WE SURROUND THEM!

“im no fan of limbaugh, but the stuff ive usually seen him do is aimed at liberal politicians. perhaps the author is cherry-picking”

“The Fox capitalist are ragging on Al Gore for making money off of his activities. They're serious , LMAO.”

“The dOOd nuts don't fall far from the tree.”

“my nuts surround the tree....”

“Podesta Says Value-Added Tax �More Plausible� as Deficits Grow

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGxdXdfWrZ7o

By Heidi Przybyla

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) --

John Podesta compared the nation�s current budget crisis to the situation former President Bill Clinton faced in 1993 and said some form of a value-added tax is �more plausible today than it ever has been.�

�There�s going to have to be revenue in this budget,� said Podesta, Clinton�s former chief of staff and co-chairman of President Barack Obama�s transition team, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television�s �Political Capital with Al Hunt,� airing today.

A so-called consumption tax would �create a balance� with European and Japanese economies and �could potentially have a substantial effect on competitiveness,� said Podesta. Value- added taxes in Europe and Japan encourage savings by taxing consumption.

Podesta said such a tax may be regressive, but can be balanced by exempting some products and using �the money to support low-wage workers.�

Podesta, who is now president of the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based public policy group, is convening a meeting of economic policy experts Sept. 30 to discuss the long- term fiscal deficit.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in August that the budget deficit will be 11.2 percent of gross domestic product, the highest since World War II. Clinton, facing a deficit of 4.2 percent of GDP, pushed Congress to raise taxes on the wealthy to help trim the shortfall.

�He passed it without a single Republican vote,� Podesta said. �It led to the longest period of growth in the United States history.�

Ending Tax Cuts

Podesta said Obama will begin by ending the upper-income tax cuts enacted under his predecessor, President George W. Bush. �Then you have to look at whether that gets you far enough of the way,� he said.

On health care, Podesta expressed optimism that Congress will pass a health-care bill in the next couple of months even though so far none of the measures has won Republican support and Democrats are squabbling over whether to include a government-run program to compete with private insurers.

�We�re in a narrow track now between the ideas that are being debated in the finance committee and those being debated in the House,� Podesta said.

If Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, a Republican who has been working closely with Democrats on compromise legislation, votes for a bill, �that really advances the cause forward,� he said.

Delay

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus put his panel to work drafting a proposal this week after months of seeking agreement with Snowe and other Republicans. So many amendments were filed by members of both parties that Baucus pushed the committee�s debate into next week.

Podesta said Senate Democrats may resort to reconciliation, a parliamentary tactic that would require only a simple majority vote. �The path is there to move forward,� he said.

On politics and personalities, Podesta said Clinton has patched up his relationship with former Vice President Al Gore. Historian Taylor Branch, in a new book called �The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President,� reports on his recorded interviews in which the former president spoke candidly about many issues, including his differences with Gore.

Podesta said he recalled �one last session in the White House,� after Gore lost the 2000 election to then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, �where they kind of let it all hang out for a few hours.�

�That was the anger of the campaign,� Podesta said, and �you don�t get over those things in 15 minutes.� For his part, �President Clinton had some questions about the way the vice president ran the campaign.�

The two �have great respect for each other,� Podesta said. �I would describe them as friends again.�



I love it how they calling it "ending tax cuts" instead of what it really is, rasing taxes...”

“The End of ACORN
25 Sep 2009 01:16 pm

Atlantic correspondent Wendy Kaminer has a fairly scathing piece noting that ACORN has had problems for a long time--and that its defenders have always responded by dismissing any problems as "minor" and complaining that partisan interests are harming all the fine work it does. Are the people who go after it partisan? Undoubtedly, as were the people who exposed problems at Halliburton, etc. But when your workers are caught on tape offering to help you smuggle your illegal underage prostitutes across the border, impugning the motives of the tapers hardly suffices.

I don't see how ACORN survives at this point; the IRS is the latest to pile on, severing ties with ACORN, and slapping a tax lien for unpaid payroll taxes on top of that blow. The lawsuit seems like an even worse attempt--less of a Hail-Mary Pass than an own-goal. At best, it keeps this distressing story in the news, more firmly impressing it into peoples' consciousnesses and making it therefore more difficult for Democrats to quietly let the organization back on the government gravy train at some future date. At worst, the lawsuit opens up ACORN to discovery, during which the defense can plunder their records. ACORN appears to be trying to avoid this fate by suing for intentional infliction of emotional distress rather than defamation (for which truth is an absolute defense). But that just makes it more likely that the case will be removed to federal court and dismissed. When that happens, the public mind will not make fine distinctions about legal doctrine. They'll just remember that a judge thought ACORN was in the wrong.

