Buh bye Desiree Rogers

Usually Obama's old Chicago friends are the safest people in his administration. But even though she's a Windy City crony, the clock has finally run out on Obama's social secretary Desiree Rogers. The Washington Post has reported that Rogers will resign some time next month. We at ObamaWatchNews are heartbroken over this devastating loss for the country. In memoriam, here are some of Rogers' greatest hits.

Embarrassing Obama in front of all of Washington, DC. Rogers planned Obama's first state dinner, which was famously infiltrated and crashed by the Salahis. She later admitted she didn't even have staff standing around checking credentials.

Embarrasing Obama in front of all of Great Britain. Rogers was the brain child behind Obama's gift of several DVD movies to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, even though the DVDs wouldn't even play with European appliances. Meanwhile Brown's gifts were somewhat less juvenile, including a pen holder carved from the wood of a famous anti-slave ship and a seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill.

Embarrassing Obama in front of all of Norway. Rogers planned Obama's trip to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway and made a big point of snubbing the Norwegians wherever possible. Not included on Obama's schedule was a lunch with Norwegian King Harald V and a visit to the Nobel Peace Center, both hugely significant traditions for all Nobel Prize winners. Norwegians were outraged and called Obama, among other things, "arrogant." They noticed.

Embarrassing Obama in front of all of Saudi Arabia. It was Rogers who advised Obama to bow to the king of Saudi Arabia. Of course, heads of state are never supposed to bow under diplomatic protocol. The incident was so embarrassing, the White House began claiming that Obama hadn't bowed at all, but had just dropped something on the ground. Many people believed this until...

Embarrassing Obama in front of all of Japan. Obama bowed to the Emperor of Japan too. (He sure does drop a lot of things. Butterfingers!) This was a very significant state visit and Rogers advised Obama to act like he was in a Kung Fu movie.

Atheists in the White House: Hey, we were invited!

Yep, today, BHO is meeting with members of the Secular Coalition for America, an umbrella group of atheists. There is nothing inherently wrong with this of course. Atheists are Americans too. But usually BHO distances himself from them as it doesn't go down well with most of the people who elected him.

Let's look at some members of the Board:

Christopher Hitchens: Hitchens' latest book is titled God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Let's look: "[v]iolent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children." He wrote an entire book slandering Mother Teresa who he called a "fraud" and "Hell's Angel." When conservative evangelical Jerry Falwell died, Hitchens danced on his grave, calling him a treasonous demagogue and saying "it's a shame there isn't a hell for him to go to."

Richard Dawkins: Dawkins isn't as well-read on religion as Hitchens, and called religion "the root of all evil," having apparently slept through his history classes on atheist Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. He equates all religious people with fundamentalist terrorists. He has written of religious moderates, "You nice, middle-of-the-road theologians and clergymen, be-frocked and bleating in your pulpits". He supports the passage of a law banning parents from bringing their children to church. Summing up his nutty views, he has pronounced, "My aim is to kill religion."

Michael Newdow: Newdow is an atheist who won't leave the rest of us alone. During the noughties, he filed two notorious lawsuits. One was brought against California schools for having his daughter say the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom. Newdow demanded that the words "under God" be removed from the Pledge. The suit was so absurd that even the leftist Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals laughed it out. The second was brought against the U.S. government in an effort to remove the words "In God We Trust" from dollar bills and coins. That case was also thrown out of court.

It's not just the Board of Advisors either. On its website, the SCA lists its crucial issues as, among other things, attacking the Boy Scouts and removing "under God" from the pledge.

Obama prides himself on being tolerant. Guess he'll meet with Pat Robertson next.

Gaspard gets what he wants in New York

There's something strange going on in New York. Governor David Paterson announced that he won't be running for reelection today, besieged by scandals. This isn't bad news. Paterson was a staunch left-winger and a terrible governor. But celebrations aside, there may be something more twisted going on here, and it involves a head honcho at the White House.

Patrick Gaspard, Obama's ACORN-linked political director, is no fan of Paterson's. Last year Gaspard tried to convince Paterson not to run for reelection, supposedly because the governor was so unpopular. Paterson refused and hit back hard, telling the White House to stay out of the race. That wasn't going to happen -- Gaspard has deep roots in New York. He used to work for the SEIU, as well as the Working Families Party, a political arm of ACORN based in the Big Apple. During the contentious special election in New York's 23rd District last year, Gaspard was described as the "air traffic controller," maneuvering to make sure that Democrat Bill Owens won the race. Gaspard is no stranger to these assignments. He has been nicknamed the Glue Man for his ability to hold disparate leftist crackpots together.

Ever since Paterson refused Gaspard, he's faced one scandal after another. The most recent involves a New York Times report alleging that he covered up the abuse of a woman on his staff. Barely two weeks ago, Paterson was also under attack over rumors that he shacked up with women and did drugs in the governor's mansion. Paterson adamantly denied the rumors to the Associated Press.

"Paterson attributed the rumors to news outlets and blogs other than the Times. He said that three sources contacted reporters at the start of Sunday's Super Bowl to leak word that he was about to resign, which he said he never contemplated.

'It seems to be somewhat orchestrated,' Paterson said Tuesday of the rumors, on whose source he has declined to publicly speculate.

Could that orchestrated attack have come from the air traffic controller, the sinister Glue Man himself? All politicians have skeletons in their closets. But Paterson is the only one who watched all his dirty laundry aired in the New York press over the course of two weeks. It's just too much to be a coincidence.

But why is Paterson attacked? He may be unpopular, but he's still a slimy leftist like all of Obama's friends. The answer may lie in this article from the New York Daily News.

"As Gov. Paterson attempts a political comeback, there's one key constituency he so far isn't wooing: the Working Families Party.

Paterson hasn't met with the lefty, labor-backed party's leaders since he replaced Gov. Eliot Spitzer last year, a WFP source confirmed."

It looks like Gaspard is still using his influence on New York politics to play political puppeteer for the Working Families Party. Andrew Cuomo, the attorney general supported by the White House to replace Paterson, has refused to investigate the WFP's ethical problems. Kirsten Gillibrand, who replaced Hillary Clinton as New York's junior senator, is constantly sucking up to the WFP. One WFP hack even whined, "Kirsten Gillibrand is being more solicitous of us than the governor is."

Spurning WFP is unacceptable to the power-hungry Gaspard, who wants personal control over every political race in the Empire State. The White House has supported Cuomo and Gillibrand adamantly, but not Paterson. Did it orchestrate this vicious campaign against Paterson to destroy his political career?

Obama sneaks through Patriot Act

It's the BHO MO. Point over here, do something there.

With the press obsessed with the health care summit, Obama was bound to sneak a few things through. The most important stealth operation came Wednesday night when the House voted to renew the Patriot Act.

