Obamas Thug style Government

This past Sunday, in one of the most aggressive and offensive intimidation tactics to date, hundreds of members of the largest union – the SEIU – stormed the front yard of Bank of America deputy general counsel Greg Baer’s home. The angry mob had bullhorns, signs and even broke the law by trespassing to bully Baer’s teenage son, the only one home at the time, who locked himself in the bathroom out of fear.

This is what unions do. They pressure politicians into spending too much. They push government into bad policy decisions. They sacrifice the private sector for the public sector. And now, they trespass and break the law only to scare the children of private citizens to get their way.
If you think the unions are working alone, think again.

These protests, the ones storming Wall Street bank lobbies and now the private homes of bankers, are likely being carefully coordinated with the White House to increase their profile against the financial fat cats and help pass disgraced Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd’s financial regulatory bill.

Remember, when the White House visitor records were finally made public, it was SEIU boss Andy Stern who was the most frequent guest.

There are also no coincidences in politics. The bill passed the Senate last night.

From the G.M. bondholders, to the Black Panthers at polling stations, to ACORN to these assaults on private citizens, Obama is running a Hugo Chavez-style thugocracy. Like Chavez, he gets non-official "allies" to act as his henchemen and do the intimidation work. Obama provides the narrative and tells the story of "greed" while the SEIU provides the muscle. This is about power, not prosperity.

This time it’s gone too far.

Unions see the writing on the wall. The goose that laid the golden egg is bleeding on the operating table – and they’re the ones who killed it. They are bankrupting local and state governments, and putting a strain on the federal budget. Unions have also put us at a major trade imbalance. The stimulus has gone to create more public sector union jobs. These jobs cost on average, 30K more than their private sector equivalents.

Take New York State, for example, once upon a time there was manufacturing, a robust Wall Street engine of growth, Fortune 500 companies aplenty. That “Empire State” is no more. The unions lobbied to ensure that these companies were taxed to death and made it extremely challenging to do business -- so much that it became easier to do business in communist China.

Let’s be clear, I’m not defending Bank of America. I'm defending the American tax payer from organized labor who has bled them dry and the politicians who have been too weak to stand up to their gangster ways. - FOXNews.com Opinion Piece

Law Enforcement Speaks Out about Obama Administration

Read Arizona Immigration Bill

Read AZ Immigration Bill

(Click Here)

Boycots of Arizona Law - Will really Hurt Hispanics

The raft of boycotts being imposed on Arizona over its immigration law could up end hitting Hispanic workers as hard as anyone.

Hispanics make up a huge chunk of the state's hospitality and service sector workforce -- and with city governments and organizations pulling the plug on travel and conventions in Arizona, state officials point out that Hispanic workers stand to lose.

They say it makes little sense for officials protesting the Arizona law out of concern that it would subject Hispanic immigrants to racial profiling to register their dismay by targeting the tourism industry.

"These boycotts could be hurting the very same people that they profess to be helping," said Garrick Taylor, spokesman for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The worst-case-scenario estimates for the financial impact of lost convention business alone are staggering. Phoenix officials say their city could lose up to $90 million in the next five years over the protests. The figure represents not just lost convention and hotel fees but other money tourists would otherwise spend in the city. - FOX News Story

The Left is Calling Out Obama on Lack of Response to Oil Spill

At first, it was Rush Limbaugh who tagged the gusher in the Gulf "Obama's Katrina" -- but now two lions of the left are warning the White House that the administration's handing of the environmental catastrophe is inflicting long-term political damage.

James Carville, a stalwart Obama defender -- and Louisiana native -- and MSNBC's Chris Mathews both voiced concerns about the president's handling of the spill, and Obama's decision to allow BP to take the lead on plugging the pipe, which has been pouring oil into the sea for a month.

Their statements came on a day when the press corps spent the better part of an hour grilling White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the administration's response to the Deepwater Horizons disaster -- and the cloud of confusion over the amount of oil spilling from the severed exploration pipe and BP's efforts to staunch the flow.