Liberals have legitimate reason to be mournful--they think ACORN does good work. But no organization is irreplaceable. Voters can be registered, tax advice proffered, and federal monies disbursed without ACORN's dubious help.”

“Borrowing 'Til We Drop: The Government Debt Bomb
Henry Blodget
Sep. 26, 2009




U.S. consumers have finally stopped borrowing more money each quarter. In fact, they're actually starting to reduce their debts.

If this process continues--if consumers get their debts down to reasonable levels--it will eventually make the country's primary economic engine, shoppers, stronger and more sustainable.

Meanwhile, however, the economy is being sustained by one huge borrower that is taking on debt faster than it has any time since World War II: The government. Government spending and government lending is REPLACING private spending and lending. And if it weren't, the economy would have collapsed.

The government can't keep borrowing like this forever, though, or we'll become Argentina. So the hope is that consumers and businesses will start borrowing BEFORE the government has to get itself under control. The history of financial crises suggests that this transition is unlikely to be smooth.

This is why Peter Schiff, Marc Faber, and a host of other folks who stop short of predicting the end of the world are REALLY worried about the next several years.

The happy possibility is that consumer and business spending will ratchet up enough that the government can cut back spending and borrowing with no one noticing. The unhappy possibilities are that other countries will stop lending us money at dirt-cheap prices (interest rates skyrocket) or we will have to print so much money that the dollar collapses.

Here are some good points on debt from Floyd Norris in the NYT >

"THE United States government is borrowing money like never before. The national debt rose by more than a third over a one-year period, far more than it ever did at any time since World War II."
This money is being used to REPLACE consumer spending and private lending. "Much of the government borrowing went to investments in financial institutions needed to keep them alive. Other hundreds of billions went to a variety of programs aimed at stimulating the private economy, including programs that effectively had the government pick up part of the cost for some home buyers and some auto buyers."
"Total domestic debt � the amounts owed by individuals, governments and businesses � climbed just 3.7 percent from the second quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of this year. That is the smallest increase since the Fed started these calculations in the early 1950s."
domestic debt declined in the second quarter, falling 0.3 percent to $50.8 trillion.
Nonfinancial businesses increased their debt by just 1.3 percent.
"Total household debt fell by 1.7 percent, and mortgage debt � the largest component of household debt � fell a bit more, at a 1.8 percent pace." This is the first recession on record in which mortgage debt has fallen.”

“How long do we have to keep surrounding them? I gotta get home for dinner. Can we hire scab surrounders?”

“No, that's how ACORN does business.....they think we're gonna give up and fade away. Too bad, so sad...we won't.

Check out who's reading Beck's new book

”

“Better yet, lets outsource our surrounding to some Indonesian surrounders.”

“I'm bringing in some 13 yr old indonesian girls to work in my brothel, can you help me me evade taxes?”

“Glenn Beck gets ceremonial key to hometown city
Sep 27, 4:05 AM (ET)


MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) - The mayor of Glenn Beck's hometown in Washington state presented the Fox News personality with a ceremonial key to the city Saturday evening, an event preceded by weeks of protests and petitions calling for the cancellation of the visit.

Beck received a boisterous, minute-long standing ovation after receiving the plaque-mounted key from Mount Vernon Mayor Bud Norris, who weeks earlier proclaimed Saturday "Glenn Beck Day" as a way to mark the conservative commentator's success as a nationally known broadcaster.

Beck spoke for about an hour, remembering his childhood in Mount Vernon, an agricultural city of 31,000 people 60 miles north of Seattle that he described as magical and connected to the values of small-town America. He cried as he reminisced about going to the local theater with his mother.

"Now, I would give my right arm to live in a town like Mount Vernon. And I discovered today that there are a ton of people ready to cut it off," he said, jokingly referring to protesters gathered nearby. "It doesn't bother me, because I have the key to their house now."

Demonstrators outside the city's McIntyre Hall numbered close to 800 - the largest protest anybody could remember in Mt. Vernon's history, Fire Department spokeswoman Erica Work said. The demonstrators appeared evenly split between those who supported Beck and those who opposed his visit.

Police arrested one man who they said ignored repeated warnings to get off the street. The man was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and booked into the Skagit County Jail, authorities said.

Beck, a vocal critic of President Barack Obama, has garnered a strong national following, taking aim at such standard conservative targets as illegal immigration and big government spending.

The event had been criticized by some who claim Beck is too polarizing a figure. In July, for example, he said Obama was a racist who has a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture."

The City Council passed a resolution saying "Mount Vernon City Council is in no way sponsoring the mayor's event on Sept. 26, 2009, and is not connected to the Glenn Beck event in any manner."

