Jordan extremist praises Boston bombing
[QuadCities.com]
April 15, 2013
The head of an extremist Jordanian Muslim Salafi group said early Tuesday that he was “happy to see the horror in America” after the explosions in Boston.
“American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood,” said Mohammad al-Chalabi, who was convicted in an al-Qaida-linked plot to attack U.S. and other Western diplomatic missions in Jordan in 2003.
“Let the Americans feel the pain we endured by their armies occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and killing our people there,” he said early Tuesday.
Al-Chalabi served seven years in prison for his part in the foiled attack. His group is outlawed in Jordan.
A Mideast counterterrorism official based in Jordan said the blasts “carry the hallmark of an organized terrorist group, like al-Qaida.” He did not give actual evidence linking al-Qaida to the bombing.
Fisker issues big layoff, employees hire firm that sued Solyndra
[FoxNews.com]
Published April 06, 2013
FILE: Nov. 18, 2010: In this file photo, Fisker Automotive’s Fisker Karma, a sports luxury plug-in hybrid car, sits on display at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles. (AP)
Fisker Automotive — the electric-car maker that was granted a half-billion-dollar federal loan and on Friday dismissed about 75 percent of its remaining workforce — is purportedly facing a lawsuit from the same firm that sued the government-funded Solyndra company.
Fisker laid off 160 of its roughly 210 employees Friday morning from its Anaheim, Calif., location, according to Automotive News.
Vladimir Putin rolls out the red carpet for visit of President Xi Jinping
[UK Independent]
Russian premier gives unprecedented welcome to new Chinese leader as relations thaw
Friday 22 March 2013
China’s new leader began his first overseas trip as president with a much anticipated visit to Russia today – a symbolic trip that underlines China’s desire to ensure its energy supply while showing defiance in the face of US influence in Asia.
A grand reception was held to welcome President Xi Jinping upon his arrival in Moscow, with guards riding on horseback brought out to greet a foreign leader for the first time. Kremlin guards snapped to attention as Mr Xi and his long retinue walked into the gilded, chandeliered Grand Kremlin Palace, where they met members of official delegations in the ornate St George Hall before sitting down for talks.
“China and Russia are the main and most important strategic partners,” Mr Xi told Russian media upon his arrival. He said he was eagerly anticipating his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “In many ways we speak a common language,” he said.
The grand welcome was a clear indication of the importance placed on the visit by Moscow. Russia is one of the world’s biggest energy producers, and China is the top energy consumer. These realities tend to outweigh the traditionally tense relations between the two neighbouring giants, who were bitter rivals during the Soviet era despite their ideological links.
Russia has watched China’s rise with concern, anxious that it might someday threaten its dominance on its eastern borders. But a bigger concern for the Kremlin, one that it shares with China, is blunting US influence in the region. At the start of talks, Mr Putin described the ties between the two countries as an “extremely important factor of global politics.”
Ahead of Mr Xi’s arrival, he said: “We are working together, helping to shape a new, more just world order, ensure peace and security, defend basic principles of international law.”
Mr Xi said that the relations between the two countries are the best ever.
In recent years, the need to counterbalance the growing might of the US has led to the two to set aside some differences. Strong trade links have also smoothed some of the wrinkles in the interim, with bilateral trade soaring to a record £58bn last year.
Beijing and Moscow have taken similar stances on some of the biggest geopolitical issues of recent years, from North Korea to Iran to Syria, often voting in concert to veto punitive sanctions by the UN Security Council.
Many analysts believe their relationship is likely to strengthen, especially as the United States tries to expand its influence in Asia, and both countries are firm in rejecting Western criticism of their human rights records.
The two leaders are expected to discuss Syria and North Korea, but the economy is likely to dominate.
Shortly before Mr Xi arrived in Russia with first lady Peng Liyuan, a £1.3bn deal was announced by Russian and Chinese companies to develop coal resources in eastern Siberia. Russia also sees China as a way to diversify its energy markets away from Europe and it is keen to tie up a potentially enormous gas deal which could eventually see almost 70 billion cubic metres of gas pumped to China annually for the next 30 years.
Mr Xi’s tour continues until March 30 and he will also visit Tanzania, South Africa and the Republic of Congo. In South Africa he will attend the fifth BRICS summit.
The five key emerging economies that make up BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have become an increasingly important channel for China and Russia to counter growing US influence.
