Who is likely to be brainwashed by Obama school speech?

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When Bush spoke to students Democrats investigated and held hearings

Byron York, chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, wrote this about the Obama speech to schoolchildren:

The controversy over Pesident Obama’s speech to the nation’s schoolchildren will likely be over shortly after Obama speaks today at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia.

But when President George H.W. Bush (pictured) delivered a similar speech on October 1, 1991, from Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington DC, the controversy was just beginning.

Democrats, then the majority party in Congress, not only denounced Bush's speech -- they also ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate its production and later summoned top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill for an extensive hearing on the issue.

Most of the 1991 controversy came after the Bush speech.

The day after the Bush school speech, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president's political benefit.

"The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," the Post reported.

Emboldened by the Post article the Democrats pounced.

"The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," said Richard Gephardt, then the House Majority Leader. "And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.'"

The General Accounting Office was ordered to investigate the cost and legality of Bush's appearance.

Education Secretary Lamar Alexander and other top Bush administration officials were ordered to testify at a hearing devoted to the speech.

Unfortunately for the Democrats, the General Accounting Office concluded that the Bush administration had not acted improperly.

As it turned out the 1991 accusations and hearings by Democrats amounted to no more than a tempest in a teapot.

More of the story here.

Photos of schoolchildren eagerly waiting for Obama’s speech

Can’t parents and teachers tell the kids to wash their hands and study hard without bothering the president?


Schoolchildren are all fired up and ready for the Obama classroom speech. The first release of the speech contained the word “I” 56 times.


Another question - how much of the original speech was changed after the firestorm of accusations that the speech would contain political indoctrination?

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Keep off the grass

A worker rakes out the green of the Coober Pedy Opal Fields Golf Course in Coober Pedy, Australia.

Taking divots on the fairway must be hard on clubs.

Crushing a clunker

A crushed Ford van in the "cash for clunkers" program is ready to be lifted to a shredder.

Van Jones - just another name on White House casualty list

When Van Jones, Mr. Obama's controversial green jobs adviser, submitted his resignation he was the first casualty of the Obama administration not to go quietly.

Where other departing officials have given explanations about process or used predictable lines about spending more time with their families, Jones released a statement accusing his critics of using "lies and distortions" about him.

Van Jones claimed a “vicious smear campaign” containing “lies and distortions.”

Breaking with the custom of this White House, the administration offered no reason for Jones's resignation.

To give a reason for the Van Jones resignation would have required details of Mr. Jones racial rants, radical background, calling Republicans X-rated names and his membership in a 9/11 "truther" group that believes the destruction of the twin towers was an inside job.

Names on the casualty list:

1. Van Jones was forced to resign for reasons outlined above.

2. Louis Caldera (upper photo) resigned after the New York City flyover incident.

3. Ellen Moran was removed from the West Wing.

4. Steve Rattner (lower photo). Timothy Geithner quietly announced that Rattner’s job “was done.”

5. The president pulled Gen. David McKiernan from the field.

Link here for more on the story above. Link here for more on the Van Jones story.

Labor Day past and present

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Upsy-daisy

Photo taken at the Cheyenne Frontier Days outdoor rodeo and western celebration last July in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

From a report by Andrew Breitbart in the Washington Times:

Now that White House "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones (pictured) has resigned, what's next?

Inevitably, the American mainstream media - ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, et al - must be held to account for sitting on the sidelines as this major story kept building without them, went viral on YouTube, and then became so large that a key appointee of President Obama was forced to step down.

Breitbart is right - the Van Jones story barely made the third page beyond the obits in most papers - if it appeared at all.

When it comes to political stories, the main stream media seems to think, “if we don’t cover a story, the story's absence proves it didn't happen.”

The media decision to ignore the Jones story may have actually done Mr. Obama more harm than good:

Who vetted this guy? How did he get past the FBI? What did he say, and how did he answer the infamous seven-page questionnaire that all Obama appointees were required to fill out? Inquiring Freedom of Information Act minds want to know.

For most people in this country, the resignation was the first they had heard of Van Jones.

For this sin of journalistic omission, there's institutional media blame. Bias is too tame a word for the utter shamelessness on display: Only Republican scandals - real and imagined - matter.

It’s more than just those called "mobs" or "tea baggers" by the media that are taking notice.

Diminishing audience and evaporating subscriptions reflect widespread consumer dissatisfaction. Eventually, the money will run out.

But until then, the growing alternative media of Internet and talk radio and a burgeoning mass of justifiably angry Americans will make every effort to expose the sham that is mainstream journalism.

As if Van Jones racial rants, radical background and calling Republicans X-rated names weren’t enough - he was a signed member of a 9/11 "truther" group that believed the Bush administration brought down the twin towers. And, by the way, he has also stated that he is a communist.

Compounding the problem, the Jones narrative hurts Mr. Obama because it underlines how the mainstream media helped elect the president by glorifying him instead of vetting him.

Just as Mr. Obama was not even cursorily investigated, Van Jones, a fellow "community organizer," was not given the slightest media attention when named as an unaccountable "czar" selected to oversee billions in taxpayer money for the ambiguous purpose of "green energy." And that despite having a body of damning evidence that could be found with a single Google search by an ADHD-addled high-school journalism student.

More of the story here.

Bill to ban stinky bus riders fails in Hawaii

The proposal to bar smelly people from Honolulu buses failed.

The Honolulu City Council had considered making it illegal to have "odors that unreasonably disturb others or interfere with their use of the transit system." Anyone convicted of being too smelly could have been fined up to $500 and/or given a six-month jail term.

