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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (43447)	5/25/2010 8:02:04 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Obama Asks Congress to Approve $30 Billion For Small Business Loans May 25, 2010 2:21 p.m. EST Tom Ramstack - AHN News Correspondent allheadlinenews.com Washington, DC, United States (AHN) - President Obama urged Congress Tuesday to approve a bill promptly granting tax incentives and greater accessibility to loans for small businesses. The $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund would be the next step in Obama’s economic stimulus program that started last year. “This legislation should ensure that credit-worthy small business owners can get the capital they need to expand and create jobs,” Obama told business owners attending a National Small Business Week reception at the White House. The $30 billion in loans in the measure would be distributed through community banks. The House Financial Services Committee passed legislation last week that eliminates capital gains taxes for many small businesses. Getting the same measure through the Senate is more difficult. The Senate bill joins the small business lending fund into a single piece of legislation that includes modifications to the estate tax. The Senate has been unable to agree on the estate tax bill, which has held up progress on approving the small business package. There might still be hope in the Senate. Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) said he wants to move a small business incentive bill through the Senate more quickly, which could involve separating the legislation from the estate tax. Obama asked the Senate to break the deadlock in his comments to the business owners Tuesday. “I urge both chambers to act on these proposals as soon as possible,” he said. “This shouldn’t be a partisan issue.” The legislation represents an attempt to save businesses that Obama described as “some of the hardest hit by this recession.” Small businesses lost 2.4 million jobs from mid-2007 through the end of 2008, according to White House reports. Over longer periods, they traditionally create about two-thirds of new jobs. Now they lack access to loans as credit markets remain frozen from recession. “It’s been difficult for small business owners to take out the loans they need to open up shop,” Obama said.

To: TimF who wrote (43447)	6/3/2010 8:56:40 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71588

Lefties take anti-freedom of speech push to FCC By: Mark Tapscott Editorial Page Editor June 3, 2010 Which of the following statements is true? A. Common Cause is all about fighting corruption in politics. B. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is devoted exclusively to using credible public policy research to advance the status of African Americans. C. The United States Hispanic Leadership Institute exists solely to encourage greater empowerment and civic responsibility among Latinos in America. D. These groups also seek repeal of the First Amendment's guarantee of your freedom of speech. The correct answer is D. Officials with those three groups -- and the other 28 leftist nonprofit activist groups that are also members of the National Hispanic Media Coalition -- will scream to high heaven about being labeled enemies of freedom of speech. But their recent petition to the Federal Communications Commission proves otherwise. The NHMC asked the FCC last month to move on the coalition's official petition in 2009 that the bureaucrats open an official investigation into "the extent and effects of hate speech in the media, including the likely link between hate speech and hate crimes, and to explore non-regulatory ways to counteract its negative impacts." (Emphasis added) That, my friends, is a classic illustration of Orwellian doublespeak. It fosters the illusion that words without action can by definition be criminal, then hides this pernicious notion behind a disingenuous request that a government regulatory agency not regulate an alleged criminal activity supposedly within its purview. Here's how the coalition justified its 2009 petition: "Hate speech against vulnerable groups is pervasive in our media -- it is not limited to a few isolated instances or any one media platform. Indeed, many large mainstream media corporations regularly air hate speech, and it is prolific on the Internet. "Hate speech takes various forms, from words advocating violence to those creating a climate of hate towards vulnerable groups. Cumulatively, hate speech creates an environment of hate and prejudice that legitimizes violence against its targets." Why is the coalition reiterating its call to the FCC now a year later? Because "over the past year, hate, extremism and misinformation have been on the rise." The coalition trots out two proofs of this supposed rise, including the latest Southern Poverty Law Center warning of a 54 percent increase "in the number of hate groups in the U.S." That warning sounds ominous to those who aren't familiar with the SPLC. But, as my Examiner colleague Byron York recently pointed out, the SPLC issues the same warning on average about every three years. In 1992, for example, SPLC pegged the alleged increase at 27 percent. If SPLC data was credible, all Americans would have joined "hate groups" years ago. Second, the NHMC notes that "just last week" Arizona's new immigration law sparked "yet another firestorm of hate speech against Latinos." In other words, what NHMC means by "hate speech" is speech uttered by "critics of illegal immigration." So, people who speak favorably of measures like Arizona's law -- roughly 60 percent of the American people, including a majority in Massachusetts -- are thereby guilty of criminal acts. But, wait a minute, if speech favoring laws like Arizona's immigration measure "legitimizes violence against its targets," isn't it irresponsible for NHMC to encourage the FCC not to act against it? The truth is, as the NHMC well knows, there is no such thing as a "non-regulatory" approach to a problem for bureaucrats. What these people on the left really want is to bring down the full force of government to silence those who disagree with them. That urge is the very heart of tyranny. Mark Tapscott is editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner and proprietor of Tapscott's Copy Desk blog on washingtonexaminer.com. Read more at the Washington Examiner: washingtonexaminer.com