National

Michelle Obama has staff of 22 assistants
'Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out for her secretary; things have changed!'

Posted: August 04, 2009
10:29 pm Eastern

By Drew Zahn

First Lady Michelle Obama

The first lady of the United States is not elected, has no constitutional duties and receives no salary, but that doesn't mean the position is without its privileges – including a staff of 22 White House

employees who make a combined nearly $1.5 million per year.

Various journalists have scoured the White House's annual report to Congress on the West Wing payroll and listed those names that serve as members First Lady Michelle Obama's staff. Combined, their salaries total $1,495,700.

By comparison, a similar examination of the 2008 payroll, printed in the Washington Post, shows First Lady Laura Bush tallied 17 staffers, who combined made roughly $1.28 million.

News of so many taxpayer-funded salaries attending the first lady – which doesn't include the White House servant staff or the Secret Service detail assigned to the first family – has prompted some commentators to question if so many staffers are necessary.

"[Michele Obama] doesn't perform any official duties. But this hasn't deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession," writes author Paul Williams in a July 7 editorial. "Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary. How things have changed!" (Full Story)

Yep, you're about this close to destroying the greatest experiment in FREEDOM the world has ever known.

Oct. 22, 2009

Cheney: Stop the 'dithering' as troops face danger

Former Vice President Dick Cheney says Obama must do 'what it takes to win' in Afghanistan

(AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday night accused the White House of dithering over the strategy for the war in Afghanistan and urged President Barack Obama to "do what it takes to win."

"Make no mistake. Signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries," Cheney said while accepting an award from a conservative national security group, the Center for Security Policy.

Cheney disputed remarks by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel that the Bush administration had been adrift concerning the war in Afghanistan and that the Obama administration had to start from the beginning to develop a strategy for the 8-year-old war. (Full Story)

Dems seek cover to boost debt limit

By MANU RAJU | 10/22/09 8:57 AM EDT

The Senate must soon increase the national debt limit to above $13 trillion — and Democrats are looking for political cover.

Knowing they will face unyielding GOP attacks for voting to increase the eye-popping debt, Democrats are considering attaching a debt increase provision to a must-pass bill, possibly the Defense Department spending bill, according to Democratic and Republican sources.

Adding it to the defense bill would allow Democrats to argue that they voted for the measure to help troops in harm’s way — and downplay that their vote also expanded the limit for how much money the country can borrow. (Full Story)

Besieged czar, EEOC chief safe, Obama tells homosexual crowd
'I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight'

Posted: October 10, 2009
11:30 pm Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON – President Obama last night received a warm welcome at the annual dinner of the homosexual support group Human Rights Campaign, promising to sign hate crimes legislation, to repeal both Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act and to continue supporting his besieged appointments as "safe schools czar" and head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

WND revelations about Kevin Jennings, the safe schools czar, and Chai Feldman, his EEOC nominee, have resulted in criticism in Congress and from group's concerned about their actions and statements from the past.

A dozen members of Congress demanded Friday that Obama dismiss Jennings following WND disclosures about his past, including an incident in which he counseled a 15-year-old student to keep quiet about being seduced by an older man.

WND disclosures that Feldman proclaimed "gay sex is morally good" have also made her a target for criticism.

"I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight," Obama told the homosexual activist group. "For even as we face extraordinary challenges as a nation, we cannot and we will not put aside issues of basic equality. I greatly appreciate the support I've received from many in this room. I also appreciate that many of you don't believe that progress has come fast enough. I want to be honest about that. Because it's important to be honest amongst friends." (Full Story)

Obama: I'll End Ban on Gays in the Military

Saturday, October 10, 2009 2:09 PM

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama pledged to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military in a speech Saturday, but acknowledged to a cheering crowd that the policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not coming as quickly as they expected.

"I will end 'don't ask-don't tell,'" Obama said at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group. Obama reaffirmed his commitment to end the ban, but did not give a timetable or the specifics that some activists have called for.