Matthews, speaking during an appearance with Jay Leno on NBC's "Tonight Show," said Obama's response "scares me. He's been acting a little like a Vatican Observer here. When is he actually going to do something?"

Carville, one of the President Bush's harshest critics in the wake of the 2005 hurricane that decimated New Orleans, called Obama's response "lackadaisical."

"They are risking everything by this 'go along with BP' strategy they have that seems like, lackadaisical on this," Carville told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday. "They seem like they're inconvenienced by this, this is some giant thing getting in their way and somehow or another, if you let BP handle it, it'll all go away. It's not going away. It's growing out there. It is a disaster of the first magnitude, and they've got to go to Plan B." - Politico Story

Sestack Beat Specter - Now He has some Explaining to Do

A leading House Republican is threatening to file an ethics complaint against Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) if he doesn’t reveal who in the White House offered him a job to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform committee, said Sestak needs to explain what job he was offered and who at the White House was involved. Sestak, who beat Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) in the Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday, said on a Philadelphia radio station in February that the White House offered him a job to drop out of the race.

Issa said he or another member of Congress would file a formal complaint to the House ethics committee by July 4 if someone else doesn’t bring the matter to the Office of Congressional Ethics, which handles ethics complaints from outside groups.

“I’ve reviewed the capability and appropriateness,” of filing a complaint, Issa said. “I’m one of many members of Congress considering that it has to be done if he doesn’t come clean.”

If the White House offered Sestak a job to drop out of the race, it could violate federal law that prohibits interfering in elections or promising employment for political activity. Issa predicted that a potential ethics violation could narrowly focus on covering up a felony or bringing dishonor to the House. - Politico Story

Obama Plans to "Blame Bush" Strategy in 2010 election

President Barack Obama is trying to ride the wave of anti-incumbency by taking on an unpopular politician steeped in the partisan ways of Washington.

It doesn’t matter that George W. Bush left office 16 months ago.

The White House’s mid-term election strategy is becoming clear – pit the Democrats of 2010 against the Republicans circa 2006, 2008 and 2009, including Bush.

It’s a lot to ask an angry, finicky electorate to sort out. And even if Obama can rightfully make the case that the economy took a turn for the worse under Bush's watch, he's already made it - in 2008 and repeatedly in 2009.

It’s not clear that voters still want to hear it.

“If you’re the leader of a large corporation and you’re in power for a year and a half and you start off a meeting with your shareholders by blaming your predecessor, that wouldn’t go over very well,” said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University. “This is a very weak approach. ... And I can’t imagine it having an impact on these very swing voters.”

Some Democrats would like Obama to shift his argument. - Politico Story

Video of Sedalia, MO Tornado 5/19/2010

With Crime Rates so Bad They Want National Guard Help - Chicago Mayor Defends Gun Law

Irate with a reporter's question on the effectiveness of the city's handgun ban, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley offered to give a first-hand lesson following the shooting of an off-duty police officer.

"Oh, it's been very effective," Daley said, according to MyFoxChicago.com. "If I put this up your butt, you'll find out how effective it is. If I put a round up your … you'll know."

Daley, whose comments came at a news conference on Thursday previously scheduled to discuss the city's ban and a pending U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit challenging the law, became testy when a reporter questioned the ban's effectiveness as the mayor held a rifle confiscated from city streets.

Jacquelyn Heard, Daley's press secretary, later told the Chicago Sun-Times that Daley was somewhat exasperated because the individual asking the question -- a reporter from the Chicago Reader -- was "missing the point that unrestricted guns are a devastating issue" for the city.

"To illustrate the point, he offered what admittedly could be considered a less than ideal example, but it's one that is a stark reminder of how destructive gun violence has been," Heard told the paper. - FOX News Story

Top Obama Officials Says "will not necessarily process illegal immigrants"

A top Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.

