George Soros gives $ to OWS and DNC

Anyone who claims OWS and the DNC funding is from "grass roots" is completely full of it...

Liberals Steer Outside Money to Grass-Roots Organizing

After months on the sidelines, major liberal donors including the financier George Soros are preparing to inject up to $100 million into independent groups to aid Democrats’ chances this fall. But instead of going head to head with the conservative “super PACs” and outside groups that have flooded the presidential and Congressional campaigns with negative advertising, the donors are focusing on grass-roots organizing, voter registration and Democratic turnout.

The financier George Soros is expected to contribute $1 million each to a rights group and a research “super PAC.”

The departure from the conservatives’ approach, which helped Republicans wrest control of the House in 2010, partly reflects liberal donors’ objections to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which paved the way for super PACs and unbridled campaign spending.

But in interviews, donors and strategists involved in the effort said they also did not believe they could match advertising spending by leading conservative groups like American Crossroads and Americans for Prosperity, and instead wanted to exploit what they see as the Democrats’ advantage in grass-roots organizing.

“Super PACs are critically important,” said Rob Stein, the founder of the Democracy Alliance, a group of liberal donors who will convene near Miami this week to discuss where to steer their money this year. But the liberal groups, he said, believe that local efforts and outreach through social media “can have an enormous impact in battleground states in 2012.”

In a move likely to draw in other major donors, Mr. Soros will contribute $1 million each to America Votes, a group that coordinates political activity for left-leaning environmental, abortion rights and civil rights groups, and American Bridge 21st Century, a super PAC that focuses on election-oriented research. The donations will be Mr. Soros’s first major contributions of the 2012 election cycle.

“George Soros believes the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United opened the floodgates to special interests’ paying for political ads,” said Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Mr. Soros. “There is no way those concerned with the public interest can compete with them. Soros has always focused his political giving on grass-roots organizing and holding conservatives accountable for the flawed policies they promote. His support of these groups is consistent with those views.”

On Monday, in an indication that he does not expect significant advertising spending from Democratic-leaning outside groups at this stage, President Obama unveiled a $25 million ad campaign against Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee.

A super PAC founded by two former Obama aides, Priorities USA Action, has struggled to raise money against better-financed conservative groups like American Crossroads, which expects to spend $300 million on the presidential, House and Senate elections.

Those difficulties stem in part from Mr. Obama’s past opposition to spending by outside groups, which has dampened donor enthusiasm despite his about-face this year. But it also reflects how major liberal donors and independent groups have focused since 2004 on creating a permanent infrastructure of liberal research and voter-outreach groups. That year, liberal groups spent more than $200 million on advertising and grass-roots activity in a failed bid to deprive President George W. Bush of a second term.

Conservative independent groups, including super PACs that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on election ads, dominated the advertising wars in 2010, helping Republicans make major gains in Congress, and their money has had a similar impact so far in this cycle.

“The idea that we’re going to engage in an arms race on advertising with the Republicans is not appealing to many liberal donors,” said David Brock, the founder of American Bridge 21st Century.

The advertising-oriented Democratic super PACs, including Priorities USA and two groups founded to back Democrats in Congress, remain on the list of organizations that the Democracy Alliance recommends to its members. Robert McKay, who is the chairman of the Democracy Alliance and sits on the board of Priorities USA, said the $100 million expected to be spent this year by alliance members would include some money for election ads, but would most likely favor grass-roots organizing and research groups.

“There is a bias towards funding infrastructure as it relates to the elections,” Mr. McKay said. “That means get-out-the-vote efforts” directed toward young voters, single women, black voters and Latinos, he said.

Organizations likely to be a part of the effort include Catalist, which creates voter lists for allied liberal groups; ProgressNow, a network of state-based Web sites for liberal opinion and activism; and the Latino Engagement Fund, a new group that works to register and turn out Latino voters for Democrats. Conservative independent groups are financing similar outreach to Latino voters: the American Action Network, which spent $26 million against Democratic candidates in 2010, last year unveiled the Hispanic Leadership Network, which will seek to mobilize center-right Latino voters.

Liberals outside the Democracy Alliance are also likely to make significant contributions, as are labor unions, which plan to spend up to $400 million on state, local and federal races, and advocacy groups like the Sierra Club.

Some groups will pay for both advertising and organizing. PAC+, a super PAC founded by the San Francisco philanthropist Steve Phillips, a member of the Democracy Alliance, expects to spend about $10 million on Latino voters in six states, with a heavy emphasis on Arizona, which the Obama campaign is seeking to turn into a battleground. Half of PAC+ spending will go to enrollment and half to advertising.

“You can dump 10 or 20 million in TV ads in Ohio and try to reach the persuadable swing voters there, or you can up voter turnout among Latinos in Colorado and Arizona and win that way,” Mr. Phillips said. “It’s much cheaper.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/us/politics/liberals-putting-super-pac-money-into-grass-roots.html?_r=1

May 1 OWS Summary

Occupiers Self-Identify as Socialists, Revolutionaries
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/04/30/occupiers-self-identify-as-socialists-revolutionaries

5 arrested for allegedly trying to blow up Ohio bridge
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/01/5-arrested-for-allegedly-trying-to-blow-up-ohio-bridge/#ixzz1tcviy8Az

Democrat Endorsed #Occupiers Open May Day Festivities With Mass Rioting and Vandalism in San Francisco (Video)
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/05/democrat-endorsed-occupiers-open-may-day-festivities-with-mass-rioting-and-vandalism-in-san-francisco-video/

Threatening Notes, White Powder Sent to NYC Banks on Eve of May Day Protest
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/threatening-notes-white-powder-sent-to-nyc-banks-on-eve-of-may-day-protest/

Gore to college grads: ‘Occupy Democracy’ bring ‘American Spring’ (video)
http://www.owsexposed.com/2012/05/gore-to-college-grads-occupy-democracy-bring-american-spring-video/

Occupy graffiti vandalizing a historic NY church
http://citizenjournalistdotorg.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/occupy-grafitti-vandalizing-a-historic-ny-church/

Protesters Trash Valencia Street Businesses In Early May Day Demonstration
http://sfist.com/2012/05/01/protesters_trash_valencia_street_businesses_mission_police_station_in_early_may_day_demonstration.php

‘Occupy’ returns to New York City [VIDEO]
http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/01/occupy-returns-to-new-york-city-video/


Occupy Wall Street Has Gathered In Union Square, And The Demonstration Looks HUGE
http://www.businessinsider.com/occupy-wall-street-has-gathered-in-union-square-and-the-demonstration-looks-huge-2012-5

Occupy New Haven -- thoughts on leaving the Green

This is a laugh riot!

Occupy Wall Street: Back, But Does Anyone Care?

So true!
Occupy Wall Street: Back, But Does Anyone Care?

Posted By: Jeff Cox | CNBC.com Senior Writer

CNBC.com

| 30 Apr 2012 | 02:13 PM ET

After spending 2011 near the top of the news headlines, Occupy Wall Street finds itself in a struggle to regain relevance as a grassroots protest against corporate greed and Washington corruption.

The movement hopes to regain some of its mojo Tuesday, when it stages a nationwide May Day protest and celebration that will focus on a broad agenda of causes it hopes to push.

But with neither presidential candidate paying much attention to the OWS faction and the bloody protests in Europe seemingly quelled for the time being, this is a pivotal moment for the Occupy movement either to regain its footing, or risk being dismissed as a non-factor in the national dialogue.

"They lost relevance a little bit. A lot of people felt like it wasn't going anywhere," says filmmaker Emil Chiaberi, who wrote, produced and directed "Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal," a documentary that explores the motivations — and extremes — of protest movements that predated Occupy Wall Street or its conservative twin, the tea party.

"This whole idea of let's just protest the corporate greed — yeah, but what are you trying to accomplish?" Chiaberi adds. "How are you going to affect change?"