Norris, a Republican, introduced Beck and emphasized that the honor was for his professional accomplishments, not his political views. He thanked police for providing the extra security.

"It's a pity we had to spend the kind of money we had to," he said. "But it's the price we pay for free speech."

Beck, 45, mostly stayed away from discussing politics. But he said he didn't remember politics being so divisive when he was growing up. The country could count on a bright future if people would stop tearing each other apart, he said.

Beck's roots in Washington are deep. His father ran a bakery in downtown Mount Vernon, and his mother drowned while boating in the Puget Sound when he was a teenager.

In high school, he moved to nearby Bellingham and attended Sehome High School. Throughout his days here, he seemed keen on making a living on radio and television, landing radio and television gigs early on and a DJ job out of high school.

Beck's fame has soared exponentially in recent years. He got a television show on CNN three years ago and later moved to Fox News, and his syndicated radio program now appears on more than 350 radio stations.

Beck warmed up for his return to Mount Vernon with an afternoon appearance at Seattle's Safeco Field, where he also drew crowds of loyal fans, as well as a few dozen protesters.

Beck received cheers for declaring that winning the war on terror was more important than health care reform. Then boos erupted as photos of Obama and Democratic Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire appeared on a large screen.

---”

“ACORN and SEIU: Anatomy of a Shakedownby Anita MonCrief


Across America community organizations operate in impoverished, disadvantaged, low-income or minority communities. No matter the phrase used to describe the special interest, a group exists to represent it. Often these organizations initially have good intentions and seek to give back and serve the community in which they operate. When government money, power and influence become part of the equation however, lofty principles tend to fall by the wayside. Other organizations are created to cause chaos and disrupt the system.



The Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was perceived by many as a well-intended organization, but it appears that the association that Wade Rathke founded was increasingly driven to cause chaos and disrupt the system whenever it could.

BEFORE the Dale Rathke embezzlement finally became last year, John Fund, in �Grapes of Rathke: ACORN, a liberal activist group, comes under scrutiny. About time,� reported:

�Current and former Acorn employees say the problems in Kansas City and St. Louis are no accident. �There�s no quality control on purpose, no checks and balances,� says Nate Toler, currently head organizer of an Acorn campaign against Wal-Mart in Merced, Calif. In 2004 he worked on an Acorn voter drive in Missouri, and says Acorn statements aren�t to be taken at face value: �The internal motto is �We don�t care if it�s a lie, just so long as it stirs up the conversation.�

As various charges and complaints have materialized over the years, it seems that ACORN uses the communities in which they are located as staging grounds for national power grabs. With multiple states and entities receiving federal funds, ACORN plays to win. Aiding ACORN are groups like DEMO�s, the Democracy Alliance, Soros Open Society Institute, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The Washington Examiner has covered ACORN�s: �Muscle for the Money� program:

�ACORN�s so-called �muscle for money� strategy extorts �donations� from targeted government and corporate officials by offering them Mafia-like protection from protests by the group�s own paid thugs, many of them convicted felons. ACORN has also blocked bank mergers until the targeted financial institutions agreed to change their lending policies to ACORN�s satisfaction.�



Now picture a triangle. One point is ACORN; another point is the SEIU; the third point is the taxpayer. Now picture arrows flowing back and forth, representing the exchange of greenbacks and services.

While various government agencies funded ACORN to help poor people become voters and homeowners, ACORN under Rathke created SEIU Local 100 (Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas) and SEIU Local 880 (Illinois, Indiana and Kansas). In turn, the SEIU wrote checks to ACORN for political activities and union organizing, according to ACORN whistle-blower affidavits. In 2008, the SEIU and Change to Win, a coalition of labor unions, gave ACORN $1,729,462, according to union financial reports filed with the Labor Department.

To break it down, ACORN and the SEIU are hand and glove. Rathke himself referred to the SEIU as �one of the pillars of the ACORN family of organizations� in a June 9, 2007, blog posting. This coziness has been long known among conservative watchdog groups, but Washington has paid little attention until now.”

“BREITBART: Podesta spends Soros' money stupidly

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/28/breitbart-podesta-spends-soros-money-stupidly/?feat=home_headlines&page=2

For the second consecutive day, the New York Post featured the ACORN scandal on its cover - complete with James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles in their outrageous "pimp and ho" costumes.

Does anyone think the president and the former president were unaware that the city in which they were dining was mesmerized by the ACORN scandal - especially since ACORN had bragged that its employees had kicked Mr. O'Keefe and Ms. Giles out of their New York office?

The Sept. 15 edition of the New York Post explored the political angles and directed attention to the Brooklyn District Attorney's investigation into why an ACORN office in its jurisdiction helped instruct a prospective brothel owner how to hide his prostitution proceeds in a tin in his backyard.

