Sunday, July 31, 2011

National Journal: Obama Hurt By Debt Debate

National Journal: Obama Hurt By Debt Debate
The details of the debt deal still being hammered out Sunday night allows the United States to avert an historic default if it survives tough votes in Congress. That's enough to bring great relief to the White House. But no cheers. The months-long melodrama leaves President Obama weakened politically and potentially constrained as a president.

Obama put the best spin possible on the deal when he announced it in the White House briefing room. But there's little good news for him and his party in what's immediately known about the framework of the compromise. The best hope for Democrats is that this will be like the deal worked out last December to keep government operating. As more details of that agreement became known, Democratic anger at the extension of the Bush tax cuts ebbed at the realization that they too had gotten things they wanted. But right now it's hard to see many victories the president can show to his party in this deal. He didn't get the “clean” increase he once demanded. He didn't get the “balance” (revenue increases) he demanded, though he insisted that taxes remain very much a part of the second phase of the bargain.

He did get the Republicans to yield on his insistence on getting the ceiling raised high enough that this debate won't be repeated until after the 2012 presidential election. In achieving that, the president and the congressional leaders all but guarantee that next year’s campaign will feature a large and perhaps unprecedented debate over spending and budget priorities and the relationship between government spending and job creation. That's a long overdue debate and, if conducted honestly, will allow the winner of the presidential election to claim a genuine mandate.

But the bad news for Obama is that this deal – and his role in the deal-making – could make it more difficult for him to win a second term. To win reelection, he needs an improved economy with robust job growth. As the president mentioned in his remarks, the White House throughout this debate was acutely aware that massive spending cuts by the government would pose a severe challenge to a recovery already made more fragile by state and local government spending cuts. Critical to how much damage fresh cuts do to the economy will be – again – those details. How much of the cutting will be done in the next 12 months and how much is deferred to a later date? And how much will this detail constrain his ability to govern in the next 12 months?

There's no need to wait for details, though, to know that the president has damaged his standing with the progressives and activists who make up the Democratic Party base. Even before it was announced Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, blasted it as “grotesquely immoral” and “bad economic policy.” And Twitter and the liberal blogosphere were filled with criticisms of the president.

Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, strongly criticized Obama for making the deal and warned of direct consequences for his reelection campaign. “Seeing a Democratic president take taxing the rich off the table and instead push a deal that will lead to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefit cuts is like entering a bizarre parallel universe,” she said in a statement, warning of “horrific consequences for middle-class families.” Even before the deal was announced, the influential group had been rallying liberals to signal their displeasure by withholding their support for Obama’s campaign. Taylor said that more than 200,000 people have already pledged not to donate or volunteer for Obama in 2012 if he approves any cuts in Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. She said those who signed the pledge gave more than 2.5 million volunteers hours and more than $17 million to Obama in 2008.

The liberal group MoveOn.org, in a statement, said the debt deal “has gone from bad to worse” and called on Democrats to oppose it.

Of course, showing a willingness to stand up to the liberal base is not necessarily bad – if it pays off in increased support from the Independents who often determine the outcome of elections. But there is no sign that Independents approve of the president’s handling of the debt issue. The combination of a depressed base and a disillusioned center is potentially toxic to the president. His challenge in the next 15 months is to find an antidote by showing he's still able to govern under the terms of the deal and able to persuade his own party that they need to rally behind him.



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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

31 July 2011, Sunday - Debt Ceiling Deal Appears Done

From National Journal: The Deal: Where They Won And Where They Lost
By Major Garrett
It started clean and ended messy.

When the debt-ceiling crisis began to capture the public's and Wall Street's bemused imagination in June, President Obama's Gallup approval rating was 50 percent, the highest of the year.

It's now at 40 percent, the lowest of his presidency, and a disturbing sign that dismay with America's "dysfunctional" government is taking a toll on more than Congress - mired since early spring with approval ratings in the mid-teens.

Obama won a long-term extension of the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. The deal extends borrowing authority by at least $2.1 trillion with no threat of congressional obstruction.

But Obama lost on his push for higher revenue. Tax increases - even for favorite targets like corporate jet subsidies and oil companies (heavy on symbolism but relatively light on revenue) - were left to a special committee. That means Obama traded spending cuts upfront without a dime of guaranteed new revenue - already a flashpoint on the left.

Obama did protect Social Security, Medicaid, children's health insurance and veterans from any cuts - governed by the new spending caps or the so-called super committee charged with finding at least $1.5 trillion in additional spending cuts. The deal specifically shields Social Security, veterans benefits, unemployment benefits, military pension and children's insurance from cuts under the special committee jurisdiction.

Also, Obama won a 50-50 split in all domestic cuts between non-defense spending and allocations for defense, homeland security and the State Department. This amounts to $350 billion over 10 years and gives Obama an opportunity to press for more economical spending in the security sphere. Republicans say they will fight another day to ensure military readiness, training and availability of necessary weapons systems.

But the president opened the door to Medicare cuts. Even though they are limited to providers, Obama has put Medicare cost savings on the table at just the moment congressional Democrats cherished a clean shot at Republicans for backing a 10-year plan to transform the health care program for the eldery from fee-for-service to a voucher system to finance insurance purchases on the open market.

On the tax side, Republicans are certain the rules will nullify higher taxes. Democrats are equally convinced the magnitude of future spending cuts through caps or across-the-board sequestration will prove so politically unpopular Republicans will relent and raise taxes. That's what happened in 1990, when sequestration-ordered cuts led President George Herbert Walker Bush to raise taxes in a budget deal reviled to this day by conservatives.

For Republicans, the victories are embedded in forcing Obama to agree to deficit-reduction with no explicit call for tax increases. They also won votes in both chambers on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and built what they regard as acceptable protections of future defense spending. They also eliminated a Democratic bid to count as savings $1 trillion in spending on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that was unlikely ever to be spent. GOP unity was sorely tested and House Speaker John Boehner's leadership clout is less sturdy than it was.

Citing precedent, Obama asked Congress for a debt ceiling increase with no strings attached. But the grudging deference previous Congresses granted Obama's predecessors evaporated in a partisan-fueled demand by the new GOP House to turn a once-obligatory debt ceiling increase into a policy cudgel.

The president swiftly retreated, giving Republicans a victory no other Congress enjoyed. Even in 1985 when President Reagan signed the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings deficit-reduction law, he didn't do it under the threat of default. But House Republicans used default and the economic damage it would inflict as a political weapon -- one that forced Obama to link a debt ceiling increase to deficit reduction.

With that choice, Obama had to simplify his demands and his one unquestioned victory in the debt deal was a boost in U.S. borrowing authority until 2013. In the hard-fought negotiations, which the White House said didn't wrap up until 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Obama also won relatively light first year discretionary spending cuts.

Of the $917 billion in discretionary cuts on the table now, only $7 billon occur in this fiscal year. Another $3 billion will be cut in next year's budget from the 2010 spending levels. That's certainly a cut when compared to typical year-to-year spending increases that take inflation into account. But it also makes the deficit-reduction target in the out-years considerably larger than most House Republicans would prefer. In essence, Obama won a $900 billion debt ceiling increase for $10 billion in hard cuts over two years - with half coming from defense.

In sum, it's hard to see how Obama would have called this a victory back when he asked for a clean debt ceiling increase. Similarly, House Republicans would have preferred more spending cuts up front and a stronger link to a balanced budget amendment or more iron-clad budget process reforms.