Yep, that Patriot Act. After a voice vote and absolutely no debate, the legislation passed 315 to 97. And Obama approves of the renewal. Well that's a turnaround -- or is it hust hypocritical. Obama opposed the legislation, in its current form, for his entire career. He's called for the Patriot Act to be rewritten. He's been particularly critical of a provision that allows the FBI to secretly demand business and personal documents, including library records. That provision is still in there, but now Obama supports it.

The bill also still permits "roving wiretaps," which allow law enforcement to track multiple phones at the same time. Roving wiretaps have outraged civil libertarians like Obama in the past, who think the FBI should get cleared for each individual eavesdrop.

Obama has previously said certain provisions in the Patriot Act amount to "Big Brother." I guess this makes him the new leader of Oceania.

McCain calls out Obama's corruption

At the health care summit today, Sen. John McCain hammered Obama for the corrupt deals that helped the health care bill pass.

You have to love Obama's condescending dismissal of McCain at the end. "The election's over." McCain must have struck a nerve.

Paul Ryan schools Obama on government statism

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is one of Obama's most eloquent critics. Here he tears the president limb from limb on the role of government in the marketplace.

Democrats confirm: Health care summit is a fraud

The health care summit is still going on and it's relatively uneventful so far. But it looks like none of that will matter anyways. Democratic strategists have confirmed that the health care summit was a sham to make Republicans look bad.

"A Democratic official said the six-hour summit was expected to 'give a face to gridlock, in the form of House and Senate Republicans.'

Democrats plan to begin rhetorical, and perhaps legislative, steps toward the Democrats-only, or reconciliation, process early next week, the strategists said.

After the summit, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid planned to take the temperature of their caucuses.

'The point [of the summit] is to alter the political atmospherics, and it will take a day or two to sense if it succeeded,' the official said."

Obama is such a stubborn radical, he still plans to jam his bill through. Meanwhile unemployment has skyrocketed and the American people overwhelmingly oppose his health care remedies. Hopefully the bruising that the GOP gave Obama today will only hurt his plans even further. But this much is clear: Obama is hell-bent on passing a health care bill and doesn't care what it takes and who gets sacrificed in the process.

Obama getting taken to task at health care summit

The first half of the president's vaunted bipartisan health care summit is over and something unusual is happening. Obama is getting his ass handed to him. Many were worried that the summit would be a huge political boon for the president. Instead, Republicans are hammering Obama who seems flustered without his teleprompter.

Probably the best take down was done by Sen. Tom Coburn. Coburn explained that 15% of health care costs in America could be saved if the government prosecuted fraud in Medicare. He pointed out that one out of every three Medicare dollars doesn't go towards patient care but towards bureaucracy and corruption. He noted that only 1% of health care fraud is in the private sector. He asked the president why he was planning more government-run health care when the current government-run health care is so full of waste. Obama's response? He rushed to agree with Coburn even though his bill does nothing to address these problem. It isn't about actually cutting costs, after all. It's about a government takeover.

There was more. Rep. Paul Ryan nailed the president for creating more regulations when regulations hurt mostly small businesses. Sen. Jon Kyl hit Obama for lying about whether the health care bill would increase premiums. (It would, as the CBO pointed out.) Sen. John McCain took the president to task for the secret deals made in the health care bill.

Obama's response? He tried to interrupt Republicans constantly. He complained about the time limits, even though a Democratic senator pointed out that no one had been told there were time limits. He whined that Republicans should talk about things they agree about rather than attacking the bill.

We'll have the videos up as soon as possible. Obama only held this farce of a meeting to create the illusion of bipartisanship on health care. Instead the president is coming off as pompous while Republicans tear him to pieces.

Civil Rights Division thinks American citizenship is racist

The good people of Georgia are still subjected to an old provision in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that requires them to get permission from the Justice Department to change state voting laws. The antiquated law was meant to prevent southern states from trying to limit blacks' right to vote. It's never caused any problems, until Obama's DOJ came to town.

A new law passed in Georgia would require new voters to present a driver's license and Social Security Number when they register to vote. It's to an effort to keep illegal immigrants off the voting rolls. The DOJ's notorious Civil Rights Division jumped in and refused to approve the law because it "unfairly burdened a disproportionate number of minorities."

Yes, Obama's government is actually arguing that presenting proof of American citizenship is racist.

It's unclear whether the CRD is doing this because illegal immigrants are a key Democrat constituency or because the CRD is populated by race-baiting radicals. (Probably a combination of both.) But Georgia is fed up. In a courageous move, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced the state will be suing the Justice Department to get the law passed. "The State of Georgia will no longer watch the Obama Justice Department play politics with our election processes and protections," Kemp said. This is the first time that anyone has stood up to the Civil Rights Division's racial bullying and we at ObamaWatchNews wish Kemp all the best.

DeParle is DeLimit

Health czar Nancy-Ann DeParle just finished a video question-and-answer session on the White House website. It was mostly the usual chatter about ObamaCare, but one thing really jumped out. When discussing the proposed excise tax on Cadillac health plans, DeParle said, "Do we really want to be spending that kind of money on our health care plans? ... Wouldn't you rather have that in your wages?"

DeParle sounds like a nanny scolding children. Her comment perfectly crystallizes Obama's attitude on pretty much everything. You don't really want to do that. We know that isn't good for you. People who buy expensive health care plans do so because the coverage is excellent, and they have plenty of other options. Obama is supposedly worried about the quality of care, yet he's slapping a huge tax on anyone who buys the best coverage in America.

DeParle also claimed that 47 million Americans don't have health care not because they opt out, but because they "can't afford it." As we have wearily explained over and over again, the Census Bureau says that isn't true. Of that 47 million, about 10 million are illegal immigrants. A further 17 million make more than $50,000 per year, but choose willingly not to carry health insurance. And an unknown third number qualify for Medicaid or some other government-funded health plan.

So the health czar is an Orwellian liar. Who would have guessed?

Confirmed: Obama's stimulus a massive waste of money

The president has been going around bragging about his stimulus bill again. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently announced that the stimulus supposedly saved or created anywhere from 1 million to 2.1 million jobs. Of course, that's an enormous range of difference...and unemployment has skyrocketed since the stimulus passed...and the CBO was the same collection of bean counters who claimed the health care reform bill would somehow save money.

But let's say they're right. Let's pretend the stimulus has created, say, 1.5 million jobs. Roughly one-third of the stimulus money has been spent so far. That means we spent $1,746,000 per job! The median household income in America is only $46,000 per year!

It's difficult to think of ways Obama could have wasted that money more inefficiently. Rather than passing a stimulus bill, why didn't Obama just give every American citizen (around 300 million) $100,000? He could have instantly stimulated the economy and done it for half the price.

More on Rahm

Here's an update on our last post on Rahm Emanuel. Dana Milbank's piece, which defended Emanuel and attacked his critics like Leslie Gelb, got its information from a leak in the administration somewhere. Where else but from Emanuel himself? It looks like the famously combative Rahm is doing a little self defense.

