Quote of the Day

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples money”.

Margaret Thatcher

GOP Lawmakers Want Explanation of Draft Memo on Amnesty for Thousands

Well the Judiciary has been usurping the legislative branches sole authority to draft law for years, now it appears that the executive branch wants to get in on the act.

A group of Republican senators has written to top immigration officials in the Obama administration asking them to reveal whether large-scale plans are under way to provide a so-called non-legislative version of amnesty.

The lawmakers cite an 11-page draft document written by staff to the director of the Citizenship and Immigration Service that says they are reviewing several executive orders and other mechanisms that effectively would serve as a substitute for comprehensive immigration reforms.

The objective would be to promote “family unity, foster economic growth … and reduce the threat of removal for certain individuals present in the United States without authorization."

Among the suggestions, the document offers proposals for rewriting legal opinions to allow unaccompanied minors, victims of human trafficking or extreme hardship and others who've overstayed their visas to remain in the U.S.

RCP Obama Poll Approval/Disapproval Average

President Obama hits yet a new low in RCP's poll average at -3.8%. Total approval stands at 45.7% while disapproval jumps to 49.5%.

That is the lowest approval/highest disapproval yet recorded in his time in office and surpasses his previous low by almost 2 percentage points. OUCH!

Wikileaks Afghanistan: Taliban 'hunting down informants'

The Taliban has issued a warning to Afghans whose names might appear on the leaked Afghanistan war logs as informers for the Nato-led coalition.

In an interview with Channel 4 News, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said they were studying and investigating the report, adding “If they are US spies, then we know how to punish them.”

The warning came as the US military's top officer, Admiral Mike Mullen said that Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, may already have blood on his hands following the leak of 92,000 classified documents relating to the war in Afghanistan by his website.

"Mr Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family," he said.

But,but Obama said the leaks were "no big deal".

Pic of the Day

LET'S GET READY TO RANGEL.

Thanx to GalaxieFiveHundred at FR

Wedding Night Blues?

If she's been a bad girl it may be no issue. If, however, Mark Mezvinsky sees Chelsea naked for the first time on their wedding night, he'll likely realize that the money was just not worth it.

Durable goods orders fall 1 percent in June

An increase of 1% had been expected.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods fell broadly in June as the fragile recovery continued to slow.

Demand for durable goods dropped 1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted $190.5 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. It was the second straight monthly decline and the largest drop since August 2009.

Orders for commercial aircraft were down by more than a quarter in June. Without the volatile transportation sector, orders fell by 0.6 percent.

Wait! There's even more dirt on Rangel

Corrupt just isn't a strong enough word.

WASHINGTON -- Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel said yesterday that investigators have unearthed new allegations of misconduct against him, while House Democratic leaders increased the pressure on him to reach a settlement before a congressional trial starts Thursday.

"We waited almost two years, and they finally investigated, and guess what -- they have some more alleged violations," Rangel said.

The embattled pol did not reveal whether the latest accusations were previously unknown to the public or were related to the original charges that prompted the probe by the House Ethics Committee.

The alleged misdeeds include Rangel using House stationery to solicit contributions for a self-named center at City College, failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets, and not paying taxes on rental income from his Dominican villa -- all first reported by The Post. He also kept four rent-regulated apartments in Harlem.

Oliver Stone Reaches a New Low

Man this guy is some piece of work.

Oliver Stone is at it again. I previously wrote about him months ago. Stone, now in London to do publicity for his agitprop film on Hugo Chavez, took the opportunity to do some advance publicity for his forthcoming Showtime TV series, The Secret History of America. In his new gem, he will show us how Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were all unappreciated in their own time, since they were “vilified” and he wants to show — particularly in the case of Stalin — how he “has a complete other story.”

Well, if Stone wants to really let us know that it is not just Fidel and Hugo Chavez he loves, but all previous monsters in the 20th century past, he is certainly free to do so. But in his new interview with Camilla Long in the London Sunday Times, he certainly ups the ante. Added to his list of the misunderstood is Iran’s leadership. First, he informs Long that although “Iran isn’t necessarily the good guy,” the fact is that “we don’t know the full story!” Since Stone was given access exclusively to Ahmadinejad when he visited Iran, we can be certain we won’t have to wait long to see the results.

White House backed release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi

How long before the MSM ignores this story, 5,4,3,2,1...

THE US government secretly advised Scottish ministers it would be "far preferable" to free the Lockerbie bomber than jail him in Libya.

Correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the Obama administration considered compassionate release more palatable than locking up Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in a Libyan prison.

The intervention, which has angered US relatives of those who died in the attack, was made by Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the US embassy in London, a week before Megrahi was freed in August last year on grounds that he had terminal cancer.

The document, acquired by a well-placed US source, threatens to undermine US President Barack Obama's claim last week that all Americans were "surprised, disappointed and angry" to learn of Megrahi's release.

