The day’s top political news:
Veteran pop singer Andy Williams, accuses Obama of "following Marxist theory" and "wanting the country to fail".
Williams, a lifelong Republican whose hits include Moon River and Music To Watch Girls By, told the Radio Times he thought Mr Obama wanted to turn the US into a "socialist country".
The 81-year-old was a friend of the Kennedy family during the 1960s and was present at the Los Angeles rally where Robert F Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.
Politicians, media personalities and conservative activists have accused the US president of espousing socialist ideas. Earlier this month, Jim Greer, Florida GOP chairman says he is "absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology", after the US leader appeared in a televised address to be shown in classrooms around the country.
Cong Patrick Kennedy warns health-care debate could turn violent
Drawing on his family’s violent past, the Democratic congressman told roughly 75 people gathered at a private health-care forum Saturday morning that opponents of Democrat-backed health-care legislation had gone too far. He cited, as an example, 10,000 signs distributed at a recent Washington protest that read, “Bury ObamaCare with Kennedy.”
In a subsequent interview, Kennedy went further in warning that angry opposition could create physical danger for elected leaders. Scare tactics from a Democrat running full throttle.
Kennedy claims Anti-energy bill protesters tarred and feathered an effigy of Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla. Kennedy lies. Boyd faced 300 angry constituents because of his vote to impose the Cap and Trade tax – there was no effigy at all and the demonstration was totally peaceful. But the Kennedy claim is a clear lie – films of the demonstration prove it was quite peaceful.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/KENNEDY_ON_HEALTH_CARE_DEBATE_09-27-09_K7FRTR_v20.3617923.html
Without Bush, media lose interest in war caskets
Critics accused Bush of trying to hide the terrible human cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In April of this year, the Obama administration lifted the press ban, which had been in place since the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Media outlets rushed to cover the first arrival of a fallen U.S. serviceman, and many photographers came back for the second arrival, and then the third.
But after that, the impassioned advocates of showing the true human cost of war grew tired of the story. Fewer and fewer photographers showed up. "It's really fallen off," says Lt. Joe Winter, spokesman for the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where all war dead are received. "The flurry of interest has subsided."
Opinion:
Many politicians lie, but Obama is setting new records
Obama, when asked about the scandal involving his own ACORN: “ACORN?, what ACORN?”
Obama’s response when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, brought it up, is reminiscent of an old Amos and Andy routine: “hello there stranger who I don’t know and who I’ve never ever seen.”
There’s no polite word for it – Obama lied and owes Congressman Joe Wilson a heart felt apology.
One of the last things you want to be in Washington these days is an Obama friend or associate who suddenly gets bad press. The closer the friendship, the greater the probability of being thrown under the bus. Way under the bus.
Obama’s closest advisor and spiritual maven, Jeremiah Wright, was tossed out despite a pledge just days earlier in which Obama said “I could no sooner denounce Jeremiah Wright than…” (take your pick). Obama didn’t blink as he completely shunned Wright despite having fully endorsed, embraced, and supported him for 20 years.
Obama even denounced his White grand mother as a bigot just so he could make a point in a speech on racism.
In the past couple of week’s, Obama’s own ACORN has taken center stage in a scandal that has seen Washington entities scurrying for cover like a colony of roaches when a bright light is suddenly turned on.
Being caught participating in a conspiracy to bring young teen age girls into the country illegally in order to set up a bordello is not the sort of story likely to win friends in Washington – it will cause people only to shun someone quicker than a sneeze in a Swine fly clinic.
The IRS has cut ties with ACORN – after all, among the services ACORN provided the couple posing as pimp and hooker was advice on how to avoid paying taxes and how to lie about information on the returns.
Earlier, the Census Department ended contracts through which ACORN would help gather data. Given the ACORN loose modus operandi in securing voter registration, the census connection could have rigged Congressional districts in favor of Democrat candidates far into the future.
Congress is moving aggressively to cut all other federal funding – costing ACORN untold millions – “untold” being an appropriate term since there is no telling yet just how deeply into the public till, ACORN’s tentacles run.
In his weekend interview with Stephanopoulos, Obama came down with a case of selective amnesia. Despite having worked for, trained for, and represented ACORN in court as its lawyer, Obama told Stephanopoulos he “hadn’t been following the ACORN story recently.”
“Frankly,” says Obama, “it’s not really something I’ve followed closely. I didn’t even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money…What I know is that what I saw on that video was certainly inappropriate and deserves to be investigated…George, this is not the biggest issue facing the country. It’s not something I’m paying a lot of attention to.”
