In The News. - Page 3
Create Post
Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 31 to 45 of 60

Thread: In The News.

  1. #31
    Latest Politics
    Sen. Lindsey Graham on Foreign Policy Challenges

    Sep 25, 2011
    11:55
    Key Republican lawmaker on 'Fox News Sunday'





  2. #32
    AP Top News at 4:46 p.m. EDT



    On spending, Congress can't agree on easy stuff

    WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress is once again allowing shutdown politics to bring the federal government to the brink of closing. For the second time in nine months, lawmakers are bickering and posturing over spending plans. The difference this time is that everyone agrees on the massive barrel of money to keep the government running for another seven weeks.





    Obama defends push to raise taxes on rich

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) - Inviting questions, President Barack Obama got one he was happy to answer. "Would you please raise my taxes?" one man asked the president at a town hall here Monday, hosted by the social networking company LinkedIn.





    Libya orders state security courts abolished

    TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - Libya's transitional justice minister said Monday that he has approved a measure to abolish the country's state security prosecution and courts, which sentenced opponents of the old regime to prison. At a press conference in Tripoli, Mohammed al-Alagi, part of Libya's new leadership after the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi, said he has signed a document to disband the bodies. The step still needs to be approved by the National Transitional Council that now runs the country.


  3. #33
    Very Cool "In The News".

    Pocket robots gain ground with Marines


    By James K. Sanborn - Staff writer
    Posted : Monday Sep 26, 2011 7:51:18 EDT
    Marine Corps Times

    It takes guts to be the point man breaching a door and heading into the unknown. What’s on the other side? It could be an empty room. There could be a family huddled in the corner. Or a Marine could find himself staring down the barrel of an enemy AK47.

    That’s where throwable robots, known as “pocketbots,” come into the picture. Small and easily transportable, these robots can be thrown through a door, through a window, onto a roof or around a corner. They have cameras that relay live video back to a small hand-held screen, feeding Marines instant intel that could save lives. Now the robots are on their way to Afghanistan.

    About 100 robots are set for deployment “within the next year,” but that number could grow as Marines become more familiar with the robots’ capabilities, according to officials with Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico, Va.
    Infantry units and those on dismounted operations will be the primary operators. Training would likely be minimal, as the systems are intuitive, according to the robots’ manufacturers. Marine officials said the brunt of training would be hands-on.

    Robots under Marine Corps consideration are light and small. The Recon Scout XT robot by Recon Robotics weighs 1.2 pounds and is small enough to fit into a cargo pocket. The entire package, complete with its monitor/controller, weighs 3 pounds, making it easy for individual infantrymen to carry on the move.

    The iRobot 110 First Look is larger and heftier but still weighs less than 5 pounds. At 10 by 9 by 4 inches, it isn’t much bigger than a laptop.
    That means they could be used to survey areas too small for Marines, like crawl spaces, culverts or caves. And just because the robots are small doesn’t mean they’re dainty. They can be thrown through glass and survive significant drops.

    The Recon Scout XT can take a 30-foot drop onto concrete, survive a throw of more than 120 feet and is water-resistant. It can take rain and submersion in up to one foot of water for up to five minutes.
    The iRobot 110 First Look can take 15-foot drops and is waterproof up to 3 feet. It can also use a set of flippers to right itself if flipped, or it can scale steps up to 8 inches tall.

    Both have infrared capabilities for low- and no-light conditions.
    Miniature robots aren’t the first of their kind on the battlefield. Marines, especially explosive ordnance disposal technicians, have used larger robots for years to survey dangerous areas and even disarm bombs. Among them are Dragon Runner, a 14-pound robot, and Talon, a 115-pound robot, designed by QinetiQ.


  4. #34


    Police: LSU fans attacked following W.Va. game



    MORGANTOWN, WV (FOX44) — An attack after the WVU versus LSU football game in West Virginia sent one LSU fan to the hospital, while three others recover from minior injuries, Fox 44 reports.

    The Morgantown Police Department confirms that the victims were in a vehicle leaving the game when an unknown person threw a rock at the open window of the victim’s car. The driver of the vehicle got out of the car and began asking a group of people nearby if they knew who threw the rock at the vehicle.

    While seeking information, the LSU fans were approached by an unidentified group of individuals. They began assaulting the driver. That’s when the victim’s wife (who is pregnant) and two friends got out of the car. They too were assaulted.
    The Charleston Daily Mail reports that the most seriously injured LSU fan sustained a broken nose, a crushed eye socket and other injuries.He was taken to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for surgery.

    The other victims in the attack only suffered minor injures.

    An investigation is being conducted. The police request's that if anyone has information about the attack, call (304) 284-7454.


  5. #35



    Nightmare in Libya: Thousands of Surface-to-Air Missiles Unaccounted For.


    'Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that's our worst nightmare,' Sen. Barbara Boxer says.









    video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player



    By BRIAN ROSS and MATTHEW COLE
    Sept. 27, 2011

    The White House announced today it planned to expand a program to secure and destroy Libya's huge stockpile of dangerous surface-to-air missiles, following an ABC News report that large numbers of them continue to be stolen from unguarded military warehouses.

    Currently the U.S. State Department has one official on the ground in Libya, as well as five contractors who specialize in "explosive ordinance disposal", all working with the rebel Transitional National Council to find the looted missiles, White House spokesperson Jay Carney told reporters.

    "We expect to deploy additional personnel to assist the TNC as they expand efforts to secure conventional arms storage sites," Carney said. "We're obviously at a governmental level -- both State Department and at the U.N. and elsewhere -- working with the TNC on this."
    ABC News reported today U.S. officials and security experts were concerned some of the thousands of heat-seeking missiles could easily end up in the hands of al Qaeda or other terrorists groups, creating a threat to commercial airliners.