The law was passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton, who also promised to repeal the ban on homosexuals in the military but was blunted by opposition in the military and Congress. (Full Story)

Obama in the classroom: President to address school students September 8

September 1, 6:12 PM

Houston Single Parenting Examiner

Melanie Saxton

There's quite a buzz going around about Tuesday, September 8th.

That's the day President Obama will address PreK-12 students via televisions and screens in public school classrooms, auditoriums, and 'cafetoriums' across the nation. This is a feat never before attempted by a sitting president.

Reactions are mixed, no doubt in part because our nation is politically polarized. While some parents think it is a good idea for the president to reach out to school kids, others disagree. Why? Many prefer to be the gate-keeper of social and spiritual influences and want politics and religion kept out of schools. Full Story

The Indoctrination of America's Children By The Obama Administration

OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL
Czar: 'Spread the wealth! Change the whole system'
Using White House position to push communist policies?

Posted: August 30, 2009
7:09 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Just days before his White House appointment, Van Jones, President Obama's environmental adviser, used a forum at a major youth convention to push for what can easily be interpreted as a communist or socialist agenda.

As WND previously reported, Van Jones, special adviser for green jobs, enterprise

and innovation to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is an admitted black nationalist and radical communist.

Jones' appointment was announced on March 10.

Two weeks before he started his White House job, however, Jones delivered the keynote address at Power Shift '09, which was billed as the largest youth summit on climate change in history. A reported 12,000 young people were at the D.C. Convention Center for the event.

During his speech, available on YouTube, Jones threw around terms like "eco-apartheid" and "green for some," and preached about spreading the wealth while positing a call to "change the whole system." Full Story

OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL
Czar's 'communist manifesto' scrubbed from Net
Founded group with 'commitment to fundamental ideas of Marxism-Leninism'

Posted: August 30, 2009
7:15 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – How is this for a quick clean up job?

Last week, WND reported the official communist-oriented manifesto of a radical group founded by Obama's environmental adviser, Van Jones, was published in full on the Internet.

Just hours later, the manifesto was removed and the entire website was taken down.

It is, however, still available in web archives.

As WND previously reported, Van Jones, special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is an admitted black nationalist and radical communist.

Jones was the leader and founder of a radical group, the communist revolutionary organization Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM.

STORM's official manifesto, titled, "Reclaiming Revolution," had been published on the Internet.

A WND review of the 97-page treatise found that the manual describes Jones' organization as having a "commitment to the fundamental ideas of Marxism-Leninism."

"We agreed with Lenin's analysis of the state and the party," reads the manifesto. "And we found inspiration in the revolutionary strategies developed by Third World revolutionaries like Mao Tse-tung and Amilcar Cabral." Full Story

Guess who screened White House appointments!
Think tank developed by prez links socialist party to presidential picks

Posted: August 20, 2009
1:00 am Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Van Jones

JERUSALEM – Was a far-left think tank partnered with the community activist group ACORN and founded with input from President Obama instrumental in securing the appointment of controversial White House "environmental

czar" Van Jones?

A key member of the think tank reportedly was also a founder of a socialist party that, evidence indicates, included Obama among its members.

In March, Jones was named the special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

His appointment drew criticism after a WND report exposing that Jones was as an admitted radical communist and black nationalist leader. The Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck hammered away at Jones' communist ties.

Months before Obama took office, however, Jones was recommended for the environmental pick in a report by business scholar Chuck Collins, an associate of philanthropist George Soros and a longtime leftist activist linked to some socialist causes. Full Story

Health Insurers Fear Probe By House Dems Is Reprisal for Opposing Part of Obama's Plan

Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., sent a letter warning health insurers that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is "examining executive compensation and other business practices of the health industry."

FOXNews.com

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

In a move some fear is a reprisal for opposing President Obama's health care plan, Democrats sent 52 letters to health insurers requesting financial records for a House committee's investigation.