It's a deal that neither particularly likes, has taken a toll on everyone's popularity and cast a pall over the U.S. economy.

Clearly, it's not enough to satisfy Obama or Republicans.

Judging from the sagging poll numbers for all the combatants, though, it is the public that will probably have this one word reaction.

Enough.



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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

Friday, July 29, 2011

29 July 2011, Fri, SoS and Staff Schedule

SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON:
9:15 a.m. Secretary Clinton joins Deputy Secretary Burns’ meeting with Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Wang Yi, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

9:20 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with the Assistant Secretaries of the regional bureaus, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

10:00 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with will.i.am regarding the 100,000 Strong Initiative, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton joins President Obama’s multilateral meeting with Benin President Boni Yahi, Guinea President Alpha Conde, Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou, and Cote D’ivoire President Alassane Ouattara, at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

DEPUTY SECRETARY WILLIAM BURNS:
9:15 a.m. Deputy Secretary Burns meets with Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Wang Yi, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

10:00 a.m. Deputy Secretary Burns meets with Acting Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs Robert Jacobson, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:30 p.m. Deputy Secretary Burns attends a meeting at the White House.
MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

DEPUTY SECRETARY THOMAS NIDES:
9:15 a.m. Deputy Secretary Nides speaks with Major General Yves Fontaine, Commanding General of the Army Sustainment Command.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

10:30 a.m. Deputy Secretary Nides delivers remarks at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, DC.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

12:00 p.m. Deputy Secretary Nides officiates the Swearing-in Ceremony for the 73rd Civil Service Class, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

5:00 p.m. Deputy Secretary Nides attends a meeting at the White House.
MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

USAID ADMINISTRATOR RAJIV SHAH:
11:30 a.m. Administrator Shah meets with Mahamadou Issoufou, President of Niger, at USAID.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:00 p.m. Administrator Shah attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

5:00 p.m. Administrator Shah attends an economic meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

US FOR DEMOCRACY AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS MARIA OTERO:
10:00 a.m. Under Secretary Otero meets with USAID Nigeria Mission Director-designate Dana Mansuri at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

11:00 a.m. Under Secretary Otero delivers opening remarks at an interagency roundtable on Security and Development Challenges posed by Fragile and Conflict-Affected States at USAID.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:00 p.m. Under Secretary Otero meets with Ambassador Kupiecki, Poland’s Ambassador to the U.S., at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

US FOR ECONOMIC, ENERGY AND AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS ROBERT HORMATS:
10:00 a.m. Under Secretary Hormats meets with Swiss Ambassador Manuel Sager, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS ROBERT BLAKE:
1:30 p.m. Assistant Secretary Blake meets with Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary Dr. Bill Colglazier.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS WILLIAM BROWNFIELD:
10:00 a.m. Assistant Secretary Brownfield meets with R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the White House Office National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR OCEANS AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS KERRI-ANN JONES:
11:15 a.m. Assistant Secretary Jones meets with USDA Chief Scientist Catherine Woteki at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Jones meets with representatives of the Pew Environment Group at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

COORDINATOR FOR INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION PROGRAMS DAWN MCCALL:
Coordinator McCall is on foreign travel to Seoul, Korea and Jakarta, Indonesia through July 29 to meet with social media researchers and senior Embassy officials.

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE AND COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERTERRORISM DANIEL BENJAMIN:
Ambassador Benjamin is on official travel in Aspen, Colorado to participate in the Aspen Security Forum.

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES MELANNE VERVEER:
9:00 a.m. Ambassador Verveer meets with Mayra Buvinic of the World Bank, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

12:00 p.m. Ambassador Verveer meets with James Moriarty, outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

DIRECTOR OF POLICY PLANNING JACOB SULLIVAN:
11:00 a.m. Director Sullivan attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

2:00 p.m. Director Sullivan attends a reception at British Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald’s residence.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

6:00 p.m. Director Sullivan provides remarks to Yale in Washington students at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

PRESS BRIEFING SCHEDULE:
12:30 p.m. Daily Press Briefing with Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner.


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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

29 July 2011, Fri, Pres and VP Schedule

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president
10:20 am The President delivers a statement on the status of debt ceiling negotiations
Diplomatic Reception Room
Pooled Press

10:50 am The President delivers remarks on Fuel Efficiency Standards
Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Open Press

3:10 pm The President meets with President Boni Yayi of Benin, President Alpha Condé of Guinea, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, and President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire
Cabinet Room
Pool Spray at the Bottom

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
No public schedule


________________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

What Can You Do If People Can't Think Critically?

Rush is laughing today over the plight of Charles Monnett, the scientist who wrote a report published in 2004 in which he saw 4 drowned polar bears.

Everyone else said, and says that this proves that global warming is a danger to polar bears, but actually that's not what Monnett said at all.

What I also find intersting is that Monnett claims he is being "actively persecuted by Obama administation officials."

But Obama believes in man-made global warming, so why would he send his dogs after Monnett.

Here's the article, from CNS News.com. I've bolded what I think are extremely interesting passages.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A federal wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article.

Charles Monnett, an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, was told July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending results of an investigation into "integrity issues." But he has not yet been informed by the inspector general's office of specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

On Thursday, Ruch's watchdog group plans to file a complaint with the agency on Monnett's behalf, asserting that Obama administration officials have "actively persecuted" him in violation of policy intended to protect scientists from political interference.

Monnett, who has coordinated much of the agency's research on Arctic wildlife and ecology, has duties that include managing about $50 million worth of studies, according to the complaint, a copy of which was provided to The Associated Press.

The complaint seeks Monnett's reinstatement along with a public apology from the agency and inspector general. It also seeks to have the investigation dropped or to have the charges specified and the matter carried out in accordance with policy. The complaint also says that investigators took Monnett's computer hard drive, notebooks and other unspecified items from him, which have not been returned.

A BOEMRE spokeswoman declined to comment on an "ongoing internal investigation." Ruch said BOEMRE has barred Monnett from talking to reporters.

Documents provided by Ruch's group indicate questioning by investigators has centered on observations that Monnett and fellow researcher Jeffrey Gleason made in 2004, while conducting an aerial survey of bowhead whales, of four dead polar bears floating in the water after a storm. They detailed their observations in an article published two years later in the journal Polar Biology; presentations also were given at scientific gatherings.

In the peer-reviewed article, the researchers said they were reporting, to the best of their knowledge, the first observations of polar bears floating dead offshore and presumed drowned while apparently swimming long distances in open water. Polar bears are considered strong swimmers, they wrote, but long-distance swims may exact a greater metabolic toll than standing or walking on ice in better weather.

They said their observations suggested the bears drowned in rough seas and high winds and "suggest that drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice and/or longer open water periods continues."

The article and presentations drew national attention and helped make the polar bear something of a poster child for the global warming movement. Al Gore's mention of the polar bear in his documentary on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, came up during investigators' questioning of Gleason in January.

In May 2008, the U.S. classified the polar bear as a threatened species, the first with its survival at risk due to global warming.

According to a transcript, investigator Eric May asked Gleason his thoughts on Gore referencing the dead polar bears. Gleason said none of the polar bear papers he has written or co-authored has said "anything really" about global warming.

"It's something along the lines of the changing environment in the Arctic," he said.

Gleason said others put their own spin on research or observations.

The complaint alleges Gleason and Monnett were harassed by agency officials and received negative comments from them after the article was published. Gleason eventually took another Interior Department job; he didn't respond to an email and a BOEMRE spokeswoman said he wouldn't be available for comment.