Smelly people can continue to ride busses in Hawaii with impunity.

Link

Obama speech to schoolchildren seen as indoctrination

Many see Obama’s speech and study lesson in schools as indoctrination.

Story here.

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A day at the beach in South Korea

Many of these beach photos have made the rounds via e-mail labeled as “China Beach Photos.” The photos, however, do not show beaches in China.


The photos were taken at Haeundae Beach in Busan more commonly known as Pusan, a port city in southern Korea.


Hordes of swimmers but not a single toilet in sight - only tents and umbrellas. I suggest you avoid swimming there.

All the Kings Men...er...Czars

At the link below, Politico lists all of the Kings Men ... that is, all of the presidents Czars:

Afghanistan Czar: Richard Holbrooke

AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley

Auto recovery Czar: Ed Montgomery

Border Czar: Alan Bersin

California Water Czar: David J. Hayes

Car Czar: Ron Bloom

Central Region Czar: Dennis Ross

Domestic Violence Czar: Lynn Rosenthal

Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske

Economic Czar: Paul Volcker

Energy and Environment Czar: Carol Brower

Faith-Based Czar: Joshua DuBois

Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis

Green Jobs Czar: Van Jones (oops, he’s been booted)

Guantanamo Closure Czar: Daniel Fried

Health Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle

Information Czar: Vivek Kundra

International Climate Czar: Todd Stern

Intelligence Czar: Dennis Blair

Mideast Peace Czar: George Mitchell

Pay Czar: Kenneth Feinberg

Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein

Science Czar: John Holdren

Stimulus Accountability Czar: Earl Devaney

Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration

TARP Czar: Herb Allison

Terrorism Czar: John Brennan

Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra

Urban Affairs Czar: Adolfo Carrion Jr.

Weapons Czar: Ashton Carter

WMD Policy Czar: Gary Samore

One Lucianne commenter wondered if Obama also has a Shoe Tying Czar, and a Chew Gum While Walking Czar.

It’s easy to appoint Czars. Unlike cabinet members and other high officials, Obama’s so-called Czars do not need Senate confirmation or security background checks. He simply appoints them and they form his “executive committee” much like the Politburo of the Communist Party which had real control of the country.

During past administrations the president would have a daily meeting with Cabinet Secretaries, who have been duly confirmed by the Senate. After listening to their recommendations the president would make policy decisions. No need for 31 Czars.

Link

Obama czar advocated organ harvest without consent

Cass Sunstein (pictured) is Barack Obama’s choice to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

What few people know is that Sunstein has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken.

Under such a policy, hospitals would harvest organs from people who never gave permission for this to be done.

The major obstacle to increasing organ donations is the need to get the consent of surviving family members.

This “problem” would be remedied if governments changed the laws for organ donation.

If the government turned the law around and assumed that, unless people explicitly choose not to, then they want to donate their organs – a doctrine they call “presumed consent.”

One critic said, “apply this logic to criminal law and citizens would be presumed guilty until proven otherwise.”

Link

9-11 denier quits as Obama green jobs advisor

The White House announced this morning that Van Jones (pictured) has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements.

Jones, an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly "green jobs" with the White House Council on Environmental Quality was linked to efforts suggesting a government role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.

The resignation comes as Obama is working to regain his footing in the contentious health care debate.

This reinforces claims by critics that the administration is spending little time vetting the multitude of czar’s appointed to surround an increasingly controversial president who is sinking in popularity.

The matter surfaced after news reports of a derogatory comment Jones made in the past about Republicans, and separately, of Jones' name appearing on a petition connected to the events surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

That 2004 petition had asked for congressional hearings and other investigations into whether high-level government officials had allowed the attacks to occur.

Link

Anticipation

Olympic Stadium workers in London outlined a giant number three to signify that three years remain until the 2012 Games.

Woman arrested 3 times in one day

A 29-year-old Connecticut woman has a court date next week to face charges stemming from her three arrests last week.

Police charged Leytza Martinez with assault after an altercation with a manager at the hair salon where she worked.

She was arrested again later Saturday and charged with coming back to the salon and stealing more than $900 in supplies.

Police also stopped her car later the same day and charged her with driving without insurance, and failure to have a front license plate.

Link

As White House press briefings get hotter...

A report at the link below says:

If the president's mouthpiece is a human piñata, as one former press secretary put it, then Robert Gibbs (pictured) is a papier mâché tiger.

And the White House press secretary is feeling the hits more and more, as the daily briefings get more contentious and he faces an increasingly prying press corps.

Piñata may not be a role Gibbs is comfortable playing.

But in response to rising pressure, analysts say Gibbs is showing a thin skin, quick to punch back and take a dig at a reporter rather than absorb it and move on.

More of the “piñata in the WH press room” story here.

White House may draft its own healthcare bill

Frustrated with the inability of the Democrat controlled House and Senate to pass a bill, Barack Obama may draft his own healthcare bill.

CNN reports:

Multiple sources close to the process told CNN on Friday that while the plan is uncertain, the administration is preparing for the possibility of delivering its own legislation to Capitol Hill sometime after President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

A source close to the White House said the administration is leaning toward dropping the public option.

Some are surprised the public option hasn’t already been dropped. It would be very easy to add it later after the main ObamaCare bill is being implemented.

Critic have said, “if members of congress can’t cram healthcare down voter’s throats, Obama will do it for them.

More of the story here.

Moscow air show performers

Italian aerobatic team "Frecce Tricolori" performs during the MAKS 2009 international aerospace show outside Moscow in Zhukovsky.