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Politics : How Quickly Can Obama Totally Destroy the US? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: simplicity who wrote (250)	11/28/2012 9:39:14 AM
From: MakeMyDay	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 16547

Nice work!

To: simplicity who wrote (250)	11/29/2012 10:57:50 AM
From: joseffy	1 Recommendation Respond to of 16547

Amazingly Convenient: Lefties 'Discover' That Susan Rice Has 'Conflict of Interest' Energy Investments by Tom Blumer November 28, 2012 newsbusters.org In what would appear to be a sure sign that the Obama administration's leftist allies, perhaps with the President's go-ahead, are preparing to throw current U.N. ambassador Susan Rice under the bus, Alex Guillen at the Politico reported at 6:14 p.m. on information that has from all appearances been public for at least three months, but which the National Resources Defense Council's On Earth blog noted about an hour earlier. Rice's offenses? She "holds significant investments in more than a dozen Canadian oil companies and banks that would stand to benefit from expansion of the North American tar sands industry and construction of the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline." That's indeed troubling, but it was just as troubling when leftists up to and including the editorialists at the Washington Post were accusing anyone objecting to Rice's potential nomination of being presumptively racist. Excerpts from Guillen's report follow the jump (bolds are mine): ... According to her most recent personal finance report, covering 2011 and filed in May 2012, Rice and her husband own between $300,002 and $600,000 in TransCanada stock. Those holdings brought them as much as $20,000 in income in 2011. Federal officials are required to disclose the range of an investment rather than the exact amount. Rice’s husband was born in Canada. TransCanada isn’t the only Canadian energy company in Rice’s portfolio. She also has investments in pipeline firm Enbridge, utility TransAlta and oil and natural gas companies Encana, Suncor and Cenovus. About a third of Rice’s personal wealth — an amount as high as $43.5 million — is invested in Canadian energy interests, according to On Earth. Rice has other holdings in Chesapeake Energy, Royal Dutch Shell, Devon Energy, Iberdrola, ATP Oil & Gas Corp. and Rio Tinto Limited. ... According to the Office of Government Ethics, federal officials holding significant amounts of stock conflicting with their duties must sell the stock, recuse themselves from the decision or set up a qualified trust. Well, if she sold the conflicting investments and threw her assets into a blind trust, that would solve the problem, right? Wrong -- or so claim the enviro-zealots: “It’s really amazing that they’re considering someone for secretary of State who has millions invested in these companies,” Bill McKibben told On Earth. “[Keystone XL] would be one of the first decisions she would make, and she’s not qualified to make an unbiased decision,” said Jane Kleeb, executive director of the anti-pipeline group Bold Nebraska. As stated earlier, this is way too convenient. The information which forms the basis for the story is at least three months old; the personal financial disclosure form involved ( PDF) had its final sign-off on August 17. Rice's nomination has been a known Obama administration agenda item for almost three weeks. And now it "just so happens" that an enviro blog discovers this supposedly damning information right after four different Republican Senators, including flaming moderate Susan Collins of Maine, have expressed grave reservations after private discussions with her, and the Politico's Guillen is right there just an hour later. Can you say "coordinated attack"? One more thing: As anyone who has followed sports would know, the surest sign that a coach or manager is in serious trouble is when the owner or general manager issues a "vote of confidence." Obama did that earlier this afternoon ("OBAMA CALLS EMBATTLED AMBASSADOR 'EXTRAORDINARY'"). A Rice withdrawal from consideration now based on the "new" information which is really old also has the added "benefit" of occurring without anyone being able to credit Republicans for having stopped her potential nomination. Susan Rice's potential nomination to be Secretary of State would appear to be on life support at best. newsbusters.org

To: simplicity who wrote (250)	12/3/2012 1:12:38 PM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16547

As Americans face a fiscal cliff, the Obamas make do with 54 Christmas trees By ANDREW MALCOLM 12/3/2012 news.investors.com Amazing how a reelection can reshape an incumbent's thinking about many things. Now safely ensconced in the White House for 49 more months, the Obamas have decorated the place with 54 Christmas trees this year. Even allowing for the usual Washington excesses with taxpayer money, that's a whole grove of Christmas trees. *"We have 54 trees in the White House," an excited Michelle Obama proudly told visitors the other day. "54!* That’s a lot of trees." In fact, the Obamas' 54 trees this year are almost 50% more Christmas trees than last year. That was during the campaign before Obama whispered a reminder to the Russians that he had to be careful until Nov. 6, when a victory would give him more "flexibility." Now, how much carbon do you suppose those 54 trees could be sequestering had they not been chopped by this green president? And no wonder Obama talked over the weekend about addressing tax increases before any of that annoying business about cutting spending to address this thing called the national debt, now having soared past $16.3 trillion.. In addition to 54 Christmas trees, Michelle Obama has overseen the placement of thousands of ornaments in public rooms. Many of the ornaments celebrate the Obama family dog, Bo, who seems to have become the First Family's favorite symbol of Christmas. Other decorations, including on the more prominent trees, were made by children in schools on U.S. military bases. There's several hundred yards of garlands and wreaths all over the hallways and rooms. And, of course, a traditional gingerbread house that has working chandeliers and weighs about 300 pounds. Last year, according to Mrs. Obama, some 90,000 visitors viewed her White House decorations. The irony is this year the main residents of the White House won't be there for most of the holiday period and for both major holidays. According to notices distributed to residents of an exclusive waterfront neighborhood in Hawaii, they can expect to enjoy restricted access and other inconveniences to their homes and normal lives from Dec. 17 through Jan. 6. That's about a 50% longer holiday vacation than last year.** The inconveniences stem from security requirements for the vacationing Obamas and a large number of their accompanying friends. Obama's staff will have to put up with rooms in a nearby luxury hotel. The Coast Guard will be patrolling surrounding canals. Navy SEALs will be doing whatever SEALs do on security detail. The Secret Service and local police will man numerous area roadblocks and perhaps even some bushes. Read More At IBD: news.investors.com