John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, made the comment during a meeting on Wednesday with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper reports.

"I don't think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are the solution," Morton told the newspaper.

The best way to reduce illegal immigration is through a comprehensive federal approach, he said, and not a patchwork of state laws.

The law, which criminalizes being in the state illegally and requires authorities to check suspects for immigration status, is not "good government," Morton said. - FOX News Story

More States Following Arizona Lead on Immigration

While Arizona faces the scorn of the White House and local governments across the country for its immigration law

, lawmakers in several states are looking to follow the Grand Canyon State's lead.

Lawmakers and politicians in Texas, Rhode Island, Utah and Georgia are among those who, in the month since Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law, have announced plans to introduce similar legislation.

The officials say states need to take matters into their own hands to tackle illegal immigration and in turn reduce the taxpayer cost associated with large undocumented populations in their hospitals, schools and prisons. They draw inspiration directly from the Arizona law, bucking the trend of local and state officials who have protested Arizona and called for boycotts against the state.

Rhode Island state Rep. Peter Palumbo has filed a bill that looks nearly identical to Arizona's. It requires law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally -- provided they don't stop someone on that basis alone. The proposal empowers police to turn over illegal immigrants to federal custody and also bars local jurisdictions from limiting immigration enforcement. Several other provisions in the bill are based on Arizona's law.

Palumbo, a Democrat, told Fox News that Arizona residents were "merely trying to protect themselves" and that the Rhode Island bill could help the state save millions every year. - FOX News Story

How Dumb was George W. Bush?

If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?

If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States , would you have said that he is clueless.
If George W. Bush would have flown all the way toDenmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door inTexas , would you have thought he was a self important, conceded, egotistical prick.

If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?

If George W. Bush had mis-spelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoe as proof of what a dunce he is?

If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?

If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If George W Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have approved.

If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 10 months -- so you'll have three years and two months to come up with an answer.

Obama Still Dodging the Press - Transparency my A$$

You may recall that on Monday President Obama refused take any questions from the press (irony alert!) immediately after signing the "Press Freedom Act" in the Oval Office. The president, who hasn't held a prime time press conference since last July, said this was not a press conference and he would have something later in the week.

He was presumably referring to today's scheduled "Joint Press Conference" with Mexican President Calderon in the Rose Garden. But so-called "press conferences" with foreign leaders usually allow for only two questions from the White House press corps and two from foreign reporters.

But today he said there was time for only one from each side. And in what I suspect was a White House effort to assure that the questioning was limited to immigration and other issues of U.S.-Mexico concern, he called on the Univision reporter from the U.S. side.

So if his goal was to avoid answering any tough questions about yesterday's elections, or the oil spill in the Gulf, or financial regulation, or Iran, or Afghanistan -- he succeeded. - CBS News Story

Obama Continues to Grab Power Over States - Calls Feds to Review Arizona Law

President Obama said today that he has directed the Department of Justice to take a "very close look" at Arizona's controversial immigration law and that he expects a report back "soon," after which the government will make a determination whether to legally challenge the law.

Mr. Obama, speaking following a bilateral meeting at the White House with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, said in the Rose Garden that the Justice Department is looking at the language of the law and its implications for civil rights as well as "whether it comports both with our core values and existing legal standards."

He added that Justice is looking at whether the law violates "the fact that the federal government is ultimately the one charged with immigration policy."

"I think the Arizona law has the potential of being applied in a discriminatory fashion," Mr. Obama said after a reporter asked if he agreed with Calderon's characterization of the law as "discriminatory." In his prepared remarks, the American president had called the law a "misdirected expression of frustration over our broken immigration system."

"Today, I want every American to know my administration has devoted unprecedented resources in personnel and technology to securing our border," he said. "Illegal immigration is down, not up, and we will continue to do what's necessary to secure our shared border." - CBS News Story

Arizona Fights Back Against Boycotts

f Los Angeles wants to boycott Arizona, it had better get used to reading by candlelight.

