Presidents Wife Admits his Home is Kenya?

Democrats Want Obama to Stop Attacking Washington - They Have Been in Charge of Washington for Years

President Barack Obama is a master of knowing his audience – even when it’s fellow politicians.

He served up a Republican roast to House Democratic leaders and donors in New York Thursday night, two weeks after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenants griped that his anti-Washington fire can boomerang because it’s not targeted enough at the GOP. But his remarks to workers in Buffalo earlier in the day sounded a lot more like what House leaders had complained about.

Overall, the themes of Obama’s speeches were roughly the same: The economy was bad, and it’s getting better under his watch.

But in Buffalo, he took credit for the progress; in New York, he lauded the House Democrats for whom he was raising money.

And the tone and tenor were different.

It’s natural for the president’s remarks at a fundraiser to have “a slightly sharper edge” than those he delivers at non-political events, a White House official said.

But Democrats on Capitol Hill want him to wield that sharper edge at official events, too.

“I think the picture the president painted at the fundraiser of the direction Republicans want to take this country” and what Democrats have accomplished “is the kind of language we’d like to see more of,” said a House Democratic leadership aide. “But there’s still room for improvement.”

Pelosi and other House leaders told senior White House aides at a recent closed-door meeting that they felt the president was spending too much time bashing Washington without pointing the finger of blame at Republicans – a rhetorical nuance they argued could backfire by provoking voter anger at the party in charge in Congress. - Politico Story

Attorney General Criticizes Arizona Law - He Hasn't Even Read It

Despite repeatedly voicing concerns about Arizona's new immigration enforcement law in recent weeks and threatening to challenge it, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday he has not yet read the law -- which is only 10 pages long.

"I have not had a chance to -- I've glanced at it," Holder said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing when asked had he read the state law cracking down on illegal immigrants.

Holder told reporters last month that he fears the new law is subject to abuse and that the Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department are in the midst of conducting a review.

The Arizona law requires local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally, and makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally.

The law has sparked protests across the country, including a City Council-approved boycott of Arizona businesses by Los Angeles.But proponents deny that the law encourages racial profilng, with some saying the local controversy is a symptom of a broken federal immigration system.

Holder said last month that a number of options are under consideration, including the possibility of a court challenge.

On Thursday, Holder said he plans to read the law before reaching a decision on whether he thinks it's constitutional.

When asked by Rep.Ted Poe, R-Texas, how he could have constitutional concerns about a law he has not read, Holder said: "Well, what I've said is that I've not made up my mind. I've only made the comments that I've made on the basis of things that I've been able to glean by reading newspaper accounts, obviously, television, talking to people who are on the review panel...looking at the law."

On Sunday, Holder said he does not think Arizona's law is racially motivated but voiced concern that its enforcement could lead to racial profiling. - FOX News Story

Obama - I Saved the World Speech

BUFFALO — Emboldened by positive jobs numbers and an uptick in his own polls, President Barack Obama stood squarely behind his economic record Thursday and accused Republicans of doing nothing to contribute to the growth.

Obama said he was empathetic to public concerns over bailouts but defended his administration’s unpopular spending spree on aid for the auto industry, Wall Street and the economy as a whole. He didn’t like the bailouts either, he told an audience in a hard-hit region of upstate New York. He cast his choices as noble ones in which he defied “the politics of the moment” to do “what the moment required.”

“If we simply gave in to the partisan posturing in Washington — all the poll-taking and calculation that caused an entire party to sit on the sidelines – the same party that was in charge when this crisis unfolded — millions more Americans would lose their jobs, their businesses, and their homes,” Obama said in prepared remarks on the floor of Industrial Support Inc., a manufacturer in Buffalo.

“So we met our responsibilities,” the president added. “We did what the moment required.”

The speech unveiled part of the Obama 2010 argument to deficit-wary voters who have yet to see the upside of Democrats’ economic plan.

The president touted the gain of 290,000 jobs last month, giving credit to his administration. Despite the increase in unemployment last month to 9.9 percent, he unequivocally predicted economic growth every month going forward. - Politico Story

Obama Spending Millions Touring the Country to Tell Us How Great He Is

(CBS) Frustrated western New Yorkers have a pointed message for President Barack Obama when he visits the economically troubled region Thursday: "I need a freakin job."

The president makes another stop on what the White House calls his "Main Street economic tour, this time to Buffalo, NY, the anchor city in a region that was hard hit long before a recession that made things even worse, reports CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante.

Awaiting him will be a billboard carrying a simple, direct message: "Dear Mr. President, I need a freakin job. Period." The sign is part of a media campaign called the INAFJ Project, which was organized by Buffalo businessman Jeff Baker. Baker lost his own small business 15 months ago.