Ruch also claimed the investigation is being done by criminal investigators with no scientific background, even though the case is an administrative matter.


________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

Rush Calls Breivik a Neo-Nazi

Rush finally had something to say about the mass murders over in Norway. He skated past the info that Breivik killed people whom he thought was connected with allowing Muslim immigration into Norway.

Here's what he said.
RUSH: Look, this guy in Norway. I've been waiting for that call. I have been waiting for that call. So let me answer the call full-fledged. What do I think of this crazed right-wing extremist? I knew what the caller was trying to do. The media is out there calling this guy a "Christian extremist," a "Christian fundamentalist." This guy is a lunatic. He's against everybody. Not just Muslims. He was a racial purist. He says he did this in the name of Christianity and Western Civilization. There's nothing particularly new about that, but he was not a Christian. He's a neo Nazi! The guy is your average, run-of-the-mill, neo-Nazi. There's nothing new there. Those guys are all over the place.

Now, look, Obama, after 9/11, said he had empathy for the terrorists; that we needed to try to figure out what would cause them to fly planes into our buildings -- and, voila! We came up with an answer. Our policy with Israel and their poverty. It was our fault! The Sate Department, that was the reason for that stupid symposium: Why do they hate us so much? Not why are they irrational, but what's wrong with us! Why do they hate us so much? This guy is not particularly Christian, no more than most neo-Nazis are. They use the term over there "Christian" to mean non-Muslim. If you're non-Muslim, everybody's called a Christian. This guy... What was the name Breivik? He had a manifesto like the Unibomber.

Breivik is a sociopath, there's no doubt about that. And apparently the longest you can be kept in jail in Norway is 21 years. And cells in jails in Norway...someone posted one which, if a true representation - is a private room - no bars with guards looking in at you. No shared bunk bed. A TV. A carpet on the floor, etc. Looked like a little hotel room.

_______
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

28 July 2011, Thur, Rush Limbaugh Headlines

--We've Been Played for Saps, Folks: Boehner Bill Will Become Reid Bill
Obama wants Boehner bill to pass and Reid to rewrite it.

--Washington Establishment Needs a GOP Leader Like Bob Michel Again
Ray LaHood speaks for the RINOs of the Beltway.

--Obama, Dems: Poison for America
As mad as you get at Republicans, remember this.

--Irate Callers Say Your Host Doesn't Criticize the Republicans Enough!
C'mon people, are you listening to the show every day?

--The 14th Amendment Truth
It doesn't give Obama the power to raise the debt limit.
• Rush, July 11: The Left's 14th Amendment Lie

--Do House Republicans Really Think They're Winning This Thing?
They're snookering Harry Reid, here!
Dr. Sowell, Really? Boehner's Plan Ain't Bad

--Regime: GOP to Steal Christmas
Democrats say Boehner bill will ruin the holiday season.

Stack of Stuff Quick Hits Page
» Governor Christie in Hospital with Breathing Difficulty
» Bret Baier: S&P Likely to Downgrade US Rating
» Bloomberg: Jobless Claims Fall to 3-Month Low
» Setup Story? Reports Confirm Decelerating Economy
» Polar Bear Climate Scientist Under Investigation
» German Dummkopfs to Phase Out Nuclear Power

--Thoughts on the Norway Shooting
Will Norway build a church at the site of his crime?

--A Two If By Tea Contest
Another great promotion: Buy a case of Two If By Tea.
• Get All the Info (& Delicious Tea): TwoIfByTea.com



____________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

28 July 2011, Thurs, SoS Clinton and Staff

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON:
8:45 a.m. Secretary Clinton signs a book of condolences at the Norwegian Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, DC.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)
Contact Ms. Jannicke Jaeger at jannicke.jaeger@mfa.no or 202-247-7998 for more information.

9:10 a.m. Secretary Clinton delivers remarks at USAID’s Saving Lives at Birth Development Exchange Awards Ceremony “77 Inventions That Could Save Moms And Babies,” in the Atrium Hall of the Ronald Reagan Building.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

11:30 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Egyptian Major General Murad Muwafi, Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:30 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with President Obama at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

4:15 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Administrator Shah and the USAID senior leadership, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

DEPUTY SECRETARY THOMAS NIDES:
12:00 p.m. Deputy Secretary Nides attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

USAID ADMINISTRATOR RAJIV SHAH:
9:00 a.m. Administrator Shah delivers opening remarks at USAID’s Saving Lives at Birth Development Exchange Awards Ceremony “77 Inventions That Could Save Moms And Babies,” in the Atrium Hall of the Ronald Reagan Building.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

11:15 a.m. Administrator Shah delivers closing remarks at the Saving Lives at Birth Development Exchange, at USAID.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

4:15 p.m. Administrator Shah meets with Secretary Clinton, at the Department of State.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

5:30 p.m. Administrator Shah attends the National Academies Grand Challenges in International Development Committee Reception, at the National Academics of Science Headquarters.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS WILLIAM BURNS:
8:45 a.m. Under Secretary Burns delivers remarks to the July 2011 ambassadorial seminar, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

10:00 a.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with Shafik Gabr, ARTOC Group for Investment and Development, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:00 p.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with Ambassador Tom Shannon, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:30 p.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with Egyptian Major General Murad Muwafi, Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

US FOR DEMOCRACY AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS MARIA OTERO:
8:30 a.m. Under Secretary Otero hosts the global issues principals meeting, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:00 p.m. Under Secretary Otero chairs the Frank Loy Award Committee meeting, at the Department of State
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:00 p.m. Under Secretary Otero attends a meeting at the White House.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

US FOR ARMS CONTROL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ELLEN TAUSCHER:
12:30 p.m. LOCAL Under Secretary Tauscher meets with Lawrence Livermore National Lab Director George Miller, in Lafayette, California.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

6:30 pm. LOCAL Under Secretary Tauscher delivers remarks to the Commonwealth Club of California, in Lafayette, California.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

CHIEF OF PROTOCOL AMBASSADOR CAPRICIA PENAVIC MARSHALL:
10:00 a.m. Ambassador Marshall hosts a farewell reception in honor of the Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia, Vaino Reinart.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS ROBERT BLAKE:
10:30 a.m. Assistant Secretary Blake meets with Congressman Dreier.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

11:15 a.m. Assistant Secretary Blake meets with Senator McCain.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Blake meets with students from the University of Pennsylvania.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:45 p.m. Assistant Secretary Blake delivers remarks to the Foreign Service Institute’s First Tour Orientation class.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

6:30 p.m. Assistant Secretary Blake attends the Farewell Reception for Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar at the Ambassador’s Residence.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

AS FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS WILLIAM BROWNFIELD:

10:00 a.m. Assistant Secretary Brownfield meets with Kyrgyz Ambassador Muratbek Djumaliev, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR EAST ASIAN PACIFIC AFFAIRS KURT CAMPBELL:
2:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Campbell appears before the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, in the Rayburn House Office Building.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOUSE)

AS FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS JEFFREY FELTMAN:
11:30 a.m. Assistant Secretary Feltman joins Secretary Clinton’s meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Feltman joins Secretary Clinton’s meeting with Egyptian Major General Murad Muwafi, Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ECONOMIC, ENERGY AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS JOSE FERNANDEZ
12:30 p.m. Assistant Secretary Fernandez leads a roundtable discussion on reforming U.S. foreign aid at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR OCEANS AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS KERRI-ANN JONES:
9:00 a.m. Assistant Secretary Jones attends USAID’s “Saving Lives at Birth” conference at the Ronald Reagan Building.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

COORDINATOR FOR INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION PROGRAMS DAWN MCCALL:
Coordinator McCall is on foreign travel to Seoul, Korea and Jakarta, Indonesia through July 29 to meet with social media researchers and senior Embassy officials.