ObamaWatchNews has previously reported that the president's brain trust consists of four people: David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs, Valerie Jarrett, and Emanuel. Interestingly, Milbank attacks all of them, except Rahm, as being "in love with the president" -- information that could have only come from the inside. It almost makes you wonder if Emanuel wrote the whole piece himself.

Emanuel must be very isolated in the administration right now. If he's going so far as to leak inside information to reporters in order to defend himself, resignation seems like the next logical step. Once he goes, there will be nothing standing between the president and his administration's radical leftists.

Rahm Emanuel: The sanest person in the White House?

Can it be so? Dana Milbank wrote a fascinating column in the Washington Post wondering if Emanuel is the only sane person in the west wing.

"Obama's problem is that his other confidants -- particularly Valerie Jarrett and Robert Gibbs, and, to a lesser extent, David Axelrod -- are part of the Cult of Obama. In love with the president, they believe he is a transformational figure who needn't dirty his hands in politics.

The president would have been better off heeding Emanuel's counsel. For example, Emanuel bitterly opposed former White House counsel Greg Craig's effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year, arguing that it wasn't politically feasible. Obama overruled Emanuel, the deadline wasn't met, and Republicans pounced on the president and the Democrats for trying to bring terrorists to U.S. prisons. Likewise, Emanuel fought fiercely against Attorney General Eric Holder's plan to send Khalid Sheik Mohammed to New York for a trial. Emanuel lost, and the result was another political fiasco.

Obama's greatest mistake was failing to listen to Emanuel on health care. Early on, Emanuel argued for a smaller bill with popular items, such as expanding health coverage for children and young adults, that could win some Republican support. He opposed the public option as a needless distraction."

When Rahm is the only thing standing between Obama and his dreams of a left-wing fantasy land you know we're screwed.

Van Jones: I'm baaaaaaack part 2

It must be nice to be a progressive. You can spout the most radical claptrap and do the most horrible things, and still be taken care of. Take Obama's former green jobs czar Van Jones. Jones resigned from his position last year after it was revealed he started a group dedicated to overthrowing the government, called himself a Marxist and a rowdy black nationalist, spewed communist rhetoric on a regular basis, went to prison, called Republicans "ass----s," and signed a petition that accused George W. Bush of planning the 9/11 attacks. Someone like that should be out on the street corner panhandling for change, right?

Not Jones. He's headed back to his old job at the Center for American Progress, a George Soros-funded liberal think tank. CAP is basically a revolving door for the Obama administration. Dozens of Obama's appointees and talking points have come from CAP. Time magazine reported, "[N]ot since the Heritage Foundation helped guide Ronald Reagan's transition in 1981 has a single outside group held so much sway. Just as candidate Obama depended on CAP during the campaign for opposition research and talking points, [then-] President-elect Obama has effectively contracted out the management of his own government's formation to [CAP President John] Podesta." So Jones will still be influencing the Obama Administration, just from the outside rather than the inside.

In fact, Jones' future is looking very bright. He'll start teaching at Princeton in June and will be awarded the NAACP's President's Award this Friday. In fact, Benjamin Todd Jealous, the white NAACP president, goes as far as to call Jones "An American treasure" and "the most misunderstood man in America". Yep, it's great to be a progressive.

And they're off! Obama's 2012 campaign to be run by devious Rahm clone

While most people are worrying about finding a job or paying their taxes in April, Obama is worried about getting reelected. Two years out, the president is already planning his 2012 campaign strategy. The man he's put in charge is someone you've probably never heard of before.

His name is Jim Messina and he's one of the president's most trusted cronies. He's a cross between Rahm Emanuel and Patrick Gaspard. Like Emanuel, Messina is a profane, hard-hitting politico who tolerates no disloyalty or incompetence. He and Rahm are good friends. But like Gaspard, Messina keeps an extremely low profile. He rarely does press interviews and is never seen giving his opinion on cable news. He's known around the White House as one of Barack Obama's "fixers".

One of his sneakiest attempted "fixes" was for Obama's health care reform. Last April, Messina and his former boss Sen. Max Baucus convened a meeting with PhRMA, the lobbying arm of pharmaceutical companies. The doors were shut so no one really knows what went on. But by the end of the gathering, Messina had worked out a deal in which PhRMA would spend $24 million on advertising campaigns in support of reform.

But despite his behind-the-scenes work, Messina goes for the jugulars of his political opponents. In 2005, he was responsible for the Democratic campaign against President Bush's proposed Social Security reform. Messina's main message was that Bush's plan would cut benefits. It was an egregious lie, but it worked and the whole initiative went up in smoke. Today, thanks to Messina, Social Security is slated to go bankrupt in 2037.

Messina will run a dirty campaign in 2012, but he won't be alone. Anita Dunn, former White House communications director and Mao Tse-Tung enthusiast, will reportedly be "intimately involved." So will political director Patrick Gaspard, and all his ACORN and SEIU friends. David Axelrod will be dispatched to Chicago to mastermind the "Reform" campaign (you can't do Change when you're the sitting President) and Valerie Jarrett will head up Special Ops at the White House.

Sotomayor law is the norm at the Justice Department

Remember the Ricci v. DiStefano case in New Haven? The test scores of white and Hispanic firefighters seeking to become sergeants were thrown out by the city after not enough blacks passed. The firefighters sued and Sonia Sotomayor, then a District Court judge and wise Latina, ruled in favor of New Haven. The Supreme Court disagreed and overturned her defense of discrimination.

The controversy that followed almost ruined Sotomayor's chances of sitting on the Supreme Court. You'd think the Justice Department would get the message that these so-called "disparate impact" cases, usually brought against police and fire departments, are a bad idea. Instead the nutty Thomas Perez, who heads up the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, gave a speech last week downplaying the Ricci case. He also bragged about lawsuits filed against a Department of Corrections in Massachusetts and a sheriff's office in Oklahoma, among others. The offense of all these defendants is that they were judging others based on their merit rather than their sex or skin color.

The Oklahoma case is particularly hilarious. The Sheriff of Bryan County was reassigning pregnant female confinement officers to desk duty while they were pregnant. The Justice Department hit them with a discrimination rap. Now, the Bryan County sheriff's office has to provide mandatory training against "pregnancy discrimination."

Welcome to BHO's America, where "diversity" is more important than law enforcement keeping us safe, and the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

Gillibrand calls in a favor from Obama

ObamaWatchNews has been carefully following Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic senator from New York. As we've reported, she's transformed from a moderate Democrat to a progressive liberal in the mold of Obama. Gillibrand recently spoke on a panel with Van Jones, was one of a few votes against defunding ACORN, and sought out the endorsement of New York City's radical ACORN affiliate the Working Families Party. She's worked out a pretty sweet deal for herself. She defends the interests of the radical left to the hilt, and the radical left supports her with money and endorsements. This includes the ultimate radical ACORN leftist, Barack Obama.

Gillibrand is facing a potential primary threat from moderate Democrat Harold Ford this year. Enter Obama's political hack David Plouffe.