(I’ll pause waiting for the laughter to subside.)
Obama DID know ACORN was getting federal funding, and also has another ACORN operator among the highest tiers of White House ranks still. Obama lies with alacrity.
On Glenn Beck’s show Monday, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal politely suggested Obama’s claims are nonsense. (Fund is a nicer guy than I am) Fund says Obama’s reaction is “curious” because ACORN has gotten federal funding throughout its entire existence and Obama has a very long history of working with ACORN. He was their lawyer.
At some point ACORN paid him -- probably with federal funds.
Meanwhile, useful idiots on the left are tripping over each other in the rush to defend their embattled ally ACORN.
http://newsrealblog.com/2009/09/22/obamas-sudden-acorn-amnesia/
Obama responded to Stephanopoulos with a straight face.
Obviously Obama was lying.
We have choices regarding what to make of this – Obama has convinced himself it didn’t happen, Obama is not as bright as his handlers would have us believe, or Obama is playing America for fools and suckers and believes he can make us swallow any lie he sells.
He even thinks he can make us believe if you are happy with your current doctor and health care plan, you need have no fear of being forced to change it. He says his health plan has no funding for abortion.
I’m highly insulted. All America should be.
Buddy
The day’s top blogs:
1.
The Bank of America suspends its dealings with the ACORN Housing entity.
WASHINGTON – According to an Associated Press article, The Bank of America is suspending its dealings with ACORN, an activist group linked to voter registration fraud and other potential criminal activity.
The decision follows a letter sent Friday by Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-6) and two House colleagues, Reps. Darrell Issa and Lamar Smith, that 14 banks to disclose all of their financial arrangements with ACORN to the House Financial Services Committee.
Bachus is Ranking Member on the Financial Services Committee.
Bank suspends dealings with ACORN housing entity
(AP) WASHINGTON — Bank of America Corp. is suspending its work with the housing affiliate of embattled community organizing group ACORN.
The decision comes as three Republicans in Congress ask Bank of America and 13 other financial institutions to give Congress a complete accounting of their dealings with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or its affiliates.
In a statement, Bank of America said it would not enter into any further agreements with ACORN Housing Corp. until the bank is satisfied all issues have been resolved. ACORN Housing Corp. and Bank of America have worked together for years on mortgage foreclosure issues.
"We completely understand why our lending partners like Bank of America want assurances that the recent allegations against us won't happen again," ACORN Housing Corp. said. "We are taking a number of steps to ensure this, including providing ethics training to all of our staff."
Long a target of conservative critics, ACORN employees were caught on videotape recently giving advice to a woman posing as a prostitute and to a man posing as her pimp about cheating on taxes and operating a brothel with underage immigrant girls.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Bank of America pulling back from working with ACORN Housing Corp.
On Friday, GOP Reps. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, Darrell Issa of California and Lamar Smith of Texas sent a letter to 14 banks requesting disclosure to the House Financial Services Committee of all financial arrangements with ACORN and its subsidiaries or affiliates.
Each of the three congressmen is the ranking Republican on a House panel: Bachus on the House Financial Services Committee, Issa on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Smith on the Judiciary Committee.
"The Republicans are trying to intimidate banks that have stepped up to help stop the foreclosure crisis," said ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis. "These same Republicans ignored ACORN's warnings about predatory lending and the foreclosure crisis, then gave Wall Street free rein and are now obstructing efforts to help families."
2.
Doctors fed up with Obama, massive march planned 10/01/09!
From MedScape:
Physicians Are Talking About: The Million Med March on Washington
(NOTE: Physicians fully understand the threat to their profession and to quality health care in general posed by the Democrat schemes and scams aimed at imposing a form of socialized medicine on all Americans. Being dedicated Americans, they plan to protest openly October 1 in Washington. They should. They have an obligation to underscore the threat Obama poses to their profession and to our care.)
"I'm tired, mad as hell, and just not going to take it anymore," says Richard Chudacoff, MD, a gynecologist from Las Vegas. "I am going to Washington, DC. At noon, on Thursday, October 1, 2009, I will be on the Mall with a few other physicians."
Dr. Chudacoff is not talking about vacation plans. Rather, he intends to unite with other physicians in what he calls the Million Med March.
"We simply decided that we will not work that day and perhaps the day before and maybe even the day afterward," says Dr. Chudacoff. "Perhaps we will show the country that physicians are worth more than a $5 copay; that physicians are more important than a mid-level healthcare worker; and that our profession is needed, our services are required, and our practice is a calling to be respected, not a trade that is to be negotiated to the lowest bidder."