Saturday Funny

Iran Says It Has 100 Vessels For Each US Warship

President Obama Job Approval

New new low water mark.

Obama hits yet another negtive milestone as his Real Clear Politcs poll approval average falls to a -1.6. That surpasses his previous low by almost a full percentage point.

Mass. Sen. Kerry docks yacht in RI, saving $500K

What an unbelievable poser.

BOSTON – Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is docking his family's new $7 million yacht in neighboring Rhode Island, allowing him to avoid paying roughly $500,000 in taxes to the cash-strapped Bay State.

If the "Isabel" were kept at the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee's summer vacation home on Nantucket, or in Boston Harbor near his city residence, he would be liable for $437,500 in one-time sales tax. He would also have to pay $70,000 in annual excise taxes.

Rhode Island repealed those taxes in 1993. That has made the state something of a nautical tax haven.

Rep. Charlie Rangel charged with ethics violations

Appears that crazy Uncle Charlie may finally get his (partial) comuppance

WASHINGTON — A House investigative committee has charged New York Rep. Charles Rangel, the former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, with multiple ethics violations.

The charges were announced Thursday. The panel’s actions sends the case to a trial on the allegations. A separate ethics panel will decide whether the alleged violations can be proved by clear and convincing evidence.

The Democrat led the tax-writing committee until he stepped aside last March after the ethics committee criticized his conduct in a separate case.

Sources said the committee and Rangel’s attorney attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate a settlement to end the case.

Jobless claims jump 37,000 to 464,000

Looks as though the temporary blip downward in unemployment claims was just that.

The number of people applying for initial state unemployment insurance benefits rose 37,000 to 464,000 in the week ended July 17, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected an initial claims level of 450,000. The four-week average of initial claims - a better gauge of employment trends than the volatile weekly number - rose 1,250 to 456,000.

Continuing claims in the week ended July 10 fell 223,000 to 4.49 million. Recent volatility in this number is due to seasonal adjustment issues, according to the Labor Department. The four-week average of these continuing claims fell 21,500to 4.57 million. A federal extension of benefits has expired, and an estimated 2.5 million people will have been cut off from benefits by July 17.

NAACP President Was In Attendance at Sherrod Speech

This story just keeps getting better and better.

On Monday July 19th, video was released of Georgia Director of Rural Development Shirley Sherrod admitting in a speech at an NAACP banquet in March that she discriminated against farmers because of their race. Sherrod was appointed last year by Obama’s Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. After the video was released, where Sherrod told NAACP members that she refused to fully assist a white farmer because of his race, the Obama Administration forced her to resign.


Following the release of this inflammatory tape NAACP President Ben Jealous released a statement denouncing not only the racist remarks by Shirley Sherrod but also the reaction of the crowd to her speech. NAACP President Ben Jealous even promised to look into the disturbing behavior of those in attendance. [snip]

But, President Jealous forgot to mention one thing. He was in the audience.

Obama Approval Hits Yet Another New Low

Go figure.

President Obama's approval rating has reached a new low according to a national Quinnipiac survey released this morning. The poll finds that just 44 percent of registered voters approve of the job he's done as president, and 48 percent disapprove. Two months ago, 48 percent approved and 43 percent did not.

Obama now barely has a positive approval rating in the RCP Average of recent national polls.

On the issues: 56 percent of voters disapprove of his handling of the economy; by a 46-43 percent margin, voters disapprove of his handling of foreign policy; 51 percent disapprove of his handling of the Gulf oil spill; and 58 percent disapprove of his handling of illegal immigration, including 60 percent who said the federal government's lawsuit against Arizona was a bad idea.

USDA worker quits over racism charge from video

WASHINGTON — A black employee who resigned from the Agriculture Department over racially charged comments at a Georgia NAACP meeting says her remarks are being intentionally misconstrued by conservative groups stoking racial tensions.

Shirley Sherrod says she was forced to step down by the White House even though her comments, in which she says she withheld support for a farmer because he was white, were really part of a story of racial reconciliation. In an interview, Sherrod said the White House's wishes were relayed by an Agriculture Department undersecretary.

The incident occurred some 24 years ago when she worked for a nonprofit aid group.

For a story of "racial reconciliation" it was surprisingly gleeful in it's presentation and noticeably absent in remorse.

Offline Teporarily

Sorry, we're down, will resume shortly.

Imbecilic Quote of the Week

When CBS's Bob Schieffer was challenged on Sunday why he didn't ask Attorney General Eric Holder about the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case on last week's "Face the Nation" he said:

"I was on vacation that week, [this happened] ... apparently it got very little publicity. and, you know, I just didn't know about it"

Good grief. It appears that being guilty of total incompetance is preferable to bias with today's MSM. Too bad that they are guilty, to the extreme, of both.