Primarily, the group hopes to get noticed again simply by getting busy.

Though Occupiers have held small demonstrations this Spring around the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday's May Day effort marks the year's first coordinated nationwide event.

In New York, events include a kickoff at 8 am in Bryant Park of a "Pop-Up Occupation," followed by a Free University in Madison Square Park at 10 am. At 2 pm, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello leads a march from Bryant Park to Union Square.

Later in the day, there will be a Solidarity Rally in Union Square at 4, followed at 5:30 pm by another march "into the heart of corporate corruption on Wall Street," according to the maydayncy.org Web site.

Similar events last year drew heavy media coverage but not always huge crowds. Weekend gatherings tended to be more raucous and well-attended, while weekday protests, such as the Upper East Side march in front of several Wall Street kingpins' homes, attracted noisy but relatively small crowds.

Occupiers often complained about how the mainstream media covered their protests, focusing more on arrests and uproar than the actual message being conveyed.

A group of alternative media outlets has bonded this year to make sure the OWS message is heard without distortion.

"We were worried that corporate media tends to focus on arrests, on police action, on violence, because it makes really great TV," says Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, a spokeswoman for "Media for the 99 Percent," a group that has coined a popular OWS motto to demonstrate the type of coverage it plans. OWS claims it represents the 99 percent of Americans not in the ruling class.

"We will be tracking arrests, but our interest is really in understanding why these protests are happening now and what they're trying to accomplish," she says. "When you have hundreds of people, maybe thousands of people, who are volunteering their own time to be a part of a protest movement, who are willing to camp outside, who are willing to attend mind-numbing General Assemblies, for hours on end — we want to understand why people are doing that."

The media group entails indie outlets like Yes! Magazine and AlterNet, as well as more recognizable names like The Nation and Mother Jones.

Kaiser said the outlets are undeterred by the notion that adopting the "99 Percent" moniker might betray a bias of their own.

"The difference isn't that we're taking a side, the difference is we can offer more perceptive coverage because we are more interested in the context," she said. "The one place where we are very sympathetic with Occupy is, honestly, we feel that we're fighting a battle against corporate media."

OWS also will face some other constraints with which it is well familiar — the New York Stock Exchange is planning stepped-up security, while the city police department also is prepared to make sure the protesters don't get out of hand.

More than that, though, the movement confronts the challenge of making sure its message doesn't get lost. While the OWS message that Wall Street has damaged the national economy through reckless greed certainly garners sympathy, OWS often is faulted for offering little alternative.

"No one even thinks about asking the question as to why every country in the world protects its banking system," banking analyst Dick Bove of Rochdale Securities said. "The answer, of course, is because the banking system holds the key to the health of middle to small business and the people they employ."

May Day, then, provides both an opportunity and a challenge for OWS to show it still matters.

"Even if the movement itself is losing relevance, what's relevant are the feelings, emotions and concepts that brought those people together in the first place," says Chiaberi, the filmmaker. "If Occupy Wall Street dissipates or loses relevance, something else inevitably will appear in its stead. I hope it will morph into something more organized."

URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/47233587/

MSNBC at it again

Stupidity masquerading as journalism.



The picture that she is talking about is here:
http://weaselzippers.us/2012/01/27/msnbc-analyst-compares-jan-brewers-confrontation-with-obama-to-segregation-era-racist-screaming-at-black-kids/

OWS and its liberal democrat assocation

For any idiot who claims that OWS is not aligned with any political party, the association of moveon.org with OWS shows that OWS is lying.

How Occupy Co-Opted MoveOn.org

The 99% Spring campaign trains gray-haired progressives to ditch their internet petitions and take to the streets.

By Josh Harkinson | Fri Apr. 13, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

---

If you're one of the millions of people who get emails from MoveOn.org [1], then you've probably heard of the "99% Spring." Far from another clickable internet petition, it is possibly the largest attempt ever to train people in nonviolent protest techniques. Some Occupy types have criticized the effort as a scheme by Democratic operatives to co-opt their movement [2]. But the reality is probably the opposite: It seems that America's best-known progressive fundraising organization is now taking its cues from Occupy Wall Street.

I didn't know what to think of the 99% Spring [3] until I stopped by a three-hour training session—one of more than 900 being held nationwide this week—at a Unitarian church in San Francisco. My presumption was that the 60 or so gray-haired attendees would be interested in supporting Democratic candidates—after all, the event was cosponsored by the Progressive Democrats of San Francisco—but many seemed just as disillusioned with electoral politics as the folks who took over New York City's Zuccotti Park this past fall. "I believed Obama when he said he would change things and he didn't, so I quit the Democratic Party," said one middle-aged MoveOn member who asked that I not use her name. She went on to talk about about how "the deck is stacked" and "voting doesn't work anymore." She'd come to the training looking for a new way to get involved.

"It's clear that the sorts of tactics we've engaged in in the past are no longer enough," Justin Ruben, MoveOn's Executive Director, wrote in an email to his staff last week, arguing that the growing corporate influence on policy-making has left the group little choice but to take to the streets. In a subsequent interview with Mother Jones, he added, "We know that whoever wins in November, they are still going to be listening more to the 1 percent than to the rest of us because our political system is completely broken. So we don't have the luxury of not engaging in this kind of action."

"MoveOn needs some co-opting," says 99% Spring trainer David King, "because they got co-opted a few years back."

 

David King, a social worker who led the training I attended, told me he wanted to see MoveOn focus less on electoral politics and more on Occupy-style activism. "MoveOn needs some co-opting," he said, "because they got co-opted a few years back."

The session began with a slick video urging trainees to break into small groups and share their personal stories. Then came a condensed history of American social movements, followed by drills on nonviolent protest strategies. At no point did trainers suggest that their students get involved in specific political actions. "It was a really important piece for me that this wasn't trying to funnel people into one campaign and wasn't trying to funnel people into electoral politics," said Sam Corbin, a veteran member of Occupy Wall Street's Direct Action Working Group who agreed to star in the training video. "When they said we want to talk about 'people power' and making people understand and be comfortable with direct action, they meant it. I am really proud to have been part of it."

Like their Occupy  counterparts, organizers of 99% Spring are loath to admit that anyone is leading the effort.

 

Over the past six weeks, the 99% Spring has gone from an idea batted around on lefty email lists to a full-bore collaboration between dozens of activist groups, who, just like Occupy Wall Street, are loath to admit that any one of them is leading the effort. In addition to MoveOn, the coalition includes most of the nation's largest labor unions, environmental groups like Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network, and grittier Occupy allies like New Bottom Line and the Working Families Party. MoveOn contributed some its staff, access to its 7 million members, and use of its sophisticated web platform, where it will host online trainings next week.

Since fall, MoveOn has struggled to figure out how to ally itself with the Occupy movement. Though it donated tents and sleeping bags during Occupy's Zuccotti Park phase, the movement's radicals still tend to write off the group as an arm of the Democratic Party. At a December gathering of Occupy groups in DC, a tearful MoveOn council member from Connecticut complained that she'd been getting emails from people in her state "that we are not welcome at the Occupies there."
While tensions remain, the 99% Spring might be a more natural way for MoveOn and similar groups to make friends with Occupy. Ruben says the coalition will eventually connect its trainees with Occupy-friendly actions such as protests at corporate shareholder meetings, defenses of foreclosed homes, and campaigns that encourage people to switch to credit unions over big banks. But it won't recruit them to work on elections, despite what is likely to be a nail-biter presidential race.
Not that MoveOn's participation in the effort will hurt its everyday electoral efforts. Ruben points to the role of Occupy in the GOP primaries, where none other than Newt Gingrich attacked Mitt Romney as a heartless capitalist. "The power of a relatively small group of people to shine a light on these issues that the whole political class would rather ignore just by virtue of their bravery and their moral clarity and willingness to put their bodies on the line—that's always how justice is moved forward in America," he says. "It's on us to figure out how to support it in every way we can."