"We employed 25 people and it was the most heartbreaking situation I've been through in my life," he said.

The billboard ad, along with a video posted on YouTube (seen below) features college students.

Mr. Obama will tout his efforts to get the economy moving again, including the 297,000 jobs created in April, the fourth straight month of job growth. But the unemployment rate remains high at 9.9 percent.

"Nothing else matters unless the American people are working," Baker said. - CBS News Story

LA to Boycott Arizona Over Immigration Law

Los Angeles on Wednesday became the largest city yet to boycott Arizona over its tough new law targeting illegal immigration in a move that likely will affect some $8 million in contracts with the state.

The City Council voted 13-1 to bar Los Angeles from conducting business with Arizona unless the law is repealed. The vote followed an emotional council discussion during which many members noted that their ancestors were U.S. immigrants.

"Los Angeles is the second-largest city in this country," Councilman Ed Reyes said, CBS News Station KCBS-TV in Los Angeles reports. "An immigrant city, an international city needs to have its voice heard."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa already has said he would approve the boycott.

The proposal could affect investments and contracts worth as much as $52 million, including contracts for airport, harbor and trucking services, according to a report from the city's chief legislative analyst. That report recommends the council consider suspending travel, cutting contracts and refraining from making any new ones with Arizona-based companies. - CBS News Story

Obama Team Responds to NYC Terror Attempt - With Cuts to NYC Homeland Security Budget

President Obama arrives in lower Manhattan Thursday afternoon to thank the NYPD for its heroic in an attempted Times Square bomb – but the photo-op may not go according to plan.

The Department of Homeland Security told congressional officials Wednesday that it's moving to make cuts in anti-terror funding to New York City, less than two weeks after cops helped thwart and attempted car bombing in Times Square – an effort the White House has since pinned on the Pakistani Taliban.

The cuts, lawmakers were told, amount to about 25 percent for port security, and another 27 percent for transit security, according to several reports.

It "just makes no sense at all, particularly in light of recent events," Sen. Charles Schumer told cable station NY1's "Inside City Hall." "The worst nightmare we probably face is some kind nuclear device placed in a container in the ship in the harbor and exploding....we need all the help we can get."

Schumer criticized the cut, but didn't blast the president - saying Obama understands the need for the funds and blaming Washington bean-counters. - Politico Story

Democrats - Playing Politics With Bills ahead of Elections

The Obama administration doesn’t love it. Senate Democrats aren’t wild about it, either. Even respected financial watchdogs like Paul Volcker oppose it.

But a controversial proposal by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) that would force investment banks to spin off their derivatives businesses appears to enjoy a quirky protected status until Tuesday — primary election day in Arkansas, when Democrats decide if Lincoln can go for a third term.

Trying to shore up her left flank, Lincoln went further than the White House, the House and the Senate Banking Committee to crack down on derivatives, the complex financial instruments at the heart of the 2008 economic crisis.

And Lincoln’s in no mood to compromise just days before her May 18 primary. So Democratic leaders have held back from going too far to force changes in her bill and risk embarrassing Lincoln ahead of the vote, according to multiple Senate aides and industry officials familiar with the negotiations.

The upshot is that a major provision of the regulatory reform bill is in limbo, the consequence of a toxic election year for incumbents. - Politico Story

Federal Prosecuters Not Getting the Resources to Fight Immigration and Drugs in Arizona

As the number of drug prosecutions falls across the country, Arizona is confronting a remarkable surge in drug cases -- despite getting extra help from the Feds.

In the first four months of this fiscal year, drug prosecutions in Arizona have jumped 202 percent since 2008, while the rest of the country has seen a 17 percent drop, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), which oversees federal law-enforcement programs.

Of nearly 16,000 federal prosecutions of drug charges estimated for 2010, a 12 percent decline from the previous year, Arizona will account for more than 2,274, a 36 percent hike from the year earlier, according to TRAC.

But federal prosecutors, who are struggling to cope with a rapid rise in immigration cases along the Southwest border, turn down prosecutions in Arizona more than anywhere else in the country, despite an increase in funding and staffing and looser restrictions on when they can help.

The U.S. attorney's office in Tucson, which accounts for the highest number of drug cases among all four Arizona offices, increased its staff to 145 last year, from 110 in 2008, and it reached 149 by the end of March. And federal prosecutors in Arizona last year dropped its policy of declining to press charges against suspects caught with less than 500 pounds of contraband.

But last year, federal prosecutors turned down 1,368 prosecutions, and are on pace to deny 1,287 cases this year, an increase of 113 percent from 2008 when there were 603 rejections.