No Free Lunch at the White House, But You Can Pay For His Date Night In Manhattan!

Recession Worse Than Prior Estimates, Revisions Show (Update1)

By Bob Willis

July 31 (Bloomberg) -- The first 12 months of the U.S. recession saw the economy shrink more than twice as much as previously estimated, reflecting even bigger declines in consumer spending and housing, revised figures showed.

The world’s largest economy contracted 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the last three months of 2008, compared with the 0.8 percent drop previously on the books, the Commerce Department said today in Washington.

“The current downturn beginning in 2008 is more pronounced,” Steven Landefeld, director of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, said in a press briefing this week. The revisions were in line with past experience in which initial figures tended to underestimate the severity of contractions during their early stages, he said.

The updated statistics also showed that Americans earned more over the last 10 years and socked away a larger share of that cash in savings. The report signals the process of repairing tattered balance sheets following the biggest drop in household wealth on record may be further along than anticipated. (Full Story)

Government Suspends 'Clunkers' Program

At Current Rate, Giving Out $3,500 Or $4,500 Per Vehicle Would Burn Through $1 Billion Allocated In No Time

NYC Car Dealers: How Could Obama Administration Mess This Up!

Reporting Lou Young NEW YORK (CBS) ―

"Cash for Clunkers" came to a screeching halt Thursday, after only six days on the road.

In a shocker, the government announced it would suspend the program at midnight because demand was too great.

It may have been the best $1 billion the government has spent so far this year.

Business was humming at Crestmont Toyota/Volkswagen Thursday night as salespeople rushed back to work on news that the government's "Cash for Clunkers" program was being suspended.

It's the deal where you get up to $4,500 for your older low mileage beast if you buy a new car with more efficient fuel consumption.

On Thursday night we learned the program was only good until midnight, all because of a backlog of red tape. So the salespeople were trying to get their deals through the government's Web site. (Full Story)

"If they can't administer a program like this, I'd be a little concerned about my health insurance," car salesman Rob Bojaryn said.

Obamas fly in chef 860 miles... just to make pizza

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:37 PM on 10th April 2009

When you're the president of the United States, only the best pizza will do - even if that means flying a chef 860 miles.

Chris Sommers, 33, jetted into Washington from St Louis, Missouri, on Thursday with a suitcase of dough, cheese and pans to to prepare food for the Obamas and their staff.

He had apparently been handpicked after the President had tasted his pizzas on the campaign trail last autumn. Full Story

Obama Wants to Control the Banks

There's a reason he refuses to accept repayment of TARP money.

By STUART VARNEY

I must be naive. I really thought the administration would welcome the return of bank bailout money. Some $340 million in TARP cash flowed back this week from four small banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana and California. This isn't much when we routinely talk in trillions, but clearly that money has not been wasted or otherwise sunk down Wall Street's black hole. So why no cheering as the cash comes back?

My answer: The government wants to control the banks, just as it now controls GM and Chrysler, and will surely control the health industry in the not-too-distant future. Keeping them TARP-stuffed is the key to control. And for this intensely political president, mere influence is not enough. The White House wants to tell 'em what to do. Control. Direct. Command. Full Story

U.S. May Oust CEOs at Banks Needing ‘Exceptional’ Aid (Update1)

By Jesse Westbrook

April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he’s prepared to oust the senior management and boards of directors at banks that require “exceptional” assistance from the U.S. government.

“If in the future, banks need exceptional assistance in order to get through this, then we will make sure that assistance comes,” while ensuring taxpayers are protected, Geithner said today in an interview on the CBS “Face the Nation” program. “Where that requires a change in management and the board, then we will do that.”

Geithner noted that American International Group Inc., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had their chief executives removed after it became clear the companies couldn’t survive without government rescues. The Treasury is reviewing how much capital the biggest U.S. financial companies need in order to endure a severe economic downturn.