BRICS countries hold reserves totalling £3 trillion, most of them held by China, and China now accounts for 20 per cent of Africa’s exports.
China surpassed the US and Europe as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009 and has maintained its leading place in the years since.
China’s First Lady: A new role model
In China, the big news about Xi Jinping’s first trip as president has not been about energy, investment or BRICS, but rather about his wife Peng Liyuan’s first public appearance as first lady.
Ms Peng is a hugely popular figure in China, indeed, she was probably better known than him until recently, and adored by millions for her stirring renditions of folk tunes in army uniform or ethnic costume.
“Peng Liyuan has a very positive meaning for China. China needs a female role-model. Imagine what would it be like if China had a First Lady like Michelle Obama?” wrote one online fashion commentator.
Since the cult of personality that built up around Chairman Mao Zedong, the Communist Party has sought to avoid making its leaders too personal. Solid, dull technocrats have run the show, and their wives have been even less visible.
Related articles
Dianne Feinstein Battles Ted Cruz in Heated Senate Showdown Over Guns: ‘I’m Not a 6th Grader’
[TheBlaze.com]
Mar. 14, 2013 12:23pm Becket Adams
Senators Ted Cruz and Dianne Feinstein during a Senate Judiciary Hearing on Thursday got into heated exchange while discussing the California congresswoman’s proposed ban on so-called “assault” weapons.
“The question that I would pose to the senior senator from California is,” Cruz said, referring to Feinstein, “Would she deem it consistent with the Bill of Rights for Congress to engage in the same endeavor that we are contemplating doing with the Second Amendment in the context of the First or Fourth Amendment, namely, would she consider it constitutional for Congress to specify that the First Amendment shall apply only to the following books and shall not apply to the books that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?”
“Likewise, would she think that the Fourth Amendment’s protection against searches and seizures could properly apply only to the following specified individuals and not to the individuals that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?” he added.
Apparently, Sen. Feinstein was not amused with the Texas senator’s line of questioning.
Obama meets with House Republicans, downplays ‘immediate’ debt crisis
[FoxNews.com]
Published March 13, 2013
Pro-Obama group picks up president’s sequester…
President plays defense on the sequester
President Obama met Wednesday with House Republicans in an apparent bid to find consensus on fiscal policy, even as he seemed to antagonize the other side by claiming there’s no “immediate crisis in terms of debt.”
His statement would be sharply at odds with a core Republican principle that the debt must be addressed soon — and which underpinned the cost-cutting GOP budget released Tuesday. The president also acknowledged, in an interview aired earlier in the day, that differences with the GOP might be “too wide” to bridge.
Still, the president made the rare visit with House Republicans on Capitol Hill as part of what some are calling his charm offensive. The president is making a renewed effort to meet with Republican leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers amid overlapping budget battles and a series of deadlines on the horizon.
The president is trying to find common ground with Congress in order to halt the sequester spending cuts, which have already taken effect — as well as pass a stopgap budget bill in order to avert an end-of-the-month government shutdown, pass a bona fide budget for next year and once again raise the debt ceiling.
A source in the room during the meeting with Republicans told Fox News that Obama told them he’s looking for bipartisanship on a range of issues, including fiscal matters, immigration, gun regulation and foreign policy.
One skeptical source told Fox News, “we shall see.” Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., though, later emerged saying the president “did himself some good.”
Obama went into the meeting with his aides and allies ripping House Republicans for their newly introduced budget, which aims to balance the country’s finances in 10 years. In an interview with ABC News, the president declared that there is no “immediate” debt crisis and that “for the next 10 years, it’s going to be in a sustainable place.”
That message is likely to rile Republicans, who cite widespread economic warnings in saying the debt — which is nearing $17 trillion — must be addressed.
“We are addressing the most predictable debt crisis in this country’s history,” Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said Tuesday while introducing his budget plan.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that “everybody” recognizes there is a “long-term debt challenge.”
And he said the president “believes that bipartisan cooperation is possible.”
Senate Democrats were unveiling their budget proposal Wednesday afternoon, in response to the House Republican plan introduced Tuesday.
The Republican plan touts longstanding party proposals to cut funding for domestic programs, repeal Obama’s health care reform law and overhaul the Medicare health care program for the elderly. It would balance the federal budget in 10 years with steep spending cuts alone — a nonstarter with Democrats.
“Ultimately, it may be that the differences are just too wide,” Obama said in the interview broadcast Wednesday.
