Message #162817

[Harconen]

During April, 44 states reported job losses. California was the biggest job-destroyer, losing 63,700 jobs. States showing job gains included Arkansas (1,500 jobs created), Montana (1,500 jobs created), and Florida (1,300 jobs created). The states with the lowest unemployment rates were North Dakota (4 per cent), Nebraska (4.4 per cent), Wyoming (4.5 per cent), and South Dakota (4.8 per cent). Not surprisingly, the states with the highest unemployment are those with high taxes and anti-business environments. [2880]

 

In his never-ending quest for more revenue for the federal government, Obama proposes $58 billion in new taxes on securities brokers, life insurance, and estate taxes. [2884]

The White House says the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays in the military is still under review. Obama had promised during the campaign to end the policy, but he has met opposition. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell stated that the military had no plans to end the policy, but after a “talking to” by someone in the administration said, “President Obama has been clear in his direction to Secretary (Robert) Gates and (Joint Chiefs) Chairman (Mike) Mullen that he is committed to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. He has also been clear that he is committed to do it in a way that is least disruptive to our troops, especially given that they have been simultaneously waging two wars for six years now. Although this will require changes to the law, the secretary and chairman are working to address the challenges associated with implementation of the president's commitment.” [2885]

 

A group of kindergarten children from Stafford County, Virginia were locked out of the White House on May 21. Their field trip’s bus arrived late for a scheduled tour, and they were denied entry because staff was already getting prepared for Obama’s meeting with the Super Bowl winner, the Pittsburgh Steelers. One parent said, “I was angry because they were disappointed.” Some of the football players were disappointed as well. They had expected a simple “meet and greet” with Obama but were also recruited to assemble 3,000 care packages for U.S. troops. [2886]

 

At a May 21 appearance Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu states, “The flag that flies over the Kotel (the Western Wall in Jerusalem) is the Israeli flag… our holy places, the Temple Mount—will remain under Israeli sovereignty forever.” The statement will no doubt raise the ire of Obama, who is pushing not only to force Israel to give more land to the Palestinians but to give up part of Jerusalem for the capital of a new Palestinian state. Hatem Abdel Khader, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) minister for Jerusalem affairs, states that the Obama administration “…has made clear that Jerusalem must be accessible to everyone—but not united under Israel’s rule,” and claims that the United States is now cooperating with the PA to “thwart Israel’s plans in Jerusalem.” [2892, 2894]

 

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow excoriates Obama for his “prolonged detention” policy for detaining captured terrorists. In his speech at the National Archives , Obama had said, “There may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, in some cases because evidence may be tainted, but who nonetheless pose a threat to the security of the United States.” Maddow quotes the New York Times, which had written “We’ve known this (was) on the horizon for many years, but we were able to hold it off with George Bush. The idea that we might find ourselves fighting with the Obama administration over these powers is really stunning.” While former President Bush attempted to try the captured terrorists in military tribunals, Obama appears willing to dispense with the trials and hold the detainees indefinitely. Obama criticized Bush, saying “Our government was defending positions that undermine the rule of law,” yet Obama’s “prolonged detention” policy has no basis in law. [2887]

 

In only four days, $40,000 is raised through donations to fund “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” billboards to highlight the issue of challenges to Obama’s eligibility to serve as president because he may not be a natural born citizen. [2889]

 

 

In a May 23 interview with C-SPAN, Obama is asked, “You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?” He responds, “Well, we are out of money now.” Despite the fact that Obama has added to the national debt with a $787 billion stimulus bill, a $410 billion spending bill, and a budget that has at least $1.8 billion in deficits, Obama continues to blame the Bush administration. “We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we’ve made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we’ve seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.” Obama is incorrect. Federal budget deficits are not a result of a “a failure to make good decisions on health care,” they are a failure of Congress to stop spending money it doesn’t have. Obama adds, “So we’ve got a short-term problem, which is we had to spend a lot of money to salvage our financial system, we had to deal with the auto companies, a huge recession which drains tax revenue at the same time it’s putting more pressure on governments to provide unemployment insurance or make sure that food stamps are available for people who have been laid off.” Obama is again incorrect. The federal government did not have to bail out Wall Street firms or give billions to the automakers; they could have been left to sink or swim on their own—and the taxpayers would have saved more than one trillion dollars. [2891]