: The rich are getting tax breaks.... You deserve those breaks.... Hate the rich, hate the rich, hate the rich....

There are many more lies.

This is re-posted from Steve Elliott

Separation of Church and State works two ways

The new Obama deceit is the blithe "we're too stupid" method.

Obama says requiring abortion is not infringement on Catholic church doctrine of the sanctity of life, and the doctrine that life begins at conception. Obama is a crude and deceitful jackass.

Regardless of whether you agree with the Roman Catholic Church or not, they are entitled to their belief. They have gone so far as to enshrine this belief in doctrine. Obama and his bureaucrats have deigned to disallow the Catholics one of their cherished beliefs.

Obama is wrong.

~~~~~~~~

Ann Soetoro, Obama's mother, clearly would have liked to have had an abortion. Why else would she allowed such a fractured record of Obama's birth in Hawaii? (There is no doubt that Obama was born in Hawaii.) Obama displayed the incomplete birth certificate on his web page during the 2008 election cycle.

So why did his mother leave little Obama with his grandmother? Too bad abortion wasn't legal in the United States in 1960.

Stanley Ann Dunham Obama Soetoro Backstory

Ten Thousand Commandments

Command economy stinks. So Obama has issued one economy crushing command after another. There are 242 new pages of rules and notices coming out of the bureaus in Washington DC every working day.

Regulation can crumble an economy.

Why does Obama continue to lie and say his "Stimulus" has made the country recover. It hasn't recovered yet. Obama's own lackeys says unemployment will rise by year's end.

~~~~~~~~

Obama's debt adds to the problem? Even Rasmussen knows it.

"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) yesterday reported that the federal budget deficit is projected to reach $1.1 trillion in 2012. That number is troubling enough but the reality is much worse. The United States will actually go about $4 trillion further in debt during the year."

Subverting Civil Rights

The Obama vision: "If you want to rule a people with no accountability, you offer the people a bribe ("free" medical care), then subvert their rights while they are waiting for the bribe."

Subverting the Bill of Rights, Amendment 2

Eric Holder, Obama's US Attorney General, has been lying and obfuscating to the US Congress about "Fast & Furious" Mexican gunwalking. Because Holder is obviously covering-up, Congress is close to issuing Holder and indictment for contempt of Congress.

During the Obama Administration, Fast & Furious became the front for government corruption of gun laws, by ordering delivery of firearms into criminal hands through regular retailers, even when the sale was denied by the National Instant Check System.

The Administration's apparent intent was to frame law-abiding gun owners as the source of the illegal arms traffic. With those trumped up false charges, Obama could clamp down on legal gun ownership.

Pretending citizen ownership of firearms was the source of Mexican firearms, Obama already made a step in this direction. The border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California must report the sale of more than one semi-automatic rifle in any 5 day period -- even though the sale passes the National Instant Check. (Washington Post drinks koolaid.) Forced reporting only for the sake of forced reporting invades the personal right to privacy.

Subverting the Bill of Rights, Amendment 1

Obama and his radical feminist enforcers have deigned the Roman Catholic Church will be compelled to provide abortion coverage in health insurance policies. This, despite the long standing policy in the Church against abortion. Under Obama, the Roman Church is to be compelled to act against their religion and their conscience.

What happened to the separation of church and state? The US Constitution forbids government from ever making rules on religion.

Does Obama think he is above the law?

Well, yes, he does.

The Obama insisted we had to have government controlled health care, or else. No sooner was the law signed than the Administration began to grant waivers exempting certain parties from compliance. The "Affordable Health Care act does not have any waiver provisions. Obama just made them up as a lollipop for his supporters.

Granting some people exemption from an odious law is clear favoritism. This also violates the Constitutional requirement of equal protection under the law. Under equal protection, no person may be disqualified protection of the substance of the law If some are exempt, all are exempt.

ObamaCare is bad law.

~~~~~~~~

The dirty little secret is Barrack Obama is worse president than Richard Nixon. The Left and the Party controlled Press just refuse to face the facts.

~~~~~~~~

If Niemoller were alive today, he might write,

First, they came for the Catholics and I did not speak out because I was not Catholic.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Who's next?

What's with Leftist Economics?

Leftist Obamanoids say we are a demand driven economy. They reason the government ought to stimulate demand, darn the deficit, and things will improve.