No one in the morally superior media world has asked, why did Mr. Obama have lunch with Mr. Clinton that day? So let me take a guess, and it seems like an obvious answer. Mr. Obama, under siege by a video-a-day expose that was exposing the Democratic Party to an avalanche of consequences (ACORN defunded in the House and Senate, ACORN delinked from the census, etc.), needed advice from the last president to navigate through a major political scandal.

On this day, neither the president or the former president, nor the media knew how many more videos were coming.

The next day, Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta, the Democratic Party's top fix-it guy with control over much of the left's well-funded vast attack machinery (think George Soros, the Tides Foundation, et al.), was among a small advisory group placed in charge of investigating the matter.

With the mainstream media continuing to ignore the evidence on the tapes, Mr. Podesta is now clearly in charge of feeding them information about his well-structured investigation into the investigators. The ACORN internal probe is a "war room" aimed at destroying the messengers and is not meant to clean up major corruption.

Since Mr. Podesta was appointed to investigate ACORN, the only thing investigated has been the investigators, Mr. O'Keefe, Ms. Giles and the publisher of the journalism behind it, yours truly.


Every journalism inquiry from the mainstream media continues to focus on the successful operation that exposed ACORN, not on ACORN itself, as if there is no evidence to sift through or common traits to be found in the videos. Why is the story about journalistic process rather than institutional corruption?

The Washington Post and the Associated Press have had to issue embarrassing retractions for falsely implying Mr. O'Keefe's motives were racist. The New York Times, too, had to issue a retraction on an issue raised to impugn his tactics.

It was so predictable that I actually predicted it - in this column four days before the first video was aired. We needed to document the plan to prove it was a success. And to show that the media's duplicity and institutional biases were directly targeted.

So, who is John Podesta? He runs the Center for American Progress think tank, which in 2004 helped launch Media Matters for America, the well-funded watchdog outfit run by ex-conservative journalist David Brock, which feeds the media reams of anti-conservative documents that attempt to diminish the credibility of alternative media outlets.

Both the CAP and Media Matters sites are focusing their attention on Ms. Giles, Mr. O'Keefe and me.

Does anyone really think Mr. Podesta is investigating ACORN, when his well-greased external machinery is so blatantly investigating us?

To show the Sept. 15 lunch is still bearing fruit, Mr. Clinton showed Sunday that the 1998 "blame the messenger" strategy is back in full force, claiming the "vast right-wing conspiracy" is up to its old tricks.

"It's not as strong as it was, because America has changed demographically," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "But it's as virulent as it was."

Need we remind Mr. Podesta and Mr. Brock and Mr. Clinton and Mr. Obama of Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" rant that should have put an end to the attacks on the messenger: "ACORN appears to be a corrupt organization that aids and abets criminals and gets millions of dollars in taxpayer money."

The left is betting that 2009 is 1998 again and that the media will help them out like last time. Mr. Obama is betting that Mr. Clinton's 1998 strategy and his resources can extricate him from this growing mess. But 2009 has a new set of circumstances, new technologies and new citizen journalists that can now hold the mainstream media in check for its naked partisanship.

Plus, unlike Mr. Clinton's war-room blame-the-messenger excuse - "it's just about the sex" - this year's ACORN scandal won't be pushed aside, because this time it includes 13-year-old sex slaves from El Salvador.”

“So, you surround them with cut'n'paste that no one reads cause it's all about the group (D) which is at most 20% of the problem. When will you cut'n'paste pages about the four other problems that are ruining this country; Republicans in government, Republicans out of government, Big Biz and mainly Big War?”

“ACORN’s Man is ‘Political Director’ in White House
by Publius

Over at the American Spectator, Big Government contributor Matthew Vadum connects the dots between ACORN, Bertha Lewis and the Obama White House:

Newly discovered evidence shows the radical advocacy group ACORN has a man in the Obama White House.

This power behind the throne is longtime ACORN operative Patrick Gaspard. He holds the title of White House political affairs director, the same title Karl Rove held in President Bush’s White House.

Evidence shows that years before he joined the Obama administration, Gaspard was ACORN boss Bertha Lewis’s political director in New York.

Lewis, the current “chief organizer” or CEO of ACORN, was head of New York ACORN from at least 1994 through 2008, when she took over as national leader of ACORN. With Gaspard at work in the White House, Lewis might as well be speaking to President Obama through an earpiece as he goes about his daily business ruining the country.

Erick Erickson of the website RedState recently did an excellent job explaining the relationship of Gaspard to Lewis and President Obama so I won’t take up space here recalling all his valuable insights. Suffice it to say Erickson reported that Gaspard figures prominently in Lewis’s rolodex, which Erickson has in his possession.