"Are we going to stray out of our comfort zones and take some direct action together?" coaxed an elderly woman.

 

Of course, MoveOn could have simply directed its members toward their local Occupy groups, which have been holding direct action trainings from the start (see "Meet Professor Occupy [4]," my profile of activist Lisa Fithian), but Ruben felt that the 99% Spring needed to move beyond Occupy Wall Street if it wanted to train 100,000 people in a couple of weeks time. Aiming large also allowed the coalition to attract people who might feel uncomfortable sucking tear gas fumes—like a 72-year-old retired car salesman I met at the San Francisco training, who showed up to see whether he should "spend my time volunteering for election stuff, or do this sort of thing."

As the training session wrapped up, the facilitators urged anyone involved in organizing protests to speak up. One attendee referred the crowd to the websites of Occupy Oakland, Occupy San Francisco, and even Occupy Monsanto. May Day—a national day of action that Occupy has planned for May 1—was mentioned repeatedly. There were also rallies in support of postal workers and against Wells Fargo. Nobody said a word about gathering signatures or canvassing for candidates.

"It's fine that we have MoveOn.org and we can press a button and sign a petition, but that isn't going to get the job done," an elderly woman in a red sweater told the crowd. "So we are here. And the real question is: What are we going to do when we leave here tonight? Are we going to stray out of our comfort zones and take some direct action together—or not?"

---

Source URL: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/99-spring-moveon-occupy-wall-street

New Tone alert: Libs attack Ann Romney as ‘cunt,’ ‘bitch,’ ‘whore’

http://twitchy.com/2012/04/12/new-tone-alert-libs-attack-ann-romney-as-cunt-bitch-whore/

Barry: 'We’ve got to do something about these Asians coming in'

http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2012/04/barry-we%E2%80%99ve-got-do-something-about-these-asians-coming/448886

Funny poke at liberal hypocracy

RNC Goes For Jugular In New ‘Obama’s War On Women’ Ad
http://www.mediaite.com/online/rnc-goes-for-jugular-in-new-obamas-war-on-women-ad/

National Debt has increased more under Obama than under Bush

I have no idea why people complain about "Obama is a Muslim!"...which I think is horse shit...when you just need economic metrics to show what a debacle Obama is.

(CBS News) The National Debt has now increased more during President Obama's three years and two months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency.

The Debt rose $4.899 trillion during the two terms of the Bush presidency. It has now gone up $4.939 trillion since President Obama took office.

The latest posting from the Bureau of Public Debt at the Treasury Department shows the National Debt now stands at $15.566 trillion. It was $10.626 trillion on President Bush's last day in office, which coincided with President Obama's first day.

The National Debt also now exceeds 100% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, the total value of goods and services.

Mr. Obama has been quick to blame his predecessor for the soaring Debt, saying Mr. Bush paid for two wars and a Medicare prescription drug program with borrowed funds.

The federal budget sent to Congress last month by Mr. Obama, projects the National Debt will continue to rise as far as the eye can see. The budget shows the Debt hitting $16.3 trillion in 2012, $17.5 trillion in 2013 and $25.9 trillion in 2022.

Federal budget records show the National Debt once topped 121% of GDP at the end of World War II. The Debt that year, 1946, was, by today's standards, a mere $270 billion dollars.

Mr. Obama doesn't mention the National Debt much, though he does want to be seen trying to reduce the annual budget deficit, though it's topped a trillion dollars for four years now.

As part of his "Win the Future" program, Mr. Obama called for "taking responsibility for our deficits, by cutting wasteful, excessive spending wherever we find it."

His latest budget projects a $1.3 trillion deficit this year declining to $901 billion in 2012, and then annual deficits in the range of $500 billion to $700 billion in the 10 years to come.

If Mr. Obama wins re-election, and his budget projections prove accurate, the National Debt will top $20 trillion in 2016, the final year of his second term. That would mean the Debt increased by 87 percent, or $9.34 trillion, during his two terms.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57400369-503544/national-debt-has-increased-more-under-obama-than-under-bush/

Hope & Change koolaid must have gotten Sour!

Man Pleads Guilty to Threatening Arpaio

PHOENIX - A man described as a President Barack Obama fanatic pleads guilty to threatening to kill Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Adam Eugene Cox appeared in a Tennessee courtroom on Wednesday.

He was arrested last year for a death threat that began on the Internet.

Cox threatened to kill the sheriff and his family.

Cox will not go to jail. He was sentenced to supervised probation.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/justice/man-pleads-guilty-to-threatening-arpaio-03142012

George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/22/george-soros-on-the-coming-u-s-class-war.htmlhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

‘God’-awful OWS mob steals sacred item from church

By CANDICE M. GIOVE

Posted: 1:23 AM, January 22, 2012

There’s no longer room at the inn at a Manhattan church that’s sheltering Occupy Wall Streeters after a holy vessel disappeared from the altar last week.

When the Rev. Bob Brashear prepared for Sunday services at West Park Presbyterian Church on West 86th Street, he noticed parts of the bronze baptismal font were gone.

In a fire-and-brimstone message to occupiers later that day, he thundered, “It was like pissing on the 99 percent.”

In Brooklyn, at another church housing OWS protesters, an occupier urinated on a cross, according to Rabbi Chaim Gruber, who has angrily abandoned the OWS movement.

In a letter last week to OWS obtained by The Post, the rabbi fumed, “The Park Slope church housing occupiers was desecrated when an occupier peed inside the building and the pee came into contact with a cross.”

The pastor of the church did not return calls.

At West Park, Rev. Brashear walked into the church for a morning service to find the 18-inch-diameter bronze basin and lid missing from the baptismal font’s 800-pound base. Holy water — straight from the River Jordan — had been poured from the missing basin insert into the base’s bowl.

About 60 occupiers had rolled out their sleeping bags between the pews the night before as part of their evening ritual, Rev. Brashear recalled. When they returned to the church later, following the pastor’s discovery, he issued a stern warning: “You have 24 hours to find it and to come up with an amends and to come up with a plan. ‘I’m sorry and it won’t happen again’ won’t work,” he scolded.

The artifact vanished just three weeks after a $2,400 Apple MacBook vanished from Brashear’s office. He told the occupiers that even when the 100-year-old Upper West Side church extended help to addicts during the 1980s drug scourge, no visitors touched its $12,500 sacramental instrument.

“Not even crackheads messed with that,” he said.

The pastor and a worshipper finally found the missing basin tossed into a small room connected to the church. The lid is still missing. The pastor has given protesters two weeks to vacate the church.

cgiove@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/god_awful_ows_mob_VqPjFDW0n234NhA9hxsxnL

Occupy Leader Wade Varner Exposes Himself at "Family Friendly Event"

http://www.thoughtsfromaconservativemom.com/?p=34557

Columbia offers ‘Occupy 101’

By ANNIE KARNI

Last Updated: 8:45 AM, January 1, 2012

Posted: 12:43 AM, January 1, 2012

Does getting pepper-sprayed count as extra credit?

Columbia University is offering a new course on Occupy Wall Street next semester — sending upperclassmen and grad students into the field for full course credit.

The class is taught by Dr. Hannah Appel, who boasts about her nights camped out in Zuccotti Park.

As many as 30 students will be expected to get involved in ongoing OWS projects outside the classroom, the syllabus says.

The class will be in the anthropology department and called “Occupy the Field: Global Finance, Inequality, Social Movement.” It will be divided between seminars at the Morningside Heights campus and fieldwork.

On her blog, Appel defends OWS, arguing that “it is important to push back against the rhetoric of ‘disorganization’ or ‘a movement without a message’ coming from left, right and center.”

Addressing the safety risks of fieldwork among protesters, she writes on the syllabus, “I can say with absolute certainty that there is no foreseeable risk in teaching this as a field-base class.”

