Obama Gets Gift from Chavez - Slamming America

April 18, 2009 9:21 AM

At President Obama's meeting with the heads of South American countries this morning, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stood, walked over to him, and presented him with a copy of "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano.

Obama politely posed for a photograph with Chavez, shook his hand, and accepted the gift.

The book, first published in Spanish in 1971, offers a critique of the consequences of 500 years of European and U.S. colonization of Latin America.

"The division of labor among nations is that some specialize in winning and others in losing," the book begins. "Our part of the world, known today as Latin America, was precocious: it has specialized in losing ever since those remote times when Renaissance Europeans ventured across the ocean and buried their teeth in the throats of the Indian civilizations. Centuries passed, and Latin America perfected its role." - ABC News Story

Antarctica Ice is Growing, Not Shrinking

Ice is expanding in much of Antarctica, contrary to the widespread public belief that global warming is melting the continental ice cap.

The results of ice-core drilling and sea ice monitoring indicate there is no large-scale melting of ice over most of Antarctica, although experts are concerned at ice losses on the continent's western coast.

Antarctica has 90 percent of the Earth's ice and 80 percent of its fresh water, The Australian reports. Extensive melting of Antarctic ice sheets would be required to raise sea levels substantially, and ice is melting in parts of west Antarctica. The destabilization of the Wilkins ice shelf generated international headlines this month. - FOX News Story

Obama to Cut Spending?

President Obama said Saturday he will ask all of his department and agency heads for specific proposals for cutting their budgets at his Cabinet meeting early next week as he searches for ways to streamline government spending.

Obama, who is attending the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad this weekend, said in his weekly radio and Internet address that he would make the request for cuts Monday at a Cabinet meeting.

"In the coming weeks, I will be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective," he said. "In this effort, there will be no sacred cows and no pet projects. All across America, families are making hard choices, and it's time their government did the same."

While discussing the need for more efficient government, Obama announced he was filling an administration position that caused him trouble on the last try. Obama said Jeffrey Zients, a CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur, will join the administration as the government's chief performance officer and will also serve as deputy director for management of the Office of Management and Budget. He will work to streamline processes and cut costs, Obama said. - FOX News Story

How is this suppose to work? After passing a Stimulus Program that Increased spending for all the Departments, then passing the biggest budget in the history and increasing Government spending to the highest levels in history, he now says he is going to ask them to cut spending.

Let me guess, he will then announce that he is going through the budget line by line to decrease Federal Spending.

Israel Prepared to Strike Iran

The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government, the Times of London reported.

Among the steps taken to ready Israeli forces for what would be a risky raid requiring pinpoint aerial strikes are the acquisition of three Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft and regional missions to simulate the attack.

Two nationwide civil defence drills will help to prepare the public for the retaliation that Israel could face.

“Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light they could strike at Iran in a matter of days, even hours. They are making preparations on every level for this eventuality. The message to Iran is that the threat is not just words,” one senior defense official told the Times. - FOX News Story

Do Torture Memos - Show Pattern of Torture?

At least one high-profile attorney says the declassified Department of Justice memos detailing interrogation techniques prove the U.S. did not torture, even as the ACLU and some lawmakers claim the memos are proof positive the Bush administration did.

David Rivkin, a constitutional lawyer and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, released a statement Friday saying the release of four memos provides a "great benefit" to the former president.

"This data is analyzed in great detail to establish that the use of these techniques does not inflict either physical or psychological damage," said Rivkin, who served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. "The conclusions (the) memos reach -- that the specific interrogation techniques used by the CIA did not constitute torture -- are eminently reasonable." - FOX News Story

Obama's Lead Auto Industry Advisor Accused of Bribery

(CBS/AP) An investment company run by the Obama administration's auto task force has been accused of paying more than $1 million to an aide to New York's former comptroller in a bid to win a lucrative deal with the state pension fund.

Steven Rattner was an executive at the Quadrangle Group, a private equity firm, until he left this year to lead President Barack Obama's efforts to fix the U.S. auto industry.

Quadrangle, while under Rattner's watch, paid huge fees to Hank Morris, a political aide to former comptroller Alan Hevesi, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in court papers filed Wednesday. Rattner has not been charged with any wrongdoing. A spokesman for Quadrangle declined to comment Thursday when asked about the company's role.

Quadrangle's link to the investigation has been public for some time, but an SEC complaint filed this week in connection with a new round of indictments provided new details. - CBS News Story

See Also ABC News Story

Interrogation Memo Release Concerns Many

WASHINGTON -- The former head of the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush warned Friday that the release of documents detailing harsh interrogation methods holds major risks for U.S. security.

Bush's former CIA chief added that the release will have a chilling effect on officers assigned to conduct interrogations.

"Whenever you release material that secretly relates the way we conduct operations against terrorists you run two risks. One is that you're giving terrorists insights into things they need to prepare for, and they do prepare. And the second thing is you're sending a message to our allies that we're not reliable in terms of safeguarding confidential information," former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told FOX News.

Gen. Michael Hayden said the release of documents that outlined actions taken by CIA interrogators is the mark of political maneuvering and hurts the CIA's ability to conduct the job it is tasked with doing.

"It really gets into the head of CIA officers who are consistently asked to do things that are on the edge, lawful, but on the edge, in the defense of the republic. That's the unique role of the Central Intelligence Agency.

"We're asked to do things that no one is asked to do, no one else is allowed to do. And now I think what this has done is put this very powerful element of doubt in the minds of CIA officers when they will be asked to do difficult things -- that the legal opinions on which their actions are based are subject to political change and political wind," Hayden said.

President Obama on Thursday announced the end of the interrogation techniques, saying the era of using such tactics as slamming detainees against walls, waterboarding and keeping detainees naked and cold for long periods is over. - FOX News Story

What is the new policy of interrogation? What do we do if we capture someone whom is part of a group that we know are planning an attack? We know that they have information that we can use to stop it. Is the new Policy to hug them, offer them citizenship, what?

Obama Bloopers and Blunders

The Real Obama Budget and Deficit

President Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that his budget would cut the deficit by half by the end of his term.

But as Heritage analyst Brian Riedl has pointed out, given that Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package, pledging to halve it by 2013 is hardly ambitious.

The Washington Post has a great graphic which helps put President Obama’s budget deficits in context of President Bush’s. - Blogrunner Story

Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince Trailer

Obama Appointee - Bailout News Papers

Influential Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks has hung up her journalistic hat and joined the Obama administration, but not before penning a public proposal calling for some radical ideas to help bail out the failing news industry.

Brooks, who has taken up a post as an adviser at the Pentagon, advocated upping "direct government support for public media" and creating licenses to govern news operations.