If Republicans insist that their only solution is to avoid tax hikes and “gut” entitlement programs, “then we’re probably not going to be able to get a deal,” he said.
Obama has continued reaching out to lawmakers in hopes that he can somehow reach a “grand bargain” that reins in deficit spending without hurting the economy and stops Washington from lurching from one self-induced fiscal crisis to another.
The fence-mending campaign started with an unusual dinner Obama hosted last week at a hotel near the White House for a dozen Senate Republicans and continues Wednesday with his meeting with House Republicans.
Obama, who also will meet with Senate Republicans and House Democrats on Thursday, has shown a willingness to reduce spending on big entitlement programs but has not agreed to the kinds of changes Ryan and other Republicans have sought.
Republicans, however, object to any more tax increases, insisting that Obama got his way with tax hikes on top earners in the New Year’s Day deal that averted the “fiscal cliff.” That last-minute deal prevented automatic tax hikes for all federal income tax payers, but merely delayed $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts.
The parties were unable to reach a compromise on a deficit-cutting plan, so the automatic spending cuts began taking effect March 1 and are set to continue through the decade.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
EPA chief Jackson resigns amid transparency investigations
[DailyCaller.com]
Posted: December 28, 2012
A Washington attorney says that Environmental Protection Agency Chief Administrator Lisa Jackson’s resignation and investigations into the EPA’s use of secret email accounts are not coincidental.
“Life’s full of coincidences, but this is too many,” Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Chris Horner told FoxNews.com. “She had no choice.”
The Justice Department also plans to release emails Jan. 14 in which EPA Chief Jackson’s alias account discusses coal regulation. According to Horner, this clearly is a factor
behind Jackson’s decision to leave the agency.
“Two full committees and one investigative subcommittee of the House of Representatives have asked several federal agencies, including EPA and the White House,” Horner said in a press release, adding that the Department of Justice acknowledged “12,000 emails from Lisa Jackson’s ‘secondary’ email account that discuss the Obama administration’s war on coal, in response to litigation we have filed over this practice.”
Report: ATF review board recommends firings over Fast and Furious
[INFOWARS.com]
Wall Street Journal
December 5, 2012
Four senior managers who oversaw the ill-fated federal gun-tracking probe called “Fast and Furious” will be fired if recommendations from a disciplinary panel are accepted.
People familiar with the matter said the Professional Review Board of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent notices of its decision in recent days to bureau managers, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
In addition, two lower-level employees face disciplinary actions, short of firing. The move from the ATF’s review board is the first step in what could be a months-long process, including appeals.
White House: Obama ‘Will Not Sign’ a Deal Unless It Increases Taxes
[CNSNews.com]
President Barack Obama (AP Photo)(CNSNews.com) – White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today that no matter what else happens President Barack Obama–who is the only modern president other than Franklin Roosevelt to serve in four years when federal spending topped 24 percent of GDP–will not sign a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff that will arrive at the end of this year unless that deal increases taxes.
“So the President made clear that he is not wedded to every detail of his plan,” said Carney. “The President has also made categorically and abundantly clear that he will not sign an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for top earners. It’s bad economic policy and we cannot afford it. He will not sign that.”
According to official calculations made by the White House Office of Management and Budget that go back to 1930, Barack Obama and Franklin Roosevelt are the only two presidents who have served in four fiscal years when federal spending exceeded 24 percent of GDP. Roosevelt did so in 1942, 1943, 1944, and 1945 (when he died in office). Obama did so in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Supreme Court orders new look at Liberty University’s health care challenge
[FoxNews.com]
Associated Press
Published November 26, 2012
The Supreme Court has revived a Christian college’s challenge to President Obama’s health care overhaul.
The court on Monday ordered the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., to consider the claim by Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., that Obama’s health care law violates the school’s religious freedoms.
A federal district judge rejected Liberty’s claims, and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lawsuit was premature and never dealt with the substance of the school’s arguments. The Supreme Court upheld the health care law in June.
The justices used lawsuits filed by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business to uphold the health care law by a 5-4 vote, then rejected all other pending appeals, including Liberty’s.
The school made a new filing with the court over the summer to argue that its claims should be fully evaluated in light of the high court decision. The administration said it did not oppose Liberty’s request.
Only the deceit is transparent
[FloppingAces.net | Reader Post]
November 19, 2012
Barack Obama promised his administration set a new standard in transparency:
I will also hold myself as president to a new standard of openness …. Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.