Since Obama's debt-laden "Stimulus" of 3 years ago didn't work, the Leftists insist Republicans interfered with it, using "trickle down" or voodoo economics. If you question a Leftist closely on this point, they become very vague.

Leftist say Republicans are willing to suffer with a bad economy because they are stupid --- and the Republicans have outwitted Obama's brilliant economics. The Leftists never notice the contradiction.

~~~~~~~~

You've heard of the economics Law of Supply and Demand. It means Supply must equal Demand or the market is out of whack. If we do as the Leftists insist, and stimulate demand while neglecting supply, the economy will be out of whack.

Minimum wage
The Democrats have complicated the supply side with new rules and regulation. The very first thing the Democrats did when Obama was installed was increase the federal minimum wage. This had the effect of pricing minimally-able workers out of the market. This is the prime cause of the enduring 8-9% unemployment during the last 3 years.

Environmental Protection Thuggery
The Environmental Protection Agency has gone ape, restricting farm supply, paper supply production, guitar production (which doesn't apply to Democrat guitar makers) and more. The EPA is clearly being used for political purposes, not environmental ones.

The "Supply Side"
The supply side of the economy is the productive side. Producers make stuff the demand, or consumption side needs. In a healthy economy, the two sides are the same people. You make something I want, I make something you want, and we exchange those things in the free market. Supply must equal demand.

The supply side is the side which creates jobs. When Obama cheated on this in 2009 , unemployment shot up. Obama and his Democrats exported American jobs to countries which do not protect their workers from working.

Each of Obama's "Jobs bills" has included punishment for the employer. This brings us to another Leftist fable -- somehow employees don't need employers. In fact, the employer organizes the employees time and effort into production. Employer and employees need each other to work.

~~~~~~~~

More government debt will only break the bank. More government interference will only break the economy. The more the Left sucks around for action plans, the more likely they are to hit upon the scheme of total oppression. America must recover from this attack of big government now. Obama must go.

Education level and Obama

Rasmussen Reports, one of the more reliable public pollsters, proposed there is a [somewhat tenuous] connection between a person's education level and the person's approval of Obama.

"Recent Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveying of Likely U.S. Voters finds that 57% of those who attended high school but did not graduate at least somewhat approve of the job the president is doing." The undereducated are more likely to approve of Obama.

"Similarly, 56% of voters who attended graduate school approve of Obama’s performance." The highly educated are more likely to approve of Obama. Examples of highly educated are lawyers, community organizers and politicians, who make their living off the people's taxes.

The vast middle, suffering shrinking under Obama's administration, is not very interested in Obama's continued dominance. Rank and file workers, like Joe the Plumber, see Obama-style governance as useless. Incidentally, Joe the Plumber is running for Congress from Ohio's Ninth District.

The vast middle class has the plumbers. Not many high school drop-outs would qualify as plumbers. No college level academics would stoop to plumbing. But if the drains back up, we all sicken with cholera. Obama and his followers must remember they need us all.

Bullying/Racists

Obama's followers are playing in the toilet again. The dirtiest form of politics is acceptable, only if you side with them.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer finger-wagged at Obama, telling him to learn about Arizona's border problem. Obama was not interested in border security, so the finger wagging ensued. Apparently women, even governors, are not allowed to do that in Obama's America.

Obama's pets in the press are insisting the incident is racist. MSNBC carried Al Sharpton whimpering (in essence) no one should disagree with Obama because Obama is black/Democrat/authoritarian. Sirius XM radio host Joe Madison said essentially the same thing.

Oh barf. Obama was confronting the governor -- the event was mutual. The clear meaning of the "racist" charge is the Democrazies can't take the heat. By being overly protective, the Democrats show themselves as the true racists.

Sources
Mediaite
Yo (Moonbat perspective)
American Thinker perspective.

Dems Beef Up to "Tax the Rich"

The Democrats insist rich don't pay their fair share of taxes. Every bitter Democrat is certain of that.

So in 2011 the Obama Administration beefed up the rate of audits on the rich from 8% of returns over $1 million to 12% of returns over $1 million. Those who earned less than $200,000 faced only a 1 in 100 chance of a skin and person audit.

The IRS stated the high percentage of audits were done only to demonstrate the tax laws were applied fairly against the rich. Whew.

So now we know for sure - The IRS audited the millionaires, and made sure they paid their fair share of taxes.