    "Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that's our worst nightmare," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D.-California, a member of the Senate's Commerce, Energy and Transportation Committee.
    Though Libya had an estimated 20,000 man-portable surface-to-air missiles before the popular uprising began in February, Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro told ABC News today the government does not have a clear picture of how many missiles they're trying to track down.

    "We're making great progress and we expect in the coming days and weeks we will have a much greater picture of how many are missing," Shapiro said.
    The missiles, four to six-feet long and Russian-made, can weigh just 55 pounds with launcher. They lock on to the heat generated by the engines of aircraft, can be fired from a vehicle or from a combatant's shoulder, and are accurate and deadly at a range of more than two miles.
    Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch first warned about the problem after a trip to Libya six months ago. He took pictures of pickup truckloads of the missiles being carted off during another trip just a few weeks ago.

    "I myself could have removed several hundred if I wanted to, and people can literally drive up with pickup trucks or even 18 wheelers and take away whatever they want," said Bouckaert, HRW's emergencies director. "Every time I arrive at one of these weapons facilities, the first thing we notice going missing is the surface-to-air missiles."
    The ease with which rebels and other unknown parties have snatched thousands of the missiles has raised alarms that the weapons could end up in the hands of al Qaeda, which is active in Libya.

    "There certainly are dangerous groups operating in the region, and we're very concerned that some of these weapons could end up in the wrong hands," said Bouckaert.
    "I think the probability of al Qaeda being able to smuggle some of the stinger-like missiles out of Libya is probably pretty high," said Richard Clarke, former White House counterterrorism advisor and now a consultant to ABC News.


  6. #36
    Solyndra Loan: Now Treasury Dept. Is Launching Investigation









    video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player


    By RONNIE GREENE and MATTHEW MOSK
    iWATCH NEWS and ABC NEWS

    Sept. 14, 2011

    The Treasury Department's inspector general has opened a new front in the investigation of the government loan to Solyndra, the now bankrupt company that had been touted as a model of President Obama's ambitious green energy program, ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity/iWatch News have learned.


    The new probe involves the $535 million loan, arranged by the Energy Department, but actually processed by the Federal Financing Bank, a government lending institution that falls under Treasury's control. Already, the FBI and the Energy Department's inspector general have executed search warrants at Solyndra's headquarters and questioned company executives.

    "We're going to look at everything the FFB had to do with its role in this thing," Rich Delmar, a spokesman for the Treasury Department's inspector general, told ABC News and iWatch News.
    Earlier this month, iWatch News and ABC News disclosed that Solyndra received a rock-bottom interest rate of 1 to 2 percent -- lower than those affixed to other Energy Department green energy projects. The low rate was set even as an outside agency, Fitch Rating, scored Solyndra as a B+ -- "speculative" -- investment. Energy Department officials said the bank set the rate, based on formulas including the payout length, and that Solyndra did not receive special treatment.


    Word of the broadening probe came as the head of the Energy Department's loan program came before Congress at a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday.


    After spending months touting the Obama administration's decision to loan $535 million toSolynda, top officials took a new tack Wednesday while testifying about the company's abrupt shut-down and bankruptcy: the loan, they said, was actually the Bush administration's idea.

    The Energy Department's top lending officer told Congress that the Solyndra loan application was not only filed during President Bush's term, but it surged towards completion before Obama took office in January 2009.

    "By the time the Obama administration took office in late January 2009, the loan programs' staff had already established a goal of, and timeline for, issuing the company a conditional loan guarantee commitment in March 2009," said Jonathan Silver, who heads the Energy loan program.


    Even after the loan was restructured in 2011, the Energy Department and other administration officials continued to tout Solyndra's prospects.

    In May, Silver told ABC News and iWatch News that questions about the loan guarantee were unfounded, and that Solyndra's canceled public offering and restructuring were hiccups that are typical for start-up companies.
    "I have never seen a company go straight up without a bump along the way," Silver said. "I have no doubt they will continue to hire more people."

    Republicans Push Back


    Republicans pushed back hard against this version of events, unearthing internal Energy Department emails that indicate the panel evaluating the loans had made the unanimous decision to shelve Solyndra's application two weeks before Obama took office.


    Blaming the failed loan on the Bush administration marked an abrupt turn for the Energy Department, which had championed the Solyndra loan as a model for its efforts to build a so-called "green energy" industry that creates jobs and safeguards the environment. The Solyndra loan was so central to this strategy that the administration initially planned to have Obama personally announce it, and later sent the president to the company's solar panel manufacturing facility in Fremont, California to celebrate its work.


    The $535 million loan to Solyndra included a quarterly interest rate that is now at 1.025 percent, the government bank reported in July. Of 18 Energy Department loans cited in the bank's report, Solyndra's rate was lowest. Eight other Energy Department projects, each also backed by the Federal Financing Bank, came with rates three or four times higher, the report shows.


    That treatment is in keeping with the history of the loan to the California solar panel maker, an arrangement inked in September 2009 with great fanfare. Monthly government bank reports filed since then reveal Solyndra's rate as the lowest for any energy-related project in nearly every report; in every case its rate was well below that of most energy projects, which ranged from cutting-edge electric car makers to wind and solar ventures.

    Department of Energy officials said the rates for all of its green energy loans were set by the bank using a formula, and Solyndra's favorable terms were not the result of special treatment.

    "All borrowers under the [government loan guarantee] program receive the same treatment," Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera wrote to iWatch and ABC News in response to questions.

    Solyndra spokesman David Miller agreed, saying that the interest rate was based on hard data -- such as when the loan was granted and the length of the repayment period. Solyndra's loan was for seven years, he noted, while other energy loans would have longer repayment periods. Miller pointed to a Treasury spreadsheet showing rates for 20- and 30-year loans are higher than those that are to be repaid in seven.