Skeptics among you may ask, How do we actually know the low-profile Gaspard, who prefers to work outside the public spotlight and who can hardly be found in Nexis searches at all, was Lewis’s right hand man?

Because Gaspard’s employment with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is acknowledged by no less an authority than ACORN founder Wade Rathke himself. Rathke writes at his blog:

Tell me that 1199’s former political director, Patrick Gaspard (who was ACORN New York’s political director before that) didn’t reach out from the White House and help make that happen, and I’ll tell you to take some remedial classes in “politics 101.”

The “before that” time period Rathke is referring to is 2003 when Gaspard was executive vice president for political and legislative affairs for 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. According to publicly available disclosure documents, Gaspard registered as a federal lobbyist for SEIU on Oct. 22, 2007. The registration and subsequent disclosures indicate he lobbied Congress on SCHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Incidentally, the lines between ACORN and radical left-wing SEIU, whose acronym stands for Service Employees International Union, become fuzzy in places.

SEIU Locals 100 and 880 are part of the ACORN network of organizations. Local 100 in New Orleans is headed by Rathke. SEIU Local 880 in Chicago is headed by longtime ACORN insider Keith Kelleher.

You’d never know about the SEIU connection from visiting ACORN’s website, www.acorn.org. That’s because the website has been receiving a thorough scrubbing in recent months. On ACORN’s affiliated organizations page, references to the two SEIU locals mysteriously disappeared.

It’s worth noting that Gaspard’s ties to ACORN, SEIU, and Lewis go way back.

According to the Complete Marquis Who’s Who, Gaspard has a long history of political involvement stretching back to at least 1989 when he volunteered for the David Dinkins mayoral campaign in New York City. In 2003 he became acting field director for Howard Dean’s presidential bid. He was national field director in 2004 for America Coming Together, a now-defunct get-out-the-vote operation that received a $775,000 fine for campaign finance abuses. In 2006 Gaspard was acting political director for SEIU International.

Gaspard also worked for New York’s Working Families Party, which is an appendage of ACORN. Lewis is a co-founder of that party — which endorsed Obama last year — and has close ties to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) who has been most reluctant to have the House Judiciary subcommittee he chairs investigate ACORN.

Nadler invented the incredibly creative argument that recent legislative language aimed at depriving ACORN of federal funding constitutes an unconstitutional “bill of attainder.” Perhaps singling out the mafia for a federal funds cutoff would be unconstitutional too in his eyes.

Meanwhile, the American public is beginning to realize that ACORN is a vast criminal conspiracy whose reach extends to the highest levels of the U.S. government.

Obama’s statement that he’s barely aware of ACORN’s problems is nothing short of ridiculous, especially so because Patrick Gaspard was a political director for ACORN New York.

Last year he worked as national political director for the Obama campaign followed by a stint as associate personnel director for the Obama-Biden transition team.

As the old Washington saying goes, politics is personnel. Who knows how many administration officials were put in place by Gaspard with direct input from ACORN’s Bertha Lewis. It boggles the mind.

We also now know the Obama administration was lying about ACORN’s high level involvement in the 2010 Census. The coordination between ACORN and the Census was revealed as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the relentless investigator Tegan Millspaw of Judicial Watch. The Census and other government agencies have cut ties with ACORN as the ACORN scandal widens.

We have to wonder: when it comes to ACORN, what else is the Obama administration lying about?”

“Please, do not stop posting your crap.”

“ACORN is big business.....they are corrupt and tied directly to the government”

“You are an attention whore posting all that propaganda.”

“I think all that teabagging gave them smegma breath.”

“dOOd, if you think an honest and lawful organisation, business or church group exist anywhere in this 'Innocent Till Proven Guilty' country, you better buy this bridge I just got through painting.”

“�You are an attention whore posting all that propaganda.�

stop paying attention. problem solved”

“Mama always said...Sketchy is what sketchy does.”

“That's what your mama said about you.”

“okay, d00d, can you explain in your own words exactly what ACORN's ties are to the white house? I'm not denying that they exist, but I'm pretty sure you don't even have the slightest clue what they are”

“Stratdruid's hero and personal savior, Glenn Beck discusses health care in America in January 2008, and again in September 2009.

So, Strat-n-paste, which Glenn Beck do we believe?”

“don't bother, kleetn. Obviously, since it is something critical of Beck, it's clearly a left-leaning commie propaganda smear campaign on the champion of honesty and purity among the political pud nits - I mean pundits, Mr. Glenn Beck himself”

“Did everyone know that Rush has a red phone for congressional republicans to call him and ask how they should vote? Now they have a pink phone for Becky Glen also - conference lines.”