A letter posted by Dr. Chudacoff on www.obgyn.net in June has been spreading like wildfire across the Internet, finding its way to personal blogs, discussion groups, and professional forums. On June 23, it was posted to Medscape's Physician Connect (MPC), a physician-only discussion group, where it sparked a flurry of responses. A number of MPC postings suggest that Dr. Chudacoff will have plenty of company on October 1.
"Finally, something constructive," says a dermatologist. "I'll see you in DC on October 1. Some of the office staff, including our nurse, expressed a wish to be there too. Bring spouses and friends and anybody else who actually cares about healthcare in the US."
"I have cleared my schedule and plan to attend," responds a vascular surgeon. "I think this type of grassroots action, unaffiliated with hospitals, insurance companies, or the AMA, is likely to get the most sympathetic attention."
"This is the best proactive effort I have heard from physicians," says an MPC family medicine physician. "Actions speak louder than words."
"I can be there without changing my schedule," adds an anesthesiologist. "I was just terminated from my office-based practice where I have been for 7 years."
One physician's decision to take a stand and unite with his fellow colleagues has given doctors a simple way to show the public and elected officials that healthcare, for them, is not a political agenda. It is their life and livelihood. And in recent weeks, the partisan discussions in the Senate and House of Representatives on healthcare legislation have seemingly marginalized -- and at times even maligned -- physicians.
"I was for nationalized healthcare," says a family medicine physician, "but I thought that meant providing a safety net for needy Americans. But this monster of a bill is something quite different."
"Politicians and payers have turned our profession into a political football," retorts an anesthesiologist.
President Obama's recent tonsillectomy remark, in which he insinuated that doctors make medical decisions based on what they would be paid for a procedure rather than the best treatment for the patient, has further incensed physicians. "As a hard-working, conscientious physician, I am offended. It's like racial stereotyping. Only now it's about a group that is mostly overworked, tired, and saving people's lives," retorts a family medicine practitioner.
If the president is looking for greed within the healthcare system, Dr. Chudacoff suggests that he not take aim at primary care physicians. Chudacoff adds, "Medicine is going corporate, and we physicians are just flipping burgers so corporations have an improved bottom line."
Although fair compensation is an important issue among the organizers of the Million Med March, it is not the only issue. Medicine has become a toxic environment in which to work. Dr. Chudacoff underscores the situation. "Quality of care suffers with less time to see patients and less reimbursement received when we do see patients. We cannot do pro bono work as we have in the past because we have to see an ever increasing number of patients. This extra work is forced upon us when insurance companies, especially Medicare and Medicaid, constantly refuse to pay us in a timely fashion for our time and efforts. And then once we do see patients, our clinical acumen is stifled as we must follow a cookbook approach to patient care. It is time that we stand up for ourselves."
A vascular surgeon comments, "We can lead the way to real reform. Now is clearly the time to act, not just type."
On July 10, an MPC contributor and one of the supporters of the Million Med March launched a Website, www.millionmedmarch.com, to build support for the October event. The site announces a physician grassroots movement to re-establish honor, dignity, and worth to the medical profession. "The Million Med March movement has taken off, on so many sites, and within so many communities. Why now? The debate on national healthcare has forced this conversation, and this conversation has pushed us over the tipping point."
The mandate as stated on the Million Med March Website includes the following points:
•Services must be adequately reimbursed so that we may spend more time with our patients and not be forced to see an unsafe number of patients to pay for increased business costs.
•Less money must go into the hands of insurance companies' administrative costs, and more money must go towards patient care and medical research.
•We must abolish third-party payers or prevent a single-payer system for office visits and medical services; these services are costly to the patient, physician, and society as a whole.
•Our patients need access to brand-name drugs that are as affordable in the United States as in Canada and Mexico.
•We must have medical malpractice reform, with caps on all damages, so that we can practice without the fear of needless and unwarranted lawsuits that only benefit attorneys.
Some MPC contributors voice concern that the Million Med March scheduled for October will occur too late to have any meaningful impact on healthcare reform. "The health reform bill is going nowhere," says an anesthesiologist. "Let's make a major statement between its failure and the next attempt to marginalize the docs."
A plastic surgeon adds, "Stand up for our profession and come to DC."