    "It depends on the terms you negotiated," Miller said. "You'd have to look at each one of those other companies and see what their term was and that would probably explain to you what the difference would be."


    But records show the advantageous terms came in spite of red flags about the risks of investing in Solyndra. In 2008, as the loan agreement was moving forward, an outside rating agency gave the deal with a B+ grade, a less than optimum score, according to records obtained by iWatch and ABC under the Freedom of Information Act. That same year, the records show, Dun & Bradstreet assigned the company's credit appraisal as "fair."

    The path taken by Solyndra's application for a massive government loan was just one of several questions explored by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigative subcommittee Wednesday. Members grilled Silver and Jeffrey Zients, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, as to why the initial loan was approved, and why the Solyndra deal was restructured earlier this year. The restructuring came at a time when the company was already showing signs of financial stress, with Chinese competitors offering similar products for less money.


    The House investigation into the matter had been underway well before the company collapsed. Federal auditors had already questioned the methods the energy department was using to analyze the loans. And beginning in March, ABC News, in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News, began reporting on simmering questions about the role political influence may have played in Solyndra's selection as the Obama administration's first loan guarantee recipient.


    WATCH the Original ABC News Report on Solyndra


    On Tuesday, some of the fruits of that investigation began to surface in anticipation of the hearing.
    Emails uncovered by investigators for the House Energy and Commerce Committee showed that the Obama White House closely monitored the Energy Department's deliberations over the $535 million government loan, which was backed by an Obama fundraiser. The internal emails uncovered by investigators showed the administration was keenly monitoring the progress of the loan, even as analysts were voicing serious concerns about the risk involved.
    "This deal is NOT ready for prime time," one White House budget analyst wrote in a March 10, 2009 email, nine days before the administration formally announced the loan.

    Solyndra Was Central to Obama Green Strategy


    Both administration officials and Energy Department officials pushed back on suggestions from Republican critics that politics could have influenced the process. They said emails released Tuesday only show that the White House was eager to have the president make the Solyndra announcement, and that a great deal of advanced planning work was underway to try and accomplish that. They said Kaiser made no effort to influence the process, and noted that several Solyndra executives were Republicans -- including its chief executive.

    Democrats in Congress spent much of the Wednesday hearing voicing those key points.
    "The documents and briefings that I've reviewed show that the Department of Energy in both the Bush and Obama administrations supported Solyndra's loan guarantee application," said Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat.


    But with the company in bankruptcy and FBI agents investigating elements of the deal, some Democrats in the House were still raising doubts about the wisdom of the investment.

    "We need to understand what happened, who should be held accountable, and how we can avoid future losses," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D.-Calif.

    In April, after ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity aired the first in a series of reports on the Solyndra deal, Waxman was an early critic of the decision by House investigators to pursue the matter. He wrote a letter saying his own review had not uncovered "any information or documents that suggest any impropriety, wrongdoing, or favoritism in the award of the Solyndra loan guarantee."

    But Wednesday, Waxman expressed displeasure with the sudden collapse of the company, especially after the company's CEO had just weeks earlier visited his office and personally vouched for the promise of the company.

    "Well, these rosy scenarios were not realized," Waxman said. "Today we'll ask why. Is the reason unforeseen developments in the global marketplace, as Solyndra and DOE argue? Or is the reason sloppy or inadequate vetting, or worse yet, corporate malfeasance?"

    As the hearing was underway, the Department of Energy was sending out emails to the press intended to convey that Solyndra was a bipartisan problem.

    "At several points in the hearing, folks have pointed out the party affiliation of the private investors who lost a billion dollars of their own private capital on this deal," wrote Dan Leistikow, the department's director of public affairs. "Of the two major investment firms who risked and lost the most, one happens to be associated with a Democratic donor and one with a Republican donor. I frankly can't understand what that has to do with anything, but I suppose it's always good to see a little bipartisanship."

    But Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, made note during the hearing that "the administration officials held out the company as a shining example of how the stimulus was creating jobs and invigorating the economy."
    Indeed, when the loan was announced in March of 2009, Energy Secretary Chu issued his own press release, identifying Solyndra as "part of President Obama's aggressive strategy to put Americans back to work and reduce our dependence on foreign oil."



  7. #37
    Anti-Obama sign in New Orleans Uptown neighborhood draws controversy.






    Maya Rodriguez / Eyewitness News


    NEW ORLEANS -- There are several political signs attracting all kinds of attention in one Uptown neighborhood.


    On Wednesday, crowds gathered at the corner of Calhoun and Coralie streets, looking at several signs depicting President Barack Obama as either a dunce, a puppet or a crying baby in a diaper.

    "It disrespects the nation -- and President Barack Obama represents our nation," said Skip Alexander, as he looked at one of the signs. "He represents everybody, not some people."

    Dozens of protesters came by the house in the 1500 block of Calhoun throughout the day, demanding the sign come down.

    "He wouldn't do that to [President] Bush, I'm sure. It's just insulting. It's insulting," said C.C. Campbell-Rock. "He's going to have to take them down."


    "This is nothing put pure racism," said Raymond Rock. "This is a disgrace."

    The home is owned by Timothy Reily, who declined to be interviewed about the signs. Former Mayor Ray Nagin showed up at the house and went inside to speak with Reily. He emerged later and would not comment on what they discussed.

    Some neighbors tell Eyewitness News that Reily has been putting the signs up for months. Some of the protesters learned about the signs through a local radio station on Wednesday morning.


    "He can put up a sign if he wants to. It doesn't bother me," said Harold Gagnet, a neighbor.

    "I think it's fine. It's on his property," said Katherine deMontluzin. "He can say whatever he wants."

