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To: JBTFD who wrote (306331)	7/25/2011 9:50:00 AM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 306849

JBD's teleprompter 'president' said "Don't jump to conclusions" after after the allah akbar yelling killer killed at Fort Hood.

To: JBTFD who wrote (306331)	7/25/2011 2:08:55 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 306849

Shafted Delphi Retirees Suing Treasury, Auto Task Force .................................................................................................................................................................... National Legal & Policy Center ^ \| July 25, 2011 \| Mark Modica http://nlpc.org/stories/2011/07/25/gm-bankruptcy-fallout-â€“-delphi-retirees-suing-treasury-and-auto-task-force The unprecedented intrusion of the executive branch of the US government into the American auto industry when the Obama Administration orchestrated the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcy processes is now leading to unprecedented responses. Groups that were clearly discriminated against and had their rights subordinated to politically powerful unions may actually have a winnable case against our own government as lawsuits are being brought against the US Treasury Dept. and others. The Delphi salaried retirees who saw their pension benefits disintegrate after the GM bankruptcy are now suing the US Treasury, the Auto Task Force, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and ex-Auto Task Force heads, Steve Rattner and Ron Bloom. The first hearing against the Treasury Dept. and others will occur on August 17th. The basis of the suit is that the Obama Administration wrongfully used taxpayer dollars to pick winners and losers in the GM bankruptcy. I had a conversation with one of the lead plaintiffs, Chuck Cunningham, who explained how there was blatant favoritism and discrimination in regards to pension benefits for groups that should have had equal standing. Mr. Cunningham, who is a retired senior executive of Delphi, informed me that the Delphi salaried workers' benefit fund was one of the highest funded plans that were taken over by the Pension Benefits Guarantee Company (an independent agency of the US government administered by Presidential cabinet members) during bankruptcy processes. Other groups whose pensions were taken over included the UAW, GM salaried workers, International Union of Electrical Workers and the United Steelworkers Union. Can you take a guess at which groups faired the best? While the pension funds involved should have been treated equally, politically powerful cronies of the Obama Administration were favored through a process called "topping up." Treasury instructed GM to use taxpayer money to top up pension payments for the UAW, GM salaried workers, the IUE and the steelworkers' union while Delphi salaried workers lost the majority of their benefits. The favored groups lost none of their pension payments, courtesy of the US taxpayers, and retained health care benefits. The non-politically connected Delphi workers lost 70% of their pensions and all of their health care benefits. A congressional committee has been investigating the unfair treatment that Delphi retirees received compared to other groups. According to Mr. Cunningham, while he was not at liberty to discuss congressional actions, the investigations will continue. Thus far, much evidence from closed door meetings between Treasury and the PBGC has been withheld from Delphi plaintiffs. The plaintiffs also will be releasing a four page document described as a "timeline of deception." The American people should pay close attention to the Delphi case. The auto bailouts are an ugly chapter in American history and should be viewed as such. Actions taken by the Obama Administration were manipulative and displayed a clear plan to redistribute wealth from taxpayers and less favored groups, like GM bondholders and Delphi retirees, to politically powerful friends of Obama. The claim that these actions were taken with the sole intention of saving jobs is false as evidenced by the Auto Tasks Force's demands to close thousands of dealerships during the process. The intentions were to save UAW jobs and reward the groups with the most political clout. In the words of former head of the Auto Task Force, Ron Bloom, they "did it all for the unions." When the Obama Administration presents its case that the auto bailouts were a huge success, they are relying on an arrogant assumption that the majority of voters will not be paying close enough attention to the discrimination and unethical conduct that transpired. I don't expect that most Americans will be too concerned with the losses incurred by Delphi retirees or GM bondholders, but there is a much more important reason to be concerned. If the executive branch of our government can seize assets from any one group of individuals and redistribute the wealth as they deem fit, all Americans are at risk. Congress should be unrelenting in its investigations and America should pay attention. Most of all, the unprecedented actions that took place should never have a chance of being repeated. Mark Modica is an NLPC Associate Fellow