Obama proved it. In 2011, the millionaires paid their fair share.

~~~~~~~~

Its a certainty the Obama Administration will play the class envy card to crank up taxes on the rich. But anybody who can accounting will know that won't be enough.

So the tax increase on the rich will have to serve as a smokescreen for the increase on taxes on everybody else. 2012 will be the year of the economy crippling tax increases if we do not find a way to stop Obama and his thugs.

Obama crimes

"We are not going to use signing statements as a way of doing and end run around Congress." - Barrack Obama, 2008

Obama says it is his "obligation to bypass Congress" to make a non-recess "recess" appointment of Richard Cordray as his financial watchdog. Obama stated the illegal appointment was happening because he (Obama) "refuse[s] to take no for an answer."

The law which created the agency requires the appointment to have Senate confirmation. Thus his appointment wasn't legal. Considering the Senate is controlled by the Democrats, Obama is apparently having a problem controlling his own party. The noise about the Republicans blocking all this is pure smokescreen.

The administration's cover story is the Cordray appointment protected consumers. Why doesn't this administration try to protect the Constitution and people of the United States?

The purpose of the Cordray appointment is to further cover up the Democratic Party's complicity in the 2007 financial meltdown, and subsequent maladministration by the current administration. The meltdown occurred because of the "Democratic" Party abuses of Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) in 2003, treating the government sponsored enterprise as a cash cow for Democrats.

When the Bush administration tried to investigate the abuses, Barney Frank (D) and the Democratic Party operatives started shouting. The Democrat raised enough ruckus, their willing accomplices in the Democratic Party controlled Press got the Bush administration to drop the inquiry.

That was a mistake. Ever since, the Democrats use the fact the Bush administration dropped the investigation to paint Bush as the subverter of the law.

Four years later we had the meltdown. Naturally, the Democrats did not care. Freddie and Fannie had served their purpose. and since the Democrats have controlled the Congress since that time, they effectively shut down all genuine investigation.

This is the exact type of action Obama claimed (lied, really) George Bush had done illegally. By his own mouth, Obama is a criminal.

~~~~~~~~

On a side point, many liberals say the Republicans were filibustering the appointment. Therefore Obama was taking a position against the Republicans. Still not so.

The Democrats controlled the Senate where the confirmation hearing would be, and they would have known the Republicans would filibuster the hearing. Putting two and two together, the Democrats were counting on the Republican filibuster so they would not have to block Obama themselves.