"Years of foolish policies have left us with a choice: We can bail out journalism, using tax dollars and granting licenses in ways that encourage robust and independent reporting and commentary, or we can watch, wringing our hands, as more and more top journalists are laid off," she wrote in her parting column on April 9.

Brooks said this would help rescue the industry from a "death spiral" and left the government unaccountable to the journalists who must keep it honest. "[I] can't imagine anything more dangerous than a society in which the news industry has more or less collapsed," she wrote. - FOX News Story

Why is it the responsibility of the Taxpayer to subsidize a failing industry? Get a job writing for a web paper or try something else. When we lose our jobs out in the labor force we either have to go and find a new one or learn a new job. We don't get the Government to bail us out.

Another example of the Change We Can Believe In.

ExCIA Chief - Obama Release of Memo's Endagers Country

WASHINGTON -- Former CIA Director Michael Hayden says the Obama administration is endangering the country by releasing Justice Department memos that detail the CIA's interrogation techniques authorized by the Bush administration.

Hayden tells The Associated Press the release will give terrorists a precise guide for what to expect in a CIA interrogation if those methods are ever approved for use again.

"If you want an intelligence service to work for you, they always work on the edge. That's just where they work," Hayden said. Now, he argued, foreign partners will be less likely to cooperate with the CIA because the release shows they "can't keep anything secret."

On the other side, human rights advocates argued that Obama should not have assured the CIA that officers who conducted interrogations would not be prosecuted if they used methods authorized by Bush lawyers in the memos.

Obama disagreed, saying in a statement, "Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."

In releasing the documents, the most comprehensive accounting yet of interrogation methods that were among the Bush administrations most closely guarded secrets, Obama said he wanted to move beyond "a dark and painful chapter in our history."

Human rights groups and many Obama officials have condemned such methods as torture. Bush officials have vigorously disagreed.

The Obama administration outlawed the techniques but has a task force reviewing the military's interrogation methods to determine if they are sufficient for CIA use. - FOX News

Obama - His love of Bashing America

WASHINGTON -- Another Democratic president has shattered precedent. Democratic politicians take great pride in shattering American precedents, and they do so with such regularity that it is surprising there are any precedents left to shatter, except, I guess, for the precedents Democrats establish on the ruins of earlier precedents. I hope, when the next Republican president comes along, that he or she will shatter a few Democratic precedents. Given the serial bungling of the Obama Administration, I shall not be surprised to see that precedent-shattering Republican come along in 2013.

During his recent European peregrination, our haughty president became the first American president to speak ill of America while on foreign soil. Actually it is rare for an American president to speak ill of America anywhere. President Barack H. Obama does it practically everywhere. Now that Fidel Castro has quieted down and the French left is in abeyance, President Obama has become America's leading critic.

Until the ex-presidency of Jimmy Carter it was unheard of for a former president to speak ill of his country or of the sitting president while traveling abroad. Jimmy broke that precedent early in the presidency of the man who beat him, Ronald Reagan. Since then Jimmy has frequently piped up against America and whoever might be president. He did it as recently as 2005 when he said, "I think what's going on at Guantanamo Bay and in Abu Ghraib and other places is a disgrace to the United States of America."

Now along comes the precedent-shattering President Obama traveling through Europe on his virginal passport, a passport that was used precisely once before he became a national political figure. His tour of Europe was the burlesque of a preening popinjay. He gave the Queen an iPod. His wife gave her a friendly squeeze. Oh yes, and the President declared that the official language of German-speaking Austria is "Austrian." All that was amusing, but the criticism of his homeland while in Europe was not. Actually I am tired of hearing his criticism of his homeland when he is at home. We know he believes America was a failed state before he became president. Now let him return the country to the bipartisanship that he promised. - Spectator.org Story

President Obama and his Administration seem to take every opportunity to lay the blame of close to everything on our laps. It is America's fault!

I don't think I have ever been more embarassed to be an American. The days of walking tall and holding your head high are gone. All around the World everyone who blamed America now has a voice in our leader. Our very own leader will speak their words for them. Blame it on America.

CNBC Warned to Tone Down bashing Obama

When GE CEO Jeff Immelt and NBC Universal president Jeff Zucker met recently with CNBC executives and on-air talent, was there really pressure from the higher-ups to be less tough on Obama?

It's a very serious charge, but the New York Post makes it. Reporting on the meeting today, one source claims that the network's been urged to tone down the Obama-bashing.

"It was an intensive, three-hour dinner at 30 Rock which Zucker himself was behind," a source familiar with the powwow told us. "There was a long discussion about whether CNBC has become too conservative and is beating up on Obama too much. There's great concern that CNBC is now the anti-Obama network. The whole meeting was really kind of creepy."

One topic under the microscope, our insider said, was on-air CNBC editor Rick Santelli's rant two months ago about staging a "Chicago Tea Party" to protest the president's bailout programs -- an idea that spawned tax protest tea parties in other big cities, infuriating the White House. Oddly, Santelli was not at the meeting, while Jim Cramer was, noted our source, who added that no edict was ultimately handed down by the network chieftains. - Politico Story

It is only Democratic to bash on the Right Wing Extremist. You do not pick on any Democrat and you don't question them.

Chriss Dodd Getting Money from Outside his State

Here's quite a blockbuster from the Connecticut Post: Out of the $1 million that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) raised this quarter, only $4,250 -- less than a half-of-a-percent -- of it came from home-state donors:
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd appears to have looked everywhere but his home state to fuel what pundits anticipate will be one of the most hotly contested races in the nation in 2010.

The five-term incumbent reported raising just $4,250 from five Connecticut residents during the first three months of the year while raking in $604,745 from nearly 400 individuals living outside the state.

While incumbents often turn to special interests for early campaign fundraising, Dodd's out-of-state total seems unusually high and comes at a time when he has been plagued by poor approval ratings among state voters.

Massie Ritsch, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks federal campaign contributions, said that Dodd's low percentage of in-state funding strikes him as unusual.

"Historically, there is no shortage of campaign money that comes out of Connecticut," he said. "In 2008, Connecticut ranked 14th contributing $53 million to all federal candidates and parties." Ritsch also noted that during his last re-election campaign Dodd raised 30 percent from within Connecticut's borders. - Politico

It is pretty sad that you try to win an election and have it funded from people that are outside of your own state.

Obama's Release of Memos Makes us Less Safe

A key Senate Republican is blasting the Obama administration's decision to release relatively lightly redacted DOJ memos from the Bush era -- the so-called "torture memos" -- which approved interrogation techniques like waterboarding.

The ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Kit Bond of Missouri, just told me that he's "disappointed" by the release of these memos.