She said her allegiance won’t keep her from being an objective teacher.

“Inevitably, my experience will color the way I teach, but I feel equipped to teach objectively,” Appel told The Post. “It’s best to be critical of the things we hold most sacred.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/columbia_offers_occupy_PKetTw1QSVVk23BllNN0DL

The Failed Chevy Volt: A Microcosm of Obama’s Failed Presidency

http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/12/22/the-failed-chevy-volt-a-microcosm-of-obamas-failed-presidency/

AWR Hawkins
The Failed Chevy Volt: A Microcosm of Obama’s Failed Presidency
by AWR Hawkins

If we judge Barack Obama by his own promises, we must conclude that he has failed miserably. After all, it was he—not others in his stead—who spent the 2008 campaign promising to “provide care for the sick and good jobs for the jobless,” blah, blah, blah. It was he who used rhetoric so far removed from reality that some people actually thought Obama’s election would mark the end of every conceivable worry a human could possess. People grounded in reality knew this wasn’t true, but many among us who were already accustomed to living off the mercy of the government were easily fooled.

Think about it this way:

What good has Obama’s stimulus package done? Our national unemployment is ranging between 8.6 & 9.1%, and it only appears that low because those keeping tabs on it stopped counting people who have given up on ever finding jobs. Moreover, because of the Democrat’s tax and spend approach, our national debt is now at $15, 182,756,264,288.80, and Obama’s plan to change this is “more EPA, more NLRB, more Dodd-Frank, and more Obamacare.”

As Larry Kudlow put it: “Obama’s economic policies have failed.”

And if you want a microcosm of Obama’s failed presidency, of his ridiculous approach to economic policy, look no further than the Chevy Volt. The sticker price on a Volt is $40,000, but the cars are so technologically challenged that each one is subsidized to the tune of approximately $250,000. Now that’s Obama-nomics in a nutshell: Brag about your car company’s $40,000 electric car, but never mention that the $40,000 price tag costs tax payers a quarter of a million dollars per car.

To date, Obama has spent approximately $3,000,000,000.00 subsidizing Volts. And what have the American people gotten in return? A car that only a handful of people want and that has a tendency to catch on fire while sitting in the garages of the few purchasers Obama’s been able to scrounge up.

No wonder this guy has our economy in the tank.

And it gets worse. Apart from the asinine price per vehicle, the Chevy Volt is an electric car with a range of 30 miles (and that’s if you’re driving downhill). Actual range is closer to 25 miles or so. What good is a car that goes 30 miles? That’s like hunting with a gun that shoots 2 feet or boarding a cruise ship that never leaves dock. What’s the point? (To be fair, the Volt has a gasoline engine that kicks in once the charge is gone, and on the gas engine it can travel another 300 miles.)

Yet I don’t know about you, but a car that travels 300 miles on gasoline and only 25 miles on electricity sounds more like a fossil fuel vehicle than an electric one to me. And that’s precisely why it’s the perfect microcosm of Obama’s presidency. It’s all show, no substance. It’s sentimental mumbo jumbo about hope and change divorced from any real way to fix economies or create jobs or stop the dollar from imploding.

If GM were honest, their advertisement for the car would feature a photo of a Volt captioned thus:

The Chevy Volt: an electric car that runs on gasoline, proudly brought to you by Barack Obama, a president who knows even less about car manufacturing that he does about economics.

Quality journalism: MSNBC

A fine example of how MSNBC maintains it lack of integrity, lousy ratings, and being some kind of pathetic joke.

MSNBC Likens Romney To The KKK For Saying "Keep America American"

Occupy DC violence

Man Arrested For Child Porn ‘No Longer Welcome’ At Occupy Chicago

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/11/16/man-arrested-for-child-porn-no-longer-welcome-at-occupy-chicago/

OWS calling for Molotov cocktail use

“No more talking. They’ve got guns, we’ve got bottles. They’ve got bricks, we’ve got rocks…in a few days you’re going to see what a Molotov cocktail can do to Macy’s.”



OWS Protesters Calling For ‘Day Of Action’ Following Loss Of Camp In Zuccotti Park
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/11/16/ows-protesters-calling-for-day-of-action-following-loss-of-camp-in-zuccotti-park/

City Claims Occupy Wall Street Protesters Were Stockpiling Weapons, Fights Court Order To Reopen Park

http://gothamist.com/2011/11/15/city_claims_occupy_wall_street_prot.php

#Occupy Protester Defecates In Public Street

#OccupyOakland Vandalizes Whole Foods Store

Two police officers attacked during Occupy SF march

http://www.kron4.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=2280

OWS...attracting the quality people

Woman Raped at Occupy Philadelphia
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/11/woman-raped-at-occupy-philadelphia/

More OWS fun...

Occupy Oakland: Man shot to death near camp
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/10/BAAI1LTA0L.DTL#ixzz1dQdrBod4

Future of Occupy Burlington encampment uncertain after police clear City Hall Park to investigate man's death
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20111110/NEWS02/111110019/Breaking-Police-respond-shooting-City-Hall-Park?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|FRONTPAGE

Protesters Coming Down With the "Zuccotti Lung"
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Zuccotti-Lung-Park-Sickness-Demonstrators-Protesters-Illness-133669113.html?dr

Tuberculosis Breaks Out At Occupy Atlanta’s Base
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2011/11/10/tuberculosis-breaks-out-at-occupy-atlantas-base/

Man found dead in Pioneer Park, Occupy SLC ordered to leave both camps
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1070&sid=18042323&title=man-found-dead-in-tent-at-pioneer-park

2 deaths at Occupy protests in Calif. and Vermont

By TERRY COLLINS

The Associated Press
10:11 a.m. Friday, November 11, 2011

OAKLAND, Calif. — Police are investigating a fatal shooting just outside the Occupy Oakland encampment in Northern California and the apparent suicide of a military veteran at an Occupy encampment in Vermont's largest city.

The Oakland killing is further straining relations between local officials and anti-Wall Street protesters. A preliminary investigation into the gunfire Thursday that left a man dead suggests it resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the camp on a plaza in front of Oakland's City Hall, police Chief Howard Jordan said.

Investigators do not yet know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, but they are looking into reports that some protest participants tried to break up the altercation, Jordan said.

Burlington, Vt., police said preliminary investigations show a 35-year-old military veteran fatally shot himself in the head Thursday at an Occupy Wall Street encampment. The name of the Chittenden County man is being withheld because not all of his family has been notified.

He shot himself inside a tent in City Hall Park. Mike Noble, a spokesman for the Fletcher Allen Health Care hospital in Burlington, confirmed that the man had died. Noble said he could provide no other details.

Deputy Chief Andi Higbee in Burlington told reporters the shooting raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue.

"Our responsibility is to keep the public safe. When there is a discharge of a firearm in a public place like this it's good cause to be concerned, greatly concerned," Higbee said.

That's also the feeling with some people in Oakland.

With opinions about the ongoing demonstration and its effect on the city becoming more divided in recent days, supporters and opponents immediately reacted to the homicide — the city's 101st this year.

Camp organizers said the attack was unrelated to their activities, while city and business leaders cited the death as proof that the camp itself either bred crime or drained law enforcement resources.

Mayor Jean Quan, who has been criticized by residents on both sides for issuing mixed signals about the local government's willingness to tolerate the camp, issued a statement Thursday calling for the camp to shut down.

"Tonight's incident underscores the reason why the encampment must end. The risks are too great," Quan said. "We need to return (police) resources to addressing violence throughout the city. It's time for the encampment to end. Camping is a tactic, not a solution."

For their part, protest leaders said the shooting involved outsiders and was only connected to their ongoing protest of U.S. financial institutions to the extent that poverty breeds violence.

"This one heinous immoral crime should not overshadow all of the good deeds, positive energy and the overall goals that the movement is attempting to establish," Khalid Shakur, 43, who has a tent in the encampment, said.