That's the message from a member of Arizona's top government utilities agency, who threw down the gauntlet Tuesday in a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa by threatening to cut off the city's power supply as retribution.

Gary Pierce, a commissioner on the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission, wrote the letter in response to the Los Angeles City Council's decision last week to boycott the Grand Canyon State -- in protest of its immigration law -- by suspending official travel there and ending future contracts with state businesses.

Noting that a quarter of Los Angeles' electricity comes from Arizona power plants, Pierce threatened to pull the plug if the City Council does not reconsider. He also ridiculed Villaraigosa for saying that the point of the boycott was to "send a message" by severing the "resources and ties" they share.

"I received your message; please receive mine. As a statewide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona's electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the 'resources and ties' we share with the city of Los Angeles," Pierce wrote.

"If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation."

Appearing to tap into local frustration in Arizona over the raft of boycotts and threatened boycotts from cities across the country, including Los Angeles, Pierce warned that Arizona companies are willing and ready to fight boycott with boycott.

"I am confident that Arizona's utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands," Pierce wrote. "If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona's economy."

Arizona has some serious leverage over Los Angeles, as well as the rest of California. The state and city get electricity from a nuclear power plant outside Phoenix, as well as from coal-fired power plants in northern Arizona and two giant hydroelectric power generators along the Colorado River. - FOX News Story

Homeland Secretary Bashes Arizona Law - But Hasn't Even Read It

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano admitted Monday that she has not read the controversial Arizona immigration law even though she's gone on television to criticize it, and continued to assert that it was "bad law enforcement law."

The admission comes after Attorney General Eric Holder, who earlier warned the law could create a "slippery slope" toward racial profiling, told a House committee last week that he had not read the bill either. On Tuesday, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said he too had not read the bill, even as he defended diplomatic official Michael Posner for comparing the law to Chinese human rights violations.

Napolitano discussed the policy under questioning by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on the BP oil spill response.

"I have not reviewed it in detail. I certainly know of it," the former Arizona governor said when asked by McCain whether she had a chance to give the language a close look.

Nevertheless, Napolitano said, "That's not the kind of law I would have signed." Napolitano explained that she dealt with "laws of that ilk" in Arizona before and that most law enforcement groups were opposed to them. - FOX News Story

9/11 Mistakes Repeated in Failed Terrorist Bomb in USA

Despite a top-to-bottom overhaul of the intelligence community after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the nation's security system showed some of the same failures nearly a decade later and allowed a would-be bomber to slip aboard an airliner, congressional investigators said Tuesday.

The Senate intelligence Committee report at times contradicted the Obama administration's assertion that the nearly catastrophic Christmas Day bombing attempt was unlike 9/11 because it represented a failure to understand intelligence, not a failure to collect and understand it.

The congressional review is more stark than the Obama administration's report. It lays much of the blame at the feet of the National Counterterrorism Center, which Congress created to be the primary agency in charge of analyzing terrorism intelligence.

"NCTC personnel had the responsibility and the capability to connect the key reporting with the other relevant reporting," the congressional summary said. "The NCTC was not adequately organized and did not have resources appropriately allocated to fulfill its missions."

The NCTC is the government's clearinghouse for terrorism information and is the only government agency that can access all intelligence and law enforcement information.

Lawmakers found that the NCTC was not organized to be the sole agency in charge or piecing together terrorism threats.

"Some of the systemic errors this review identified also were cited as failures prior to 9/11," Republican Sens. Richard Burr and Saxby Chambliss wrote in an addendum to the report. - FOX News Story

Obama's Numbers Take Big Dip

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17. That matches the lowest rating earned by the president since the passage of his health care proposal two months ago (see trends).

Fifty-five percent (55%) would like to see an immigration law like Arizona’s for their own state.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Facebook users are concerned about the privacy of their personal information on the social networking site.