Bond believes the administration "released far too much information," adding that he thinks Al Qaeda will use this information to train their followers to resist interrogation and that it will provide "propaganda for Al Qaeda's media machine."

Bottom line: Bond believes this release will "make us less safe and "heighten anger" in parts of the world "where we're trying to make friends."

--George Stephanopoulos - ABC News

Obama Releases Torture Memos

The government released four memos in which Bush-era lawyers approved in often graphic detail tough interrogation methods used against 28 terror suspects. The rough tactics range from waterboarding — simulated drowning — to keeping suspects naked and withholding solid food.Even as they exposed new details of the interrogation program, Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, offered the first definitive assurance that those CIA officials are in the clear, as long as their actions were in line with the legal advice at the time.

Obama said the nation must protect the identity of CIA contractors and employees "as vigilantly as they protect our security."

"We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history," the president said. "But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past." - ABC News Story

I 100% disagree that we have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history. I believe that we are entering a dark and painful chapter, the next attack will be even more painful than the last.

The Bush Administration did their job of keeping America and Americans safe from another Terrorist attack. I am not sure that this Administration is prepared to do this.

The release of this information will not only make the job of interrogation much more difficult, it gives fuel to the enemy.

This is yet another blunder on the part of an inexperienced Leader.

Obama's Gitmo

President Obama signed three executive orders in January that signaled his intent to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, fulfilling a campaign promise popular with liberals and central to his electoral victory.

But three months into the detainee review, Obama finds himself the unexpected target of fresh criticism from liberals over his handling of what they consider the new Guantanamo Bay: the military detention facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

The secretive site is home to 660 detainees, 95 percent of whom were captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan. The rest were mostly captured in North Africa and the Middle East.

In an editorial this week, The New York Times claimed Bagram is "the next Guantanamo" and accused the Obama administration of recycling "extravagant claims of executive power."

That's because the Obama White House has sided with the Bush administration in its belief that the Bagram detainees, who are in a war zone, have no right to a court review despite a ruling last year by the Supreme Court granting Guantanamo detainees those rights.

The Justice Department argues that Bagram is different from Guantanamo because it is in an overseas war zone and the prisoners there are being held as part of an ongoing military action. The government argues that releasing enemy combatants into the Afghan war zone, or even diverting U.S. personnel there to consider their legal cases, could threaten security. - FOX News Story

President Obama has his own Gitmo. That is the lamest argument that I have ever heard, well it isn't located in Gitmo. Why not just come out and admit it? We are at war and there are prisoners that we need to keep under lock and key. What Vindication for President Bush! He must be laughing his butt off at this. After Obama has gone historically out of his way to bash the Previous Administration, it has to feel good to see him squirm over doing the same thing.

Guns in Mexico - 90% used in crime come from US - Myth

Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Wednesday made an assertion -- cited in the past by Mexico's U.S. ambassador and even by U.S. leaders, but debunked as a myth -- that 90 percent of the weapons intercepted in Mexico come from the U.S.

"I know that this is a very sensitive issue," Calderon said in an interview with NBC News. He also said that he will tell President Obama during his visit Thursday to Mexico City that the U.S. needs to clean up its drug problem if Mexico is going to be successful in its battle against the cartels.

"The source of the problem was the huge demand for drugs in the United States the largest market in the world for drugs," he said. "The United States, you have a lot of traffic of drugs. You have a lot of distribution of drugs. You have a lot of corruption as well."

Calderon's comments came days after Auturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the United States, appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" and made the same claim that 90 percent of the weapons intercepted in Mexico come from the U.S.

FOX News debunked that claim in a report earlier this month that found only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S., though even that figure is an imprecise estimate.

Calderon and Sarukhan aren't the only one to cite this myth. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, California Sen. Diane Feinstein and Willliam Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, have all said that 90 percent of weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the U.S. - FOX News Story

Jamie Foxx to Miley Cyrus - Make a Sextape or Do Heroin

Obama Team Covers up Religious Symbol at Georgetown

The White House is taking some heat today from conservative and Catholic bloggers who noticed that while President Obama delivered remarks on the economy at Georgetown University Tuesday, a monogram that is a symbol for the name Jesus was covered up behind him.

CNSNews.com, a conservative web site affiliated with the Media Research Center, reported that the gold “IHS” monogram inscribed in Georgetown’s Gaston Hall was covered by a piece of black-painted plywood.

The White House denied that there was any effort to specifically cover up religious imagery or symbols and noted that on the wall directly behind the president there are two religious paintings and there is other imagery throughout the hall.

"Decisions made about the backdrop for the speech were made to have a consistent background of American flags, which is standard for many presidential events. Any suggestions to the contrary are simply false,” White House spokesman Shin Inouye told ABC News.

Georgetown officials said that the White House requested the backdrop and asked that all signs and symbols behind the stage be covered up. - ABC News Story

CNN and MSNBC Make Sexual Jokes of Tea Parties

For thousands of Americans, Tax Day was a moment to protest what they see as bloated budgets and a pile of debt being passed on to their children.

For CNN, MSNBC and other media outlets, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the word "teabagging" in a sentence.

Teabagging, for those who don't live in a frat house, refers to a sexual act involving part of the male genitalia and a second person's face or mouth.

So when the anti-tax "tea party" protests were held Wednesday across the country, cable anchors and guests -- who for weeks had all but ignored the story -- covered the protests by cracking a litany of barely concealed sexual references.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper interspersed "teabagging" references with analyst David Gergen's more staid commentary on how Republicans are still "searching for their voice."

"It's hard to talk when you're teabagging," Cooper explained. Gergen laughed, but Cooper kept a straight face.

MSNBC's David Shuster weaved a tapestry of "Animal House" humor Monday as he filled in for Countdown host Keith Olbermann.

The protests, he explained, amount to "Teabagging day for the right wing and they are going nuts for it."

He described the parties as simultaneously "full-throated" and "toothless," and continued: "They want to give President Obama a strong tongue-lashing and lick government spending." Shuster also noted how the protesters "whipped out" the demonstrations this past weekend.

Tea Party participants were not amused. The events were held in dozens of cities across the country, and while some demonstrators were criticized for wielding off-topic and sometimes insensitive protest signs, most took to the streets to speak out against government spending.

Brent Bozell, president of the conservative Media Research Center, said the media coverage was "insulting," reacting specifically to CNN reporter Susan Roesgen's combative interviews with Illinois demonstrators in which she declared that the protests were "anti-CNN" and supported by FOX News. She left the teabagging jokes to her colleagues, though. - FOX News Story

DHS Secretary to Interviewer - One Question / No Follow up

The GOPers - by that we mean Rep. Eric Cantor's office - are pouncing on an interview today on "Morning Joe" with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, under this subject line: "Administration Permits Only One Question, No Follow-Ups About Extremism Report."