Before the shooting, protesters were planning to have a party to commemorate the encampment's one-month anniversary with music, dancing, a slide show and donated cakes. Instead, they opened a microphone for participants to talk about where the movement is headed.

"It's not a celebration anymore, but a period of reflection," said Leo Ritz-Barr, a member of Occupy Oakland's events committee.

John Lucas, 52, part of an Occupy Oakland medic team, said a fistfight involving several men preceded the gunfire.

"Several people went after one guy, and the group got larger, and they beat him and he ran," Lucas said. "There were six or seven shots. Everyone starts running ... and there was another shot."

Lucas said he and other medics rushed to the wounded man and tried to tend to him until paramedics arrived.

"He was not breathing and there was no heartbeat," he said. "We started CPR."

Jordan said the victim was hit by one bullet and he was pronounced dead at a hospital.

No suspects have been identified, said Jordan, who asked people participating in the protest who may have taken photographs or video that captured the shooting to contact authorities.

The violence came a day after a group of Oakland city and business leaders held a news conference demanding the removal of the encampment, saying it has hurt downtown businesses and has continued to pose safety concerns.

Councilman Larry Reid said that even if the men involved in the slaying were not regular participants in Occupy Oakland, the large crowds and attention the protest has drawn also has invited weapons and brawls. The camp, which has about 180 tents, sits in the middle of the plaza and is ringed by a transit station and ground-floor shops.

"We did have a shooting (near the plaza) once before, a couple shootings around some nightclubs but not right here in front of City Hall because this is attracting a totally different element to our downtown area," Reid said. "This is a public space, and people have a right to enjoy it."

Shake Anderson, an Occupy Oakland organizer who has slept at the camp since it was erected exactly a month ago, said the man who was shot could not be associated with the protest because he did not recognize him. Just before the shooting, a group of strangers ran into the encampment as if they were looking for someone, Anderson said.

"The person on the ground was not part of the occupation," Anderson said.

Evan Coyne Maloney quizzes the Occupy Wall Street protesters at Zuccotti Park

Occupiers terrorize us: eatery

I think one needs to consider the 2nd amendment right to protect one's self and property.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/occupiers_terrorize_us_eatery_o4dKzxi3n03WyJWAJu4AhO

OWS...when they don't get their free stuff...

SoCal Street Cart Vendors Hurting After ‘Occupy’ Group Splatters Blood, Urine
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/11/07/socal-street-cart-vendors-hurting-after-occupy-group-splatters-blood-urine

More OWS fun

Street clashes, arrests as bank leader speaks

Occupy Oakland Protesters Tear Gassed by Police

Riot police fire projectiles, arrest dozens of Occupy Oakland protesters

Occupy Oakland General Strike Shuts Down Port; Anarchists ‘Bent On Creating Problems’

Peaceful Occupy protests degenerate into chaos

This was always a matter if when, not if.

By TERENCE CHEA, LISA LEFF and TERRY COLLINS

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - A day of demonstrations in Oakland that began as a significant step toward expanding the political and economic influence of the Occupy Wall Street movement, ended with police in riot gear arresting dozens of protesters who had marched through downtown to break into a vacant building, shattering windows, spraying graffiti and setting fires along the way.

"We go from having a peaceful movement to now just chaos," said protester Monique Agnew, 40.

The far-flung movement of protesters challenging the world's economic systems and distribution of wealth has gained momentum in recent weeks, capturing the world's attention by shutting down one of the nation's busiest shipping ports toward the end of a daylong "general strike" that prompted solidarity rallies across the U.S.

About 3,000 people converged on the Port of Oakland, the nation's fifth-busiest harbor, in a nearly five-hour protest Wednesday, swarming the area and blocking exits and streets with illegally parked vehicles and hastily-erected, chain-link fences.

Port officials said they were forced to cease maritime operations, citing concerns for workers' safety. They said in a statement they hope to resume operations Thursday "and that Port workers will be allowed to get to their jobs without incident. Continued missed shifts represent economic hardship for maritime workers, truckers, and their families, as well as lost jobs and lost tax revenue for our region."

Supporters in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and elsewhere staged smaller-scale demonstrations; each group saying its protest was a show of support for the Oakland movement, which became a rallying point when an Iraq War veteran was seriously injured in a clash with police last week.

The larger Occupy movement has yet to coalesce into an organized association and until the port shut down had largely been limited scattershot marches, rallies and tent encampments since it began in September.

Organizers in Oakland had viewed the day as a significant victory. Police said that about 7,000 people participated in demonstrations throughout the day that were peaceful except for a few incidents of vandalism.

One of the protest leaders, Boots Riley, touted the day as a success, saying "we put together an ideological principle that the mainstream media wouldn't talk about two months ago."

His comments came before a group of demonstrators moved to break into the Travelers Aid building in order to, as some shouting protesters put it, "reclaim the building for the people."

Riley, whose anti-capitalist views are well-documented, considered the port shut down particularly significant for organizers who targeted it in an effort to stop the "flow of capital." The port sends goods primarily to Asia, including wine as well as rice, fruits and nuts, and handles imported electronics, apparel and manufacturing equipment, mostly from Asia, as well as cars and parts from Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai. An accounting of the financial toll from the shutdown was not immediately available.

The potential for the chaos that ultimately erupted was not something Riley wanted to even consider.

"If they do that after all this ..." He paused, then added, "They're smarter than that."

But the peace that abided throughout the day, did not last into the night.

Occupy protesters voicing anger over a budget trim that forced the closure of a homeless aid program converged on the empty building where it had been housed. They blocked off city streets with Dumpsters and other large trash bins, starting bonfires that leapt 15-feet in the air.

City officials released a statement describing the spasm of unrest.

"Oakland Police responded to a late night call that protesters had broken into and occupied a downtown building and set several simultaneous fires," the statement read. "The protesters began hurling rocks, explosives, bottles, and flaming objects at responding officers. Several private and municipal buildings sustained heavy vandalism. Dozens of protesters wielding shields were surrounded and arrested."

Protesters reported running from several rounds of tear gas and bright flashes and deafening pops that some thought were caused by "flash bang" grenades. Fire crews arrived and suppressed the flames.

Meanwhile, protesters and police faced off for the rest of the night in an uneasy standoff.

In Philadelphia, protesters were arrested earlier Wednesday as they held a sit-in at the headquarters of cable giant Comcast

In New York, about 100 military veterans marched in uniform and stopped in front of the New York Stock Exchange, standing in loose formation as police officers on scooters separated them from the entrance. On the other side was a lineup of NYPD horses carrying officers with nightsticks.

"We are marching to express support for our brother, (Iraq war veteran) Scott Olsen, who was injured in Oakland," said Jerry Bordeleau, a former Army specialist who served in Iraq through 2009.

The veterans were also angry that returned from war to find few job prospects.

"Wall Street corporations have played a big role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Bordeleau, now a college student. He said private contractors have reaped big profits in those countries.

In Boston, college students and union workers marched on Bank of America offices, the Harvard Club and the Statehouse to protest the nation's burgeoning student debt crisis.

They say total outstanding student loans exceed credit card debt, increase by $1 million every six minutes and will reach $1 trillion this year, potentially undermining the economy.

"There are so many students that are trying to get jobs and go on with their lives," said Sarvenaz Asasy of Boston, who joined the march after recently graduating with a master's degree and $60,000 in loan debt. "They've educated themselves and there are no jobs and we're paying tons of student loans. For what?"

And among the other protests in Oakland, parents and their kids, some in strollers, joined in by forming a "children's brigade."

"There's absolutely something wrong with the system," said Jessica Medina, a single mother who attends school part time and works at an Oakland cafe. "We need to change that."

What We Saw at the Occupy Wall Street Protest

One of the more articulate videos...