AS FOR DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR MICHAEL POSNER:
1:30 p.m. Assistant Secretary Posner testifies before Chairman Chris Smith and Members of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe at a hearing on “U.S. Policy Toward the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe,” in the Cannon House Office Building.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOUSE)

AS FOR POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS ANDREW SHAPIRO:
11:30 a.m. Assistant Secretary Shapiro joins Secretary Clinton’s meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE AND COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERTERRORISM DANIEL BENJAMIN:
10:00 a.m. Ambassador Benjamin meets with French Ambassador François Delattre, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:00 p.m. Ambassador Benjamin joins Secretary Clinton’s meeting with Egyptian Major General Murad Muwafi, Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS LUIS CDEBACA:
3:00 p.m. Ambassador CdeBaca discusses trafficking in persons with Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s office, on Capitol Hill.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:15 p.m. Ambassador CdeBaca meets with North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan to discuss modern-day slavery, on Capitol Hill.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES MELANNE VERVEER:
10:00 a.m. Ambassador Verveer meets with a delegation of Afghan public administrators and judicial officials visiting the United States, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

11:00 a.m. Ambassador Verveer briefs the chiefs of foreign missions from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies on the upcoming APEC Women and the Economy Summit (WES), at the Department of Interior.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:00 p.m. Ambassador Verveer meets with Diana Putnam, the incoming USAID Mission Director to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

6:30 p.m. Ambassador Verveer attends a reception in honor of outgoing Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar, at the Indian Ambassador’s residence.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS KRIS BALDERSTON:
Special Representative Balderston co-hosts a principals-level interagency meeting on the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

SPECIAL ENVOY TO MONITOR AND COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM HANNAH ROSENTHAL:
7:00 p.m. Special Envoy Rosenthal participates in a dinner and dialogue session on Muslim-Jewish collaboration and community building at the Chicago Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

DIRECTOR OF POLICY PLANNING JACOB SULLIVAN:
1:00 p.m. Director Sullivan meets with senior students from the National Defense University to discuss policy priorities at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:30 p.m. Director Sullivan delivers remarks at the Human Rights Council retreat on the long term strategic view of U.S. engagement with the HRC, at the United States Institute of Peace.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

PRESS BRIEFING SCHEDULE:
12:30 p.m. Daily Press Briefing with Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner.

_________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

28 July 2011, Thurs, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president
9:30 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

3:00 pm The President meets with Secretary of Treasury Geithner
Oval Office
Closed Press

3:30 pm The President meets with Secretary of State Clinton
Oval Office
Closed Press

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
9:30 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

12:00 pm The Vice President chairs a regular meeting of senior officials to assess progress in Iraq
Closed Press

3:00 pm The President meets with Secretary of Treasury Geithner
Oval Office
Closed Press


________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

This is what causes people to despair

President Obama wants to increase taxes and "cut spending". But the spending cuts will only affect the new spending rate that we have.
For instance, how many of you realize that we have more than doubled the debt ceiling in just five years? In 2006 the debt ceiling was $8.2 trillion. Now with what's gonna end up happening here, the debt ceiling will be raised to $16.7 trillion. It's at 14.3 now. You would think that would qualify as news. And, of course, we're still not spending enough money for Obama. We're really being played for a bunch of saps, folks. We left the program talking about this yesterday in the context of the baseline, the way the budget is working. I have an even more shocking bit of news today to illustrate the baseline. For those of you that don't know what the baseline is and how baseline budgeting works, let me give you the real quick explanation of it. When you put together your budget, if you do one, you take last year's spending and income and you take a look at it and you figure out if you spent more than you had, or if you didn't spend more than you had, what did you do with what you had left over, where did it get spent.

If the next budget you prepare has to be smaller because your income's dropped, you start going through items, figuring out where you're going to cut. Your baseline is reality. Your baseline every year is reality. Your baseline is the amount of money you have to start with. That is not how it works in Washington. Baseline budgeting is based on the presumption that every item in the budget will automatically increase between three and 10% depending on what the item is, every year, regardless what happened in the previous year. This is why, for example, at the end of the year the agriculture department starts advertising for food stamp applicants because they want their budget to increase. So they don't look at the reality, and say, "You know what, we don't need this much money in this department. We have more money than we need. We don't have as many people needing food stamps as we have food stamps." They don't look at it and then cut back and tell the government, "You know what, you can cut us here." They will go out and give away food stamps in order to make sure they get that three to 10% increase. But that three to 10% increase every year becomes the starting point for every budget negotiation.

So, for example, when Obama passes the stimulus bill, another trillion dollars effectively is added to the baseline. No consideration is given to whether or not the money was spent wisely, wasted effectively or whatever. It was just spent. And because it was spent, there must be an increase in that line item every year. The way this manifests itself in Washington, the best way I have ever found to illustrate this is to put yourself in the situation where you're going to go buy a new car. You've looked at your budget, and you have decided that you can afford the monthly payment on a $40,000 car. So you go to the showrooms or you go to the Internet or you go wherever you look to buy a car, and you find a car you really love for $70,000 that the dealer tells you is on sale, that you can get it for 60.

So you and the family discuss it, and if you're like Washington, what you do is you tell yourself, "You know what? Let's get that $70,000 car that only costs 60, and we will save ourselves $10,000." But you haven't. You have spent $20,000 more than you originally allocated. You originally said you're gonna buy a $40,000 car, then you find one you really like for 70, on sale for 60, you plop down the 60, which is 20 more than you wanted to spend, and tell yourself you saved ten. That's how it works. That's baseline budgeting. That is how a cut or a saving is actually an increase.


Now, the best, most accurate illustration of where we are with the current baseline in the United States federal budget, I was sent a note from a legislative director of a member of the House of Representatives. I'm not gonna mention the name nor am I gonna mention the state. But trust me, it is a real person and of course it's a real state and it's a real legislative director. And here's the note: "One final thought to illustrate the absurdity of our baseline, and I'll leave you alone. If Speaker Boehner --" now, listen to me very carefully, folks "-- if Speaker Boehner were to propose that we simply freeze all government spending immediately, including mandatory and discretionary, meaning including the entitlements, if we just freeze everything and spend no more this year than we spent last year, the Congressional Budget Office would score that as a nine and a half trillion-dollar cut."

That's how out of whack the baseline is: A $9.5 trillion cut. Remember the $9 trillion figure we used at the end of the program yesterday. That is the cumulative total of automatic baseline increases for the next ten years. But if there's a simple budget freeze -- and of course there's not going to be. This is just an educational exercise. Again, now, this is not what is. It is how it is scored. If the Boehner plan were a simple freeze -- we're not going to spend another dime next year beyond what we spent this year -- it would equal a nine and a $9.5 trillion cut because the baseline in our budget obviously includes $9.5 trillion of new spending, minimum, over the next ten years.



____________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

More Jobs Are Sent to China...