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). Updates are also available on Twitter and Facebook.

Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-three percent (53%) disapprove. Eighty percent (80%) of Democrats still offer their approval. Eighty-four percent (84%) of Republicans and 62% of unaffiliated voters disapprove. The Rasmussen Reports Media Meter shows that media coverage of the President has been 53% positive over the past week. - Rasmussen Reports Polls

Arlen Specter Out in Pennsylvania

Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania's longest-serving senator, lost his bid to run for re-election as a Democrat to Rep. Joe Sestak, the Associated Press reports.

Sestak's victory marks a striking triumph over the establishment candidate, who just last month had a more than 20-point lead in polls.

After serving in the Senate for nearly 30 years as a Republican, Specter switched to the Democratic party in order to salvage his career. He won the support of the Democratic establishment -- including Gov. Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who worked on his behalf to mobilize voters in Philadelphia, a critical part of the state for Specter.

President Obama also supported Specter, but he never joined him on the campaign trail. - CBS News Story

Tea Party Win in Kentucky

On what is perhaps the biggest primary day in this year's election season, candidates in three states faced off in stiff competitions that will set the stage for the upcoming midterm elections and the Democratic agenda.

In Kentucky, longtime Congressman Ron Paul's son, ophthalmologist Rand Paul, was declared the winner of the Republican Senate primary by The Associated Press shortly after polls closed. With more than half of the precincts reporting, Paul had a wide lead over Grayson.

Fueled by grassroots momentum and his father's donor base, Paul was predicted to be a favorite since the beginning.

Whether he eventually wins the Senate seat will be an indication of the strength of the Tea Party movement. - ABC News Story

Majority of Americans Still favor Repeal of Health Care Bill

Some things never change, and voter opposition to the recently passed national health care law appears to be one of them.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% favor repeal of the law, while 39% are opposed. Support for repeal is unchanged from a week ago. That support is also proving to be just as consistent as opposition to the health care plan before it was passed into law.

In polls conducted every week since the law was passed in March, support for repeal has stayed in a very narrow range from a low of 54% to a high of 58%.

The current results include 45% who Strongly Favor repeals and 33% who are Strongly Opposed. Among senior citizens, the generation most likely to use the health care system, 63% favor repeal. - Rasmussen Reports Poll

Legal Challenge to Arizona's Immigration Law

(AP) The developing legal fight over Arizona's sweeping immigration law escalated Monday as major civil rights groups filed a lawsuit challenging the measure's constitutionality.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were among groups that filed the latest challenge.

They filed the case in U.S. District Court on behalf of plaintiffs that include labor unions, a Tucson church, social-service organizations and numerous individuals.

The new suit, the fifth legal challenge filed since Gov. Jan Brewer signed the legislation, asks a federal judge to declare the measure unconstitutional and block it from taking effect in late July. The cases could be consolidated, and no court hearings have been scheduled.
Key provisions of the law include requiring police enforcing other laws to verify a person's immigration status if there's "reasonable suspicion" of illegal presence in the United States. It also makes being in the country illegally a state crime and prohibits seeking day-labor work at roadside.

The lawsuit alleges that the law is unconstitutional because the federal government has responsibility to regulate immigration, and because enforcement of the law will violate protections for due process and equal treatment under the law.

The suit argues that enforcing the law will subject U.S. citizens and others to racial profiling and other harassment, interfere with delivery of social services, and deter people from approaching law enforcement to report crimes.

"This law is shameful and un-American and will undermine public safety," said Lucas Guttentag, director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. - CBS News Story

Dem. Senate Candidate Blumenthal Misled Voters about Military Record?

A bombshell was dropped on Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal Monday night, less than a week before the Democratic nominating convention, when the New York Times reported he has misled voters about his military record.

Blumenthal has suggested repeatedly in public settings that he served in Vietnam, despite getting five deferments between 1965 and 1970 and ultimately serving stateside in the Marine Corps Reserve, according to the Times.