Federal prosecutors, in turning down cases, commonly cite a lack of prosecutorial or investigative resources available to their office for handling the matter.

"The large number of drug cases being turned away suggests that there are serious stresses on some federal prosecutor offices," the report read. "A likely major source for these strains is the powerful flood of immigrations that has washed over the region." - FOX News Story

Democrats - No Budget Before Elections

House Republicans bashed their Democratic colleagues Wednesday morning for foot-dragging on the annual budget resolution, accusing the majority of failing the American people by not laying out a fiscally responsible way to govern.

“It is astonishing to House Republicans, and we believe it will be a profound disappointment to millions of Americans, when they learn that this Democrat majority for the first time since the enactment of the budget act has abdicated its responsibility to do a budget,” House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana said after the weekly meeting of his party.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a member of the Budget Committee, called on John Spratt, the South Carolina Democrat who chairs his committee, to follow his words from 2006: If you can’t budget, you can’t govern.

To be sure, Democrats have not completely abandoned the possibility of passing a budget. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has recently said that they’re working on it, but other Democrats have signaled that it may be difficult during an already bloody election year. - Politico Story

Illinois Basketball Team Denied Trip to Arizona for Tournament

Reveling in its first conference championship in 26 years, the Highland Park High School girls varsity basketball team has been selling cookies for months to raise funds for a tournament in Arizona. But those hoop dreams were dashed when players learned they couldn't go because of that state's new crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Safety concerns partly fueled the decision, but the trip also "would not be aligned with our beliefs and values," said District 113 Assistant Superintendent Suzan Hebson. That explanation, though, smacks of political protest to parents upset by the decision.

The news, which was broken to the team Monday by coach Jolie Bechtel, comes as critics of Arizona's controversial law call on professional athletes and others to boycott the state.

Last month a New York congressman asked Major League Baseball to pull next year's All-Star Game from Phoenix, and protesters recently picketed Wrigley Field when the Arizona Diamondbacks played the Cubs.

But tossing a high school team into the heated debate has left parents and players baffled and angry.

"Why are we mixing politics and a basketball tournament?" said Michael Evans, whose daughter Lauren is a junior on the team. "It's outrageous that they're doing this under the guise of safety."

Lauren Evans said she thought the concern was probably that one of the players could get stopped and questioned.

"It shouldn't be a problem," she said. "I don't think it makes much sense. We shouldn't be a threat. We just want to play basketball."

District 113 Superintendent George Fornero declined comment, saying it "wasn't just my decision." He referred calls to Hebson.

Hebson said Arizona is off-limits because of uncertainty about how the new law will be enforced. Signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer last month, it makes it a crime to be in the country illegally and requires police to check suspects for immigration paperwork. - Chicago Tribune

Health Care Bill Costs Continue to Rise - New Cost over $1 Trillion

Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday predict the health care overhaul will likely cost about $115 billion more in discretionary spending over ten years than the original cost projections.

The additional spending — if approved over the years by Congress — would bring the total estimated cost of the overhaul to over $1 trillion.

Republicans pounced on the news, which they called another sign that the Obama administration makes promises it cannot deliver.

“The American people wanted one thing above all from health care reform: lower costs, which Washington Democrats promised, but they did not deliver,” said House Minority Leader John A Boehner (R-Ohio). “It was clearly irresponsible for Washington Democrats to force this legislation through Congress without being truthful about its full impact on the nation’s finances. Republicans are fighting to repeal this job-killing health care law and replace it with reforms focused first on lowering costs and protecting American jobs.”

But a Democratic leadership aide on Capitol Hill said the Congress will have to stay within the budget.

"Just like other authorized programs, the discretionary programs in health reform will need to compete for funds within set budgetary limits,” the aide said. “Republicans fighting to repeal reform can say what they want, but the bottom line is that CBO says reform will reduce the deficit and slow the growth of health care costs — period.”

The Congressional Budget Office expects the federal agencies to spend $10 billion to $20 billion over 10 years on administrative costs to implement the overhaul. The CBO expects Congress to spend an additional $105 billion over 10 years to fund discretionary programs in the overhaul. - Politico Story

America Bailing Out Europe?

Concerned that U.S. taxpayers appear to be bailing out profligate European governments, the Obama administration is pushing back this week with a series of arguments that Americans won’t be on the hook for the EU bailout announced early this week.

Perhaps the only thing less popular in Washington than the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program bank bailout is the idea that Americans are going to the rescue of financially strapped Greeks.

“The bailout of Greece set a dangerous precedent of using American tax dollars for other European bailouts,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said on Monday.