“Not at all. Beck has been very clear about this. He's talked about it a lot on his show. If you listened to him instead of hateful leftist telling you what he says, you would know that and wouldn't look so utterly foolish right now.


To paraphrase his point on the matter: The system has problems. There are issues. But the answer is not to take over the whole industry and giving government the ultimate control over ours lives. You don't buy a new car because you have bad tires. You don't move away because there are some light bulbs out. You fix the specific problems. It's not that hard to understand if you are truly interested in being reasonable.

kleetn, why are you so hateful? I honestly don't understand your bitter tone. He's not my savior, but I do believe he's honest. He's just a guy doing what he believes in. He tells the truth so why would anybody be against that?


Pepsi, you can't possibly be serious. My own words don't prove jack. I've provided dozens of documented stories showing his ties to ACORN. They are so numerous, so entangled together I couldn't possibly ever memorize all the names and dates to prove the connection. I am presenting a body of work, building a case. And you just say I'm stupid or crazy or a racist. That's your only argument. Read the links, there are many. Read them all. Read the last one about 10 posts up. Google the names, research it yourself. I present the evidence, it's up to you to look into it for yourself. You will never believe anything I say anyways. You are just trying to distract from the issue, which is that our government is corrupt.

I think you got ripped off on all those basic politics books you've read....”

“I don't need dates or names, I just want a basic explanation of how ACORN ties to the white house. you can't do it. you can provide me plenty of documents, but have you actually READ them? If you did, they'd give you the answer real quick. thanks for proving me right, d00d”

“Whatevah lame-o, I'm working.....you know, to pay for the crap your heroes are taking my money for”

“It seemed pretty clear that your picture of Obama reading Beck's latest drivel was photoshopped... turns out it wasn't only photoshopped, but it was taken from another pathetic and dishonest attempt to discredit Obama

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/postamerican.asp

don't be too upset, though, d00d. I have a great bridge in New York that I'll sell you for a phenominally low price. Maybe if you can take some time off from your campaign to get the word "gullible" added to the dictionary, we can discuss the terms of sale”

“That was a joke, Einstein.”

“Obama's no hero of mine - but my reasons for disliking him and the rest of the filthy politicians running the country are rooted in logic and reality, as opposed to the conservative dishonesty, pure idiocy, and quasi-Orwellian delusion that your little tea party is based in”

“now that you're proven wrong, you say it was a joke.”

“September 24, 2009
Senate Dems Kill Effort to Rein in Czars

http://congress.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/09/24/senate-dems-kill-effort-to-rein-in-czars/

A senior Democratic official tells Fox that Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-CT, as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, "recognized the implications and alerted the White House."

The aide pointed to language of the Collins amendment, that it applies to officials “without express statutory authorization and which is responsible for the interagency development or coordination of any rule, regulation, or policy….”

The aide continued: "Neither the (White House) chief of staff nor the National Security advisor are authorized statutorily. Nor are dozens of other White House officials who coordinate policy. "

The aide contends, the amendment would have gone too far, encircling close advisers to the President.





Under pressure from the White House, arguing separation of powers, Senate Democrats on Thursday employed a procedural tactic to kill an amendment that would have imposed congressional oversight on some 18 czars appointed by the Obama Administration, though not confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The amendment to a spending bill that funds the Interior Department was sponsored by moderate Maine Sen. Susan Collins, top Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee,who took to the floor to decry the move, saying she was "deeply disappointed" that her colleagues would do this.

The measure would have withheld federal funds for the creation of any new, unconfirmed czar positions until the Administration agreed to allow the individuals to testify before Congress, if a "reasonable request" was made, and every czar to produce a detailed "public, written report" biannually of their actions and involvement in the creation of policy, rules, and regulations.

"My amendment has been carefully tailored to cover officials that the President has unilaterally designated for significant policy matters. It would not have covered the President's chief of staff, for example, and it would not cover less senior White House officials, despite some misinformation to the contrary," Collins said, noting that her staff had worked with White House officials Wednesday night without agreement.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-IL, a close ally of the White House, was not convinced, sensing a more politically-motivated attack, by "czar watchers," invoking "the political wiseman" Fox News' Glenn Beck, as well as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-TX, who Durbin said had found a larger number of czars than Collins, who detailed 18 unconfirmed czars for the record. Durbin noted that both Beck, who he jokingly called a "political adviser," and Hutchison had come up with the same number of czars, 32, which included positions that are confirmed by the Senate.

"Who's going to define who is covered by your amendment?" Durbin implored. He also noted that the workload the Collins amendment would have imposed on the czars would be onerous.