“Where we’ve had to do exceptional things,” the government has replaced management and boards of directors, Geithner said. Full Story

Terror inmates may be released in US: intel chief

Mar 26 06:59 PM US/Eastern

President Barack Obama's intelligence chief confirmed Thursday that some Guantanamo inmates may be released on US soil and receive assistance to return to society.

"If we are to release them in the United States, we need some sort of assistance for them to start a new life," said National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair at his first press conference.

"You can't just put them on the street," he added. "All that is work in progress." Full Story

Global currency story gains steam

@ 1:39 pm by Eric Zimmermann

Well, here's a story the White House probably isn't too thrilled about. Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations today, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner stated that he was "open" to a proposal by the governor of China's central bank to replace the dollar with a new global currency:

"We’re actually quite open to that suggestion – you should see it as rather evolutionary rather building on the current architecture rather than moving us to global monetary union," he said.
"The only thing concrete I saw was expanding the use of the [special drawing rights]," Geithner said. "Anything he’s thinking about deserves some consideration." Full Story

Terence Corcoran: Is this the end of America?

Posted: March 19, 2009, 7:38 PM by NP Editor

Terence Corcoran, Ben Bernanke, inflation

U.S. law-making is riddled with slapdash, incompetence and gamesmanship

By Terence Corcoran

Helicopter Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve is dropping trillions of fresh paper dollars on the world economy, the President of the United States is cracking jokes on late night comedy shows, his energy minister is threatening a trade war over carbon emissions, his treasury secretary is dithering over a banking reform program amid rising concerns over his competence and a monumentally dysfunctional U.S. Congress is launching another public jihad against corporations and bankers. Full Story

Administration Seeks Increase in Oversight of Executive Pay

By STEPHEN LABATON

Published: March 21, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said.

The outlines of the plan are expected to be unveiled this week in preparation for President Obama’s first foreign summit meeting in early April.

Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system. Full Story

The Obama depression

Marvin Olasky

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

Washington news keeps marching in like a lion, and only the Lamb can stand against it.

Throughout the election campaign I wanted to think the best of Barack Obama. Because of his stand on abortion and other matters I opposed him, but still kept in mind a big positive: Obama as role model, showing some among our most alienated the fruits of education, hard work, and marriage.

I hoped that maybe, just maybe, a President Obama would graduate from campaign mode and apply cool rationality not just to winning votes but to strengthening our economy and America’s position around the world. That hope has evaporated. Full Story

Source: Obama official on leave after FBI raids

Source: Obama technology official on leave after FBI raids his old DC office, arrests 2

Devlin Barrett and Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writers

Thursday March 12, 2009, 6:38 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An aide to President Barack Obama is on leave from his White House job after the FBI raided his old District of Columbia government office Thursday, arresting a city employee and a technology consultant on corruption charges, a White House official said.

The charges were lodged against the two men at a federal court hearing as the FBI finished searching the city's technology office, which was led until recently by Obama's new computer chief, Vivek Kundra.

Kundra is on leave from his White House job until further details of the case become known, according to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the official did not want to publicly discuss personnel matters.

At the court hearing, Yusuf Acar, the acting chief security officer in the city's technology office, was ordered held without bond pending a hearing Tuesday. Prosecutors said $70,000 in cash was found during a search of Acar's Washington home and that he posed a serious flight risk. Full Story

Justice Dept. Investigates Arizona Sheriff for Enforcing Immigration Law

Thursday, March 12, 2009

By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona following requests by congressional Democrats and allegations by liberal activists that the department has violated the civil rights of illegal aliens.

Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Robert Scott (D-Va.) requested the investigation, and activists groups such as National Day Laborer Organizer Network and ACORN launched petition drives and rallies in support of the probe Full Story

Bingo! Call It Communism

By Randall Hoven

March 03, 2009

I once wrote that we could play "Communist Manifesto Bingo": once President Obama enacts or strengthens five planks from the Communist Manifesto, yell "bingo" and you win. One month into President Obama's first term, BINGO! Full Story

Obama Prepared to Reach Out to Taliban

Saturday, March 7, 2009 7:48 PM

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says he hopes U.S. troops can identify moderate elements of the Taliban and move them toward reconciliation.