Obama even issued a memo
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
How’s That Obamacare Waiver Workin’ Out for Ya?
[MichelleMalkin.com]
Copyright 2012
How’s That Obamacare Waiver Workin’ Out for Ya?
Exactly two years ago this week, the Obama administration announced it had issued more than 100 waivers en masse to a select group of companies, unions and other health insurance providers seeking relief from the onerous federal health care law. The Obamacare waiver winner’s club now totals 2,000. Where are they now?
Answer: In the same miserable boat as every other unlucky business struggling with the crushing costs and burdens of the mandate.
Among the first and most prominent recipients of the Obamacare waivers for favors were large restaurant chains that provide low-wage, seasonal and part-time workers with low-cost health insurance plans called “mini-med” plans. An estimated 1.7 million workers benefit from such plans. Obamacare forced companies carrying such coverage to raise their minimum limits on coverage to no less than $750,000 annually. Another Obamacare provision forces all employers to spend at least 80 percent to 85 percent of their premium revenue on medical care.
U.S. Piled Up More Debt Since Election Day ’08 Than Under All Presidents From Washington Through Clinton
[CNSNews.com]
November 6, 2012
(CNSNews.com) – The federal government has now piled up more debt since Election Day 2008 than it did under all presidents from George Washington through Bill Clinton, according to official debt numbers published by the U.S. Treasury.
When the polls opened on the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, the total debt of the U.S. government stood at $10,556,177,748,045.21 (the number it had reached by the close of business on Nov. 3, 2008). As of the close of business on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, the most recent day reported by the Treasury, the total debt of the U.S. government stood at $16,206,129,028,709.29.
Shock poll: Obama could lose Illinois, Romney leads in Chicago suburbs
[DailyCaller.com]
Political Reporter
President Barack Obama could lose his home state of Illinois in November, a new poll shows.
A poll conducted by Illinois-based pollster and political strategist Michael McKeon found Obama leading Republican Mitt Romney by 49 percent to 37 percent in Cook County, the home of Chicago. That puts him ahead by a far thinner margin than expected in a county he should be winning handsomely.
Cook is the most Democratic leaning county in the state. It is also the most populous.
Those numbers do not bode well for the president.
“He has to come out of Cook County with a big lead or he’s gonna have problems downstate,” explained McKeon, who said that based on the numbers he had seen, Obama polled only in the forties in downstate Illinois.
‘Politics of insult’ alive and well despite Obama’s 2008 lament
[FoxNews.com]
Published October 29, 2012
Four years ago, then-candidate Barack Obama decried what he described as [childish lies and] “the politics of insult.”
“You don’t deserve a bunch of name-calling,” he told a Virginia crowd in the summer of 2008. “You don’t deserve a bunch of mudslinging.”
But lately, there have been more than a few insults flying on the 2012 campaign trail. Whether it’s with cute turns of phrase like “Romnesia” or more serious invective, the president’s campaign has gotten increasingly aggressive over the last few weeks in its denunciation of Mitt Romney.
The tone likely reflects the polls, which have been tightening ever since the Republican nominee’s opening debate performance. Whatever the reason, it’s evident that the “politics of insult” have not faded.
The following were overheard on the 2012 campaign trail:
“Bullsh–ter”
The president took a rip at Romney after a recent interview with Rolling Stone. In the article, published over the weekend, writer and historian Douglas Brinkley said that editor Eric Bates told the president that when he asked his six-year-old daughter if she wanted to say anything to Obama, she said: “Tell him: You can do it.”
La Boca Grande [The Big Mouth]
American [Spectator.org]
Political Hay
By George Neumayr on 10.23.12 @ 6:10AM
Obama talks big [boca/mouth] in the final debate in Florida.
Barack Obama came to the last presidential debate ready for a fight. But he didn’t get one. Romney seemed more interested in talking to moderator Bob Schieffer than engaging Obama in a scuffle.
That relaxed strategy didn’t hurt Romney very much. At worst, the debate was a draw, which will only serve to seal the tightness of the race.
Though Romney kept stepping back from his punches, Obama didn’t tire of throwing them. Apparently Romney not only kills his sacked employees’ wives he also takes glee in outsourcing jobs to China and (in a new line of attack from Obama) invests in an Iranian company. Obama was unloading all the opposition research that he couldn’t cram into the previous debates.