“With Portugal, Spain and perhaps others to follow in Greece’s footsteps in the near future, this action shows the Obama administration is headed down a dangerous path of bailing out European countries at a time when we face our own debt crisis,” he said.

The United States is involved in the European rescue in two ways.

First, the International Monetary Fund — which is 17 percent financed by American taxpayers — says it is prepared to contribute up to $321 billion to the relief effort, with certain caveats. - Politico Story

May 18th Will be the Best Gauge of Voter Discontent

Never mind Rep. Alan Mollohan's (D-W.V.) primary defeat Tuesday. Avert your gaze from Sen. Bob Bennett's (R-Utah) loss last Saturday. The biggest and most consequential elections don't take place until next week, May 18, a date that ranks as the most important of the election calendar so far.

Just four states — Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania — will go to the polls that day, but the ballot will be packed with marquee elections that will provide the broadest and most detailed data to date about the toxicity of the political environment and the intensity of anti-establishment fury.

And the action doesn’t stop there: Four days later, on May 22, a closely watched special election in Hawaii offers Republicans a serendipitous opportunity to pick up a House seat in one of the most Democratic states in the nation.

While the third week of May isn’t the most crowded in terms of sheer number of elections — that would be the second week of June, when 10 states will hold primaries on June 8 — it’s nevertheless among the most consequential of the midterm election year because it will offer the fullest measure yet of the depths of anti-incumbent hostility. - Politico Story

Voters Continue to Replace Congress and Senate Members with New Faces

AP) Democrat Alan Mollohan became the first member of the U.S. House to be ousted this spring primary season after his opponent mounted a campaign that questioned the 14-term congressman's ethics and support for federal health care reform.

Mollohan conceded Tuesday night, ending nearly 28 years in the House. Unofficial returns showed that with 100 percent of precincts reporting, state Sen. Mike Oliverio carried 56 percent of the votes to Mollohan's 44 percent.

The more conservative Oliverio ran an aggressive campaign, portraying Mollohan as corrupt and out of touch. Conservative media rallied around the 46-year-old financial adviser from Morgantown, as did anti-abortion groups angry over Mollohan's support of health care reform.

Mollohan, 66, said his defeat was proof that negative campaigns still work and called Oliverio's attacks "totally spurious and totally false." But he acknowledged that he faced a "strong headwind" because of the national political climate, voter discontent and anti-incumbent sentiment.

That mood also helped end the 17-year career of Utah Republican Sen. Bob Bennett, who lost a GOP convention on Saturday.

"It's true there is definitely a wave out there, a national mood and wave," Mollohan said after his defeat.

Midterm congressional elections are referendums, he said, "and if people are not feeling good about what's happening, if they don't agree with legislation or they just are concerned, they express it."

Mollohan stood by his record, but acknowledged to about 150 supporters that he could have been marketed better.

Oliverio said his campaign worked because it focused on fiscal responsibility and personal integrity. - CBS News Story

Tornado Watch #151 OK / TX

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
  TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 151
  NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
  350 PM CDT TUE MAY 11 2010
 
  THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
  TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
 
         WESTERN OKLAHOMA
         WESTERN NORTH TEXAS
 
  EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 350 PM UNTIL
  1000 PM CDT.
 
  TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
  GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
  AREAS.
 
  THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 75 STATUTE
  MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
  CHICKASHA OKLAHOMA TO 45 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF ALTUS OKLAHOMA.
  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
  OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU1).

Reporter Slips - Tiger Withdraws With Bulging Dick oops Disc

USA next Greece if Debt Continues

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) is warning that the United States is well on its way to facing the same type of debt crisis that has crippled Greece.

“We are on a path which will go to where Greece is, there's no question about that, if we don't adjust our present financial house,” Gregg said during an interview Monday night on the Fox Business Network.

“If we continue to spend much more than we take in…we'll double our debt in five years and triple it in 10 years and essentially be where Greece is in about seven years,” he said.

“So we know we are headed in that direction unless we do something about reducing the level of debt and reducing the level of our spending.”

The national debt of Greece amounts to 113 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, equivalent to what the United States owed shortly after fighting the Second World War. The current U.S. debt amounts to roughly 80 percent of the gross domestic product.

Asked when he expects that the U.S. debt situation will reach the crisis level that Greece is currently facing, Gregg said, “we're looking at maybe the outside 10 years, probably closer to seven years before we hit the wall, so to say.”

The Republican senator said that the signs of a crisis are already here – pointing to recent downgraded ratings of U.S. debt. - Politico Story

Fannie Mae Needs More Bailout Money

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae (FNM: 1.06, 0.04, 3.92%) bled another $13.1 billion during the first quarter, prompting the U.S.-owned company to request another $8.4 billion cash infusion from the Treasury Department.