This is what Rush had to say about it:
RUSH: General Electric, their big CEO Jeff Immelt, he's out there telling all these people, "You better hire people," went to the Chamber of Commerce, "You better hire people. Stop complaining about government." GE has fired 50,000 people the last three or four years. And now, General Electric with its CEO telling everybody in business, "You better start hiring people. You better stop complaining about government," they're moving their global X-ray headquarters over to the ChiComs and thereby they will escape further US taxation. The General Electric CEO is on Obama's private sector job creation commission or whatever. I think what they ought to do, if they're gonna move the X-ray unit over there, move MSNBC over there.

But Rush doesn't tell the whole story. According to Boston.com, from which Rush got this story:
General Electric Co.’s health care unit, the world’s biggest maker of medical imaging machines, is moving the headquarters of its 115-year-old X-ray business to Beijing.

A handful’’ of top managers will move to the Chinese capital and there won’t be any job cuts, said Anne LeGrand, general manager of X-ray for GE Healthcare. The headquarters will move from Wisconsin amid a broader plan to invest about $2 billion across China, including opening six “customer innovation’’ and development centers.

The division should have “double-digit’’ growth rates as the country converts from film and analog to digital X-ray technology, LeGrand said.

GE Healthcare, also the world’s biggest maker of magnetic resonance imaging and cardiac tomography scanners, got about $1.1 billion of its $16.9 billion in sales from China last year.

The X-ray business, whose financial results aren’t reported separately by GE, will hire 65 new engineers and support staff at a new Chengdu facility, the company said. GE has hired “a large number’’ of engineers who are in training, LeGrand said. GE, based in Fairfield, Conn., also has a global research center in Shanghai.

“Over the next five years, China will be GE Healthcare’s most important growth market,’’ said Rachel Duan, the China unit’s chief executive.

About 60,000 people work at GE Healthcare globally.

So there won't be any job cuts, but there won't be any new jobs in the United States, either. No...China gets those jobs. I wonder how much the workers will be paid?

But again, China is a burgeoning market for this technology, so it only makes sense that they have offices there.



____________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

How Many Politicians Are Crooks?

Rush shared an article today about a poll which said that 46% of Americans think most politicians are crooks, which is a new high.

On the one hand I'm surprised at this, I would have thought that 70% of the American people, or more, would have thought that politicians are crooks.

But, again, just who was spoken to for this poll?
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 24-25, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports.

And as usual, what a mere 1,000 people have to say does not interest me.


______
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

27 July 2011, Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh headlines

--Baseline Budgeting Makes Real Cuts Impossible in Washington
It's the reason Republicans can't win on budget cuts.

--See, I Told You So: President Obama is Landslideable Beatable
National Journal libs confirm what you knew in May.

--No More Plans, Republicans!
Stop all this until Obama writes his plan down on paper.

--Rush Limbaugh: Head of the GOP
Here we go again: Rush runs the Republican Party.

--Tea Party vs. Ruling Class in GOP
Your conservative dissatisfaction begins to effervesce.

--Can We Ever Cut Entitlements?
This was Boehner's lament when he called the show.

Stack of Stuff Quick Hits Page
» Obama's Immelt Moves GE X-Ray HQ to China
» Sgt. Schultz Wanders Around in Columbo Trench Coat
» Rasmussen: Voters Think Congressmen are Crooks
» Study: Hot Dogs as Dangerous as Cigarettes
» Bill Keller of NY Times: There are Too Many Books

--If GOP Caves, Hello Third Party
And that will guarantee Obama's reelection in 2012.

_________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

Do Taxes Ever Just.... Go Away?

Once a tax has been levied, for whatever reason, it seems that that tax will never go away... the money will just be used for other purposes.

Right or wrong? You decide.
From Boston.com: Alabama still collecting tax for Confederate vets
MOUNTAIN CREEK, Ala.—The last of the more than 60,000 Confederate veterans who came home to Alabama after the Civil War died generations ago, yet residents are still paying a tax that supported the neediest among them.

Despite fire-and-brimstone opposition to taxes among many in a state that still has "Heart of Dixie" on its license plates, officials never stopped collecting a property tax that once funded the Alabama Confederate Soldiers' Home, which closed 72 years ago. The tax now pays for Confederate Memorial Park, which sits on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll.

The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the "Lost Cause," in part because few realize it exists; one long-serving black legislator who thought the tax had been done away with said he wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

These days, 150 years after the Civil War started, officials say the old tax typically brings in more than $400,000 annually for the park, where Confederate flags flapped on a recent steamy afternoon. That's not much compared to Alabama's total operating budget of $1.8 billion, but it's sufficient to give the park plenty of money to operate and even enough for investments, all at a time when other historic sites are struggling just to keep the grass cut for lack of state funding.

"It's a beautifully maintained park. It's one of the best because of the funding source," said Clara Nobles of the Alabama Historical Commission, which oversees Confederate Memorial Park.

Longtime park director Bill Rambo is more succinct.

"Everyone is jealous of us," he said.

Tax experts say they know of no other state that still collects a tax so directly connected to the Civil War, although some federal excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol first were enacted during the war to help fund the Union.

"Broadly speaking, almost all taxes have their start in a war of some sort," said Joseph J. Thorndike, director of a tax history project at Tax Analysts, a nonprofit organization that studies taxation.

Alabama's tax structure was enshrined in its 1901 Constitution, passed after Reconstruction at a time when historians say state legislators' main goal was to keep power in the hands of wealthy white landowners by disenfranchising blacks and poor whites.

The Constitution allowed a state property tax of up to 6.5 mills, which now amounts to $39 annually on a home worth $100,000. Of that tax, 3 mills went to schools; 2.5 mills went to the operating budget; and 1 mill went to pensions for Confederate veterans and widows.

The state used the pension tax to fund the veterans home once it assumed control of the operation in 1903. The last Confederate veteran living at the home died in 1934, and its hospital was converted into apartments for widows. It closed in 1939, and the five women who lived there were moved to Montgomery.

Tweet ShareThis Legislators whittled away at the Confederate tax through the decades, and millions of dollars that once went to the home and pensions now go to fund veteran services, the state welfare agency and other needs. But the park still gets 1 percent of one mill, and its budget for this year came to $542,469, which includes money carried over from previous years plus certificates of deposit.

All that money has created a manicured, modern park that's the envy of other Alabama historic sites, which are funded primarily by grants, donations and friends groups. Legislators created the park in 1964 during a period that marked both the 100th anniversary of the Civil War and the height of the civil rights movement in the Deep South.

Nothing is left of the veterans home but a few foundations and two cemeteries with 313 graves, but a museum with Civil War artifacts and modern displays opened at the park in 2007. Rebel flags fly all around the historic site, which Rambo said draws more than 10,000 visitors annually despite being hidden in the country nine miles and three turns off Interstate 65 in the central part of the state.

While the park flourishes quietly, other historic attractions around the state are fighting for survival.

Workers at Helen Keller's privately run home in northwest Alabama fear losing letters written by the famed activist because of a lack of state funding for preservation of artifacts. On the Gulf Coast at Dauphin Island, preservationists say the state-owned Fort Gaines is in danger of being undermined by waves after nearly 160 years standing guard at the entry to Mobile Bay.

The old Confederate pension tax that funds the park has never been seriously threatened, Rambo said. Backers were upset this year when Gov. Robert Bentley's budget plan eliminated state funding for historic sites because of tight revenues, he said, but the park's earmarked funding survived.