We'll see how this resolves. But the logical prediction is there will be scurrying in back rooms by the Left before a deal gets done to foster special corruptions for leftist bankers. Obama is clearly moving against some of his former Democrat allies.

~~~~~~~~

Many of Obama's supporters take the position that any problems which occur between now and election time are the Republicans fault. How? If Obama himself says he does not need the co-operation of Congress, every misery this government causes is entirely his doing.

News Story Sources
USA Today
Businesweek
Los Angeles Times
FOX News

Taking Wall Street

In the park

Demonstrators from Occupy Seattle lined the Westlake Mall. They were sunning themselves, having a nice time...and frightening some people. The signs they held said things like “Down With Capitalism” “End Corporate Greed” and “Tax the Rich.”

They crowd seemed to be mostly young, smart and far left. Mostly they wanted an exciting way to spend the afternoon, Some wanted gainful employment. They blamed companies for not hiring them, although that is a bad attitude to take to a job.

But the “occupiers” raise a valuable question; Why aren't American companies hiring? The per-fabricated answers about rich corporate greed are surreal. The actual cause is this administration has sucked the life out of the private sector with their massive spending spree.

Every dollar the government spent came from the private sector and therefore was not available to make private loans to private companies. Companies need cash for liquidity, buying raw materials, and hiring. They have to borrow money for those reasons, same as anybody. Money for loans was available overseas, so that's where the jobs went.

The only way to start job creation in the US is to cut federal spending. Proof of this is the fact that the Republicans resisted giving Mr Obama his massive federal $447 billion debt-laden “Jobs” package. Despite this employment is up last month anyway. By working to reduce federal spending and federal debt, the Republicans managed to create jobs. Its not magic, it good economics.

Governments are great wasters. Who else engages in war? Everything a government does is at somebody else expense, there is no felt need to conserve resource. Government waste, in money or human lives, goes on.

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Corporate Greed?

Greed is a human motivation. Maybe the complaint is all humans are greedy. Being made up of humans, corporations have no more than their share of greed. But as to why corporations are not hiring many people, we should consider their motivation is to make money, just the same as their employees. Weirdly, it is corporate greed which puts people to work.

But the corporations don't hire... enough. Why?

First, there is a monster tax coming on employees. “Free” health care has to be paid for. Mr Obama and his Leftist cohorts in Congress added taxes so employers would pay around $4500 more, per employee, per year. An up-front cost of $4500 per hire gives corporations some pause.

The self-employed face the same taxes. So many workers who thought they dodged the tax increases face a nasty surprise.

The second difficulty has already been touched upon. Credit and loans have been hard to get due to the credit crunch. To add to the misery, the administration made extra rules to make it harder for lenders to collect. What cash was available, the government sopped up. Thus every company has a cash crunch going on. Many face the decision to lay off people or not make the payroll.

But what about record profits? Companies have had to become internally supporting; they can't get loans anymore. Less-critical jobs were cut in order to build up a supply of cash required to make tax payments. Some manufacturing jobs were cut and sent overseas usually because of regulations, usually via the EPA, which reduced productivity. Worker productivity had to increase in order for the company merely to survive.

Profitability had to increase for two reasons, companies have to internally fund what they used to be able to get from banks. Companies must carry more cash than before. Secondly, much of that apparent surplus is going to go away as soon as all of Mr Obama's new taxes kick in. High unemployment is a result of new taxation, not profitability.

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Tax the rich

There is a persistent sour attitude toward wealthy people that makes no sense. In a free market, a successful person can be copied and all the copycats get richer. There must be a nasty twist on schadenfreude which makes people complain about the wealthy. Anyhow....

I examined Forbes listing of the 400 richest Americans, then checked their political affiliation (Its easy to do. Forbes provides the links.). The top 4 were solid Democrats, then the list becomes a mix. Overall, its fair to say that “the rich” in America do not devote themselves to one party or another.

Which means neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are likely to start taxing people just because they are rich. Members of each party realize there is not enough money in the rich to cure the national debt problem, so instead they curry favor with the wealthy. The Democrats talk about taxing the rich more than the Republicans, which suggest the wealthy Democrats suffer from battered spouse syndrome.

AttackWatch - Obama's re-election site

Obama has launched his re-election website. His condescending arrogance is almost unbelievable. See http://www.attackwatch.com/

Obama solicits you to "Join Attack Wire—and help stop the attacks on the President before they start." Imagine that, preemptive censorship -- from the most "transparent" administration.

Page at the Join AttackWire button

Attackwatch.com is an mudslinging attack site alright. Orwellian Newspeak is the language; everything is called exactly what it isn't -- with an atmosphere filled with paranoia and suspicion -- Obama's "changed" America in a nutshell. The site is chock full of distortions and hatred. In short, its almost a perfect snapshot of the Obama administration so far.

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The purpose of the site is to give Obama supporters a way to report "attacks" on the president, implying that any criticism is based on lies or misinformation.

Kabul under siege

Obama's incompetence (or malice) bears fruit.

Taliban fighters fired rockets at the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul on Tuesday and attacked police in three other areas in the biggest assault the insurgent group has mounted on the Afghan capital.

- AP report

In July of 2010, Obama chided Afghan President Karzai for the uptick in fighting. Obama effectively neutered Karzai, making him look like a foreign puppet.

For some time, Obama appears to have been trying to provoke Afghans into a nationalist backlash against foreigners.

~~~~~~~~

Afghanistan is in a violent part of the world. Nearly all the people who dwell there are Mohammedans, a religion susceptible to violence. Nevertheless, when Obama inserted his own policies into that conflict, the combat was largely over. Now that Obama has sidelined Karzai and provoked the "Arab Spring" debacle, we know Obama should have seen this present destruction as the inevitable result.

Leftist ideology is built on the idea of victim classes versus a victimizer class. Mr Obama hates Americans most; he views Americans as victimizers. So any policy he promulgates will seek to damage Americans.

Its likely there will be more.

Outrageous! Obama's Justice Dept. Keeping Islamic Bank Settlement Secret

By Steven Emerson

The Justice Department has agreed to end its investigation into an international financial network with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and a Saudi prince in a settlement in excess of $30 million, sources tell the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

But DOJ officials refuse to release a copy of the settlement or make any comment on it.