    The signs have created such a firestorm of controversy, though, that police came to the scene-- called in by City Council Member Susan Guidry. She represents the district where the home is located. Guidry said she was concerned about public safety and was trying to figure out if the sign was even legal. She also said she spoke to Reily, but didn't get far.


    "We have to determine that there is a zoning law that prohibits perhaps the size of the sign, perhaps the way that it's erected, that it is leaning over onto public property," Guidry said. "Whatever we can use, we will, but of course, we do have to balance that with First Amendment rights."

    Yet, the signs remain in place, fanning the flames of a free speech debate on both sides of the fence.



  8. #38
    Liberals Try to Remove Anti-Obama Signs in New Orleans.
    Stephen Gutowski

    Did you catch all that? A New Orleans resident posted a couple signs on his own private property criticizing President Obama. Some liberals wandered by and didn't like the fact the signs made fun of President Obama. These liberals freaked out so much that the media, police, and even some liberal politicians got involved.

    In fact, city councilwoman Susan Guidry questions this guy's expression of his opinion so much that she openly admits that she will try to use ANY technicality she can find to squash it. She literally goes through a list of things she might use against the homeowner while being interviewed by WWL-TV saying "Whatever we can use, we will". Of course she is reportedly just "concerned about public safety".

    Now, I'm not positive what country, or planet for that matter, these liberals live on but I've always been under the impression that here in America freedom of speech was a protected right given to us by God and protected from infringement by the Constitution. Heck, I'm not even the kind of person who would put up big provocative political signs on my property but I am certainly the kind of person who will push back against those who try to drum up bogus technicalities in order to infringe on speech they don't like.
    If this attack on free speech goes unabated and succeeds it will be yet another dark day for our country.






    IMHO


    It's a story as old as time. Liberal comes across speech they don't like. Liberal does everything they can to silence that speech.
    I would love to see just for once, when one of these people makes the statement "it's racist" for a reporter to stick the mic in their face and have them explain WHY "it's racist" or why do they "have to take it down."
    ?

    Note:
    When trying to preview the above post, the damn thing kept tell me I have FIVE images and could only use three. I have none! I had to restart it three times before it would allow me to post it. The reason I'm reporting this is that I have the first installment of my "Computer Learning Center" thread ready. It has seventeen screen shots for step by step on embedding videos. I had planed on posting three per page, but had so many problems I postponed it.
    I use FireFox. It underlines misspelled words in red so you can right click and get a list of possible corrections. I thought this was the problem, but even after correcting the words, it still does it.

    Guess I'll try using Internet Explorer to see if that helps. But compared to all the add-on for FireFox, it sucks.

    Semper Fi



  9. #39
    U.S. Official: Al-Awlaki Tried to Use WMDs to Attack Westerners


    Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric killed Friday, sought to use weapons of mass destruction to attack westerners in his role as chief of external operations for Al Queda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to a senior U.S. official.


    The terror leader specifically sought to use poisons including cyanide and ricin, as he planned and directed attacks against the United States from his foreign base, the official said.

    The details of al-Awlaki's influence come as top U.S. officials privately tout the U.S. strike that killed him as a major get in a long string of Al Qaeda leaders taken out by the Obama administration, most notablyUsama bin Laden earlier this year.

    But al-Awlaki was also a significant figure within Al Qaeda, with the senior U.S. official noting that Al Awlaki played a "significant operational role" in Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab's attempted attack on a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

    The senior U.S. official said al-Awlaki "specifically instructed Abdulmutallab to detonate the device while over U.S. airspace to maximize casualties."

    The senior U.S. official also noted that al-Awlaki also helped "oversee the October 2010 plot to detonate explosive devices" aboard U.S. cargo aircraft.

    The terrorist "had a direct role in supervising and directing" Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's failed attempt to bring down two planes. That plot involved mail bombs that were sent to Chicago-area synagogues but was foiled when the devices were stopped inDubai and Europe.

    Then there is al-Awlaki's ability to inspire violent attacks on the American homeland, including accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, who attended al-Awlaki's sermons in Virginia and allegedly corresponded with him through email.

    "After the attack, al-Awlaki posted commentary on his blog praising Hasan's actions and calling him his student and brother," said the senior U.S. official.
    Faisal Shahzad who pled guilty to the Times Square car bombing attempt in the spring of 2010, also told interrogators that he was "inspired by" al-Awlaki.

    The senior U.S. official is also pointing to a May 2010 video interview conducted by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's media wing in which al-Awlaki called for attacks against U.S. military personnel worldwide and "claimed all Americans were valid targets, and directed followers to engage in armed conflict with the United States."



  10. #40
    Courts - POLITICS

    Kagan, Thomas Targeted in Hopes of Swaying Supreme Court's Health Care Ruling

    Published October 02, 2011
    FoxNews.com


    FILE: In this Oct. 8, 2010, file photo, members of the Supreme Court gather for a group portrait
    at the Supreme Court in Washington. Seated from left are: Associate Justices Clarence Thomas,
    Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, and Ruth
    Bader Ginsburg. Standing, from left are: Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer,
    Samuel Alito Jr., and Elena Kagan.


    WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court hasn't even agreed yet to take the case questioning the constitutionality of the individual mandate -- the centerpiece of President Obama's health care law -- but already arguments are lined up to remove justices from trying to weigh in on deliberations.

    Justice Elena Kagan's role in the Obama administration as it was formulating the legal defense for the health care law disqualifies her from participating in the decision, say groups who call the former solicitor general incapable of being objective. Kagan says she was not involved in developing the legal strategy of the Affordable Care Act, but opponents of the law have requested records of the administration's deliberation process to see who participated.


    Conversely, liberal groups and some Democrats in Congress say Justice Clarence Thomas can't be jurisprudence because his wife worked for organizations that actively opposed the health care law. On Thursday, 20 House Democrats requested a federal investigation into whether Thomas broke federal disclosure laws by not listing his wife's pay on a disclosure form for 21 years -- even though her job at the time was no secret.