Asked in an interview with The New York Times if the United States is winning in Afghanistan, Obama said "no," while adding "our troops are doing an extraordinary job in a very difficult situation."

"But you've seen conditions deteriorate over the last couple of years. The Taliban is bolder than it was. I think ... in the southern regions of the country, you're seeing them attack in ways that we have not seen previously," Obama said in the interview, which was posted Saturday on the Times' Web site.

There may be opportunities to reach out to moderates in the Taliban, but the situation in Afghanistan is more complicated than the challenges the American military faced in Iraq, Obama said. Full Story

CHAVEZ CALLS ON OBAMA TO FOLLOW PATH OF SOCIALISM

Fri Mar 06 2009 17:13:48 ET

Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday called upon US President Barack Obama to follow the path to socialism, which he termed as the "only" way out of the global recession. "Come with us, align yourself, come with us on the road to socialism. This is the only path. Imagine a socialist revolution in the United States," Chavez told a group of workers in the southern Venezuelan state of Bolivar. The controversial Venezuelan leader, who taunted the United States as a source of capitalistic evil under former president George W Bush, added that the United States needs a leader who can take it to a "higher" destiny and bring it out of "the sad role that it has been given, as a murderous, attacking power that is hated all around the world." Chavez said that people are calling Obama a "socialist" for the measures of state intervention he is taking to counter the crisis, so it would not be too far-fetched to suggest that he might join the project of "21st century socialism" that the Venezuelan leader is heading. Full Story

Obama: Time of crisis can be 'great opportunity'

Mar 7, 6:30 PM (ET) By BEN FELLER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Trying to buck up a dispirited nation, President Barack Obama on Saturday promised that prosperous days will return and cast these bleak times as nothing less than a "great opportunity." Packing some heft with his hope, he defended his fast-moving and expensive agenda.

"We will get through this," Obama said in his weekly radio and video address, taped Friday after another week of downbeat news.

The unemployment rate climbed to 8.1 percent, the highest in more than 25 years. Stock values kept tumbling, down to their lowest levels since 1997. The latest Gallup polling finds that an anemic 20 percent of people in the United States are satisfied with the state of the nation. At least that's an improvement from the 14 percent a month earlier. Full Story

U.S. rescue efforts may risk double-dip recession

By Emily Kaiser - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. companies, consumers and communities may grow so addicted to government financial help that cutting them off could trigger another recession soon after the current one ends.

Between the U.S. Federal Reserve's trillions of dollars in lending programs, the $787 billion stimulus package and $700 billion -- and counting -- in bank bailout funds, no one can accuse officials of soft-pedaling their crisis response.

But there is increasing concern that when the flow of public money subsides -- beginning next year when much of that stimulus package is spent -- the economy still won't be strong enough to stand on its own. Full Story

Obama 'ready to drop shield plans for Russian help on Iran'