Which Obama Debate Gaffe Does Krauthammer Think Might ‘Cost the President Dearly’
[TheBlaze.com]
- Posted on October 19, 2012 by
Jason Howerton
HEMPSTEAD, NY – OCTOBER 16: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (L) listens as U.S. President Barack Obama answers a question during a town hall style debate at Hofstra University October 16, 2012 in Hempstead, New York. During the second of three presidential debates, the candidates fielded questions from audience members on a wide variety of issues. (Credit: Getty Images)
While many scored Tuesday night’s contentious presidential debate as a draw, or as a narrow victory for one of the candidates, Washington post columnist Charles Krauthammer thinks President Barack Obama made a gaffe — and a big one. One that will cost him dearly in the final debate on Monday.
In his Thursday column in the Washington Post, Krauthammer predicts this line from the president will come back to haunt him:
“And the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the secretary of state, our U.N. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we’ve lost four of our own, governor, is offensive.”
Every Governor a Walker
American [Spectator.org]
By GROVER G. NORQUIST from the SEPTEMBER 2012 issue
Posted: October 2, 2012
THE TAX AND SPEND SPECTATOR
Republicans control 24 states. Where are the rest of our Scott Walkers and Bobby Jindals?
IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS, the governor of Wisconsin has reformed public sector unions so that they can no longer withhold union dues from every worker’s paycheck; ended teacher tenure; required government employee unions to be re-certified each year; signed legislation that made Wisconsin the 41st state with “shall issue” concealed carry; cut over $800 million from the state budget; and expanded parental choice in education by removing the 22,500-student cap on the Milwaukee Parental Choice program and extending the program to include the city of Racine. The governor of Louisiana, elected in 2007 and re-elected last year, has helped usher Republican majorities into the state house and senate; signed legislation that gives more than half of the state’s students (380,000 out of 700,000 total) a voucher for the amount the state government spends per pupil; signed a strict ethics law; and moved government worker pensions to a blend of defined contribution and defined benefit.
But Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal are only two of 29 Republican governors. They are only two of 24 Republican governors who enjoy the company of Republican-controlled state legislatures. In theory, in two dozen states for 2011 and most of 2012, if the Republican governor, house speaker, and senate leader could agree on any particular reform, it would be the law of the land now. Why are we not reading about the groundbreaking Reaganite agendas passing in 24 states? Why are we not hearing the howls of the labor union bosses and trial lawyers in two dozen states?
US officials knew Libya attack was terrorism within 24 hours, sources confirm
[FoxNews.com]
Published September 27, 2012
U.S. intelligence officials knew within 24 hours of the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that it was a terrorist attack and suspected Al Qaeda-tied elements were involved, sources told Fox News — though it took the administration a week to acknowledge it.
The account sharply conflicts with claims on the Sunday after the attack by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice that the administration believed the strike was a “spontaneous” event triggered by protests in Egypt over an anti-Islam film.
Two senior U.S. officials said that the Obama administration internally labeled the attack terrorism from the first day in order to unlock and mobilize certain resources to respond, and that officials were looking for one specific suspect. The officials said the intelligence community knew by Sept. 12 that the militant Ansar al-Shariah and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb were likely behind the strike.
Further, an official said, “No one … believed that the mortars, indirect and direct fire, and the RPGs were just the work of a mob — no one.”
Yet a congressional source told Fox News that CIA Director David Petraeus, during a briefing with members of the House Intelligence Committee three days after the attack, espoused the view that Benghazi was an out-of-control demonstration prompted by the YouTube video. According to the source, this was “shocking” to some members who were present and saw the same intelligence pointing toward a terrorist attack.
Fraud concerns swirl around Florida’s unregulated absentee ballot brokers ahead of election
[FoxNews.com]
Published September 26, 2012
AP
Recent allegations of absentee ballot fraud in Florida have shined a light on the shadowy work of so-called “boleteros” – absentee ballot brokers who, in some cases, have been accused of cajoling, bribing and even forging the names of unsuspecting voters.
The most recent claim involves Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who hired an alleged “boletero” for his 2010 campaign. In Scott’s case, the campaign claims it did nothing wrong and indeed nobody has been charged. But the claim follows the arrest of a boletero in a separate case, and coincides with a wave of coverage and attention in the Miami-Dade, Fla., area surrounding what for authorities is an illicit practice.
Boleteros — translated roughly to mean ticket-person — assist in collecting absentee ballots and helping primarily elderly and disabled voters in filling them out. This can be entirely lawful, but sometimes these workers walk a fine legal line.