    "The forms are simple and straightforward. Given that we now know he correctly completed them in at least five earlier years, it's hardly plausible -- indeed it's close to unbelievable -- that Justice Thomas did not understand the instructions," said Common Cause President Bob Edgar.


    On Thursday, the Obama administration requested the court take up the case and deliver its verdict by June 2012, as Obama and his Republican opponent gear up for the fall campaign. That request got the backing of retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, suggesting that the court could be inclined to take it.


    Twenty-six states and the National Federation of Independent Business would be opposing party to the case.

    Tom Dupree, a former Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration, said the justices will likely decide in the next few months when and whether it will hear the case, but a lot of combined factors "make it a pretty difficult invitation for the Supreme Court to turn down."


    "You have a case that presents very important constitutional questions arising from the administration's signature domestic initiative and now you have both the states that are challenging the law as well as the administration itself telling the Supreme Court you need to decide this issue now," Dupree told Fox News. If it does take the case, pressure to sit it out will be especially acute on Kagan and Thomas, and possibly Justice Antonin Scalia, who spoke to a Tea Party group about potential weaknesses in the law last year.


    No mechanism exists to force a justice to sit out a case, though Kagan sat out 28 cases in her first year on the court last year because of her prior work as the Obama administration's top Supreme Court lawyer.


    This October, she has already announced she will be absent from one case, regarding Congress' power to give copyright protection to works by foreign composers, directors and other artist, among them Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," that long have been in the public domain.

    But calling it a "humongous important case," Dupree said he doesn't think any justice will will decline to participate.


    "Absolutely not," he told Fox News. "There's a good possibility it could be decided by a one-vote margin, and in that circumstance, where you have folks lining up on both sides of the political aisle trying to get whatever advantage they can, it doesn't surprise me that there are calls for recusal. But I think at the end of the day, Kagan and Thomas are both deciding this case."

    Texas attorney general Greg Abbott, whose state is one of the parties in the suit, said the calls for recusal are "very predictable whenever you're dealing with a case of this magnitude."

    But he projected that "when it's all said and done, all nine justices on the court will participate in the case."


    Abbott added that the decision will likely come down to a 5-4 ruling, meaning only Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, will be the swing vote.

    "Here's the very important thing," he said. "Twice in the past 16 years, Justice Kennedy has voted to strike down an act of Congress as going beyond the limit of the Commerce Clause. That is the legal theory upon which the states rest their claim. If Justice Kennedy votes again saying that Congress exceeded their authority on the Commerce Clause, I think that should prove a victory for the states in our challenge against Obama care."



  11. #41
    Tea Party Opposing More 'Establishment' Republicans In 2012
    By Grant M. Dahl
    September 30,

    The Tea Party, which played a prominent role in several Republican primaries in 2010, has set its sights on removing more "Establishment" Republicans in the 2012 primaries.

    Yesterday, the Tea Party Express organization endorsed Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock in his primary challenge to sitting Indiana Republican Senator Richard G. Lugar for the Republican nomination for the Senate. Lugar has been criticized by Tea Party activists for voting for the Wall Street bailouts and, reportedly, for his “attitude of Distain for the Tea Party movement.”

    The Tea Party Express was behind four large Tea Party victories in the 2010 Republican primaries. Joe Miller in Alaska, Sharron Angle in Nevada, Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Mike Lee in Utah were all backed by the Tea Party Express and won the Republican nominations for the Senate in their respective states.

    Two of them, Miller and Lee, defeated sitting Republican senators for the nominations and another, O’Donnell, defeated a sitting Republican congressman running for the Senate nomination.
    Tea Party activists have also set their sights on removing Speaker of the House John Boehner in the 2012 primaries.

    Tea Party activist David Lewis announced in mid-September 2011 to the Cincinnati Enquirer that he intends to challenge Boehner in the Republican primary for Boehner’s 8th Congressional District seat in Ohio.
    Boehner has been criticized for his support of a federal budget which provided funding for Planned Parenthood, one of the largest abortion providers in the nation.




  12. #42
    Unzipping the Male 'X Factor'
    By L. Brent Bozell III
    September 30, 2011


    Back in the 1970s, there was a lot of discussion about the way TV executives were grabbing ratings with female jiggle. "T and A," it was called. The jiggle continues, but now it's coming from somewhere else. So far, the hot new trend of the 2011 TV season is ... dangling male genitalia. That's full-frontal male nudity... hidden behind graphic effects.

    CBS was thrilled the Sept. 19 premiere of its reboot of the sleazy "Two and a Half Men" drew gonzo ratings. After all the Charlie Sheen drama, how could his TV character's funeral not attract a crowd? But that wasn't enough for Chuck Lorre and Co. They had to debut actor Ashton Kutcher in the nude. First, Kutcher pulled the pixilated-nudie stunt Monday afternoon on the season debut of the Ellen DeGeneres show. Then they repeated it on CBS Monday night — twice. The opening gag of the season is that Kutcher's character has a stunning endowment.


    On Fox's "The X Factor," the network is ripping off its own "American Idol" formula, complete with former "Idol" judges Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul. But the "X" could stand for X-rated content. On the Sept. 21 premiere, the second hour began with what should be called an obscene five-minute prank.


    "Idol" always airs wacky and untalented oddballs in its audition phase, but has featured nothing like the contestant named Geo Godley at the "X Factor" auditions in Seattle. As he began performing his own ridiculous song called "I'm a Stud," he dropped his pants and displayed his male parts for the studio audience. Fox playfully covered his crotch with the show's red X logo.