MOSCOW, March 2 (RIA Novosti) - Washington has told Moscow that Russian help in resolving Iran's nuclear program would make its missile shield plans for Europe unnecessary, a Russian daily said on Monday, citing White House sources. U.S. President Barack Obama made the proposal on Iran in a letter to his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, Kommersant said, referring to unidentified U.S. officials. Iran's controversial nuclear program was cited by the U.S. as one of the reasons behind its plans to deploy a missile base in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. The missile shield has been strongly opposed by Russia, which views it as a threat to its national security. The dispute has strained relations between the former Cold War rivals, already tense over a host of other differences Full Story .......The best party in town Obama kicks up White House entertaining Mar 2, 6:58 AM (ET) By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Since the presidency changed hands less than six weeks ago, a burst of entertaining has taken hold of the iconic, white-columned home of America's head of state. Much of it comes on Wednesdays. The stately East Room, where portraits of George and Martha Washington adorn the walls, was transformed into a concert hall as President Barack Obama presented Stevie Wonder with the nation's highest award for pop music on Wednesday. A week before that, the foot-stomping sounds of Sweet Honey in the Rock, a female a cappella group, filled the East Room for a Black History Month program that first lady Michelle Obama held for nearly 200 sixth- and seventh-graders from around Washington. Cocktails were sipped during at least three such receptions to date, all held on Wednesdays. Full Story Brown woos Obama on global dealJonathan Oliver, Political Editor From The Sunday Times March 1, 2009 GORDON BROWN hopes to forge a partnership with President Barack Obama in Washington this week, to call for a “global new deal” to lift the world out of recession. As he prepares for his first White House visit since the president’s inauguration, the prime minister has hinted that he is ready to make further tax cuts to boost the UK economy. Brown will meet Obama on Tuesday and address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Aides say he has both to demonstrate to a sceptical British public that he commands the respect of the president, and to persuade the American political establishment that global action is needed to rescue the US economy. Full Story LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER Radio chip coming soon to your driver's license? Homeland Security seeks next-generation REAL ID Posted: February 28, 2009 12:25 am Eastern By Bob Unruh © 2009 WorldNetDaily Privacy advocates are issuing warnings about a new radio chip plan that ultimately could provide electronic identification for every adult in the U.S. and allow agents to compile attendance lists at anti-government rallies simply by walking through the assembly. The proposal, which has earned the support of Janet Napolitano, the newly chosen chief of the Department of Homeland Security, would embed radio chips in driver's licenses, or "enhanced driver's licenses." "Enhanced driver's licenses give confidence that the person holding the card is the person who is supposed to be holding the card, and it's less elaborate than REAL ID," Napolitano said in a Washington Times report. Full Story Obama Declares War on Investors, Entrepreneurs, Businesses, And More Friday, 27 Feb 2009 | 4:39 PM ET Posted By: Larry Kudlow AP President Barack Obama Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds. That is the meaning of his anti-growth tax-hike proposals, which make absolutely no sense at all — either for this recession or from the standpoint of expanding our economy’s long-run potential to grow. Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds. That is the meaning of his anti-growth tax-hike proposals, which make absolutely no sense at all — either for this recession or from the standpoint of expanding our economy’s long-run potential to grow. Full Story Obama budget plan forecasts soaring deficits Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:41pm EST By Caren Bohan and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama forecast the biggest U.S. deficit since World War Two in a budget on Thursday that urges a costly overhaul of the healthcare system and would spend billions to arrest the economy's freefall. An eye-popping $1.75 trillion deficit for the 2009 fiscal year underlined the heavy blow the deep recession has dealt to the country's finances as Obama unveiled his first budget. That is the highest ever in dollar terms, and amounts to a 12.3 percent share of the economy -- the largest since 1945. In 2010, the deficit would dip to a still-huge $1.17 trillion, Obama predicted. Full Story House Democrats propose $410B spending bill House bill to keep govt. running totals $410 billion, features thousands of pet projects David Espo, AP Special Correspondent Tuesday February 24, 2009, 8:50 am EST WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats unveiled a $410 billion spending bill on Monday to keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year, setting up the second political struggle over federal funds in less than a month with Republicans. The measure includes thousands of earmarks, the pet projects favored by lawmakers but often criticized by the public in