"Once I informed the public what was going on the support just rose up," said Rambo, the director since 1989. Two heritage groups, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy, led the charge, but ordinary citizens complained too, he said.

"Some were people who don't belong to those organizations who really like the park and come out here for picnics and all and were really upset," he said.

State Rep. Alvin Holmes, a black Democrat who's been in the Legislature since 1974, said he thought funding for the park had been slashed.

"We should not be spending one nickel for that," said Holmes, of Montgomery. "I'm going to try to get rid of it."

Holmes may have a hard time gaining support with Republicans in control of Legislature and the governor's office.

In the meantime, a contractor recently measured the museum for a new paint job, and plans calls for using invested money to construct replicas of some of the 22 buildings that stood on the site when it was home to hundreds of Confederate veterans and their wives.




______________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

27 July 2011, Wed, SoS Clinton and Staff Schedule

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/appt/2011/07/169140.htm
SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON:
9:15 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with the Assistant Secretaries, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

10:00 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with 2011 European Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellows, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:05 p.m. Secretary Clinton delivers remarks to the annual summer intern summit, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:30 p.m. Secretary Clinton attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

USAID ADMINISTRATOR RAJIV SHAH:
10:00 a.m. Administrator Shah meets with Ambassador Goosby and Robert Goldberg, Deputy Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

12:00 p.m. Administrator Shah attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

2:00 p.m. Administrator Shah delivers opening remarks at the USAID Mission Directors Conference, at the National Press Club.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

6:15 p.m. Administrator Shah attends a Saving Lives at Birth VIP reception at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

US FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS WILLIAM BURNS:
10:00 a.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with Mark Schneider and Rob Malley of the International Crisis Group, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

10:30 a.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with Egyptian Major General Mohamad Said Al Assar and a delegation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

12:00 p.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with German Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:00 p.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with UN Special Representative Ad Melkert, UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:15 p.m. Under Secretary Burns meets with Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:30 p.m. Under Secretary Burns attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

US FOR ECONOMIC, ENERGY AND AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS ROBERT HORMATS:
2:00 p.m. Under Secretary Hormats delivers a speech to the U.S.-China Working Group, on Capitol Hill.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

UNDER SECRETARY FOR DEMOCRACY AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS MARIA OTERO:
10:30 a.m. Under Secretary Otero delivers opening remarks at the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church, at the W Hotel in Washington, DC.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOSTS)

11:30 a.m. Under Secretary Otero speaks to the July 2011 ambassadorial seminar at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

5:00 p.m. Under Secretary Otero meets with William Colglazier, Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

US FOR ARMS CONTROL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ELLEN TAUSCHER:
1:00 p.m. LOCAL Under Secretary Tauscher meets with former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry, in Palo Alto, California.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:00 p.m. LOCAL Under Secretary Tauscher meets with former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry and former Secretary of State George Shultz, in Palo Alto, California.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

COUNSELOR AND CHIEF OF STAFF CHERYL MILLS:
10:30 a.m. Counselor Mills will meet with UN Special Representative in Haiti Mariano Fernández Amunátegui, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR EAST ASIAN PACIFIC AFFAIRS KURT CAMPBELL:
2:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Campbell joins Secretary Clinton’s meeting with Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS JEFFREY FELTMAN:
2:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Feltman and Assistant Secretary Posner appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee, on Capitol Hill.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOUSE)

AS FOR ECONOMIC, ENERGY AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS JOSE FERNANDEZ:
10:15 a.m. Assistant Secretary Fernandez briefs the press on Secretary Clinton's recent economic address in Hong Kong, at the Washington Foreign Press Center.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE).
Click here for more information.

2:30 p.m. Assistant Secretary Fernandez attends meetings at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

AS FOR ARMS CONTROL, VERIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE ROSE GOTTEMOELLER:
10:00 a.m. Assistant Secretary Gottemoeller participates in a plenary meeting of the 65th United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY UN)
Click here for more information.

AS FOR OCEANS AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS KERRI-ANN JONES
3:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Jones attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

COORDINATOR FOR INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION PROGRAMS DAWN MCCALL:
Coordinator McCall is on foreign travel to Seoul, Korea and Jakarta, Indonesia through July 29 to meet with social media researchers and senior Embassy officials.

AS FOR DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR MICHAEL POSNER:
2:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Posner and Assistant Secretary Feltman appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee, on Capitol Hill.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOUSE)

AS FOR POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS ANDREW SHAPIRO:
2:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Shapiro joins Secretary Clinton’s meeting with Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES MELANNE VERVEER:
2:30 p.m. Ambassador Verveer speaks to the July 2011 ambassadorial seminar, at the Department of State. (CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:30 p.m. Ambassador Verveer meets with Bhanumathi Narasimhan, Chairperson of the International Women’s conference, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

SR FOR GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS KRIS BALDERSTON:
Special Representative Balderston participates in the Rockefeller Foundation's Innovation 2011 Forum in New York City.

SPECIAL ENVOY TO MONITOR AND COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM HANNAH ROSENTHAL:
10:30 a.m. Special Envoy Rosenthal speaks at the third annual Lantos Anti-Semitism and Holocaust Denial Archives Commemoration, on Capitol Hill.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

PRESS BRIEFING SCHEDULE:
12:30 p.m. Daily Press Briefing.


____________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

27 July 2011, Wed, Pres and VP schedules

A very light day for the President, on the public side of the schedule.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete

10:00 am The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:30 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press



My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Fed Program to Help Needy Pay AC Bills is Broke


The face of the needy (she just received the new fan from an organization called Aging Services)

Not only do the needy get help paying their air conditioning billss...they are also provided with free air conditioners - many of which are then stolen!
RUSH: This story was in the Christian Science Monitor three days ago. "Heat Wave: Federal Program to Help Needy Pay Cooling Bills is Broke." What isn't broke? In the winter we don't have the money to pay heating oil bills. Now in the summer we don't have the money to help the needy pay their cooling bills. In Port St. Lucie they've run out of Chicken McNuggets, so you call 911. In other parts of the country some guy in a drug deal doesn't get the right change, he calls 911.

"Robert 'Bo' Chilton, who heads a social service center in Columbus, Ohio, noticed an ambulance outside his office this week. When he spoke to his staff, he found out that an elderly man and woman had both collapsed from heat exhaustion as they trudged to the center," the social services center, "in the 90 degree heat. "Then Mr. Chilton heard why they were destined for his office: they needed help paying their electric bills, which spiked this month -- on account of the heat." Where's Hugo Chavez when you need him? He's out there paying heating oil bills for people in Massachusetts in the wintertime. I guess he forgot about the people in Columbus, Ohio.

"The federal government," get this, now "the federal government sends states around $5 billion a year to subsidize low-income households’ heating and cooling bills." Now, we don't have that $5 billion. Folks, do you understand that we don't have any of this money? We're spending it but we don't have it. "The government also reserves several hundred million dollars more," above and beyond the five billion, "which it can distribute to states during weather emergencies, such as the heat wave that is currently scorching large swaths of the country." But again, no heat records are being broken. Contrary to everything you've seen in the news, heat records are not being broken.

"But this year’s federal budget slashed that emergency reserve by about two-thirds, from $590 million down to $200 million. By the time the heat wave arrived this month, the pool of emergency energy assistance money was empty." Really? The emergency pool was empty before the emergency hit. You have a pool. In the pool you got money. It's there for an emergency, $590 million. The emergency hits. Uh-oh, only $200 million's in it. Where did the other $210 million go? Any guesses? Want to guess personal back pockets? "'The administration has no tools to use,' says Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, which represents the state administrators of the federally funded energy-assistance program."