    If this were an actual, unwelcome surprise, Godley would have been escorted off the stage in seconds by security staff like the human garbage he is. Instead, Fox milked the entire stunt for five minutes. First, he started singing the stupidly awful song. Then he dropped his pants. Fox even showed a close-up with the X. We saw revolted crowd shots. We saw appalled judge takes. Then he pulled up his pants and kept singing.


    Then he dropped his pants again. Paula Abdul acted sick to her stomach and cameras tracked her all the way to a bathroom. On and on ... and on it went. We got to hear Paula puking. Then the remaining judges, one by one, denounced the performance.


    Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls said, "I'm a little traumatized." Soul music producer L.A. Reid said it was "offensive, disgusting, distasteful, upsetting." Cowell put on his angry face: "What the bloody hell was that? I came here and I put 5 million dollars on the line, and ... that appeared. I don't know what you were thinking."


    Oh, come on. This was expected — and milked by Fox. The better question is: What was Fox thinking? The network that's supposed to be airing a show trying to attract a family audience with millions of children watching is expected to edit this garbage out of the show. Fox did the opposite. It exploited the scene to grab eyeballs and ad revenue.


    The segment ended with Abdul returning to the stage to applause for her apparent disgust. She looked into the camera and said, "I just witnessed a nightmare on stage. It literally got me sick." So why is Fox sickening the public?


    This is not atypical of Cowell's "X Factor" folks. A similar publicity ploy emerged in the U.K. The flasher in this case was a fan, reported The Sun newspaper: "The incident took place on Wednesday as the panel introduced the first episode of the new series, to be screened on ITV1 tomorrow. A massive 200,000 fans applied to be in the audience...and the flasher was one of only 700 who won tickets. ...The fan's shocking behavior was seen by several audience members sitting nearby — including children." Notice the flasher conveniently pulled this stunt right around the series premiere.


    When the Parents Television Council filed a complaint against Fox with the FCC, a new line of defense emerged. The blog Reality Blurred claimed Godley wasn't even naked. An audience member reported he was wearing a leopard-print thong. The blogger also noted Godley wore a thong in his YouTube audition video, further removing the idea that anyone at Fox didn't know what kind of indigestion they were manufacturing for the folks at home.


    So now Fox is elaborately faking male nudity? That's going to be their defense? They will do anything, including sending Abdul to fake-vomit over the fake-flasher.


    The show's host, Steve Jones, told The Sun the real story about Godley: "I spoke to Simon backstage after and asked him what he thought. He said it was probably his favorite audition ever — and I agreed."



  13. #43
    CIC must support gay troops, says Obama

    President criticizes silence by GOP presidential candidates after gay soldier booed at debate

    By Julie Pace - The Associated Press
    Posted : Sunday Oct 2, 2011 10:24:13 EDT

    Marine Corps Times

    WASHINGTON — In a sharp rebuke of his Republican rivals, President Barack Obama said anyone who wants to be commander in chief must support the entire U.S. military, including gay service members.
    A combative Obama criticized GOP presidential candidates for staying silent when the crowd at a recent debate booed a gay soldier who asked a question of the contenders via videotape.


    “You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient,” Obama said during remarks at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization.

    Referencing the boos at the Sept. 22 Republican debate, he said: “We don’t believe in standing silent when that happens.”

    Obama touted his administration’s efforts to repeal the military’s ban on openly gay service members, as well as his orders to the Justice Department to stop enforcing a law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

    But, as expected, Obama stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, saying only that “every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law.”

    Obama has said his views on gay marriage are “evolving”, but for now he only supports civil union.

    Obama’s position on gay marriage has become a sore point for some gay activists who say they’re otherwise pleased with the president’s handling of issues important to them. Some of the president’s backers say he could be wasting a chance to energize key segments of his base, including young people, if he doesn’t publicly advocate for gay marriage.


    “If he doesn’t, he could be missing an opportunity to mobilize voters who need to be inspired to vote for him,” said Doug Hattaway, a Democratic consultant.

    The president’s position on gay marriage puts him at odds with some of his supporters. Numerous recent polls suggest a slight majority of Americans favor giving same-sex couples the right to marry, and support is highest among Democrats and young people.
    Obama has acknowledged that public support for gay marriage is building. During a meeting with liberal bloggers last October, he said “it’s pretty clear where the trend lines are going.”

    Obama aides have given no indication of where the president’s evolution on gay marriage stands. And some gay rights advocates believe political considerations could keep Obama from publicly backing gay marriage until after the November 2012 election.


    Joe Sudbay, among a group of bloggers who met with Obama last year, said most gay rights advocates won’t vote against Obama if he stops short of backing gay marriage. But he said they may be less likely to volunteer their time and money to the campaign.


    “He might not lose votes, but he won’t gain enthusiasm,” said Sudbay, deputy editor of AmericaBlog.com.

    While gay rights advocates may not be getting everything they want from the president, they see little support for their cause among the field of Republican primary contenders.

    Most top Republican presidential candidates, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, favor limiting marriage to unions between one man and one woman.

    Fred Sainz, the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president for communications, said he expects Obama to eventually declare his support for gay marriage. And even if that doesn’t happen before next year’s election, he said the president’s other actions on gay rights issued should not be ignored.

    “He really has been an incredible champion for the issues that are important to us,” Sainz said. “It’s fair to say we’ve made more progress in the past two years than we have in the past 40 years combined.”

    In his remarks Saturday night, Obama implored the supportive crowd of 3,200 to stand with him in his re-election campaign, declaring: “This is a contest of values.”



  14. #44

    Democrats Offer Solidarity to Wall Street Protesters


    Published October 10, 2011
    Fox News

    The Democratic Party moved a step closer to embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement as its own with the top campaign arm for House Democrats sending around a petition urging people to "stand with" the movement.


    In an email sent Monday morning, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Director Robby Mook appealed for signatures to an online petition in support of those who want "to let billionaires, big oil and big bankers know that we're not going to let the richest 1% force draconian economic policies and massive cuts to crucial programs on Main Street Americans."