Today the Secretary went on Morning Joe but they were only allowed to ask one question.

"Apparently, when the Democrats promise an open administration, they really only mean open as long as you ask the questions they want asked and no follow-ups on controversial topics that everyone is reporting on," staffer Joe Pounder wrote in an email.

Anyway check out the transcript: - Politico Story

This is how the Obama Administration has worked from day one. An awful lot of promises. They only are open about what the Bush Administration did, very quiet about their own. If you question their ideas or motives, Penalty Box you go.

What is Driving the Economy down / Deficit Up?

(CNN) -- I was talking to a close family friend during my vacation in Florida, and he was criticizing the governor there for taking the stimulus money that came from the federal government.

"Florida should just cut government spending, and not use the Feds as a crutch," he said with great vehemence.

Now, this family friend is not a wealthy guy, but he lives a comfortable life, made more comfortable by the fact that he gets a nice monthly pension check from the state. I didn't dare suggest to him that perhaps cutting back on his monthly pension might be one way to cut that spending, because if I had, I would have had a seven-iron flying at my head.

But what is most interesting to me about that conversation is how the attitude of this family friend reflects the attitudes of most Americans. Cut government spending, but don't touch my piece of the pie, the many cry out as one.

As federal policy makers grapple with the budget next week when Congress reconvenes, I challenge them to answer four uncomfortable questions that could bankrupt the country if unanswered: - CNN Story

This is a good story with some good questions. Just a snippet -

According to the Tax Foundation, fully 32 percent of all Americans pay no federal income taxes while 42 percent of single Americans pay no federal income taxes. With President Obama's aggressive efforts to give more money to more Americans through tax credit refundability, many experts expect that over half of the people will owe nothing or may get back some money from the federal government. Ironically, this trend started under George W. Bush, the president who supposedly ignored the poor - CNN

John Madden Retiring

NEW YORK — John Madden, the burly former coach who has been one of pro football's most popular broadcast analysts for three decades, is calling it quits.

Madden worked for the past three seasons on NBC's Sunday night NFL game. His last telecast was the Super Bowl between Arizona and Pittsburgh.

"It's time," Madden said. "I'm 73 years old. My 50th wedding anniversary is this fall. I have two great sons and their families and their five grandchildren are at an age now when they know when I'm home and, more importantly, when I'm not."

Madden said he still loves all aspects of the game and his job, and that's why it took him a couple of months to make the decision.

Madden's blue-collar style and love for in-the-trenches football endeared him to fans. His "Madden NFL Football" is the top-selling sports video game of all time.

Madden is reluctant to fly and often traveled to games in a specially equipped bus.

He began his pro football career as a linebacker coach at Oakland in 1967 and was named head coach two years later, at 33 the youngest coach in what was then the American Football League.

Madden led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl victory and retired in 1979. He joined CBS later that year.

He worked at CBS until 1994 when the network lost rights to broadcast NFL games, leading him to switch to FOX. He left FOX in 2002 to become the lead analyst for ABC's "Monday Night Football" and joined NBC in 2006 when that network inaugurated a prime-time Sunday game.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006. - FOX News

Although I was never one of his bigger fans, he never bothered me like some of the sportscaster do. He always made the broadcast colorful and fun to listen to.

Bank Robber Shot and Killed by Police - Milwaukee

FOX POINT, Wis. -- The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's officer confirmed for 12 News that one person was killed in a shootout following a bank robbery at the Cornerstone Bank in Fox Point.

Police caught up with the getaway vehicle at the intersection of Good Hope and Port Washington roads in Glendale.

Glendale police said that one suspect pulled out a revolver and started shooting. A River Hills police officer returned gun fire.The other suspect is in police custody.

No officers were hurt.

The intersection of Good Hope and Port Washington roads is shut down. Drivers are encouraged to avoid that area.Multiple police departments are involved, including Bayside, Fox Point and Glendale. - WISN

JP Morgan Chase Report Earnings - Ready to pay back Government

JPMorgan Chase announced today $2.1 billion earnings for the first quarter, a better-than-expected number, and CEO Jamie Dimon said they are ready to repay the government's $25 billion infusion of cash.

Dimon told analysts this morning in a conference call that the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program funds were a "scarlett letter" and no bank competitor, he said, "should be able to pay it back faster than we do."

"We can pay it back tomorrow. We have the money," Dimon said.

During the call, Dimon stayed true to his pull-no-punches reputation, reiterating his disdain for the federal assistance he's said his bank was forced to take last year as the government sought to shore up the country's ailing banking system and JPMorgan's competitors.

"We would like to pay it back as soon as prudent," Dimon said, adding that the bank was awaiting government guidance on when to repay the funds. He also said that JPMorgan would not participate in the Treasury Department's Public Private Investment Partnership, which was designed to relieve banks of their troubled assets.

JPMorgan's balance sheet, Dimon said, is "a fortress."

As JPMorgan has continued to maneuver around some of the worst of the financial crisis, all eyes have been on Dimon, the bank's straight-shooting, fast-talking CEO. - ABC News Story

A current report showed lending was still pretty much at a stand still with many Banks even after the infusion of Cash from the Governement. This gives you a hint as to why that might be. It is a Scarlet Letter. The Government has changed the rules so many times on the conditions of taking the money, and with the way Obama handled the CEO of GM, is it any wonder that leaders of other Companies that are heavily financed by the Government are funneling all the funds they can to paying back the money and getting out from under Obama Rule?

Obama Campaign Spending Millions

If you glanced at the expense side of the report filed Wednesday night by President Obama's campaign committee, you might be excused for thinking there was a presidential election afoot.

Obama for America, the fundraising juggernaut that powered Obama's ascent to the presidency, spent nearly $9.5 million in the first three months of this year, including $684,000 on telemarketing and print and online advertising, $994,000 on event staging and $310,000 on payroll and taxes.

To be sure, some of the payments stem from bills accrued in early January — or even the end of last year — before Obama took the oath of office, and others come from normal shut-down costs. Plus the campaign committee is no longer raising money; it came into the year with $18.3 million in the bank and finished the first quarter with $10 million on hand.

Yet the report shows that Obama's campaign continued to be of use well after Election Day and suggests it still maintains some semblance of operational capacity.

Last month alone, it paid $74,000 in payroll, $23,000 for rent, $10,000 for polling and $6,400 for travel.

Other interesting payments during the first three months of the year, the period covered by Wednesday's report, included $688,000 in legal fees to the firm of Bob Bauer — the top lawyer for the campaign, the Democratic National Committee, the Obama political group Organizing for America, and the Obama family — and $6,400 to a firm founded by Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. - Politico Story

Texas may want to Secede from the Union

Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax "tea party" Wednesday with his stance against the federal government and for states' rights as some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, "Secede!"