Occupy Wall Street: Seattle - Homeless Women Dance And Strip

Were the Occupy Oakland Protesters Non Violent?

Re-Branded ACORN Paying Homeless To Occupy Wall Street…

NYC arrest records: Many Occupy Wall Street protesters live in luxury

http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/02/nyc-arrest-records-many-occupy-wall-street-protesters-live-in-luxury/#ixzz1cZSflx5R

Man arrested for child sex assault at Occupy Dallas camp

http://www.wfaa.com/news/Occupy-Dallas-man-arrested-for-sexual-assault-133033828.html

Hypocritical carpetbagger strikes again

The last piece of dog shit they need to represent their cause.

Filmmaker Michael Moore rallies Occupy Oakland crowd
http://blog.sfgate.com/inoakland/2011/10/28/filmmaker-michael-moore-rallies-occupy-oakland-crowd/

Message to Oakland PD

Yap yap yap...

OWS Update

Filmmaker Michael Moore rallies Occupy Oakland crowd
http://blog.sfgate.com/inoakland/2011/10/28/filmmaker-michael-moore-rallies-occupy-oakland-crowd/

'Occupy Madison' loses permit due to public masturbation...
http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/occupy-madison-loses-permit-1.2669111#.TqwJj7LZdBk

Woman charged with pimping teen recruited at Occupy NH rally
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20111028/NEWS03/710289961

Report: Fights erupt among Occupy Wall Street protesters
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/10/report-fights-erupt-between-occupy-wall-street-protesters/1

Pair Living With Occupy Boston Protesters Arrested For Selling Heroin

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/10/24/pair-living-with-occupy-boston-protesters-arrested-for-selling-heroin/

barack obama led occupychicago circa 1988

http://biggovernment.com/jpollak/2011/10/25/barack-obama-led-occupychicago-circa-1988/

TSA Advises Feminist Vibrator-Owner: Get Your Freak On

http://www.businessinsider.com/tsa-advises-feminist-vibrator-owner-get-your-freak-on-2011-10

‘Occupy Charlotte’ Kicks Out Leader Credited With Creating Group

http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2011/10/21/occupy-charlotte-kicks-out-leader-credited-with-creating-group/

Zuccotti neighbors: Stop dumping on us

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/zuccotti_neighbors_stop_dumping_mc4A6o0HMOuuvkyb4kIU3J

Occupy Toronto "This Man Was in my Tent Sniffing my Girlfriend’s Feet”

http://mrctv.org/videos/occupy-toronto-man-was-my-tent-sniffing-my-girlfriend%E2%80%99s-feet%E2%80%9D

GOP: Democrats mum on anti-Semitism from Occupy Wall Street protestors

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/188677-gop-dems-mum-on-anti-semitism-from-occupy-wall-street-protestors

Safia Arias of the International Socialist Organization: Occupy, the World!

“We’re here today to protest the last ten years of war and terror and slaughter..." what a loser...

Barney Frank supports protesters, raises Wall St. cash

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66412.html#ixzz1bHelYkDS

"Occupy" Figure Is Wanted Man In Bizarre, Oily Case

Wall Street protester skipped town on Indiana criminal raps
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/bizarre/occupy-wall-street-wanted-man-897430

Who Occupies? A Pollster Surveys the Protesters

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/10/19/who-is-occupying-wall-street-a-pollster-surveys-protester/

The Daily Show Visits 'Occupy Wall Street' And Only Finds Weirdos

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Thieves preying on fellow protesters

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/criminal_occupation_oh3CnKANUqYHrGPCaZaLRK

‘Occupy Cleveland’ Protester Alleges She Was Raped

http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2011/10/18/occupy-cleveland-protester-alleges-she-was-raped/

Seattle Occupier Busted Exposing Himself to Children...

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/132064518.html

Communist Party U.S.A. in Solidarity with Occupy Chicago

Sean Penn Calls Tea Party the ‘Get the N-Word Out of the White House Party’ Which Wants to ‘Lynch’ Obama

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2011/10/15/sean-penn-calls-tea-party-get-n-word-out-white-house-party-which-wants#ixzz1axhD4dbP

Nazis and Communists Throw Their Support Behind Occupy Wall Street Movements

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/10/figures-nazi-party-throws-support-behind-occupy-wall-street-movement/

Occupy Portland Protesters Sing “F*ck the USA”

http://www.verumserum.com/?p=30755

The battle of Wall Street: Violence erupts as police clash with protesters after they force Bloomberg to back down over 'eviction'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2049137/Occupy-Wall-Street-Violence-erupts-police-clash-protesters.html#ixzz1aoko9D7w

Things Are About To Get Real At Occupy Wall Street, As NYPD Prepares To End The Party Tomorrow

http://www.businessinsider.com/here-is-what-could-happen-when-cleaners-go-to-zuccotti-park-tomorrow-2011-10#comment-4e987f88eab8ead461000014#ixzz1amYqzQup

We Have An Arrest At Occupy Wall Street

http://www.businessinsider.com/breaking-we-have-an-arrest-at-occupy-wall-street-2011-10#comment-4e987d9b6bb3f7fa79000005#ixzz1amX4XBDt

Police Arrest Protester at Occupy SD

Police Arrest Protester at Occupy SD
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Police-Arrest-Protesters-at-Occupy-SD-131858208.html

Police make arrests at Westlake protest

Police make arrests at Westlake protest
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016498188_laborrally14m.html

Police make 2 dozen arrests, tear down tents at Occupy Denver protest

Police make 2 dozen arrests, tear down tents at Occupy Denver protest

http://www.kdvr.com/news/politics/kdvr-occupy-denver-protests-put-hickenlooper-hancock-in-a-quandry-20111012,0,1965021.story

Protesters march on Wall St. after park cleanup postponed, get into scuffle with cops

Protesters march on Wall St. after park cleanup postponed, get into scuffle with cops

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/zuccotti_park_cleanup_postponed_7FyMGft7IABwkMxaEW1sYP#ixzz1am3fjeCw

Coast Guard member spit on near Occupy Boston tents

Coast Guard member spit on near Occupy Boston tents

http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/occupy-boston-protesters-spit-on-coast-guard-member-20111013#ixzz1am0Y1CQo

Occupy L.A. Speaker: Violence will be Necessary to Achieve Our Goals

Occupy L.A. Speaker: Violence will be Necessary to Achieve Our Goals
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/10/11/occupy-l-a-speaker-violence-will-be-necessary-to-achieve-our-goals/

NY Times planning to promote “stories from those who identify with or support” the Occupy Wall Street protests

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/hearing-from-the-99-percent/?smid=tw-nytimes

Aimless Obama walks alone

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/aimless_obama_walks_alone_OUgoMTkORRJioLl7B6ZYmN

Middle-Aged Wall Street Protester Still Living With His Parents

Middle-Aged Wall Street Protester Still Living With His Parents
http://www.thedailyrash.com/many-middle-aged-wall-street-protesters-still-living-with-their-parents

Wall Street Protesters Should Instead Focus on the Federal Reserve

http://www.houstonfreethinkers.com/news-stories/economy/1621-wall-street-protesters-should-instead-focus-on-the-federal-reserve.htmlhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

"Occupy" Protest violence

Occupy Sacramento
No clear message, arrests.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/10/07/some-%E2%80%98occupy-sacramento%E2%80%99-protesters-lash-out-at-questions/

Violent in NY
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/10/06/ochttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcupy-wall-street-protesters-plan-rally-across-the-hudson/

RT footage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQy-psNy2L4

US protesters clash with guards at Washington museum
http://news.yahoo.com/us-protesters-clash-guards-washington-museum-225350979.html

Stinking up Wall Street: Protesters accused of living in filth as shocking pictures show one demonstrator defecating on a POLICE CAR
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifarticle-2046586/Occupy-Wall-Street-Shocking-photos-protester-defecating-POLICE-CAR.html

Occupy Atlanta Silences Civil Rights Hero John Lewis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZlp3eGMNI

*Countdown with Keith ...: Michael Moore on support of Occupy Wall Street protest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrFQs5X-I1Y&feature=related

The Agenda - Grinding America Down

The Obama presidency, by the numbers

The Obama presidency, by the numbers

Obama Supporters "Occupy" DC

NY Times, 9/11 Anniversary and means for a partisan snipe

All I can say is wow...this vile little America hating piece of dog shit cannot keep his cowardly liberal opinions to himself. Any other day, just not this one.