But Democrats earlier in the week appeared to be on the cusp of accepting the amendment without objection.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, manager of the Interior spending bill, had told Collins that Democrats were prepared to include her amendment, though one objection had popped up. At the time, Collins told Fox that it appeared to be a simple misunderstanding. Soon after, it became clear the White House had objections. Feinstein told Fox Thursday that the White House had told her to back off, with the California Democrat saying, "It's a huge separation of powers issue. I had no idea."

Durbin listed czars used by President George W. Bush, as well, which he said numbered 47, though Collins appeared to disagree, saying "there wasn't this kind of proliferation" under Bush. Collins said her effort would be the same no matter who occupied the White House.

"Regardless of whether it's a Democratic president or a Republican president, a Democratic Congress or a Republican Congress, I think this is an institutional issue. And I think all of us as members of Congress should be very concerned about organizational structures that make it impossible for us to conduct productive, conventional oversight," Collins said.

Durbin would not bend, and instead offered, "The good news is this. Our trusted friend Joe Lieberman (chairman of the committee on which Collins serves)...has promised a hearing on this issue."

And with that, Durbin used a Senate rule that prohibits legislating on a spending bill, something that is often done by both parties despite the rule, to kill the measure.”

“I'm not interested in playin in the mud with you pepsi. You don't like Beck? I don't give a rats a$$, don't watch him. I'm over it dood.”

“are you capable of expressing anything in your own words there, dewd? Do you read the crap you copy/paste, or do you just skim it to get the gyst of how you're supposed to react to it, and then cross post it for everyone on TT of any color of political spectrum to ignore?”

“He's a BigBiz tool like Rush and Becky. Hey dOOd do you have a red or pink phone?”

“I do whatever I want. I don't need your approval or permission. If you choose to keep your head in the sand and turn a blind eye to whats happening all around you, that's your right.....have a blast”

“I am! Me and my comrades get to sit in our FEMA trailers and suck on the welfare teat that hard working martyrs like you fund with your important jobs. We talk about the coming of communism to America, and think of ways in which we can hate this country more than we already do. It's really beautiful to be on the side of the winners - lots of 13 year old prostitutes provided and greenlighted by the president himself in all his muslim antichrist wisdom. I'm particularly looking forward to the passing of the healthcare bill (whether democratically, or forcefully) because there are too many old people around and these death squads are a great idea, besides that, it'll let me pick up my meth habit again and still get free healthcare because of brave martyrs like you. My illegal immigrant friends are also eagerly awaiting the healthcare bill...
last edited: 9/28/09 2:34:00 PM”

“He tells the truth so why would anybody be against that?

Did you watch the video and hear his own words? Which version is the truth? The one you want to believe?”

“DOOd , if you were running for some office and you said something Rush didn't like he'd snort you like a dusted Oxy Contin.”

“
The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path

� Roger Waters

”

“the lunatics are in the hall
the lunatics are in my hall
the paper holds their folded faces to the floor
and everyday the paperboy brings more”

“"My own words don't prove jack."
- stratd00d”

“.
last edited: 9/28/09 6:37:38 PM”

“Actually kleetn no, i was at work and don't generally have much time for that and here at home on my lame dialup connection it's not worth the trouble. But I am very familiar with it because I am a regular listener and viewer of his shows. I completely understand his explanation. You guys are way too hung up on Beck. I don't always agree with him and even less with Limbaugh. Most of the articles I post on here are from Drudge, not Beck. Also biggovernment.com. Yeah, they are all crazy lunatics on the grass but if the lamestreamers won't tell you what's going on, you have to find other sources.

Calling me crazy doesn't bother me but it seems to be you people's only argument so keep it up...”

“Socialism is a failure.

From the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/europe/29socialism.html

Even in Capitalists� Bad Times, Europe�s Socialists Suffer
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: September 28, 2009

PARIS � A specter is haunting Europe � the specter of Socialism�s slow collapse.

Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to �irrational exuberance,� greed and the weakness of regulatory systems, European Socialist parties and their left-wing cousins have not found a compelling response, let alone taken advantage of the right�s failures.

German voters clobbered the Social Democratic Party on Sunday, giving it only 23 percent of the vote, its worst performance since World War II.

Voters also punished left-leaning candidates in the summer�s European Parliament elections and trounced French Socialists in 2007. Where the left holds power, as in Spain and Britain, it is under attack. Where it is out, as in France, Italy and now Germany, it is divided and listless.

Some American conservatives demonize President Obama�s fiscal stimulus and health care overhaul as a dangerous turn toward European-style Socialism � but it is Europe�s right, not left, that is setting its political agenda.

Europe�s center-right parties have embraced many ideas of the left: generous welfare benefits, nationalized health care, sharp restrictions on carbon emissions, the ceding of some sovereignty to the European Union. But they have won votes by promising to deliver more efficiently than the left, while working to lower taxes, improve financial regulation, and grapple with aging populations.