"Asked if there is a danger of a primary, especially with Ford, David Plouffe told NY1's Josh Robin, 'Well, we'll see. He'll let us know what he's gonna do. What we need to focus on is Sen. Gillibrand's, I think, record of accomplishment and her vision.'

Reverting back to elements of her political pedigree that were cited last year in why Paterson chose her, Plouffe added, 'I also happen to think she's a very, very strong candidate. She's run, and won, in a very very tough part of New York for Democrats.'

'I think she'd be a terrific candidate for us in the fall. So for two reasons. I think she is the best person to represent New York and help us build the strong economy we need for the future, and secondly, I think she'll be our strongest candidate.'"

Presidents usually stand above primary elections. But with an ACORN ally and Van Jones defender on the line, it looks like Obama has made his first political endorsement for 2010.

Obama's latest health care plan -- the socialist option

Obama's attempt to reform health care has destroyed his poll numbers, ruined Democrats' chances in the November elections, and energized conservatives everywhere. What's a radical left-wing president to do in this situation? Introduce an even more statist health care plan!

The president released his newest health care initiative yesterday and is now threatening to ram it through Congress using reconciliation. You've probably heard that the bill doesn't contain a public option, which is true. But there's plenty more horrible things in the bill that have been underreported. Here's what you need to know.

-- The excise tax on so-called "Cadillac" (meaning expensive) health care plans is still there. This is based on the left's theory that the government can tax the hell out of everything rich people do and not affect anyone else. But Cadillac plans are also used by many middle-class people who want good coverage. Unions also use these plans. Obama's been going around complaining about how health care in America isn't good. Now he turns around and slaps a huge tax on the best American health care plans. As even the liberal blog FireDogLake reported, "The excise tax in the Senate bill would tax many middle class health care plans, making coverage worse and more expensive."

-- The unconstitutional individual mandate, which would force everyone to buy health insurance, is even worse than before. Under the House and Senate bills, everyone would have to pay a portion of their income as a tax if they choose not to get health insurance. Now, "The President's Proposal raises the percent of income that is an alternative payment amount from 0.5 to 1.0% in 2014, 1.0 to 2.0% in 2015, and 2.0 to 2.5% for 2016 and subsequent years – the same percent of income as in the House bill, which makes the assessment more progressive." By "progressive," Obama means "bigger tax increases."

-- There are now price controls for insurance companies. Obama's plan creates something called the Health Insurance Rate Authority, which is more like a panel of czars. The HIRA can force insurance companies to lower premiums whenever they feel like it. This is why the public option was kept out. It wasn't needed. If the federal government can decide the price of health insurance, there's no need for so-called "competition" from the government. This would amount to the government taking over the entire health insurance industry.

At last, the president's cards are on the table. He has no interest in letting anyone "choose" their health care or providing "competition". This is about the government controlling one-sixth of the United States economy. This is about socialism.

Obama puts his inside man Andy Stern on the deficit commission

Yesterday ObamaWatchNews reported that the deficit commission the president is planning is a total sham. As if we needed any more proof, now comes word that the president is considering appointing Andy Stern, SEIU president and his favorite crony, to the commission.

Stern is the last person qualified to help take down the country's debt. His entire mission has been to enact regulations that cost businesses and taxpayers billions of dollars. He has wholeheartedly supported every one of Obama's wasteful spending schemes, including health care reform and cap-and-trade. He is less of an advocate for working people than a left-wing activist demanding that the government do more. Meanwhile unions have cost state governments, which can't fire organized public employees, millions.

More likely, Obama is appointing Stern to his fraud of a commission as another kickback. Stern and the unions have been kicked around a lot lately. Congress has abandoned card check and the president is now supporting an excise tax on expensive health care plans, which would cost Big Labor millions. Looks like the president wanted to soothe Stern's nerves. And with Stern's close relationship to the president, Obama can now control the "independent" commission from the inside.

Just a reminder that Obama loves ACORN

Obama appoints powerless debt commission so he doesn't have to do anything

Whenever Obama doesn't want to deal with a problem, he signs an executive order appointing a commission to "examine" it. Last week he created a commission to tackle the $14.3 trillion national debt racked up by his massive spending spree. The commission will spend eight months talking about the debt before making recommendations. The president then may or may not hand these recommendations to Congress who then may or may not do something.

When Obama wanted to socialize the health care sector or create a cap-and-tax energy system, he didn't create a useless commission. He told Congress to ram legislation through immediately. If Obama actually cared about reducing his debt, he could start by cutting up his proposed budget of more than $3 trillion. But instead he'll create a commission, allowing him to ignore the issue for another year.

Obama pays back another corrupt loyalist

Looks like ACORN-style tactics are in style at the White House. Today the newspapers are filled with quotes from a spokesman at the Department of Transportation named Olivia Alair. Alair has been attacking Toyota for their recent massive recall of cars, which was ordered by her agency.

Alair is fortunate she's around to talk to the press, seeing as how she almost went to prison. In October 2008, Alair and twelve other Obama staffers registered to vote in Ohio, even though none of them actually lived there. At the time, Ohio was a fiercely contested swing state. It took a warning from prosecutor Ron O'Brien for Alair & Co. to withdraw their voting registration ballots. It was a smart move. Alair could have easily been arrested and tried with voter fraud.

ObamaWatchNews is all about watching who and where Obama pays back loyalty -- no matter how corrupt. Alair is a great example. During the 2008 campaign, she was a spokesman for Obama in Ohio. Now she's wreaking havoc at the DOT, defending GM and Chysler's interests by dumping on non-union Toyota.

215 days without a press conference

When George W. Bush went seven months without a press conference, liberals tore him to pieces. Obama has now gone 215 days without giving a press conference, longer than any time during Bush's eight years in office.

Barack Obama was elected to office promising to run the most transparent administration in history. Today we were again reminded that it was total bunk.

BHO is more than willing to appear in predictable one-on-one interviews with friendly journalists. But he's running scared from the White House press room, where reporters can grill the president. Of course, the last time the president held a press conference, he pointlessly insulted Sergeant Jim Crowley and the entire Cambridge Police Department, so maybe he's just playing it safe.

A third manufacturing czar??

To be fair, Nicole Yvette Lamb-Hale was confirmed by the Senate and has an official position (Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing), unlike so many of Barack Obama's other czars. But the president doesn't need another adviser on manufacturing. He already has Manufacturing Czar Ed Montgomery and crazed anti-capitalist Car Czar Ron Bloom.

Lamb-Hale previously worked at the business consulting firm Foley and Lardner LLP, one of the largest in the country. There, she specialized in the restructuring of companies in the manufacturing sector...especially automobile companies. Obama's government currently has huge ownership stakes in two of America's largest car companies. His administration has been persecuting the biggest competition, Toyota, by demanding massive recalls. Now he brings in a woman renowned for her ability to tinker with the car industry. It smells like socialism and central planning.

Most of the companies that owed TARP money have repaid it. Now it's time for the reverse to happen. Obama needs to get the government the hell out of GM and Chrysler...and fire Montgomery, Bloom, and Lamb-Hale.