The Years of Shame
By Paul Krugman

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?

Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. Te atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.

I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/the-years-of-shame/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto

Civil Discourse

Hoffa Threatens GOP At Obama Event: "Take These Son Of Bitches Out"

Official response...

FOX & Friends Showdown: Wasserman Schultz Avoids Hoffa Question

Will Barack Obama condemn Joe Biden and Jimmy Hoffa for calling Republicans 'barbarians' and 'son of a bitches'

White House Declines To Comment On Union Leader’s Anti-Tea Party Rhetoric At Labor Day Rally

I would not really be a big deal, but the problem is Dems whine about the tone of civil discourse coming from the tea party.

What Happened to Obama? Absolutely Nothing.

Great WSJ write up on what an empty suit Obama is.

What Happened to Obama? Absolutely Nothing.
He is still the same anti-American leftist he was before becoming our president.

By NORMAN PODHORETZ

It's open season on President Obama. Which is to say that the usual suspects on the right (among whom I include myself) are increasingly being joined in attacking him by erstwhile worshipers on the left. Even before the S&P downgrade, there were reports of Democrats lamenting that Hillary Clinton had lost to him in 2008. Some were comparing him not, as most of them originally had, to Lincoln and Roosevelt but to the hapless Jimmy Carter. There was even talk of finding a candidate to stage a primary run against him. But since the downgrade, more and more liberal pundits have been deserting what they clearly fear is a sinking ship.

Here, for example, from the Washington Post, is Richard Cohen: "He is the very personification of cognitive dissonance—the gap between what we (especially liberals) expected of the first serious African American presidential candidate and the man he in fact is." More amazingly yet Mr. Cohen goes on to say of Mr. Obama, who not long ago was almost universally hailed as the greatest orator since Pericles, that he lacks even "the rhetorical qualities of the old-time black politicians." And to compound the amazement, Mr. Cohen tells us that he cannot even "recall a soaring passage from a speech."

Overseas it is the same refrain. Everywhere in the world, we read in Germany's Der Spiegel, not only are the hopes ignited by Mr. Obama being dashed, but his "weakness is a problem for the entire global economy."

In short, the spell that Mr. Obama once cast—a spell so powerful that instead of ridiculing him when he boasted that he would cause "the oceans to stop rising and the planet to heal," all of liberaldom fell into a delirious swoon—has now been broken by its traumatic realization that he is neither the "god" Newsweek in all seriousness declared him to be nor even a messianic deliverer.

Hence the question on every lip is—as the title of a much quoted article in the New York Times by Drew Westen of Emory University puts it— "What Happened to Obama?" Attacking from the left, Mr. Westen charges that President Obama has been conciliatory when he should have been aggressively pounding away at all the evildoers on the right.

Of course, unlike Mr. Westen, we villainous conservatives do not see Mr. Obama as conciliatory or as "a president who either does not know what he believes or is willing to take whatever position he thinks will lead to his re-election." On the contrary, we see him as a president who knows all too well what he believes. Furthermore, what Mr. Westen regards as an opportunistic appeal to the center we interpret as a tactic calculated to obfuscate his unshakable strategic objective, which is to turn this country into a European-style social democracy while diminishing the leading role it has played in the world since the end of World War II. The Democrats have persistently denied that these are Mr. Obama's goals, but they have only been able to do so by ignoring or dismissing what Mr. Obama himself, in a rare moment of candor, promised at the tail end of his run for the presidency: "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."

This statement, coming on top of his association with radicals like Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright and Rashid Khalidi, definitively revealed to all who were not wilfully blinding themselves that Mr. Obama was a genuine product of the political culture that had its birth among a marginal group of leftists in the early 1960s and that by the end of the decade had spread metastatically to the universities, the mainstream media, the mainline churches, and the entertainment industry. Like their communist ancestors of the 1930s, the leftist radicals of the '60s were convinced that the United States was so rotten that only a revolution could save it.

But whereas the communists had in their delusional vision of the Soviet Union a model of the kind of society that would replace the one they were bent on destroying, the new leftists only knew what they were against: America, or Amerika as they spelled it to suggest its kinship to Nazi Germany. Thanks, however, to the unmasking of the Soviet Union as a totalitarian nightmare, they did not know what they were for. Yet once they had pulled off the incredible feat of taking over the Democratic Party behind the presidential candidacy of George McGovern in 1972, they dropped the vain hope of a revolution, and in the social-democratic system most fully developed in Sweden they found an alternative to American capitalism that had a realistic possibility of being achieved through gradual political reform.

Despite Mr. McGovern's defeat by Richard Nixon in a landslide, the leftists remained a powerful force within the Democratic Party, but for the next three decades the electoral exigencies within which they had chosen to operate prevented them from getting their own man nominated. Thus, not one of the six Democratic presidential candidates who followed Mr. McGovern came out of the party's left wing, and when Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton (the only two of the six who won) tried each in his own way to govern in its spirit, their policies were rejected by the American immune system. It was only with the advent of Barack Obama that the leftists at long last succeeded in nominating one of their own.

To be sure, no white candidate who had close associations with an outspoken hater of America like Jeremiah Wright and an unrepentant terrorist like Bill Ayers would have lasted a single day. But because Mr. Obama was black, and therefore entitled in the eyes of liberaldom to have hung out with protesters against various American injustices, even if they were a bit extreme, he was given a pass. And in any case, what did such ancient history matter when he was also articulate and elegant and (as he himself had said) "non-threatening," all of which gave him a fighting chance to become the first black president and thereby to lay the curse of racism to rest?

And so it came about that a faithful scion of the political culture of the '60s left is now sitting in the White House and doing everything in his power to effect the fundamental transformation of America to which that culture was dedicated and to which he has pledged his own personal allegiance.

I disagree with those of my fellow conservatives who maintain that Mr. Obama is indifferent to "the best interests of the United States" (Thomas Sowell) and is "purposely" out to harm America (Rush Limbaugh). In my opinion, he imagines that he is helping America to repent of its many sins and to become a different and better country.

But I emphatically agree with Messrs. Limbaugh and Sowell about this president's attitude toward America as it exists and as the Founding Fathers intended it. That is why my own answer to the question, "What Happened to Obama?" is that nothing happened to him. He is still the same anti-American leftist he was before becoming our president, and it is this rather than inexperience or incompetence or weakness or stupidity that accounts for the richly deserved failure both at home and abroad of the policies stemming from that reprehensible cast of mind.

Wolf and Sheep analogy...

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." Benjamin Franklin, 1759

Democracy: Two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

Representative democracy: Two thousand wolves and one thousand sheep electing two wolves and a sheep who vote on what to have for dinner.

Constitutional Republic: Two thousand wolves and one thousand sheep electing two wolves and a sheep who vote on what to have for dinner, but are restricted by a Constitution that says they cannot eat sheep. The Supreme Court then votes 5 wolves to 4 sheep that mutton does not count as sheep.

Liberty: Well-armed sheep contesting the above votes.

Bat $%@! crazy Al Gore

Al Gore is threatened because he has entered the level of mediocrity. Also, one must remember that Al Gore's FATHER...Albert Gore, Sr...was one of the few who voted AGAINST the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Complete hypocritical idiot.

Gore: Global warming skeptics are this generation’s racists

Jon Stewart: Why is Everyone Still Ignoring Ron Paul?