Fannie Mae, which was placed into conservatorship in 2008 amid enormous mortgage losses, said it lost $13.1 billion, or $2.29 a share, last quarter, compared with a loss of $16.3 billion, or $2.87 a share, during the fourth quarter of 2009.

The company blamed the heavy losses on credit-related expenses that remain “at elevated levels” due to weakness in the U.S. economy and the housing market.

“In the first quarter we continued to serve as a leading source of liquidity to the mortgage market, and we made solid progress in our ongoing efforts to keep people in their homes,” CEO Mike Williams said in a statement.

Fannie said it purchased or guaranteed about $191.4 billion in loans during the first quarter and completed 94,000 loan modifications. The company said its purchases and guarantees financed about 516,000 conventional single-family loans and about 61,000 multifamily units.

Due to the heavy losses, Fannie said the Federal Housing Finance Agency has asked the Treasury Department for $8.4 billion on or before June 30. Fannie already received $15.3 billion at the end of 2009. Last week sister company Freddie Mac said it would need another $10.6 billion from the government.

Fannie didn’t shy away from saying it will continue to need cash, saying, “Due to current trends in the housing and financial markets, we continue to expect to have a net worth deficit in future periods, and therefore will be required to obtain additional funding from Treasury.” - FOX News Story

Supreme Court Nominee Not Guaranteed to be Approved

Key Senate Republicans who already voted to confirm Elena Kagan as solicitor general were quick to point out that their previous support does not guarantee they will back her for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

Republicans such as Orrin Hatch and Jon Kyl – both yes votes in 2009 on Kagan — blasted statements within minutes of Monday morning's Supreme Court announcement, emphasizing that their previous support was not indicative of what their votes will be when the former Dean of the Harvard law school comes before the Senate for the nation's highest court, likely in July.

“As I made clear when I supported her confirmation as Solicitor General, a temporary political appointment is far different than a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court,” Kyl said. “Every senator has a constitutional duty to scrutinize judicial nominees, and I will take great care in examining her record to ensure that she possess the qualities the American people expect in our Supreme Court Justices.”

The Minority Whip from Arizona joined Republicans Hatch, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, and Richard Lugar of Indiana in confirming Kagan as Solicitor General in a 61-31 in March 2009.

Hatch, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee with Kyl, was also quick to express reticence about Kagan, saying that his decision will not be based in “blind faith” but that he will keep “an open mind” throughout the confirmation process.

“I will examine Ms. Kagan’s entire record to understand her judicial philosophy. My conclusion will be based on evidence, not blind faith. Her previous confirmation, and my support for her in that position, do not by themselves establish either her qualifications for the Supreme Court or my obligation to support her," Hatch said. "I have an open mind and look forward to actively participating in the confirmation process.” - Politico Story

States Fighting Back Against Over-Reaching Federal Government

Utah is itching for a land fight. A battle with Washington over territorial rights and state sovereignty. It wants to spark a revolt in which Western states attempt to wrest control of federal lands within their borders.

The Beehive State might just get its way, too. In March, Gov. Gary Herbert (R) signed a controversial law authorizing the use of eminent domain to capture some of the millions of acres that the federal government owns here. The law was tailor-made to provoke a lawsuit, possibly reaching the US Supreme Court, and to inspire other Western states to enact similar legislation.

While it's unusual for eminent domain to involve the taking of federal lands, this law is a byproduct of many Utahns' frustrations: The US government owns more than 60 percent of the state, thus dictating whether land has been set aside for preservation or can be accessed for mineral deposits.

The law also comes amid a wave of states' rights initiatives nationwide, which are challenging the federal government's authority on gun laws and President Obama's health-care reform.

"In this country, people are awake. They are seeing the encroachment of the federal government more than ever," says Amber Harrison, an activist who traveled last fall to Washington from Vernal, in northeastern Utah. She advocates that the federal government offer more leases on its land for oil and natural-gas drilling. - ABC News Story

AG Holder - Arizona Immigration Law is Not Racist

Attorney General Eric Holder told me the controversial new Arizona immigration law is not racist, but he remains concerned the law could lead to racial profiling. In my “This Week” interview, Holder said, “I don't think it's racist in its motivation. But I think the concern I have is how it will be perceived and how it perhaps could be enacted, how it could be carried out. I think we could potentially get on a slippery slope where people will be picked on because of how they look as opposed to what they have done, and that is I think something that we have to try to avoid at all costs.”

Holder added that immigration is a national problem and “a state-by-state solution to it is not the way in which we ought to go.” - ABC News Story