Here we go again: Obama brings in yet another Chicago hack

Last week the Senate approved Bryan H. Samuels to be Barack Obama's Commissioner of the Administration on Children. Samuels is a perfect fit for Obama's racket. Bringing in Samuels allows Obama to promote another old Chicago boy and reward spectacular failure, both at the same time.

Samuels comes from the Chicago Public School system where he was chief of staff. There, Samuels worked under Arne Duncan, who Obama would later elevate to be Secretary of Education. Samuels, like so many of Obama's friends, was appointed by disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich. Even though many in the Chicago Public Schools considered him incompetent and inexperienced, he was still eventually promoted to be Duncan's chief of staff.

You have to try really hard to be considered incompetent and inexperienced in the Chicago Public Schools. They're rated abysmally, 49th out of 50th according to state-by-state ratings. Barack Obama haughtily refused to send his daughters to CPS, instead enrolling them at a nearby private school. Arne Duncan was known to give out jobs as patronage to his friends. Instead of worrying about teaching kids, Duncan larded up the CPS with as many worthless "administrative positions" as possible.

So the Chicago Public Schools are so failing and corrupt that Obama sends his own daughters elsewhere. But he will promote two of CPS' highest-level administrators to the Department of Education. When will the patronage end?

Bombshell interview: College friend says Obama was a "pure Marxist socialist"

We've often wondered exactly who Barack Obama was during his years in college. The president has kept all documents relating to this period under lock and key, so we don't have much to go on. But now, a courageous college friend of Obama's has stepped forward with shocking testimony. The president, this man says, was a "pure Marxist socialist."

His name is Dr. John C. Drew. He attended Occidental College at the same time as Obama and hung around in the same political circles. At the time Drew was a Marxist, though he would later become a Republican during the 1980s. Drew says while he occasionally doubted Marxism, Obama was convinced there would actually be a revolution of the underclass that would overthrow the government. During debates, Obama would defend Marxism very insistently. Drew also describes the young Obama as something of a metrosexual. Obama and his roommate were always dressed impeccably and would cruise around in a BMW. To this day, Drew still has no idea where that kind of money came from.

Let's allow Drew to speak for himself. Here are some mind-blowing quotes from his interview with Breitbart TV:

"My most vivid memory is how insistent he was on arguing a Marxist-Leninist point of view."

"He made a very principled, dedicated, impassioned argument that a real revolution was coming and in a sense we should all get onboard and prepare ourselves physically and emotionally for that revolution."

"He definitely saw America as the enemy. He believed that the ruling elite had rigged our economic system so that it caused people to be poor, and that it was immoral and it was wrong. And the only way you could tip things back so that we all could enjoy a more prosperous lifestyle was to redistribute the wealth."

"My sense of him is that he was a pure Marxist socialist."

"I think he's still a socialist."

Listen to the full interview here and visit Dr. Drew's blog here.

Patrick Corvington: Liberal sugar daddy

When you think of deep-pocketed sugar daddies funding Barack Obama and his cronies, George Soros is the most obvious example. But there's another money man you probably haven't heard of before.

His name is Patrick Corvington. He's the former head of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a "philanthropy" group in the same way that Soros is a "philanthropist". A list of the Foundation's grantees is a who's-who of left-wing organizations. Under just the "A"s comes the mega-union AFL-CIO, the radically pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute, and, of course, ACORN. In the year 2008 alone, the Annie E. Casey Foundation donated more than $228 million.

With a record like that, it was high time for Obama to reward Corvington. Corvington was nominated to head up the government's Corporation for National and Community Service (yes, our government actually has one of those). He was confirmed last week, one of 29 nominations pushed through the Senate. Corvington also previously worked at the Urban Institute, another liberal think tank.

Obama plants tame Dem in Indiana Senate race

Yesterday, the world was "shocked" to hear that Indiana senator Evan Bayh wouldn't run for a third term in 2012. His timing was interesting as he quit just one day before the deadline to submit signatures to run in the Dem's senatorial primary.
Immediately, an ambitious liberal restaurant owner named Tamyra d'Ipolito started scrambling to get together enough signatures to be added to the ballot.
And discovered something shocking.
Baron Hill, a congressman from Indiana's 9th District, has had his signatures ready for weeks. Even though the Bayh announcement was a "shock".
And oddly enough, Rahm Emanuel was in Indiana fundraising for Hill just a couple weeks ago. As White House Chief of Staff, he's not everyone's first choice for a stump speech.
Most likely Obama knew Bayh planned to leave and personally selected Hill for the Senate seat. Hill can get elected in Indiana, and has supported the president on most of his radical initiatives. D'Ipolito is a left-wing head case -- she's claimed the Democratic Party is driven by sexism -- but you have to feel bad for her. Thanks to Obama's election-rigging shenanigans, she'll be lucky if she makes the ballot.
This isn't the first time Obama has shown contempt for the people in his own party. In Illinois, he conspired with Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett to fill his former Senate seat with someone White House-approved. Democrats in Indiana ought to be furious with Obama right now.

Why is the science czar sending envoys to the Middle East?

John Holdren, Barack Obama's science czar, has more power than most people realize. Right now he's sending envoys to the Middle East.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy, headed up by Holdren, has been sending scientists to the Muslim world since Obama's suck-up speech in Cairo. Envoys so far have included a biochemistry professor and the head of the National Institutes of Health. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this. A global exchange of scientific ideas is always a good thing. But according to the press release, "[The envoys] will investigate opportunities in all areas of science and technology, including math, engineering, health, energy, climate change research, and green technologies."

We know Holdren is a crazed climate alarmist who predicted that the east coast might be flooded by 2020. We also know that Obama failed to work his magic and get a climate agreement in Copenhagen. What sort of back-door environmentalism is going on here?

Obama to write Congress out of the equation

Checks and balances? Congressional authority? Barack Obama doesn't have time for all that.

Mr. Obama has not given up hope of progress on Capitol Hill, aides said, and has scheduled a session with Republican leaders on health care later this month. But in the aftermath of a special election in Massachusetts that cost Democrats unilateral control of the Senate, the White House is getting ready to act on its own in the face of partisan gridlock heading into the midterm campaign.

“We are reviewing a list of presidential executive orders and directives to get the job done across a front of issues,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff.

Obama is fed up with the fact that his legislation must go through an increasingly hostile Senate...you know, the way the Founding Fathers intended it so we wouldn't turn into a dictatorship overnight. He's already partway there. His EPA is imposing limits on so-called "pollutants" like carbon dioxide without consulting anyone. Regardless, it looks like we'll be seeing many more executives orders coming through. You'll read about them here first.

Thank goodness: Obama appoints another Islamic envoy

BHO's State Department already has its own special envoy to the Islamic world, Farah Pandith. But that didn't stop the president from reaching into his radical Justice Department and pulling out another one.