Europe�s conservatives, says Michel Winock, a historian at the Paris Institut d��tudes Politiques, �have adapted themselves to modernity.� When Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Germany�s Angela Merkel condemn the excesses of the �Anglo-Saxon model� of capitalism while praising the protective power of the state, they are using Socialist ideas that have become mainstream, he said.

It is not that the left is irrelevant � it often represents the only viable opposition to established governments, and so benefits, as in the United States, from the normal cycle of electoral politics.

In Portugal, the governing Socialists won re-election on Sunday, but lost an absolute parliamentary majority. In Spain, the Socialists still get credit for opposing both Franco and the Iraq war. In Germany, the broad left, including the Greens, has a structural majority in Parliament, but the Social Democrats, in postelection crisis, must contemplate allying with the hard left, Die Linke, which has roots in the old East German Communist Party.

Part of the problem is the �wall in the head� between East and West Germans. While the Christian Democrats moved smoothly eastward, the Social Democrats of the West never joined with the Communists. �The two Germanys, one Socialist, one Communist � two souls � never really merged,� said Giovanni Sartori, a professor emeritus at Columbia University. �It explains why the S.P.D., which was always the major Socialist party in Europe, cannot really coalesce.�

The situation in France is even worse for the left. Asked this summer if the party was dying, Bernard-Henri L�vy, an emblematic Socialist, answered: �No � it is already dead. No one, or nearly no one, dares to say it. But everyone, or nearly everyone, knows it.� While he was accused of exaggerating, given that the party is the largest in opposition and remains popular in local government, his words struck home.

The Socialist Party, with a long revolutionary tradition and weakening ties to a diminishing working class, is riven by personal rivalries. The party last won the presidency in 1988, and in 2007, S�gol�ne Royal lost the presidency to Mr. Sarkozy by 6.1 percent, a large margin.

With a reputation for flakiness, Ms. Royal narrowly lost the party leadership election last year to a more doctrinaire Socialist, Martine Aubry, by 102 votes out of 135,000. The ensuing allegations of fraud further chilled their relations.

While Ms. Royal would like to move the Socialists to the center and explore a more formal coalition with the Greens and the Democratic Movement of Fran�ois Bayrou, Ms. Aubry fears diluting the party. She is both famous and infamous for achieving the 35-hour workweek in the last Socialist government.

The French Socialist Party �is trapped in a hopeless contradiction,� said Tony Judt, director of the Remarque Institute at New York University. It espouses a radical platform it cannot deliver; the result leaves space for parties to its left that can take as much as 15 percent of the vote.

The party, at its summer retreat last month at La Rochelle, a coastal resort, still talked of �comrades� and �party militants.� Its seminars included �Internationalism at Globalized Capitalism�s Hour of Crisis.�

But its infighting has drawn ridicule. Mr. Sarkozy told his party this month that he sent �a big thank-you� to Ms. Royal, �who is helping me a lot,� and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a prominent European Green politician, said �everyone has cheated� in the Socialist Party and accused Ms. Royal of acting like �an outraged young girl.�

The internecine squabbling in France and elsewhere has done little to position Socialist parties to answer the question of the moment: how to preserve the welfare state amid slower growth and rising deficits. The Socialists have, in this contest, become conservatives, fighting to preserve systems that voters think need to be improved, though not abandoned.

�The Socialists can�t adapt to the loss of their basic electorate, and with globalism, the welfare state can no longer exist in the same way,� Professor Sartori said.

Enrico Letta, 43, is one of the hopes of Italy�s left, currently in disarray in the face of Silvio Berlusconi�s nationalist populism. �We have to understand that Socialism is an answer of the last century,� Mr. Letta said. �We need to build a center-left that is pragmatic, that provides an attractive alternative, and not just an opposition.�

Mr. Letta argues that Socialist policies will have to be transmuted into a more fluid form to allow an alliance with center, liberal and green parties that won�t be called �Socialist.�

Mr. Winock, the historian, said, �I think the left and Socialism in Europe still have work to do; they have a raison d��tre, and they will have to rely more on environment issues.� Combined with continuing efforts to reduce income disparity, he said, �going green� may give the left more life.

Mr. Judt argues that European Socialists need a new message � how to reform capitalism, �recognizing the centrality of economic interest while displacing it from its throne as the only way of talking about politics.�

European Socialists need �to think a lot harder about what the state can and can�t do in the 21st century,� he said.

Not an easy syllabus. But without that kind of reform, Mr. Judt said, �I don�t think Socialism in Europe has a future; and given that it is a core constitutive part of the European democratic consensus, that�s bad news.�”