opinion polls. There was no official total of the bill's earmarks, which accounted for at least $3.8 billion. The legislation, which includes an increase of roughly 8 percent over spending in the last fiscal year, is expected to clear the House later in the week Full Story Mike Huckabee: Obama’s Performance ‘Cause for Alarm’ Sunday, February 22, 2009 4:44 PM By: David A. Patten Former GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee in an exclusive Newsmax interview says President Obama’s early job performance is “cause for alarm,” and warns his penchant for talking down the economy is “the worst possible direction he could take.” Obama’s dark portrayal of the U.S. economy -- apparently intended to lower the high expectations stoked by his rhetoric during the campaign -- is on the verge of becoming a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” Huckabee adds. Full Story Nouriel Roubini 'Nationalize' the Banks Dr. Doom says a takeover and resale is the market-friendly solution. from the Drudge Report OBAMA MOVES TOWARD 'SWEDISH MODEL' FOR BANKS Obama promises Palestinians he'll protect 'biblical heartland' President pledges to protest Jewish housing developments Posted: February 16, 2009 8:50 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein © 2009 WorldNetDaily JERUSALEM – The Obama administration has pledged to the Palestinian Authority it will closely monitor Jewish construction in the West Bank and will protest any new housing developments in the biblical territory, a top PA negotiator told WND. "They told us the White House will watch for any Jewish construction," said the PA negotiator, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Obama knows that if [Likud Chairman Benjamin] Netanyahu is the next prime minister, he will try to expand the settlements. They pledged to us this will be strongly protested," the negotiator said. Full Story Obama Plans Dramatic Changes to Reduce Nuclear Arsenal Monday, February 16, 2009 7:29 PM By: Dave Eberhart If he has his way, President Barack Obama will dramatically change the nuclear weapons policy of the U.S. – leaving behind Cold War doctrine and looking to a model of a minimal nuclear arsenal -- just ominous enough to do the job of deterrence. Obama may be mired in the economic stimulus debate, but the clock is also relentlessly ticking on some volatile policy decisions regarding the nation’s aging nuclear arsenal – the stuff of that deterrence. Foreign nations, friend and foe, are poised to discover Obama’s nuclear agenda, while some critics within the U.S. are fearful that the new president will go too far, too fast. Full Story Obama's Rhetoric Is the Real 'Catastrophe' In 1932, automobile production shriveled by 90%. By BRADLEY R. SCHILLER President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form. He has repeatedly raised the specter of another Great Depression. First, he did so to win votes in the November election. He has done so again recently to sway congressional votes for his stimulus package. AP In his remarks, every gloomy statistic on the economy becomes a harbinger of doom. As he tells it, today's economy is the worst since the Great Depression. Without his Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he says, the economy will fall back into that abyss and may never recover. This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics. It is bad history because our current economic woes don't come close to those of the 1930s. Full Story The recovery plan: A national jolt to economy By NANCY BENAC and CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writers Nancy Benac And Calvin Woodward, Associated Press Writers – Sat Feb 14, 6:05 pm ET Undermining federal balance sheets that were already deeply in the red, Obama and Congress settled on a nearly $800 billion plan that aims to spend more on the crisis at hand than the government has spent waging the Iraq war for six years. The idea: fast cash, and lots of it, but with a strategic view to the future. Some dollars will flow quickly into wallets — and right out again. The stimulus plan will mean thousands of dollars in tax breaks for first-time home buyers and people buying new cars. Lower- and middle-income taxpayers will get an extra $13 a week in their paychecks this year, and about $8 a week next year. Unemployment checks will go up $25 a week, and keep coming longer. Food stamp benefits for 30 million Americans will rise. Short-term health insurance will become more affordable for many losing their jobs. Full Story MONEYNETDAILY Federal obligations exceed world GDP Does $65.5 trillion terrify anyone yet? Posted: February 13, 2009 11:35 pm Eastern As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world. The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account. The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury Full Story Will the stimulus actually stimulate? Economists say no By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — The compromise economic stimulus plan agreed to by negotiators from the House of Representatives and the Senate is short on incentives to get consumers spending again and long on social goals that won't stimulate economic activity, according to a range of respected economists. "I think (doing) nothing would have been better," said Ed Yardeni, an investment analyst who's usually an optimist, in an interview with McClatchy. He argued that the plan fails to provide the right incentives to spur spending. Full Story