His name is Rashad Hussain. He's a former trial attorney at DOJ (naturally) and, of course, he's a die-hard left-winger. Hussain said in 2004 that terrorism sympathizer, Sami al-Arian, was the victim of "politically motivated persecutions" and was being used to "squash dissent." Actually, Al-Arian had been sentenced to four years in prison for acting as one of the leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group responsible for the murder of more than 100 Israelis. Former attorney general John Ashcroft called the PIJ one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world. Al-Arian was also a university professor (yep, we were surprised too) as well as a PIJ terrorist.

So Barack Obama just appointed a terrorist sympathizer to represent America to the Muslim world. Then again, Hussain might fit in well. The group he's assigned to, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, is an alliance of Islamic nations that has declared "Islamophobia" to be the worst form of terrorism. Maybe Hussain can explain that to Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Or the panty bomber.

Confirmed: Obama's America to collapse under the weight of its debt

Here at Obama Watch News, we've been warning for months that America is going to cave in under the trillions in debt caused by Barack Obama's reckless spending spree. Now, with Greece facing its own ominous debt crisis that threatens to destabilize the entire country, the media is starting to wake up.

The Associated Press has a fascinating article out that confirms everything we've been telling you.

"It’s bad enough that Greece’s debt problems have rattled global financial markets. In the world’s largest economic and military power, there’s a far more serious debt dilemma.

For the U.S., the crushing weight of its debt threatens to overwhelm everything the federal government does, even in the short-term, best-case financial scenario _ a full recovery and a return to prerecession employment levels.

The government already has made so many promises to so many expanding “mandatory” programs. Just keeping these commitments, without major changes in taxing and spending, will lead to deficits that cannot be sustained."

Even the liberal media is starting to see the truth. How bad is it? Currently Obama's government owes more money than actually exists in terms of paper dollars. In other words, it's physically impossible for the United States of America -- the most powerful nation on earth -- to pay off its own debt.

Barack Obama came into office blaming George W. Bush for his debt problems. He then went on a spending spree, increasing funding to every worthless social program imaginable and creating plenty of new ones. His most recent budget spends more than $3 trillion in taxpayer money that doesn't exist. Congress had to raise the debt ceiling from $12.4 trillion to $14.3 trillion just to pass it. And America's most important entitlement, Social Security, is in massive debt and scheduled to go bust in 2037, twenty years earlier than was initially predicted. A nation built on a bubble of debt will eventually see it pop. It's time to start asking the question: Can America survive Barack Obama?

Stick to Amtrak, Joe

When is Joe Biden's motorcade going to stop injuring people? The drivers shuttling around Barack Obama's vice president have racked up a series of accidents that would make the worst of the Kennedys blush.

The most recent came yesterday in Vancouver when an accident damaged three of the vice president's vans. The van hit hardest was carrying former figure skating champion Peggy Fleming, former bobsledding champion Vonetta Flowers, and hockey Olympian Mike Eruzione. Fleming and Vonetta were hurt, although not badly.

This is nothing new for Biden's reckless drivers. In November, two more vehicles in his motorcade killed a pedestrian just outside Washington, DC at 2:30 in the morning. A week later, a car in the motorcade collided with another car in Manhattan while rounding a corner. Meanwhile another of the vice president's escorts caused an accident in Albuquerque that same week.

Note to readers: If a loud Irishman with hair plugs in a limousine offers you a ride, don't get in. If Obama is going to insist that we all drive smaller cars, shouldn't he make sure his veep's vans and SUVs stop hurting people?

Van Jones: I'm baaaaaaack

You would think that Barack Obama's buddy and former green jobs czar Van Jones would know when to retire in disgrace. But despite Jones' insanity, he keeps popping up at left-wing organizations who are happy to host him. (It must be nice to be a liberal.) He also works at a popular environmental group called the Apollo Alliance.

Jones' most recent invitation comes from the Harvard Club for an event in New York City to discuss job creation. Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will also be speaking on the panel. Gillibrand is what passes in New York for a "moderate Democrat," meaning she was a sponsor of Card Check legislation and was one of seven senators to vote against defunding ACORN. She defended herself by saying, "Irrespective of what Glenn Beck says, Van Jones is a national expert on creating good-paying jobs in emerging renewable energy markets."

This is the equivalent of declaring, "Irrespective of what Keith Olbermann says, David Duke is a national expert on the history of the American South." Jones is an avowed Marxist who served in an organization seeking to overthrow the government and who believes George W. Bush caused 9/11. He isn't an expert in anything because there's no such thing as "green jobs". No one knows how to create them or even what the hell they are exactly. Jones is nothing more than a radical friend of Obama's who likes to talk, and Gillibrand ought to be ashamed to share the stage with him.

Surprise! More wicked hypocrisy from the Justice Department

Today's instance comes from the Civil Rights Division (another shocker). The DOJ has refused to investigate ACORN. It has swept the Black Panthers' revolting voter intimidation in Philadelphia under the rug. But when some loser at his computer threatens La Raza, the big guns come out.

Vincent Johnson of Brick, New Jersey stands charged with sending threatening e-mails to several pro-amnesty illegal immigrant groups, including La Raza, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, and the League of United Latin American Citizens. The e-mails contain violent threats, but they could have easily been handled by state police. "Nutjob Sends Threatening E-mails" isn't exactly a shocking development. Most political organizations get them every day.

But when Obama's cronies at La Raza are under attack, you can be sure the entire Civil Rights Division will swing into action. (Republican voters in Philadelphia are a different story.) Of course, this entire case has nothing to do with civil rights. The e-mails threaten illegal aliens, not Hispanics. File this under "Hypocrisy" while we stare at our watches and wait for the DOJ to lift a finger against ACORN.

Obama's getting even with James O'Keefe for that ACORN expose

There's something very sinister going on with the arrest of James O'Keefe. Barack Obama's government seems to have served up a galling miscarriage of justice.

O'Keefe is the journalist who sneaked a hidden camera into ACORN offices while posing as a pimp. Along with partner Hannah Giles, who was dressed as a prostitute, he tried to obtain tax benefits for his supposed prostitution agency. In almost all of the videos, the fine folks at ACORN were more than willing to help the pair break the law. O'Keefe was later arrested in what seemed to be another sting gone horribly wrong in which he and three others, disguised as telephone repairmen, tried to gain access to Sen. Mary Landreiu's office.

O'Keefe's latest actions were dumb and possibly criminal...but nothing compared to the way Obama's government has treated the case. Here's what we know so far.

-- After his arrest, O'Keefe sat in prison for 28 hours without access to an attorney, which is against the law.

-- During that time, the FBI "accidentally leaked" an affadavit about the case to the press. This is despite the fact that FBI documents are rarely leaked like this. Investigators could never put a case together if the public was being constantly alerted to their actions.

-- Almost immediately, the press began reporting that O'Keefe was accused of trying to wiretap Landrieu's phones, even though the affadavit made no mention of wiretap charges. A few newsmen called it "Watergate Jr." Countless newspapers later had to issue corrections.