To: JBTFD who wrote (306331)	7/26/2011 10:58:42 AM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

WASHINGTON POST: More Americans unhappy with Obama on economy, jobs washingtonpost.com

To: JBTFD who wrote (306331)	7/26/2011 11:07:24 AM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 306849

New polls confirm Obama's Democratic base crumbles LA TIMES July 26, 2011 latimesblogs.latimes.com With all of the spotlights on the high-stakes debt maneuverings by President Obama and Speaker John Boehner the last few days, few people noticed what Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders said: "I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition." This is political treason 469 days before a presidential election. Yes, yes, this is just a crusty old New England independent for now, albeit one who caucuses loyally with Harry Reid's Democratic posse. But while most of the media focuses on Republican Boehner and the tea party pressures on him to raise the debt limit not one Liberty dime, Sanders' mumblings are a useful reminder that hidden in the shadows of this left-handed presidency are militant progressives like Sanders who don't want to cut one Liberty dime of non-Pentagon spending. Closely read the transcript of Obama's Monday statement on the debt talks stalemate. The f ull transcript is right here. And the full transcript of Boehner's response is right here. An Unbalanced Approach to a Balanced Approach Using political forensics, notice any clues, perhaps telltale code words that reveal to whom he was really addressing his Monday message? Clearly, it wasn't congressional Republicans -- or Democrats, for that matter. The nation's top talker uttered 4,526 words in those remarks. He said "balanced approach" seven times, three times in a single paragraph. That's the giveaway. Obviously, David Plouffe and the incumbent's strategists have been polling phrases for use in this ongoing debt duel, which is more about 2012 now than 2011. "Balanced approach" is no sweet talk for old Bernie or tea sippers on the other side. Obama is running for the center already, aiming for the independents who played such a crucial role in his victorious coalition in 2008. They were the first to start abandoning the good ship Obama back in 2009 when all the ex-state senator could do was talk about healthcare, when jobs and the economy were the peoples' priority. Democrats lost the New Jersey and Virginia governor's offices largely as a result of that and Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts. And then came last November's midterms when voters chose the approach of that historic pack of House-bound Republicans. Republicans have their own poll problems in some areas. But even without an identified GOP presidential alternative, we've had a plethora of recent polls showing Obama's fading job approval, especially on the economy. Now, comes a new ABC News/Washington Post poll with a whole harvest of revelations, among them, strong indications that Obama's liberal base is starting to crumble. Among the nuggets: Despite those hundreds of billions of blown stimulus dollars and almost as many upturn promises from Joe Biden, 82% of Americans still say their job market is struggling. Ninety percent rate the economy negatively, including half who give it the worst rating of "poor." Are You Better Off Today Than Jan. 20, 2009? A slim 15% claim to be "getting ahead financially," half what it was in 2006. Fully 27% say they're falling behind financially. That's up 6 points since February. A significant majority (54%) says they've been forced to change their lifestyle significantly as a result of the economic times -- and 60% of them are angry, up from 44%. To be sure, 30 months after he returned to home cooking, George W. Bush still gets majority blame for the economy. But here's the breaking news for wishful Democrats: George W. Bush isn't running for anything but exercise. "More than a third of Americans now believe that President Obama’s policies are hurting the economy, and confidence in his ability to create jobs is sharply eroding among his base," the Post reports. Strong support among liberal Democrats for Obama's jobs record has plummeted 22 points from 53% down below a third. African Americans who believe the president's measures helped the economy have plunged from 77% to barely half. Obama's overall job approval on the economy has slid below 40% for the first time, with 57% disapproving. And strong disapprovers outnumber approvers by better than two-to-one.