    The DCCC is trying to gather 100,000 names on the petition to "send a message straight to Eric Cantor, Speaker Boehner, and the rest of reckless Republican leadership in Congress."

    The appeal comes after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and other Republicans sharply criticized the protesters on Friday. At a Values Voter Summit in Washington, Cantor said he was "increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country."


    He described them as "the pitting of Americans against Americans," and scolded those who would condone them.

    "Getting American back to work means fueling a culture of entrepreneurialism, a culture of competitiveness, a culture of inspiration and optimism," he said.
    At the same summit, businessman and GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain called the demonstrations "anti-capitalism" and "anti-free market." On CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Cain said it is "anti-American" to protest bankers. He said Wall Street didn't write the "failed economic policies."

    In response to Cantor, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Cantor is being selective in his criticism of popular movements.

    "I didn't hear him say anything when the Tea Party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of Congress right here in the Capitol, and he and his colleagues were putting signs in the windows encouraging them," she told ABC's "This Week."
    Pelosi said she backs the protesters in their message.
    "I support the message to the establishment, whether it's Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest, that change has to happen. We cannot continue in a way that does not -- that is not relevant to their lives. People are angry," she said.

    While the protesters have hit on everything from war to the current crop of Hollywood films, demonstrators primarily criticize the nation's big banks for burdening average Americans with loan debt, squeezing out borrowers, slapping customers with new fees and withholding trillions in capital. They say the richest 1 percent of the nation are hanging onto the wealth to the destruction of the other 99 percent of the nation.


    A document put out at the end of September attempts to sum up the initial grievances. The Declaration of the Occupation of New York City takes aim at corporations for using an "illegal Foreclosure process" to take houses; taking "bailouts from taxpayers with impunity" while paying "exorbitant" executive bonuses; holding "students hostage" with education debt; influencing politicians with donations and about 20 other offenses.


    Indeed, the banks have in part have acted in response to the 2008 crisis and bailout, which required financial institutions to retain a higher amount of capital reserves. The agreement for federal aid was followed by a Wall Street reform bill supported by President Obama and named after two Democratic lawmakers, ex-Sen.Chris Dodd and Rep Barney Frank, which capped swipe fees on debit cards and imposed regulations on lending, among other items. The law also ended the practice of the federal government bailing out banks.


    On NBC's "Meet the Press” Sunday, former White House chief of staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel defended Obama's handling of the banking crisis.

    "President Bush passed TARP, President Obama put the stress test in -- put and made sure that they raise private capital and passed a financial reform," Emanuel said. "Not all of that is perfect."
    Still, he said, Obama showed "leadership" whereas Europe, which is still in the throes of a potential economic meltdown, "took a pass."

    Obama said last week that he thinks the protesters are "giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works." White House Press Secretary Jay Carney added that the protests on the streets of New York are "an expression of democracy."

    As for the demonstrators, the Columbus Day holiday gave many additional free time to rally in Washington, D.C., and beyond. Protesters camped out in Freedom Plaza near the Treasury Department in Washington said they planned to stay longer than their permit allows, and would be willing to risk arrest.
    "We have until 2 p.m. today to remove our possessions. We do not intend to do so. We suspect that if the police want to remove us by force they will wait until evening. So we're throwing a dinner party, and 99% of the country is invited. Our permit is now the First Amendment to the United States Constitution," wrote David Swanson, a member of the Stop the Machine protest group.

    One Democratic congressman who tried to show some solidarity with the protesters in Atlanta was turned away. In a video posted online, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., could be seen attempting to address an Occupy Atlanta crowd. But through a confusing system of parliamentary procedures, the group's leader determined there was not enough "consensus" among the group to proceed, and Lewis ended up leaving. He later said he felt no slight by the refusal to speak.


    Along with the September declaration, a related 55-page document posted online includes ideas for a "new economic charter." Among the suggestions is a new salary structure, through which doctors would be paid $28,000; lawyers would be paid $27,500; teachers would be paid $35,000; and bankers would be paid $20,000. Under that suggestion, submitted by one unnamed member of the "charter collaborative," the president would take home a cool $40,000.

    It's unclear whether supportive lawmakers will be able to fully integrate with the movement.
    __________________________________________________ __________

    As a follow up on the above story.

    IMHO
    This next video is long and boring and as such, I was listening to it in the background while watching the TV news. Then it began to get my attention so I watched it closer a second time.
    THIS is blatant mind control Marxism. THIS is Liberalism exposed for what it really is.
    Next, instead of shaking their hands, they could hold up their “Little Red Book” to “vote”, Mao Tse Tung style.


    Uploaded by conservARTive on Oct 8, 2011

    What we saw at the "revolution":

    Many curious citizens and media outlets came to the first Occupy Atlanta event, and were visible shocked and confused by the consistent Marxism employed by the group. People abandoned their individuality and liberty to be absorbed into a hypnotizing collective. The facilitator made it clear that he was not a "leader" and that everyone was completely equal; words often spoken by leftists, but in this case they actually applied their philosophy. Into this surreal and oppressive environment, Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights hero and icon of American leftism, came to speak as has so often done at left-wing rallies and events in Atlanta. He is practically worshiped in Democrat circles, and was visibly stunned to see these Marxists turn him away. It was reminiscent of previous Marxist revolutions in history when those who ignorantly supported the revolutionaries are, over time, purged and rejected for the "good of the collective", when their usefulness has expired.



    Democrats want to offer Solidarity with these mindless fools?


  15. #45

    Former '60 Minutes' Commentator Andy Rooney Dies


    NEW YORK – Andy Rooney so dreaded the day he had to end his signature "60 Minutes" commentaries about life's large and small absurdities that he kept going until he was 92 years old.