-- Shortly after the scandal broke, the head prosecutor for the case, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, suddenly recused himself for reasons unknown. Andrew Breitbart, who has sponsored much of O'Keefe's journalism in the past, accused Letten of leaking the affadavit.

-- Five days earlier, Sen. David Vitter, a Republican but an ally of Letten's, had met with Attorney General Eric Holder. Vitter had been concerned that the Justice Department would try to replace Letten. Vitter came out of the meeting saying he was satisfied that Letten would be allowed to keep his job.

Now today comes news that ACORN may be tied up in this twisted web. The criminal group has been circling a petition asking supporters to "chip-in $52 to help us keep the pressure on O’Keefe and his corporate paymasters." So ACORN is applying "pressure" in the O'Keefe case? We already know the group has a direct line to the White House through Political Director Patrick Gaspard, whose number is in Bertha Lewis' rolodex.

Meanwhile, Obama's Justice Department looms in the background, which has tripped over itself to hurt O'Keefe, but can't be bothered to look into ACORN or voter intimidation by the Black Panthers.

So what the hell is going on here? Was Letten allowed to keep his job after he leaked the affadavit? Did ACORN lean on the White House to persecute O'Keefe? And why was O'Keefe denied an attorney for more than a day? It all looks like an outrageous miscarriage of justice so Obama and company can get revenge on O'Keefe.

Barack Obama gets Serious about cronyism

General Electric isn't the only company profiting from Obama's environmental nuttiness. Here's a conflict of interest so outrageous it will make your head spin.

Cathy Zoi is the Assistant Secretary for Energy. She's a first class green loony who has said the United States needs to "reorient the economy" to produce more green buildings. And if that doesn't work, then there's always "neighborhood-by-neighborhood mobilization that may be like the Peace Corps meets the military where literally SWAT teams go into neighborhoods and they retrofit every single house and every single business on Main Street."

Yes, Obama's assistant secretary of energy has actually called for a Green Gestapo to kick people's doors down. If only that were the worst of it.

Zoi is married to Robin Roy, a top executive at Serious Materials, which manufactures "sustainable green building materials." Zoi and Roy (yeah, really) own 120,000 stock options at Serious. Specifically, Serious Materials is responsible for manufacturing green windows, which are apparently all the rage in the new green economy. Obama is a huge fan of the idea, so much so that he allotted $16.8 billion in the stimulus bill for green programs, including a $1,500 tax credit for any homeowner who installs energy-efficient windows like the ones made by Serious Materials. The bureaucrat overseeing the distribution of that stimulus money? Cathy Zoi.

In fact, it looks like the Obama administration practically created Serious Materials. Prior to Obama's green binge, Serious was just a small manufacturing company in California. But with Zoi whispering in his ear, Obama gave the company front-and-center attention, holding a 22-minute press conference to praise Serious and beginning an address to the nation by mentioning the company. Joe Biden called Serious the "poster child" for a green recovery. Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious, has said that his company is "very close" to both the White House and the Department of Energy. Business for Serious has since exploded.

For more, the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota has put together a brilliant video documenting Obama's disgusting cronyism with Serious Materials.

Again, when it comes to Barack Obama, follow the money every time. For anti-capitalists, these left-wing crazies sure like to make a quick buck. Too bad it's with our tax dollars.

Big Labor throws a temper tantrum

Oops, the SEIU and the AFL-CIO are pissed off. We all know that BHO has spent much of his first year sucking up to his union cronies. He nominated a radical Secretary of Labor, reduced transparency requirements for labor unions, kicked back huge amounts of stimulus money to the unions, rewrote the laws governing government contracts to give labor ultimate control, tried to ram Card Check legislation through Congress, invited SEIU president Andy Stern to the White House every other week, called off Bush administration-era investigations into union officials, and practically let labor write a compromise on health care reform.

But it's just not enough. After Craig Becker, Obama's nutty nominee for the National Labor Relations Board was rejected by the Senate this week, the unions are blind with rage. John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, bleated, “Here’s labor getting thrown under the bus again. It’s really frustrating for labor, and a lot of union people are thinking: We put out big time in money and volunteers and support. And it seems like the little things that could have been aren’t being done.”

It's almost tempting to defend Barack Obama here. What more does he have to do to satisfy these people? Fortunately, if Big Labor remains petulant and whiny every time they don't get their way, Obama could lose his most potent and evil allies. Without Big Labor's big pockets, Obama would be just another Chicago pol.

Obama's mentor Quentin Young: Radical abortionist

In order to know Barack Hussein Obama, you must understand the radical left-wing activists who shaped his upbringing. One of these radicals is Dr. Quentin Young, a Marxist former physician from Chicago. Young is the so-called "father of single-payer health care" in America. According to lefty journalist John Nichols, "Obama...learned about single-payer health care from his old friend and neighbor Dr. Quentin Young, the longtime coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program." Young was present at the famous meeting at Bill Ayers' house in 1995 that launched Obama's political career.

Now the tireless blogger New Zeal has uncovered evidence that Young was much more than that. In 1970, Chicago radical Mike Soto testified before Congress in the aftermath of the Weathermen's "Days of Rage" riot in Chicago. Soto said of Young, "He is the movement doctor. He has taken care of me at times...He is also an abortionist doctor, takes care of abortions...I was given medicine by him without prescription. Shots and things like that..."

In 1996, about 50 radicals attended a reception for abortionists in Chicago hosted by former Students for a Democratic Society leader and later Obama supporter Mike James. One of the celebrated speakers at the event was none other than Quentin Young.

By the way, recall that Soto gave his testimony before Congress in 1970...three years before abortion was legalized by the Roe v. Wade decision.

So in addition to Marxists like Frank Marshall Davis and terrorists like Bill Ayers, we can now add an outlaw radical abortionist Chicago doctor to Obama's list of mentors.

GE: We bring evil to life!

Remember those commercials from the 1980s that showed average Americans using General Electric products while a singer crooned in the background, "GE: We bring good things to life"? They've come a long, long way.

Yesterday we reported on Obama's incestuous relationship with GE which gets kickbacks from BHO by supporting his agenda. Today brings news that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and crazed Climate Change Czar Carol Browner are hunkered down in a meeting with lobbyists. The subject is how to bring the president's failing cap-and-tax bill back to life. Only two CEOs attended the meeting, and one was GE's Jeffrey Immelt.

Yes, the most transparent administration in American history is holding closed-door meetings with powerful CEOs to discuss how to screw over the rest of it. Immelt has good reason to support the cap-and-tax nonsense. GE's so-called "green business" made the company $17 billion in 2008, a 21% increase over the previous year. (Numbers for 2009 are not yet available.) Most recently, GE secured a $1.4 billion contract to build a 30 square mile wind farm in Oregon, the largest on the planet.

Meanwhile GE continues stroking Obama's back. Last night, MSNBC talking head Keith Olbermann nearly lost his cookies attacking conservatives who disagree with Obama on global warming.