So we've got this agency called the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association, and the administration has no tools, meaning we don't have any money. "Air conditioners and large fans can keep the summer heat at bay -- but they also guzzle electricity and cause utility bills to soar. Unable to pay for power without government support, some low-income families and seniors try to brave the heat without fans or A/C.
'There’s no reason for anyone to become sick or die because of bills,' says Mr. Wolfe.
The federal government stipulates that the income of households that receive the energy assistance money must be no greater than 150 percent of the federal income level or 60 percent of the state median income. While the money is mainly meant to go toward heating and cooling bills, states can also use it for related programs, such as distributing free air conditioners.

"In New York City, during the first two weeks of the program, 4,500 people applied for 2,400 available air conditioners," and then once they were distributed thieves came along, did you see that story? The thieves started stealing the air conditioners. "'I’m sure we’re saving a lot of people’s lives,' says Ms. Olga Souto, who added that a large share of the applicants were elderly. The center is no longer accepting applications. Meanwhile, many elderly Americans in New York and around the country may bring in too much money each month to qualify for cooling subsidies -- but barely enough to stay cool."

You know, I grew up in the Midwest, and I lived there through age 19. It's hard to believe that there are so many places without some manner of air-conditioning by now. But it seems every year come hell or high water, the Drive-Bys are gonna find old poor people who can't manage to get a free air conditioner from the government or free heating oil and the accompanying stories are gonna be, "Oh, what a rotten country, oh, my God, the suffering, oh, we've never seen anything like it." How is it that in this country of such vast wealth, even among our poor -- the Heritage Foundation has updated what is poverty in this country, Robert Rector and his boys. Got that in the stack here somewhere. How is it that a heat wave, which happens every summer, throws the budget so out of whack that only the federal government can save the day? How is that?

I'll tell you how it is. It's because the money that's allocated never gets to where it's intended. Can I mention the levees in New Orleans? It's the same thing. You've got outright theft and fraud. You got people in charge of large amounts of money. There's no way to account for it all. It's just a mess and the fact that we claim we don't have enough money for this or that, it boggles my mind. All the money that we do have, all the money that's been wasted. Nothing's real anymore. So we get this once Great Society, it's under assault. We're watching it right before our very eyes being assaulted, and the Washington, DC, ruling class comes up with their temporary fixes that end up serving the purpose primarily of applauding themselves for dealing with another crisis that they've manufactured in the first place. One Armageddon after another.






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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

How much will socialized medicine save *you*?

I was reading a message board today. One individual, in his 60s, had this to say:
I am now enrolled in Medicare. .... My health insurance has now dropped from $864/month to $152.

Another gentleman, somewhat younger, had this to say in response:
I thought Medicare was free. Well, that really messes up my retirement plans.
I sure hope we get socialized medicine before I retire.

Now, what happens if Obamacare, aka socialized medicine, does come to fruition.

I think the second person in this equation will find out that he will be paying just as much in taxes as he would have been paying for insurance premiums, if not more, and that of course, quality of health care will go down.

Japanese has socialized medicine, for example. What happens when they go into a hospital for any length of time? There are no nurses. All care that a nurse in the US gives - which costs a lot of money, of course - in Japan is provided by a family member. (And if there is no family member...well, that person is SOL.)

England? Jokes and movies about the inept National Health Service have been rampant since the 1970s if not longer.


My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

26 July 2011, Tues, Rush Limbaugh Headlines

--The Country Finally Can See the Obama We've Always Known
Childish, petulant, arrogant. And it's obvious now.

--The Rating Agencies Play Politics
Erin Burnett reports; regime runs with talking point.

--President Obama's Malaise Speech
He's turning into Jimmy Carter before our very eyes.

--Coal Mine Owner Goes John Galt
What's the point of even trying to start a business?

--Speaker Boehner Calls America's Anchorman to Explain His Proposal
Speaker of the House admits: "This plan isn't perfect."

--Baseline Budgeting and DC Culture
Why House conservatives are rejecting Boehner's plan.

--Carney Says Boehner Deal DOA
But bet on Obama signing this thing if it gets to his desk.

--Wolf Blitzer in Beltway Crisis
Our nation's problems are deeper than this one dispute.

Stack of Stuff Quick Hits Page
» Why Doesn't Quicken Work in Mac OS X Lion?
» Another Democrat Sex Fiend Resigns from Congress
» Credit Agencies Downgrade the United States
» CNBC: We're Starting a 500-Day Retail Recession
» Fed Program to Help Needy Pay AC Bills is Broke

--Callers Respond to Boehner's Plan
What do the American people think of Speaker's idea?

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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

Why it's necessary to apportion blame

Rush commented on the Pew poll yesterday, that said that Obama/Dems were losing white voters, but that black and Hispanic voters reamined dedicated Democrats.

Throughout all of his shows for the last several years, Rush has pointed out, over and over again, that blacks have become worse off under the Democrats...why don't they see that?

Well, take the housing bubble bust, which according to news reports has destroyed much of the wealth that the new black middle class had achieved in the last few years. (It has also harmed white Americans but not to the same extent, because, again according to the news articles, most white Americans had their money tied up in investments, which are still extent, apparently, and not all of it locked up in their homes.)

Who is to blame for that bust?

Apparently, blacks and Hispanics must think it's the fault of the Republicans, and not the Democrats.

And indeed, Barney Frank has publically blamed George Bush for the debacle, saying for example that it's his fault that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae went bust. Rush has pointed out - again and again - that Bush attempted to get some more oversight onto those two organizations, but was foiled by the Democrats who said, "Oh, that would just be a a waste of time. Those two organizations are financially strong."

And we all know what happened with them.

And it is certainly iteresting that the men who had positions of power in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were all Democrats, and that they now have positions of power in the Obama regime, despite the fact that it was they who drove their companies into the ground!

A popll should be done right now, to see how many Americans blame Dems or Republicans for that housing bubble bust, and to find out if they know where the men who ran those companies ended up.

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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

26 July 2011, Tues, SoS Clinton and Staff Schedule

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/appt/2011/07/169077.htm
SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON:
12:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

3:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

DEPUTY SECRETARY TOM NIDES:
7:45 a.m. Deputy Secretary Nides holds a conference call with chiefs of missions to multilateral agencies, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

10:30 a.m. Deputy Secretary Nides meets with participants in the July ambassadorial seminar, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

USAID ADMINISTRATOR RAJ SHAH:
12:30 p.m. Administrator Shah meets with Admiral James Stavridis, Commander, U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:30 p.m. Administrator Shah delivers remarks at the American Foundation for AIDS Research conference, on Capitol Hill.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

5:30 p.m. Administrator Shah attends a dinner hosted by Nancy Birdsall, President of the Center for Global Development, in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

US FOR DEMOCRACY AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS MARIA OTERO:
7:30 p.m. Under Secretary Otero receives the Graciela Olivarez La Raza Award from the National Council of La Raza at the Marriott Wardman Hotel in Washington DC.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

12:00 p.m. Under Secretary Otero attends Ambassador-designate to Honduras Lisa Kubiske’s swearing-in ceremony at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS ROBERT BLAKE:
10:00 a.m. Assistant Secretary Blake meets with Kazakhstan Ambassador Erlan Idrissov.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

12:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Blake hosts a farewell lunch for departing Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS WILLIAM BROWNFIELD:
12:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Brownfield attends the swearing-in ceremony for Ambassador-designate Lisa Kubiske, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:15 p.m. Assistant Secretary Brownfield meets with Admiral James G. Stavridis, EUCOM Commander, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS JEFFREY FELTMAN:
2:30 p.m. Assistant Secretary Feltman meets with Italian Ambassador Giampiero Massolo.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

COORDINATOR FOR INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION PROGRAMS DAWN MCCALL:
Coordinator McCall is on foreign travel to Seoul, Korea and Jakarta, Indonesia through July 29 to meet with social media researchers and senior Embassy officials.