To: JBTFD who wrote (306331)	7/26/2011 11:12:45 AM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 306849

Video: CNN notices how out-of-touch Obama is ....................................................................................................................... July 26, 2011 by Ed Morrissey hotair.com Has the media begun to notice the wheels coming off at the White House? First, Politico notices that Barack Obama still hasn’t offered any solutions despite the late hour of the fiscal crisis at hand. Last night, CNN’s Gloria Borger noticed that Obama seems out of the loop on the actual proposals floating around the Beltway, too. Obama tried to pump up support for tax increases, which makes him a chorus of … one: Of course, Obama tried to avoid using the phrase “tax increases,” instead using the catchphrase “balanced approach.” However, he did give a Rosetta Stone key to this euphemism in this passage, the only place where he says “tax increases”: Keep in mind that under a balanced approach, the 98% of Americans who make under $250,000 would see no tax increases at all. None. In fact, I want to extend the payroll tax cut for working families. What we’re talking about under a balanced approach is asking Americans whose incomes have gone up the most over the last decade – millionaires and billionaires – to share in the sacrifice everyone else has to make. So indeed, “balanced approach” means “tax increases.” Obama wants to tax the top 2% in order to balance the budget, a campaign line that Obama has used since 2007. Unfortunately, that won’t solve the problem, not even if we taxed the top 2% at a 100% rate. The Wall Street Journal researched this in 2009, using data from 2006, at the peak of the last expansion, when everyone was doing well: Consider the IRS data for 2006, the most recent year that such tax data are available and a good year for the economy and “the wealthiest 2%.” Roughly 3.8 million filers had adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 in 2006. (That’s about 7% of all returns; the data aren’t broken down at the $250,000 point.) These people paid about $522 billion in income taxes, or roughly 62% of all federal individual income receipts. The richest 1% — about 1.65 million filers making above $388,806 — paid some $408 billion, or 39.9% of all income tax revenues, while earning about 22% of all reported U.S. income. … But let’s not stop at a 42% top rate; as a thought experiment, let’s go all the way. A tax policy that confiscated 100% of the taxable income of everyone in America earning over $500,000 in 2006 would only have given Congress an extra $1.3 trillion in revenue. That’s less than half the 2006 federal budget of $2.7 trillion and looks tiny compared to the more than $4 trillion Congress will spend in fiscal 2010. Even taking every taxable “dime” of everyone earning more than $75,000 in 2006 would have barely yielded enough to cover that $4 trillion. Needless to say, even a smaller amount of confiscation would divert capital from actual business-expanding enterprises to government bureaucracies, further slowing, stopping, or even reversing the meager level of growth we have now. That would create a decline in revenue that would probably equal or best the supposed windfall that would come from increasing the top rate to 39.5%, effectively making the deficit situation worse. That’s the reason no one but Obama is talking about tax increases any longer — they won’t solve the problem. Only substantial reform in federal spending, including and especially entitlements, will address the fiscal catastrophe we face. Instead of showing leadership, Obama is still running his class-warfare 2008 campaign.