"Unfortunately, we're unable to provide anything in connection with this matter," DOJ spokesman Charles Miller wrote in response to a query Aug. 16. He did not contest the existence of the settlement with the Islamic Investment Company of the Gulf (IICG). Repeated attempts to obtain the settlement, or at least a clear explanation of why it cannot be released when most government settlements are a part of the public record, have been unsuccessful.

"We will have no further comment," Miller said.

Read the rest

~~~~~~~~

To think, Obama promised the "most transparent administration in history." Just not when it comes to his buddies in terrorist organizations.

Obama the illegal gun runner.

Obama indulged himself in an attempt to frame citizen gun owners by spreading firearms among criminals. Obama ordered the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to start an illegal operation the BATFE dubbed "Fast and Furious." The illegal operation resulted in the death of one federal agent -- so far. The Democratic Party controlled press has been strangely silent.

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down with a weapon traceable to Fast and Furious on December 14, 2010. That death changed everything. The BATFE allowed [illegal] straw purchasers to buy and distribute weapons among the criminal element in our society and throughout Mexico.

Interview with Rep. Paul Gosar - http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45593

Don't Read Bad News

This is bad news.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Survey fell from +3.2 to -30.7. A reading that low has always signaled that a recession is coming in the near future.

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment plunged to 54.9. Again, a reading that low has always signaled that a recession is coming in the near future.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) surveys indicate contraction. That signals a recession is coming in the near future.

The stock market is taking a pounding.

The evidence points to another US recessionary hit. Its going to get worse.

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Is government the answer?

This recession is homegrown. When I talk to people about this, they say the world is going through hard times, so the US will too. This view forgets the US is still the dominant world economy. When the US catches cold, the rest of the world gets pneumonia. It started here.

Aggravating the world's economic problems is the unresponsive Obama administration. Obama offered fertilizer in his recent Bus Tour campaign speeches -- he offered the same ideas which got us into this in the first place.

The downturn is being fueled by Obama's "Stimulus" package, enacted nearly three years ago. For example, in Washington State, the "Stimulus" gave the Gregoire government $2 billion to dig a tunnel under Seattle. Gregoire had to match the federal funds with a $4 billion increase in taxation. The tax increase is slowing the state economy in awful ways.

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The solution still is human freedom

The US must return to a free society and free economy -- Freedom is always a good thing. That will cause the world economy storm to subside and everyone everywhere will be better off.

Constitutional President-Eating Amoeba

It turns out Obama has no idea what to do to improve the economic situation. He demonstrated this back during his campaign when he suggested "spreading wealth around" was good economics. If the money earners are not allowed to keep their treasure, they stop earning money.

America's tough straights will be over as soon as we get rid of the politics which say we can take from those who earn and give to those we think have need.

As soon as Obama is gone, we will see improvement.

That said, I don't know if we can wait for the next election cycle before we remove Obama. The framers built into the Constitution means of removal.

The impeachment process can properly be used for this. Impeachment is about the qualification to operate the office of president, not about criminal behavior. The words "impeach" and "convict" have criminal connotation. But in constitutional context, they simply mean the president is unable to do the job.

"Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law." [US Constitution, Article 1, Section 3]. Clearly, removal by impeachment is not a criminal action.

In that vein, impeach Obama now. Convict and remove him soon.

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That's not to say there aren't reasons to toss Obama in jail.

ObamaBus

The ObamaBus Tour

President Barack Obama leaves the White House today for a three-day bus trip, talking job creation at small towns across the Midwest in hopes of distancing himself from the "partisan brinksmanship" he says has poisoned the economy.

(This is the same Congress which gave Obama everything he wanted.)

The trip isn't likely to be without bumps.

Obama appears to be trying out a campaign theme by blaming Congress — without a direction mention of Republicans — for the bitterness that led to an eleventh-hour debt limit agreement, and White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the president was expecting to hear more anger on the road.

Polls find that the partisan feud over raising the debt ceiling, the stock market gyrations and a stubborn unemployment rate have left Americans more pessimistic about the economy and their future than at any time this year. Republicans already have accused Obama of mixing policy with politics by barnstorming in the battleground region — at taxpayer expense.

Read the rest.