AS FOR POPULATION, REFUGEES AND MIGRATION ERIC SCHWARTZ:
2:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Schwartz meets with representatives from InterAction to discuss the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, at the Ronald Reagan Building.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR THE BUREAU OF INFORMATION RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER SUSAN SWART:
10:00 a.m. Assistant Secretary Swart meets with Canadian Chief Information Officer Gaston Barban.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE AND GLOBAL AIDS COORDINATOR ERIC GOOSBY:
2:25 p.m. Ambassador Goosby delivers remarks at the amfAR Capitol Hill Conference on “Global Perspectives: A Roadmap for a World Without AIDS,” in Washington, DC.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES MELANNE VERVEER:
5:45 p.m. Ambassador Verveer delivers the commencement speech for the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women’s “Peace through Business” program, hosted at Georgetown University.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

PRESS BRIEFING SCHEDULE:
There will NOT be a daily press briefing today.






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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
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*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
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*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

26 July 2011, Tues, Pres and VP Schedule

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete

10:00 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:30 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

3:15 pm The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of Defense Panetta
Oval Office
Closed Press

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
10:00 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

3:15 pm The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of Defense Panetta
Oval Office
Closed Press




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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
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*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
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*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Obama Still Blaming Republicans, Invoking Reagan

I'm watching President Obama's speech, and he is repeating the same mantra - the rich people and rich corporations must give up their tax breaks, and Republican leaders should be emulating Ronald Reagan in agreeing to this.

And frankly...on this I am a little sympathetic to the idea that the super rich pay a bit more in taxes. Anyone who can afford to pay $500,000 for a painting, to hang in their summer house!, could be paying that in taxes and not even miss it!

The essential problem, though, and the one I dont' think anyone has addressed, is how to get those 50% at the bottom of the pile - the ones who pay no federal income tax, off the dole. Workfare, not welfare, should be the order of the day.No money for women who are already on welfare, if they have another kid. Start encouraging moms and dads again, and scorning those girls stupid enough to get pregnant without being married. That used to be a horrible thing, now no one thinks anything of it.

(The problem was, I think, that it was always the kids who'd suffer the repercussions. They can't help the stupidity of their biological parents, but they were the ones who were teased unmercifully in school about being illegitimate. Now, of course, there's no teasing in that regard because most of them are illegitimate!)


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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
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*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.

I Wish Rush Would Just Stop Quoting Polls

I've never trusted polls. WIth a gazillion people in the United States, I seriously doubt that a poll that spoke with 1,000 people can tell the pulse of the country as a whole.

So Rush quotes a poll from the Pew Center that says, "GOP Makes Big Gains Among White Voters." But how many people did the pollsters talk to?

Only a thousand people at a time.

For example, there's a record for 2011 that says that 7 surverys have been held, with a total sample size of 8,546 people. So, each survey only consisted of 1,000 people.

And of course the key result of this poll is that blacks and Hispanics still are overwhelmingly Democratic, despite the fact that, as Rush constantly says, their quality of life has hardly improved at all under the Democrats, and indeed has gotten worse (because of the preponderance of illegitimate kids born to black mothers - over 79% of new babies have a mother and no live-in father. Result, they all live on welfare. But, percentages of Latinos and whites giving birth to illegitimate kids, while not this high, are rising faster than that for blacks!) [In other words, the government, really, is to blame for this debacle, by instituting welfare that ensured that single mothers could make more on welfare than two-parent households could by working.)

Anyway, here's what Rush had to say about it:
RUSH: Interesting story here from TheHill.com. Look at the headline: "Poll: GOP Gains Big with White Voters -- Democrats' advantage over Republicans in partisan affiliation is way down from 2008 as white voters have turned against them, according to a poll released Friday by the Pew Research Center. While minority voters continue to support Democrats in large numbers, what was just a two-point Republican edge among whites in 2008 has grown to a 13-point advantage today. Republican gains among white voters are 'particularly pronounced among the young and poor,' according to the report. White voters under age 30 now break for Republicans by an 11-point margin; in 2008 they broke for Democrats by a seven-point margin."

So let's see. Let's see here. Other than African-Americans and union members, Obama had three other strong voter groups in 2008. He had a bunch of brain-dead, idiot young adults under 30 still living in their parents' basements and getting health insurance from 'em. He had those making less than $30,000 a year and no doubt not paying much in taxes -- and he had either the college-indoctrinated or overeducated white people. But look now. Obama seems to have failed to give one of these core white groups any hope. Now they're just a bunch of dumb racists. They're a bunch of white people have just turned racist. Well, that's what the Eugene Robinsons and the rest of the crowd is gonna have to conclude.

"White people voted for Obama. He's worked hard, he's really trying, he's trying to overcome Bush and yet these white people say, 'Look, we don't like Obama anymore.' Gotta be racism. Has to be. What else can it be? Could be the economy. That's how selfish they are, then. If it's their houses and their economy, how selfish! Do they not understand we have the first African-American president? Where is their sense of history! Where is their sense of duty? It doesn't matter where their jobs are. They're supposed to put all that behind them. That's supposed to be subordinated to Obama." So the question that you have to ask, as a thought tweak here: "Once you go Barack, can you go back?"


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No comment on the horrific Norwegian tragedy?

I missed Rush's show today, but in looking at the headlines of the transcript of today's show, it doesn't look like he mentioned it at all.

That's quite an omission.

Well, the thing of it is, is, that Rush - and others - have been ridiculing "Big Sis" aka Janet Napolitano for some time. I believe she said that the US has more to fear from home grown, far right wing terrrism than from Muslims, and everyone scoffed at this.

And indeed, 90% of all terrorism in the US and the world is from Islamic terrorists, and only 10% (as for example Oklahoma City) is from far-right folk.

But with the massacre from this blond-haired Norwegian, of over 90 innocent people, it just goes to show that these days, we must be afraid of everyone, because it seems they all believe in violence as the first resort. (Apparently this guy was against Muslims, so instead of killing Muslims he kills young people who are attending a camp put on by a Labor Party that is encouraging Muslim immigration. Still makes no sense, and I dare say people will now bend over backward to accept Muslims just to spite this lunatic, so he will accomplish precisely the reverse of what he wanted to accomplish.

Meantime, Glen Beck is under fire for supposedly carrying the Norwegian youth camp to Hitler Youth, because it was sponsored by a political party, in this case the Labor Party. This is a case of past actions coming back to bite you, because he apparently hosted his own camp for kids last year, in which he taught political literacy.

But perhaps he's thinking, it's okay for private citizens to indoctrinate people into their political beliefs, it's not okay for political parties to do so?

While I don't think Beck seriously thought of the Norwegian kids as anything close to Hitler Youth, it was a bit thoughtless to say that about massacred innocents.

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My Schedule of Regular Posts:
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