The Blumenthal campaign lashed out at the Times for an “outrageous distortion” of his record but didn’t refute the thrust of the story.

"The New York Times story is an outrageous distortion of Dick Blumenthal's record of service. Unlike many of his peers, Dick Blumenthal voluntarily joined the Marine Corps Reserves in 1970 and served for six months in Parris Island, S.C., and six years in the reserves,” Blumenthal campaign manager Mindy Myers said in a statement. “He received no special treatment from anyone.”

Blumenthal planned to gather Connecticut veterans in support of his campaign Tuesday morning.

It was his remarks in front of a group of veterans and senior citizens in Norwalk, Conn., in 2008 that the Times cited most prominently.

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” he said, according to the paper. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.” - Politico Story

Has Obama Lost His Political Power?

President Barack Obama says he loves Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) — just not quite enough to hazard an 11th-hour political trip to Pennsylvania for an ally of convenience increasingly viewed as unlikely to win.

Just last year, the White House was crowing about Specter’s conversion to the Democratic Party, and Obama pledged, “He will have my full support. . .”

Tuesday’s primary is telling a different story: Once thought to be an unalloyed asset for most any Democratic candidate, Obama’s personal involvement is no longer guaranteed — or guaranteed to succeed.

In close to a dozen contests, Obama’s intervention hasn’t paid dividends — whether in picking winners in a party squabble like Pennsylvania, recruiting candidates for targeted seats, or on the stump in the final days of close contests in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey.

It’s a phenomenon that illustrates how even Obama is struggling — and often failing — to control the same political forces that dislodged veteran lawmakers like Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) and Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.). With voters angry and channeling their discontent toward Washington, even the president doesn't command as much power over the electorate or strike as much fear in the hearts of his own party. - Politico Story

Obama Administration Using Health Care Bill and Your Money for Political Gain

President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies are using the levers of government to speed up and promote what they consider the most popular aspects of the new health care law before a highly skeptical public passes judgment in November.

Top administration officials, who meet regularly with outside special interest groups to coordinate the public relations effort, have so far focused on expediting and amplifying four key areas of the new law: expanding coverage to young adults, covering sick people with pre-existing conditions or high medical costs, providing tax breaks to small businesses and helping a select group of seniors pay for prescription drugs.

In one case, the administration moved so quickly to provide coverage to young adults under their parents’ health plan that it cut short the conventional period for the public to weigh in on the new rule.

In another, it used taxpayer money to alert small businesses that they will get a break on this year’s taxes.

Both are perfectly legal but also politically beneficial. - Politico Story

Important Day in the 2010 Election Cycle is Today

WASHINGTON — Intensely competitive Senate primary races in three states Tuesday will test the durability of incumbent Democratic senators in Arkansas and Pennsylvania and the strength of the conservative tea party movement to shake up the Republican establishment in Kentucky.

In a fourth race of national significance, Republican Tim Burns and Democrat Mark Critz battled to fill out the term of the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha in a congressional district in southwestern Pennsylvania. Both political parties reported spending roughly $1 million to sway the race, turning it into a laboratory for the campaign for the November election when control of Congress will be at stake.

Competing economic prescriptions, the appeal of President Barack Obama's health care legislation, the Republicans' ability to woo crossover support from independents and Democrats all are at issue in the House

race, according to officials in both parties.

Oregon voters also faced a deadline for returning ballots in a statewide mail-in vote that began more than two weeks ago.

On the eve of the busiest primary night of the year so far, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday that President Barack Obama was following the races, but "not that closely."

"We have supported incumbent Democratic senators and we've done a lot on behalf of each campaign," he added, referring to Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.

It was not clear what impact Obama's involvement would mean for the incumbents, under extraordinary political pressure in a year of well-documented voter dissatisfaction with Washington. - FOX News Story

Obama - Quite Fingerpointing and Blaming Others

Acknowledging that “the system failed and it failed badly,” President Barack Obama called for a stop to finger-pointing over who is at fault for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and for the first time put a share of the blame on the federal government.

The president’s admission of a breakdown in government procedures comes amid reports that federal regulators were lax in oversight and issuing permits for drilling in the Gulf. He slammed the “cozy relationship” oil companies have with the Minerals Management Services, and said the Interior Department will embark on a “top-to-bottom reform” of the agency and conduct a review of the environmental procedures for drilling.

“I understand that there are legal and financial issues involved, and a full investigation will tell us what happened,” Obama said in remarks after receiving an update on the spill. “With that, there’s enough responsibility to go around, and all parties should be willing to accept it. That includes, by the way, the federal government.”

Obama, who was joined in the Rose Garden by his top advisers and Cabinet secretaries, criticized executives of the companies involved in the oil spill for trying to deflect responsibility onto each other, calling their behavior during Tuesday’s congressional hearings “a ridiculous spectacle.”

“You had executives of BP, Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else. The American people could not have been impressed with that display and I certainly wasn’t,” Obama said. “I will not tolerate more finger-pointing or irresponsibility.” - Politico Story

Neighbor is Anti-Gun - Observing His Wishes?

HOW MUCH NICER COULD THIS

NEIGHBOR BE?

From a guy in Florida :

My neighbor is a
"lefty" of sorts (Obama bumper stickers, gung-ho socialized medicine, "guns should be banned", etc.). So this past spring, I put this sign up in my yard after one of his anti-gun rants at a neighborhood cocktail party. The sign wasn't up more than an hour before he called the police and wanted them to make me take down the sign.
Fortunately, the officer politely informed him that it was not their job
to take such action without a court order and that he had to file a complaint "downtown" first, which would be reviewed by the city attorney to see if it violated any city, county, or state ordinances, which if there was a violation a court order would be sent to the offending party (me) to "remove the sign in seven days".

After several weeks he was informed that the sign was legal (by a
quarter of an inch) and there was nothing the city could do, which obviously made him madder. I am at a loss how to reconcile our long relationship (notice I did not say friendship), any suggestions would be welcome.

Maybe I'll ask him if he wants to go deer hunting, which opens up
November 1st, you know, just a bunch of guys running through the woods chasing Bambi, then sitting around the campfire roasting marshmallows, drinking beer,and singing our favorite country songs to the accompaniment of Jake's harmonica (he is a better lawyer than a harmonica player but don't tell him I told you).

I even made him a bumper sticker and that made him madder than he
already was!

Anyway, that's life in our neck of the woods, how's about yours?

Arizona Residents Fight Back on Boycotts

Arizona tourists are biting back against San Diego for its city council's decision to boycott the Grand Canyon State over its immigration law signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last month.

Would-be tourists have notified the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau and some hotels that they are canceling their scheduled travel to the coastal vacation destination, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

According to the newspaper, the convention bureau has received about 25-30 emails from Arizona residents, with some saying they are canceling their reservations and taking their money elsewhere.

That has tourism officials urging Arizonans to consider the resolutions as merely symbolic and local politics at work.

"We're in a very tough environment already because of everything else going on, and we don't need another negative impact to our industry," ConVis President Joe Terzi told the Union-Tribune. "This affects all the hardworking men and women who count on tourism for their livelihoods, so we’re saying, don't do something that hurts their livelihoods."

"I've been approached by a number of hotels who are very concerned because they’ve received cancelations from Arizona guests," Namara Mercer, executive director of the county Hotel-Motel Association, told the newspaper.

Roughly 2 million Arizonans visit San Diego each year but the recession has taken a toll on the hotel industry that was hoping for a comeback this year. Hotels

are offering deep discounts to fill up their undersold rooms while the tourism board spends $7 million this spring and summer season to promote travel to the area. - FOX News Story