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2011/08/jon-stewart-ron-paul/41311/

Obama clashes with Tea Party member

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/08/obama-clashes-with-tea-party-member/1

Felonious Munk Presents: Stop It B! OBAMA PAY YOUR &*%$#% BILLS

I laughed at this one, so true...so entertaining!

Same old song and dance...

More Bush blaming...

Obama says he inherited economic problems

Tim Geithner: “No risk”

Now tax cheat Geithner can be called lying tax cheat Geithner.

Flashback: “Is there a risk the US could lose its AAA rating?” Tim Geithner: “No risk”

Let's see, here is today's headlines...
S&P downgrades U.S. credit rating

U.S. triple-A debt rating cut by Standard & Poor’s

Bias anyone?

US borrowing tops 100% of GDP: Treasury...that's a pretty serious headline. It appears that it's not important to the liberal media because it will make their idol look bad.

Here are the front pages of web sites, showing what they deem important. I'll first show Fox News, at least they are reporting it.



Here are the front pages of the websites of media sources that are liberal friendly. I see no mention of the debt to GDP announcement.









To quote the original Yahoo News story.

"The last time US debt topped the size of its annual economy was in 1947 just after World War II. By 1981 it had fallen to 32.5 percent.

Ratings agencies have warned the country to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio quickly or facing losing its coveted AAA debt rating.

Moody's said Tuesday that the government needed to stabilize the ratio at 73 percent by 2015 "to ensure that the long-run fiscal trajectory remains compatible with a AAA rating."

I would consider this pretty serious, but it would also blemish the Obama administration. The bias of choosing to not report something like this is pretty serious cause for concern. It makes me appreciate the internet even more.

The spending-cut myth

An excellent write up on the whole "debt crisis"...

The spending-cut myth

Posted By Robert Ringer On August 2, 2011 @ 12:01 am In Conservative Politics,Government,Personal Liberty Articles | 192 Comments

As we move toward a business-as-usual finish to the phony debt-ceiling drama playing out in Washington, history will record that no one — not even the Tea Party members of Congress — ever got around to talking about specific, major spending cuts (other than defense spending). Isn’t that weird?

Everyone involved claims to be in agreement that the U.S. has to cut spending, but not one Congressperson has been willing to name a specific program or bureaucracy that should be completely eliminated. Even if Republicans had gotten their Cut, Cap and Balance proposal accepted, it wouldn’t have mattered, because “cut, cap, and balance” are nothing more than hollow words.

Cut and cap what? Which programs and agencies are you going to cut and cap, and by how much? In any event, the purported major cuts are always years down the road, while increasing the debt ceiling is immediate — meaning that out-of-control government spending continues on.

And, of course, balance simply guarantees American taxpayers that if Congress doesn’t make the necessary cuts — which it never does, and never will — their taxes will be raised in order to “balance the budget.” In fact, a cynic might say that balancing the budget is just a euphemism for raising taxes.

Again, back to my original point: No one in Congress wants to talk about making specific cuts. After all, when you cut a program or agency, you’re going to make the beneficiaries of that program or agency very angry. And since the main objective of the vast majority of Congresspersons is to get reelected, mad is bad. Thus, the reality is that cutting any program or government agency is unthinkable.

For example, as the debt ceiling circus has worn on, I’ve repeatedly heard media pundits say things like, “What happens to the guy who’s planned a camping trip to Yellowstone National Park with his son, only to find that the park has been closed because Congress failed to raise the debt ceiling?” The answer you never hear is: He takes his son somewhere else!

I don’t know how much you and I pay to keep Yellowstone National Park operating, but I do know that neither I nor any of my family or immediate circle of friends has ever visited Yellowstone National Park, nor do any of us have any plans to do so.

That being the case, why are we required to pay for the guy who wants to take his son camping? Is he willing to pay for my family’s outing to an Orioles or Redskins game? These are private corporations that charge customers enough to cover their overhead and, hopefully, make a profit. Government doesn’t have to worry about such mundane matters.

Just like all the other land it lays claim to, the United States government should sell Yellowstone National Park to a company like Disney or Universal Studios and use the proceeds to pay down the national debt. I’m talking about principle, not interest. Ditto all of the other national parks, which would cut billions from our bread-and-circus budget.

Speaking of Yellowstone National Park, what about the Department of the Interior? Do we really need it? On its website, it proudly states:

Our Mission: Protecting America’s Great Outdoors and Powering Our Future

Question: Why does a bankrupt nation need a bunch of bureaucrats to protect its “great outdoors?” The government is supposed to protect people and private property, not the “outdoors.” I won’t even comment on “powering our future,” since it has no discernable meaning.

Beneath the Department of the Interior’s mission statement are the words:

The U.S. Department of the Interior protects America’s natural resources and heritage, honors our cultures and tribal communities, and supplies the energy to power our future.

Again I ask, why does a bankrupt nation need a bunch of bureaucrats to protect its “natural resources and heritage?” How in the world does the government protect our heritage? Again, no discernable meaning.

“Honors our cultures and tribal communities?” Why does a bankrupt nation need to honor American cultures and tribal communities? Sounds like an interesting thing to do if you’re rich. But we aren’t. Psst… we’re broke!

Finally, “supplies the energy to power our future?” Government doesn’t know beans about supplying energy. In fact, it does everything within its power to prevent the U.S. from using its energy resources.

A bankrupt nation that fails at everything it attempts to do should get out of the way so private industry can exploit our natural resources, beginning with oil, natural gas and coal deposits. The government has never produced a drop of oil, a cubic foot of natural gas or a single chunk of coal — and never will.

Trees, of course, are a natural resource that present no problem whatsoever, because, thanks to capitalistic forestry corporations, we have more trees today than we had 50 years ago.

You can go right down the list of government agencies and draw the same conclusion: They should be shut down!

Do we really need a National Labor Relations Board to prevent Boeing from creating 1,000 jobs in South Carolina?

Do we really need a Securities and Exchange Commission to give a guy like Bernie Madoff a stamp of approval for 25 years while he bilks gullible investors out of billions of dollars?

Do we really need an Environmental Protection Agency to stifle economic growth in America and create ever-increasing unemployment? Closing down the EPA not only would save billions of dollars a year in operating costs, but would explode the economy and send the Dow Jones industrial average soaring. Who knows, we might even be able to compete with China someday.

The Department of Labor, the Commerce Department, Amtrak, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services (which runs 400 separate subsidy programs!)… the list is endless.

Message to the government: Stop protecting our resources, stop redistributing our hard-earned income and start focusing on protecting, not stealing from, the people you work for.

The truth is that no one — whether Democrat or Republican — will propose legislation to reduce, let alone close down, any of these government agencies. They will keep growing until their employees are paid in worthless dollars — or not paid at all. And there is a 100 percent certainty that when government employees don’t get paid, it will lead to protests… followed by “civil unrest”… followed by violence… followed by a government crackdown on civil liberties.

As everyone now knows, the government has plenty of money coming in each month to pay interest on the national debt, Social Security, Medicare and our current military obligations (all of which total about 70 percent of current revenues). It’s the other 30 percent or so of “scheduled expenditures” that need to be “prioritized” — meaning that some of them have to be cut.

But when you ask a politician which ones he would cut, he unfailingly skirts the question. That’s why the debt ceiling will continue to be raised — again and again and again (75 times since 1962!) — and the U.S. debt will continue to spin out of control until the only thing left of the U.S. economy is a (hopefully) thriving black market.

Russian historians can tell you all about the phenomenon of the black market when the government shuts down the free market. It’s the only thing that kept even more people from starving to death in the Soviet Union during the heyday of communism.

Of course, if you’re the adventuresome type, you’ve got to be excited thinking about what living in a runaway-inflation society might be like. Hint: Sieg Heil!

–Robert Ringer