To: JBTFD who wrote (306331)	7/29/2011 3:55:02 PM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Muslim soldier who planned another Fort Hood attack defiant in 1st court appearance ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press Jul 29, 2010 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AWOL_SOLDIER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-29-14-01-22 WACO, Texas (AP) -- An AWOL soldier accused of plotting to launch an attack on Fort Hood was defiant during his first court appearance on Friday, yelling out the name of the Army psychiatrist blamed in the 2009 deadly shooting rampage at the same Texas base. Federal prosecutors charged 21-year-old Pfc. Naser Abdo with possessing a destructive device, two days after he was arrested at a motel about 3 miles from the front gate of Fort Hood. He told authorities he planned to construct two bombs in the motel room using gunpowder and shrapnel packed into pressure cookers and then detonate the explosives at a restaurant frequented by soldiers, court documents released Friday said. Abdo, who had requested conscientious objector status because his Muslim beliefs prevented him from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, refused to stand up during Friday's hearing when everyone in the court was asked to rise for the judge. As he was being led out of the courtroom, he yelled out "Iraq 2006" and the name of the 14-year-old Iraqi girl who was raped and murdered in 2006 by a U.S. soldier. He then shouted: "Nidal Hasan Fort Hood 2009." Hasan, an Army major and psychiatrist, is charged in the 2009 deaths of 13 people at Fort Hood in the worst mass shooting ever on a U.S. military installation. Abdo's words in court were a sharp contrast to an essay he wrote last year as the first anniversary of the Fort Hood shootings approached and as he petitioned for conscientious objector status. In the essay, obtained by The Associated Press, Abdo said the attacks ran against his beliefs as a Muslim and were "an act of aggression by a man and not by Islam." Abdo was approved as a conscientious objector this year, but that status was put on hold after he was charged with possessing child pornography. He went absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Ky., during the July 4 weekend. On July 3, Abdo tried to buy a gun at a store near Fort Campbell, according to the company that owns the store. Police in Killeen, where Fort Hood is located, said their break in the case came Tuesday from Guns Galore LLC - the same gun store where Hasan bought a pistol used in the 2009 attack. Store clerk Greg Ebert said Abdo arrived by taxi and bought 6 pounds of smokeless gunpowder, three boxes of shotgun ammunition and a magazine for a semi-automatic pistol. "We would probably be here today, giving you a different briefing, had he not been stopped," said Killeen Police Chief Dennis Baldwin, who called the plan "a terror plot." Authorities said they found two clocks, spools of auto wire, a Winchester .40 caliber ammunition and a handgun in a backpack, according to court documents. They also discovered an article titled "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom," the same title of a how-to article featured in Inspire, the English-language magazine by the terror group based in Yemen, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. It was not immediately known if Abdo had any connections to terror groups or Hasan. He was ordered held without bond, and his court-appointed attorney did not plan to comment Friday. James Branum, an Oklahoma attorney who had been representing Abdo on the child pornography charges, said Friday he had not heard from Abdo. He said Abdo was "stressed and anxious" about the child pornography charges but "I didn't see any indication he would do anything like this. ... I would not have taken the case if I had any indication of this kind of mindset." Several writings by Abdo obtained by the AP portray a devout infantry soldier struggling with his faith while facing the prospect of deployment and what he felt was the scorn of his peers. "Overall, as a Muslim I feel that I will not be able to carry out my military duties due to my conscientious objection," Abdo wrote in his application for conscientious objector status. "Therefore, unless I separate myself from the military, I would potentially be putting the soldiers I work with in jeopardy. FBI, police and military officials have said little about whether or how they were tracking Abdo since he left Fort Campbell. Patrick J. Connor, special agent in charge with Army Criminal Investigation Command at Fort Hood, said efforts had been made to locate him after an arrest warrant was issued but he would not elaborate. Abdo grew up in Garland, a Dallas suburb about 170 miles from Fort Hood. In his essay, which he sent to the AP last year as he made his conscientious-objector plea, he said his mother is Christian and his father is Muslim, and that he decided to follow Islam when he was 17. He wrote that he joined the Army believing he could serve in the military and honor his religion, but he ended up having to endure insults and threats from fellow soldiers over his religion during basic and advanced training. He said life was better after he arrived at his first duty station, but that he studied Islam more closely as he neared deployment to learn "whether going to war was the right thing to do Islamically." "I began to understand and believe that only God can give legitimacy to war and not humankind," he wrote. "That's when I realized my conscience would not allow me to deploy." His application was filed in June 2010. The Army's Conscientious Objector Review board denied his request, but the deputy assistant secretary of the Army Review Boards Agency recommended he be separated from the Army as a conscientious objector. The discharge was delayed when he was charged with possession of child pornography on May 13. Fort Campbell civilian spokesman Bob Jenkins said Abdo had been aware of the child pornography investigation since November.