3.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/09/28/acorns-man-in-the-white-house
Breaking News
ACORN's Man in the White House
Matthew Vadum
Newly discovered evidence shows the radical advocacy group ACORN has a man in the Obama White House.
This power behind the throne is longtime ACORN operative Patrick Gaspard. He holds the title of White House political affairs director, the same title Karl Rove held in President Bush's White House.
Evidence shows that years before he joined the Obama administration, Gaspard was ACORN boss Bertha Lewis's political director in New York.
Lewis, the current "chief organizer" or CEO of ACORN, was head of New York ACORN from at least 1994 through 2008, when she took over as national leader of ACORN. With Gaspard at work in the White House, Lewis might as well be speaking to President Obama through an earpiece as he goes about his daily business ruining the country.
Erick Erickson of the website RedState recently did an excellent job explaining the relationship of Gaspard to Lewis and President Obama so I won't take up space here recalling all his valuable insights. Suffice it to say Erickson reported that Gaspard figures prominently in Lewis's rolodex, which Erickson has in his possession.
Skeptics among you may ask, How do we actually know the low-profile Gaspard, who prefers to work outside the public spotlight and who can hardly be found in Nexis searches at all, was Lewis's right hand man?
Because Gaspard's employment with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is acknowledged by no less an authority than ACORN founder Wade Rathke himself. Rathke writes at his blog:
Tell me that 1199's former political director, Patrick Gaspard (who was ACORN New York's political director before that) didn't reach out from the White House and help make that happen, and I'll tell you to take some remedial classes in "politics 101."
The "before that" time period Rathke is referring to is 2003 when Gaspard was executive vice president for political and legislative affairs for 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. According to publicly available disclosure documents, Gaspard registered as a federal lobbyist for SEIU on Oct. 22, 2007. The registration and subsequent disclosures indicate he lobbied Congress on SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Incidentally, the lines between ACORN and radical left-wing SEIU, whose acronym stands for Service Employees International Union, become fuzzy in places.
SEIU Locals 100 and 880 are part of the ACORN network of organizations. Local 100 in New Orleans is headed by Rathke. SEIU Local 880 in Chicago is headed by longtime ACORN insider Keith Kelleher.
You'd never know about the SEIU connection from visiting ACORN's website, www.acorn.org. That's because the website has been receiving a thorough scrubbing in recent months. On ACORN's affiliated organizations page, references to the two SEIU locals mysteriously disappeared.
It's worth noting that Gaspard's ties to ACORN, SEIU, and Lewis go way back.
According to the Complete Marquis Who's Who, Gaspard has a long history of political involvement stretching back to at least 1989 when he volunteered for the David Dinkins mayoral campaign in New York City. In 2003 he became acting field director for Howard Dean's presidential bid. He was national field director in 2004 for America Coming Together, a now-defunct get-out-the-vote operation that received a $775,000 fine for campaign finance abuses. In 2006 Gaspard was acting political director for SEIU International.
Gaspard also worked for New York's Working Families Party, which is an appendage of ACORN. Lewis is a co-founder of that party -- which endorsed Obama last year -- and has close ties to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) who has been most reluctant to have the House Judiciary subcommittee he chairs investigate ACORN.
Nadler invented the incredibly creative argument that recent legislative language aimed at depriving ACORN of federal funding constitutes an unconstitutional "bill of attainder." Perhaps singling out the mafia for a federal funds cutoff would be unconstitutional too in his eyes.
(NOTE: We must be missing something. Obama claims he is unaware of any scandal involving his ACORN organization. He and Nadler are up to their necks in a scandal they are desperate to escape. It’s up to America to make sure they cant and they don’t.)
eanwhile, the American public is beginning to realize that ACORN is a vast criminal conspiracy whose reach extends to the highest levels of the U.S. government.
Obama's statement that he's barely aware of ACORN's problems is nothing short of ridiculous, especially so because Patrick Gaspard was a political director for ACORN New York.
Last year he worked as national political director for the Obama campaign followed by a stint as associate personnel director for the Obama-Biden transition team.
As the old Washington saying goes, politics is personnel. Who knows how many administration officials were put in place by Gaspard with direct input from ACORN's Bertha Lewis. It boggles the mind.
We also now know the Obama administration was lying about ACORN's high level involvement in the 2010 Census. The coordination between ACORN and the Census was revealed as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the relentless investigator Tegan Millspaw of Judicial Watch. The Census and other government agencies have cut ties with ACORN as the ACORN scandal widens.
We have to wonder: when it comes to ACORN, what else is the Obama administration lying about?
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