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall -- one of three tea parties he was attending across the state -- that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

Perry repeated his running theme that Texas' economy is in relatively good shape compared with other states and with the "federal budget mess." Many in the crowd held signs deriding President Barack Obama and the $786 billion federal economic stimulus package.

Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that. - FOX News Story

There are many states that may want to do this. Why not? With the way that our debt is building and the massive taxes that are on tap, it may be in the their best interest. There isn't much benefit in staying if things keep going down the path they are on.

Obama Admin Seeking Authorization for renewal of Surveillance Program

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has reined in electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency after finding the agency had improperly accessed American phone calls and e-mails.

The problems were discovered during a review of the intelligence activities, the Justice Department said in a statement Wednesday night.

The New York Times, which first reported the matter on its Web site, said the NSA had been improperly intercepting communications by Americans.

In its statement, the Justice Department said it has taken "comprehensive steps to correct the situation and bring the program into compliance."

The Justice Department did not elaborate on what problems it found.

Once corrective measures were taken, Attorney General Eric Holder sought authorization for renewing the surveillance program, officials said. - FOX News Story

Right Wing Extremist - Terrorist

The government considers you a terrorist threat if you oppose abortion, own a gun or are a returning war veteran.

That's what House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said Wednesday in response to a Department of Homeland Security report warning of the rise of right-wing extremist groups.

Smith, who said the report on "right-wing extremism" amounts to "political profiling," said that DHS is "using people's political views to assess an individual's susceptibility to terror recruitment." He joins a growing chorus of protest from irate conservative groups that are protesting the report's findings.

The report, titled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," released last week by DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis, said while there is no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are planning acts of violence, it suggests acts of violence could come from unnamed "rightwing extremists" concerned about illegal immigration, abortion, increasing federal power and restrictions on firearms -- and it singles out returning war veterans as susceptible to recruitment. - FOX News Story

Church Lady Can Sing - Britains Got Talent - Susan Boyle

Watch CBS Videos Online

Protestors at the White House

The tea party protest in Lafayette Park briefly shut down the White House’s northwest gate around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday after a protestor threw something – reportedly a tea bag – over the White House fence.

Secret Service kept reporters inside the briefing room – and away from the cameras on Pebble Beach – for approximately half an hour while dealing with the situation.

White House staffers looking to board the press charter en route to Mexico exited through the complex’s southwest gate. - Politico

Welcome to the world of the White House Mr. President. Now maybe things are a little clearer for you that you don't have the mandate that you thought you had. You sold a lot of things that you can't back up and people are angry.

Government Extremist

Bradley A. Blakeman, Republican strategist, consultant, entrepreneur:

The inmates are running the asylum at Homeland Security. When Secretary Napolitano took over at Homeland what was her first order of business? She gave the edict, with the blessing of the Administration, that no longer would the government use the term, “war on terror” or “terrorism”. Instead the new lingo will be “man-made disasters”. The fact that Homeland sees fit to publish a report that can only be intended to further polarize an already polarized population is nuts. The country is divided in philosophy. Such a division does not make those in opposition right wing extremists, it makes them practitioners of democracy. Reduce...

There is not one scintilla of back-up for the outrageous conclusions contained in the Homeland report. The only “extremism” that exists in our country, can be found in those who serve a new government hell bent on governing by threat and raw power. They railroad Bills through without any opportunity for those called to vote on it to even read it. They state very matter of factly to the opposition that, “we won, therefore we rule”, yet they claim to seek bipartisanship. The Democrats have been out of power so long that they feel the need for speed in governing. There exists a tremendous sense of entitlement on their part. Either you are with them or against them, and if you oppose them you are labeled a “right wing extremist”. I would say that is pretty extreme - Politico

Anti-Tax Parties Rage across the Nation

President Obama seized the opportunity Wednesday to declare that he wants to take the dread out of deadline day.

"I know that April 15 isn't exactly everyone's favorite date on the calendar. But it is an important opportunity for those of us in Washington to consider our responsibility to the people who sent us here and who pay the bills," Obama said Wednesday at a White House event as he promoted his plan for tax relief.

"Make no mistake: this tax cut will reach 120 million families and put $120 billion directly into their pockets, and it includes the most American workers ever to get a tax cut. This will boost demand, and save or create over half a million jobs," he said. - FOX News Story

Really, 120 Million Families? $120 Billion directly to us? No Way? Really for us, that is our Bailout!!!! Wait, that is only $1,000 per family. That doesn't sound so good anymore. I am sure that will drive the economy.

Tea Parties Across the Country

(CNN) -- Conservatives are showing they know their way around the Internet just as well as liberals, as more than 300 organized "tea party" protests raged across the nation Wednesday.

The protests are a backlash against President Obama's bailout policies.

Heralded on videos and blogs, the movement also appears, in part, a reflection of a general anger among people who contend the government takes too much from their pocketbooks. "TEA" stands for "Taxed Enough Already," according to teapartyday.com, which lists organizers and their phone numbers.

Want to find a tea party? Text "teaparty" to 69302. Or get on Twitter or Facebook.

Conservatives have borrowed a page from Obama's Web-savvy style which he leaned on heavily during the '08 campaign and still uses to push initiatives. - CNN Story

Washington and Mainstream America Don't Agree on Immigration Reform

Sixty-six percent (66%) of likely voters nationwide say it is Very Important for the government to improve its enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration. However, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone

survey found that just 32% of America’s Political Class agrees.

An even more dramatic gap appears on the question of legalizing the status of those immigrants now in the country illegally. Voters nationwide are evenly divided on the question of whether it is even somewhat important: 48% say it’s important, and 45% say it’s not.

However, among the Political Class, 74% say legalizing the status of these residents is important, and only 17% disagree.

This finding confirms that little has changed since the 2006 debate when immigration reform legislation championed by President George W. Bush and senior senators of both parties was defeated. Although that legislation had tremendous support among the political elite, the Senate was eventually forced to surrender to public opinion. - Rasmussen Story

Wow, so W tried to do this and it failed, now O is going to try it. He has the Dems locked in both houses so we will see.

Pirates Vow Revenge

(CBS/AP) Somali pirates vowed to hunt down American ships and kill their sailors and French forces detained 11 other brigands in a high-seas raid as tensions ratcheted up Wednesday off Africa's volatile eastern coast.

Pirates fired grenades and automatic weapons at an American freighter loaded with food aid but the ship escaped and was heading to Kenya under U.S. Navy guard.