It's all about money. Follow it, and you'll usually find Barack Hussein Obama lurking somewhere in the shadows. Now, thanks to his administration, GE has gone from being a company as American as apple pie to a rotten apple carrying out the will of the state.

Obama spies on praying protesters

Last year, it was revealed that Barack Obama's Department of Homeland Security was conducting an investigation into "right-wing extremist" groups. The administration quickly assured us that this was completely harmless, and wouldn't be used to intimidate critics of Obama.

It lied.

Today came the news that DHS put together a threat assessment on pro-life activists praying rosaries in front of a hospital in Wisconsin.

"The assessment came before an expected rally last year in response to the University of Wisconsin Hospital board decided to allow abortions.

In February 2009, pro-life advocates planned to protest the hospital's decision to open up the new Madison Surgery Center to abortions.

The Associated Press reported today that the department said it 'destroyed all of the copies of the assessment after an internal review found it violated intelligence gathering guidelines about 'protest groups which posed no threat to homeland security.'"

DHS apparently destroyed the report, but the Middleton Police Department in Wisconsin still has a copy. They're refusing to release it because they were ordered not to...by Obama's Department of Justice.

Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, is a notorious incompetent whose agency couldn't stop a terrorist with a bomb in his pants, even when warned by his dad. But somehow Napolitano has the time and resources to spy on pro-life prayer vigils. It's time she got a kick in the pants.

NBC jumps in bed with Obama

As Barack Obama's fortunes and poll numbers fall, the commentators over at cable network MSNBC have been hitting the roof. Over the past month, Chris Matthews has compared the GOP to the Khmer Rouge, Ed Schultz has encouraged Massachusetts Democrats to try to vote more than once, and Keith Olbermann has called Scott Brown "an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, teabagging supporter of violence against woman and against politicians with whom he disagrees."

MSNBC has been a ratings loser for Barack Obama's entire presidency, yet its hosts keep sucking up to the president and attacking his critics. Even the supposed "hard news" reporters on NBC, like Andrea Mitchell and David Gregory, spout left-wing garbage. It's no coincidence. NBC has become a propaganda shop for Obama because Obama is offering kickbacks to NBC.

MSNBC is part of NBC which is owned by General Electric. GE's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, is a long-time Obama supporter who has expressed support for the president's cap-and-tax baloney. His lip service has paid off. Since Obama was elected, Immelt has been appointed to the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board and to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve.

Before his promotion to CEO of GE in 2000, Immelt was head of GE Medical Services, more commonly known as GE Healthcare. As an economic advisor to the president during the health care debate, CEO of a company with a health care division, and the former head of that very health care division, Immelt represents a flaming conflict of interest. Additionally, the president's stimulus set aside billions of dollars to fund the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. HITECH requires medical providers to hand over patient information to the federal government. Shortly after the stimulus was passed, GE Healthcare sent out a press release announcing a new program called Stimulus Simplicity that would help hospitals adopt electronic medical records. GE stood to make heaps of money from this initiative.

Then there was the behind-the-scenes lobbying by GE to apply for a government program that "sought to unfreeze credit markets by guaranteeing debt sold by banking firms," according to the Washington Post. GE initially didn't qualify because, as you may have noticed, GE is not a bank. But thanks to a little strings-pulling by Jeffrey Immelt, the Obama administration loosened the rules. "As a result, GE has joined major banks collectively saving billions of dollars by raising money for their operations at lower interest rates," the Post reported. Even though, again, GE is not even a damn bank.

This is classic Obama cronyism on a massive scale. Jeffrey Immelt and his commentators on MSNBC praise Barack Obama every night, and in return Immelt gets appointed to prestigious positions and his company gets crooked financial deals. Remember this next time you turn on one of MSNBC's political programs. The entire network has been bought off by Barack Obama.

More fearmongering from the First Lady on obesity

Yesterday, you'll recall that Barack Obama established a creepy task force to battle obesity. For reasons unknown, Obama put his haughty wife Michelle in charge of the entire initiative. The First Lady immediately began freaking out the nation about fat people.

“A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year,” Mrs. Obama said. “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.”

My God, obesity is a bank-busting epidemic that endangers our national security! How something like obesity that isn't a sickness can possibly be an epidemic isn't clear. Also not clear is how this is an urgent national security threat. Michelle Obama's husband twiddled his thumbs while democratic protesters were slaughtered in Iran. He sat by while that country built and tested nuclear-capable bombs. He scolded Republicans for being outraged about the attempted bombing on Christmas Day. But somehow obesity is a threat to our national security. This president's priorities are dangerously mixed up.

Obama's health police swing into action

At his State of the Union address, Barack Obama promised to tackle the problem of childhood obesity. Today, he signed a presidential memorandum creating a creepy Orwellian "task force" to think up ideas on how to keep kids from getting fat.

The memorandum is one of the most sinister documents Obama has ever released, and that's saying something. According to the president, "My Administration is committed to redoubling our efforts to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, engages families and communities, and mobilizes both public and private sector resources." How exactly does one "solve" the "problem" of childhood obesity? Send SWAT teams to kick down Burger King doors? In Great Britain, the government sticks a camera in your living room if they don't think you're parenting properly. Is that what's in our future?

Obesity might seem like a personal problem that's none of the government's business. Not so in Barack Obama's America. As Obama warns in his memorandum, "Without effective intervention, many more children will endure serious illnesses that will put a strain on our health-care system." This is the road to socialism mapped out as clearly as you'll ever see. Obama is pushing for a government-run health care system. If that happens, everyone will be subsidizing everyone else's health problems. If you're overweight, you'll become a strain on the system.

What a chilling reminder of Obama's nanny statism. As Rudy Giuliani said today, "I find it strange this administration is uncomfortable saying 'war on terrorism' but is eager to embrace a 'war on obesity.'"

Two serious setbacks for Obama

It's easy to get discouraged about what Barack Obama is doing, but there's always good news out there too. Today, Obama suffered two crucial defeats that he'll remember for a long time.

First, Craig Becker is a goner. Becker was appointed by Obama to serve on the National Labor Relations Board and his nomination has been tied up in the Senate for months. He's a bona fide pro-unions extremist (always a huge surprise in this administration) who wrote in 1993 that workers should be forced to unionize. Today, Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska, announced that he'll join a Republican filibuster of Becker's nomination. With Scott Brown opposing Becker as well, this is one left-wing loony Democrats don't have the votes to confirm.

Second, ObamaCare is all but dead. This news comes with the actual death of Democratic Rep. John Murtha. Murtha was Pennsylvania's longest-serving congressman and may he rest in peace. But without his vote, and thanks to the premature retirement of Rep. Robert Wexler and the defection of Rep. Joseph Cao, Nancy Pelosi doesn't have the votes to ram the health care bill through the House of Representatives again. Of course, never count out the devious Pelosi. But it looks like the drama of ObamaCare, which sent Obama's approval rating into a free fall and got Scott Brown elected in Massachusetts, is mostly over.