For many boleteros, it can be a profitable enterprise – with some guaranteeing votes in exchange for money, authorities say. They are particularly prominent in heavily Republican Spanish-speaking communities, like Hialeah.
Under Florida law, it is legal to assist voters in ensuring their absentee ballots are properly mailed. But it’s illegal to influence voters, request ballots on behalf of someone else and forge signatures. The state no longer requires witness signatures on absentee ballots, officials note, and many of the boleteros will illegally “follow the ballots all through the process.”
“This is a dirty business and unfortunately it’s become pretty common.”
- Joe Centerino, director of Miami-Dade’s Ethics Commission
Police Consolidation: The End of Local Law Enforcement?
[TheNewAmerican.com]
Tuesday, 25 September 2012 00:00
Written by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.
From Bergen, New Jersey, to St. Louis, Missouri, to Salt Lake City, Utah, the merging of law enforcement moves along, applauded by a coterie of city leaders and well-meaning citizens.
Nationwide, towns and cities are jumping on the consolidation bandwagon. According to the latest data, there are about 18,000 state and local law-enforcement agencies in the United States. Of those, more than 150 have undergone some level of consolidation.
Those pushing for the consolidation of police forces into regional or metropolitan agencies typically cite budget shortfalls as the best reason for closing down local forces and combining resources to form a consolidated force.
Obama permanently out to lunch
[RedState.com]
By: Dan Spencer (Diary) | September 22nd, 2012
When even the media is starting to point out that the incumbent president is too busy campaigning for re-election to govern, you know you have a problem.
Yet that’s precisely what the Associated Press noticed in a new report this morning. The first line: “It’s awfully quiet at the White House these days.”
Sure, when you have a president who spends most of his time on the trail spinning rhetoric and fundraising for his campaign coffers, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will tend to be “awfully quiet.” This might explain why while our Libyan ambassador is dead and our embassies are under repeated siege, the White House still appears to know next to nothing about what went down in Benghazi. Even top Senate Republicans are fuming today that they are learning more details from the New York Times than from closed-door State Department briefing. Unemployment is rising in half of the states, and US industrial production is falling at the sharpest rate in three years, and our President is focused on hard-hitting interviews with radio hosts like Pimp with the Limp. On David Letterman, he casually admitted that he doesn’t know what the national debt is, and that it’s not a pressing concern.
Obama said this week that he has learned you “can’t change Washington from the inside.” Apparently his solution is to go AWOL. It’s definitely not going to change from his campaign re-election HQ in Chicago.
Romney paid extra taxes in 2011, Democrats complain
[DailyCaller.com]
Get Neil Munro Feed 
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign fundraising event in Sarasota, Fla., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Democrats complained Friday that Gov. Mitt Romney boosted his federal income bill to fend off criticisms about the low tax-rate owed on income earned from investments.
“Romney manipulated one of the only two years of tax returns he’s seen fit to show the American people — and then only to ‘conform’ with his public statements,” said a statement from Sen Harry Reid, the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate.
“Had he not limited his [charitable] deductions … what would Gov. Romney’s effective tax rate have been?” asked an afternoon email from Obama’s campaign staff.
In 2011, Romney choose to deduct from his taxable income only $2.2 million of the $4 million he donated to charity. By limiting that deduction, he increased his own federal tax rate to 14.1 percent, and deflated Democratic allegations that he paid little or no taxes in some years.
Networks That Hyped Romney’s ‘Bombshell’ Tax Tape Now Skip ObamaCare ‘Penalties’
[MRC.org]
Subscribe to Scott Whitlock
The same networks that have been hyping secret video of Mitt Romney talking about who pays taxes, hyperventilating about the Republican’s “seismic” bombshell,” have, thus far, completely ignored the revelation from the Congressional Budget Office that “significantly” more Americans will have to pay a “tax penalty” for being uninsured, many in the middle class.
All three evening newscasts on Wednesday and the morning shows on Thursday totally skipped this report. The Associated Press explained, “The new estimate amounts to an inconvenient fact for the administration, a reminder of what critics see as broken promises.” Writer Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldivar added, “Nonetheless, in his first campaign for the White House, Obama pledged not to raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000 a year and couples making less than $250,000.”
Yet, World News, the NBC Nightly News, the CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and Today all avoided the topic.
GMA opted for more important topics, such as an amusement park mishap that caused several people to be stranded on a roller coaster for hours.
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