The Liberty Sun's American crew successfully blockaded themselves inside the engine room - the same tactic that the Maersk Alabama crew used to thwart last week's attack on their ship. They were not injured in the attack Tuesday night but the vessel sustained some damage, owner Liberty Maritime Corp. said.

"We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets," crew member Thomas Urbik told his mother by e-mail. "We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. (A) rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out." - CBS News Story

Hate Group Numbers Rise

(CBS) Two new reports document a significant rise in the number of hate groups in the U.S.

One of the reports is from the Department of Homeland Security.

The other, from an organization that has tracked extremist groups for the past 40 years, found a 50 percent rise in the number of such groups since 2000, to 926 today.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report attributes the increase in part to the election of President Obama as the nation's first black president, and to a backlash against Latinos. Another factor: the weak economy.

The SPLC report says hate group activity in the U.S. was "disturbing and widespread" last year.

SPLC founder Morris Dees says the DHS report should "be taken very seriously. What we found in our Intelligence Project we've run for a number of years here is the political climate, the election of (Mr.) Obama, the immigration issues that have faced the united states over the last five to ten years, and now, especially, the economy, are almost causing a resurgence of what we saw in the days of (Oklahoma City federal courthouse bomber) Timothy McVeigh -- almost a militia movement that's being reborn in the United States." - CBS News Story

The report from the DHS was a blast at the Right Wing Mentality which is a Political Attack instead of looking at the true meaning of what these reports are saying.

There is a tremendous growth of groups that are becoming more and more anti-American. In a time when the Government has basically said that they will go and do whatever they want in complete disregard to what the American people want, you will get a rise in Anti-Government sentiment.

This is the Challenge of Single Party Rule. Obama and the Democrats like to tout the "We Won" idea. What they must remember is that there is a huge sector that doesn't fell that same sentiment. We as a Country have been split almost 50-50 over the past decade and that leaves a huge group that feel unrepresented by their Government. It isn't the Right Wing or the Left Wing, it is a group of Americans who feel that their Government is not Representing them. The way that Washington is acting, this will get much worse before it gets better.

French Forces Raid Pirate Supply Ship

MOMBASA, Kenya — French forces raided a pirate supply ship and detained 11 brigands off the coast of Kenya on Wednesday, as pirate attacks and counterattacks racheted up tensions in one of the world's most important shipping lanes.

The French forces launched their early morning attack after observing the pirates overnight. A French surveillance helicopter spotted the pirates' vessel Tuesday, the French Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The raid thwarted the sea bandits' planned attack on a Liberian-registered vessel, the ministry said. The ship was intercepted 550 miles east of the Kenyan city of Mombasa.

A mothership usually is a seized foreign vessel that pirates use to transport speedboats far out to sea and resupply them as they plot their attacks.

Meanwhile, Somali pirates fired grenades and automatic weapons at an American freighter loaded with food aid but the ship escaped and was heading to Kenya under U.S. Navy guard. - FOX News Story

There you go, the French are taking the fight to the Pirates. Where is the US?

Fiat tells Unions - Lower Costs or They Walk Away

LONDON -- Italian carmaker Fiat SpA will walk away from Chrysler unless the U.S. carmaker Canadian and American unions agree to significantly reduce labor costs by the end of the month, Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne told Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail in a interview published on Wednesday. A deal with Fiat is Chrysler's last chance to avoid a bankruptcy filing and possible liquidation. Fiat, however, is prepared to abandon a deal unless workers at Chrysler's North American plants agreed to match the lower labor costs of Japanese and German plants. At the end of March, the U.S. auto task force gave Chrysler 30 days to complete an alliance with Fiat or face a cut-off of the government funding on which it is subsisting. - FOX Business

Obama hasn't Done Much to Stop Pork - $20 Billion and Couting

(CBS) Consumers may not be in a spending mood, but members of Congress certainly are. And they're spending on pork.

A government watchdog group put out a report Tuesday that says what it calls wasteful spending is up $2 billion this year, as CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

From almost $8 million to restore oyster habitats to perennial research on blueberries and honeybees, Congress' pork-barrel spending is out-of-the-park. (In fact, there's even $3.8 million dollars for Detroit's old Tiger Stadium.)

The report from Citizens Against Government Waste says wasteful spending topped $19.6 billion in fiscal 2009.

"You hear Washington officials say we all have to tighten our belts, we all have to sacrifice" said David Williams, vice president of Citizens Against Government Waste. "Well, yeah, but the politicians aren't sacrificing."

That means projects like turning the decaying Tiger Stadium into a park and business center. Money is given outside the regular budget, without the normal public review, often benefiting special interests or campaign contributors. - CBS News Story

Pirates Attack another US Vessel

NEW YORK — Somali pirates attacked and damaged an American ship carrying humanitarian aid Tuesday, but the ship and crew were safe under Navy escort, the military and shipping company said.

The pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the Liberty Sun as it carried food for famine-wracked African nations, said the vessel's owner, Liberty Maritime Corp. The ship was en route from Houston to Mombasa, Kenya, with a roughly 20-member crew, officials said.

After the ship reported being attacked around 11:30 a.m. EDT, the USS Bainbridge — the destroyer that assisted in the rescue of the hijacked Maersk Alabama last week — sailed to its aid, said Navy Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. - FOX News Story

They sure are persistent. I would expect more attacks in the short term as they try to avenge their failed attempt that ended with the US Navy killing 3 Pirates and capturing another.

Obama Sells His Economy Plan - Sand & Rock

President Obama can't turn water into wine, but he is determined to change sand into rock. In a major economic speech today at Georgetown University, Mr. Obama invoked the Sermon on the Mount -- likening the economic foundations of the previous administrations to sand that is easily blown away:

"There is a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells the story of two men. The first built his house on a pile of sand, and it was destroyed as soon as the storm hit. But the second is known as the wise man, for when '…the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house… it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.'"

Click here to read Mr. Obama's full remarks.

"We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity – a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest; where we consume less at home and send more exports abroad." - CBS News Story

I am a bit confused from this speech. Obama said " a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest." When does this start? From day one of his Presidency he has been burrowing and spending. Not just for the Economy either. He has used that to sell his ideas, but parts of the Stimulus were actually increases in spending for the Government that had nothing to do with the Economy. What about his Budget? It is the biggest deficit spending in history?

You have to give him credit though, HE SURE CAN PREACH IT! Network News doesn't call him out on it either.

Was $700 Billion Bailout Necessary?

Call it bailout remorse.

With economic signs beginning to point upward and banks returning federal rescue funds, analysts are now debating whether the government's $700 billion bailout program, known as the troubled assets relief program, or TARP, was ever necessary.

Some say a normal business cycle and Federal Reserve policy, not TARP, accounts for the strong profit forecast from Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, a drop in unemployment benefit filings and several retailers predicting solid April sales.

Click here to read more from FOXBusiness.com about Goldman's discussions on returning TARP money.

"I think there's little evidence that the TARP money that has been disbursed so far has had any measurable effect on the economy, especially when you talk about what the Fed has been doing," said Josh Bivens, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute.

The Federal Reserve has conducted aggressive actions to battle the financial crisis through lending programs for small businesses and loans to cover student aid and overnight exchanges between banks, securities and other holding companies.

But TARP has its defenders, most notably President Obama. - FOX News Story

Most folks have questioned this from the beginning. Republicans said that it was not necessary but many of them voted for it anyway. It was $700 Billion. As Banks repay these loans, where is the money going?

Homeland Security Secretary - Monitor the Right Wing

Conservatives are up in arms about a report from the Department Of Homeland Security entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic And Political Climate Fueling Resurgence In Radicalization And Recruitment." (Here it is, in PDF form.)

The report is "one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read out of DHS," writes Michelle Malkin, who deems it a "piece of crap report" that serves as "a sweeping indictment of conservatives."

Coverage of the report presently occupies both the top spot on the Drudge Report and a prime second location on the site, where it comes with a picture of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and the words "SHE IS WATCHING YOU."

The "Key Findings" section of the report opens with these words: "The DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) has no specific information that domestic rightwing* terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues. The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment." - CBS News Story

Now we know why there is no more war on terror. It is those ****** Right Wingers. At least she can't ship us to Gitmo, it is closing.

Seriously, what in the world is this all about? There are extremist in all aspects of life. This more or less appears to be a direct attack on a Political Party.

Retail Sales show Biggest Decline in 3 Months

(CBS/AP) U.S. retail sales fell unexpectedly in March, delivering a setback to hopes that the economy's steep slide could be bottoming out.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail sales dipped 1.1 percent in March. It was the biggest decline in three months and a much weaker showing than the 0.3 percent increase that analysts expected.

A big drop in auto sales led the overall slump in demand. Sales also plunged at clothing stores, appliance outlets and furniture stores. - CBS News Story

What is the significance of this, it is the biggest decline since Obama has taken office. And after the Trillions of Dollars have been put toward the economy. And on a day when he says that there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is always light at the end, the question is whether that light is good or a train coming right at us.

Al Qaeda still Targeting US

American al Qaeda figure Adam Gadahn called on Muslims to support jihad with ?men and money,? while claiming that the West was now on the verge of collapse under the strikes of the militants.

Gadahn?s comments came in a one-hour and 30-minute video produced by al Qaeda?s media wing As Sahab and released on the Internet on Monday.

?The enemy under the leadership of the unbelieving West has began to stagger and falter, and the results of its unabated bleeding has began to show on its economy, which is on the brink of failure,? said Gadahn.

Gadahn appeared dressed in a greyish Pakistani traditional dress, and sitting at a desk with two computers to his right and a Kalashnikov and a suicide belt hanging on the wall behind him. He looked a little thinner than usual.

He dismissed efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to improve relations with the Muslim world, saying that his predecessors had all made the same claim but all, including President Obama himself, have maintained the same policies and the same approach towards Muslims.

?Obama?s own statements contradict his claims,? Gadahn asserted, as he referred to the U.S. president?s assurances to Israel that Jerusalem will remain its undivided capital, and his pledge to increase U.S. forces in Afghanistan. - CBS News Story

I guess he didn't get the memo of us not fighting the war on terror anymore. This is just yet more proof that we are still very much in the cross hairs of terrorists.

Going Green with Smart Cars can have a High Price

WASHINGTON — Micro cars can give motorists top-notch fuel efficiency at a competitive price, but the insurance industry says they do not fare well in collisions with larger vehicles.

In crash tests released Tuesday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that drivers of 2009 versions of the Smart "fortwo," Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris could face significant leg and head injuries in severe front-end crashes with larger, mid-size vehicles.

"There are good reasons people buy mini cars. They're more affordable, and they use less gas. But the safety trade-offs are clear from our new tests," said Adrian Lund, the institute's president.

Automakers who manufacture the small cars said the tests simulated a high-speed crash that rarely happens on the road. They also said the tests rehashed past insurance industry arguments against tougher fuel efficiency requirements. The institute has raised questions about whether stricter gas mileage rules, which are being developed by the government, might lead to smaller, lighter vehicles that could be less safe.

"If you were to take that argument to the nth degree, we should all be driving 18-wheelers. And the trend in society today is just the opposite," said Dave Schembri, president of Smart USA.

Sales of small cars soared when gas prices topped $4 per gallon ($1.05 per liter) last year but have fallen off as gasoline has retreated to about $2 a gallon ($0.53 per liter) and the economic downturn has slowed car sales. The small cars are affordable — prices of the three cars tested range from about $12,000 to $18,000 — and typically achieve 30 miles per gallon (13 kilometers per liter) or more. - FOX News Story

Jackson Involved in Blago Pay to Play Scheme?

The Sun-Times is reporting today that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. promised to raise $5 million for Blago if he were appointed to Barack Obama’s Senate seat.

The overture came from at least two members of the local Indian community who approached the Blagojevich fundraising team last fall, sources say.

Besides the $5 million to be raised by Jackson, the proposal also included another $1 million for Blagojevich’s campaign fund that would come from Indian donors, sources say.
This is the first revelation that a proposal for the Jackson appointment involved an alleged promise that he’d raise campaign cash for the ex-governor.

Also, the amount of money allegedly offered to Blagojevich is significantly higher than what’s been reported so far.

Sources did not disclose what role, if any, Jackson played in authorizing the offers to Blagojevich. Jackson has denied allowing anyone to make pay-to-play offers to the governor on his behalf. The congressman has been interviewed by authorities but has not been accused of wrongdoing. - Politico

Pork Spending in Washington - Who, What

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Listen closely and you'll hear squeals of disgust from a watchdog group tracking congressional pork in the nation's capital.

Citizens Against Government Waste is out with its annual "Pig Book" -- a list of lawmakers whom the group considers the most egregious porkers, members of the House and Senate who use the earmarking process to funnel money to projects on their home turf.

Fittingly perhaps, the list includes nearly $1.8 million for swine odor and manure management research in Iowa.

"In fiscal year 2009, Congress stuffed 10,160 projects into the 12 appropriations bills worth $19.6 billion," the group said in a report released Tuesday. The amount marks a 14 percent increase over 2008.

The "Pig Book" also names dozens of what it considers the most blatant examples of pork-barrel spending.

Included in the funding is $3.8 million for the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy -- a group dedicated to finding a new use for the stadium that the Detroit Tigers baseball team played in from 1896 through 1999. - CNN Story

You would be surprised at some of the money that they spend and what it is spent on.

Obama sees Economy Glass as Half Full

(CBS/AP) President Obama proclaimed signs of economic progress Tuesday but also warned Americans eager for good news that "by no means are we out of the woods."

In a speech at Georgetown University, Mr. Obama aimed to juggle his glass-half-full take on the economy with a determination to not be stamped as naive or overly rosy in the face of stubborn problems that linger.

"There is no doubt that times are still tough," Mr. Obama said. "But from where we stand… for the very first time, we are beginning to see glimmers of hope. And beyond that, way off in the distance, we can see a vision of an America's future that is far different than our troubled economic past." - CBS News Story

I think the vision that we see off on the Horizon isn't all that far off and it is a vision of a troubled Financial Future. Were do we go from here? How do we pay off all the loans that we are taking out? How many generations will have to endure a lengthening hardship due to the decisions that are now being made? How many Presidents will inherit the Obama Mess?

ACORN set to Disrupt Tea Parties

What would a party be without party poopers?

As anti-tax protesters organize tea parties across the country on April 15, rumors are swirling that a backlash is brewing.

Some believe ACORN, which has been under scrutiny for accusations of voter fraud, is preparing to crash some of the tea parties. But ACORN says it is only helping to organize dozens of rallies on the same day in support of President Obama's first budget.

"This is the first we've heard of these so-called 'tea parties.' And, frankly, a bunch of small get-togethers by fringe conservative activists dedicated to simply saying 'no' is of little interest to us," said ACORN spokesman Brian Kettenring.

He did not say where the pro-Obama rallies would take place, leaving open the possibility that they may clash with some tea parties.

Tea party organizers, meanwhile, say they're not worried at all about possible disruption.

"If ACORN wants to send some of their paid, pretend activists to show up, that's fine," John O'Hara, who is holding a tea party in Chicago, told FOX News. "They don't have a message that resonates with the American people or resonates with this broad coalition that's upset with the spending that's going on in Washington."

"We don't take them seriously," said Mark Mekler, who is organizing a tea party in Sacramento. "We expect people to attempt to infiltrate, we expect people to attempt to disturb what we're doing. - FOX News Story

What would a party be without the idiots of ACORN showing up. I still have yet to find a good use for them. They are nothing more than a corrupt organization, yet they have quite a bit of power right now with their party controlling Congress and the White House.

Obama to Tout Success in Economy

(AP) President Barack Obama is trying to strike a careful balance between highlighting economic progress and underscoring continued challenges as he seeks to reverse the recession he inherited but now owns.

The president was slated to give an economic speech Tuesday at Georgetown University as his administration nears its symbolic 100-day mark. Aides billed the address as major but acknowledged that it was expected to contain no significant policy announcements.

Rather, they said, the speech would outline the state of the economy when Mr. Obama took office in January, steps his administration has taken in its first three months, and what still needs to be done to right troubled sectors, including the housing, banking and financial industries.

"The president wants the opportunity to update the American people on where we are, what we have to do going forward, and lay out the steps that are being taken to help our economy recover," said presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs.

While Mr. Obama will enthusiastically recognize progress, Gibbs said, "I think the president also understands that even as there are some promising statistics, whether it's housing or something like that, we still are likely to see many, many months of unemployment, where hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs."

Unemployment hit a 25-year high of 8.5 percent in March, and many people are still losing their homes or jobs, or fear losing them. Still, there's been a drop in unemployment benefit filings and predictions of solid April sales from several retailers. Stock investors, shoppers and home buyers also seem less jittery, while once-frozen credit markets are slowly thawing and deeply worrisome economic indicators appear to be stabilizing.

As the backsliding economy appears to be leveling off, the president and his White House have tried to recognize progress with optimistic language while also emphasizing tough tasks ahead in realistic tones. - CBS News Story

I don't know if there really is much to be happy about. The President will show signs of recovery I am sure and take credit for the small things. The problem is that the President has driven us so far into debt, that there is no plan to get us out. He says he will cut the deficit in half in 4 years, but that still will keep us going into debt every year. Does he have a balanced budget anywhere in his plan? Quite honestly the answer is no.

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Obama more Extreme than Bush?

It’s not just Paul Krugman anymore.

A growing chorus on the legal left is cooling toward President Barack Obama as a result of recent actions by the Justice Department vigorously defending the Bush administration in what it termed the war on terror.

“Obama Position on Illegal Spying: Worse Than Bush,” a large graphic declared over the weekend on the home page of a respected group advocating freedom on the Internet, Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Obama has been pilloried by a liberal TV icon who was one of President George W. Bush’s most vociferous critics, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.

“During his run for the presidency, Barack Obama, who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, argued strongly against the Bush administration’s use of executive authority, including its self-justification, its rationalization of the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens,” Olbermann said on his show last week. “That was then. This is now. ... Welcome to change you cannot believe in — or sue over.”

Obama is also under withering attack from an attorney who was one of the most widely read critics of Bush’s legal strategy in the war on terror, Glenn Greenwald. He recently blasted Obama administration moves as “extremist” and “bizarre.”

“Reading this brief from the Obama DOJ is so striking — and more than a little depressing — given how indistinguishable it is from everything that poured out of the Bush DOJ regarding secrecy powers in order to evade all legal accountability,” he wrote on Salon last week, before calling his fellow civil libertarians to rise up. “It is simply inexcusable for those who spent the last several years screaming when the Bush administration did exactly this to remain silent now or, worse, to search for excuses to justify this behavior,” he said. - Politico Story

Everyone was out beating up on George Bush and how bad of a President he was. The Chosen One is here and he will change it. Where is that Chosen One? I don't see him here and about the only CHANGE that I have seen hasn't been good CHANGE.

UN Slaps North Korea on the Wrist - Condemns Missle Launch

UNITED NATIONS — A week after North Korea's rocket launch, the U.N. Security Council on Monday condemned the action, demanded an end to missile tests and said it will expand sanctions against the reclusive communist nation.

The council's statement, agreed on by all 15 members and read at a formal meeting of the United Nations' most powerful body, said the launch violated a council resolution adopted after the North conducted a nuclear test explosion in 2006 that banned any missile tests by the country.

The statement was a weaker response than a U.N. resolution, which was sought by Japan and the United States but was opposed by China and Russia. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice insisted the statement is legally binding, just like a resolution, but other diplomats and officials disagreed. - FOX News Story

There it is the official Condemnation of North Korea. Means very little to anyone. Obama's people are trying to sell it for more than it actually is. It is little more than the slap on the wrist and the "don't do it again".

Obama should take a look at how he is doing business. So far of all of his tests, the only one that he has succeeded in is the Pirates.