    Even then, he said he wasn't retiring. Writers never retire. But his life after the end of "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney" was short: He died Friday night, according to CBS, only a month after delivering his 1,097th and final televised commentary.

    Rooney had gone to the hospital for an undisclosed surgery, but major complications developed and he never recovered.


    Rooney talked on "60 Minutes" about what was in the news, and his opinions occasionally got him in trouble. But he was just as likely to discuss the old clothes in his closet, why air travel had become unpleasant and why banks needed to have important sounding names.

    He won one of his three Emmy Awards for a piece on whether there was a real Mrs. Smith who made Mrs. Smith's Pies. As it turned out, there was no Mrs. Smith.


    "I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn't realize they thought," Rooney once said. "And they say, `Hey, yeah!' And they like that."

    Looking for something new to punctuate its weekly broadcast, "60 Minutes" aired its first Rooney commentary on July 2, 1987. He complained about people who keep track of how many people die in car accidents on holiday weekends. In fact, he said, the Fourth of July is "one of the safest weekends of the year to be going someplace."


    More than three decades later, he was railing about how unpleasant air travel had become. "Let's make a statement to the airlines just to get their attention," he said. "We'll pick a week next year and we'll all agree not to go anywhere for seven days."

    In early 2009, as he was about to turn 90, Rooney looked ahead to President Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration with a look at past inaugurations. He told viewers that Calvin Coolidge's 1925 swearing-in was the first to be broadcast on radio, adding, "That may have been the most interesting thing Coolidge ever did."

    For his final essay, Rooney said that he'd live a life luckier than most.


    "I wish I could do this forever. I can't, though," he said.

    He said he probably hadn't said anything on "60 Minutes" that most of his viewers didn't already know or hadn't thought. "That's what a writer does," he said. "A writer's job is to tell the truth."
    True to his occasional crotchety nature, though, he complained about being famous or bothered by fans. His last wish from fans: If you see him in a restaurant, just let him eat his dinner.

    Rooney wrote for CBS stars such as Arthur Godfrey and Garry Moore during the 1950s and early 1960s, before settling into a partnership with newsman Harry Reasoner. With Rooney as the writer, they collaborated on several news specials, including an Emmy-winning report on misrepresentations of black people in movies and history books. He wrote "An Essay on Doors" in 1964, and continued with contemplations on bridges, chairs and women.

    "The best work I ever did," Rooney said. "But nobody knows I can do it or ever did it. Nobody knows that I'm a writer and producer. They think I'm this guy on television."


    He became such a part of the culture that comic Joe Piscopo satirized Rooney's squeaky voice with the refrain, "Did you ever wonder ..." For many years, "60 Minutes" improbably was the most popular program on television and a dose of Rooney was what people came to expect for a knowing smile on the night before they had to go back to work.

    Rooney left CBS in 1970 when it refused to air his angry essay about the Vietnam War. He went on TV for the first time, reading the essay on PBS and winning a Writers Guild of America award for it.


    He returned to CBS three years later as a writer and producer of specials. Notable among them was the 1975 "Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington," whose lighthearted but serious look at government won him a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.

    His words sometimes landed Rooney in hot water. CBS suspended him for three months in 1990 for making racist remarks in an interview, which he denied. Gay rights groups were mad, during the AIDS epidemic, when Rooney mentioned homosexual unions in saying "many of the ills which kill us are self-induced." Indians protested when Rooney suggested Native

    Americans who made money from casinos weren't doing enough to help their own people.

    The Associated Press learned the danger of getting on Rooney's cranky side. In 1996, AP Television Writer Frazier Moore wrote a column suggesting it was time for Rooney to retire. On Rooney's next "60 Minutes" appearance, he invited those who disagreed to make their opinions known. The AP switchboard was flooded by some 7,000 phone calls and countless postcards were sent to the AP mail room.


    "Your piece made me mad," Rooney told Moore two years later. "One of my major shortcomings -- I'm vindictive. I don't know why that is. Even in petty things in my life I tend to strike back. It's a lot more pleasurable a sensation than feeling threatened."He was one of television's few voices to strongly oppose the war in Iraq after the George W. Bush administration launched it in 2002. After the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, he said he was chastened by its quick fall but didn't regret his "60 Minutes" commentaries.

    "I'm in a position of feeling secure enough so that I can say what I think is right and if so many people think it's wrong that I get fired, well, I've got enough to eat," Rooney said at the time.

    Fox News/Associated Press

    Early life

    Andrew Rooney was born in Albany, New York, the son of Walter Scott Rooney (1888–1959) and Ellinor (née Reynolds) Rooney (1886–1980). He attended The Albany Academy, and later attended Colgate University in Hamilton in Upstate New York, where he was initiated into the Sigma Chi fraternity, until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in August 1941. Rooney began his career in newspapers while in the Army when, in 1942, he began writing for Stars and Stripes in London during World War II.

    In February 1943, flying with the Eighth Air Force, he was one of six correspondents who flew on the first American bombing raid over Germany.Later, he was one of the first American journalists to visit the Nazi concentration camps near the end of World War II, and one of the first to write about them.

    During a segment on Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, Rooney confessed that he had been opposed to World War II because he was a Pacifist. He recounted that what he saw in those concentration camps made him ashamed that he had opposed the war and permanently changed his opinions about whether "just wars" exist.

    In London, during the war,Mary Hemingway made an accusation of plagiarism against several fellow journalists, including Andy Rooney, although the accusations were proven false.
    Rooney's 1995 memoir, My War, chronicles his war reporting. In addition to recounting firsthand several notable historical events and people (including the entry into Paris and the Nazi concentration camps), Rooney describes how it shaped his experience both as a writer and reporter.
    Wikipedia


Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not Create Posts
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts