"The List" for Obama's Thirtieth Week in Office

Nachumlist ^ | 8/21/09 | Nachum

[Nachum]

 Obama's Thirtieth Week in Office

Latest Additions to "The List"

"The list" for 8/21/2009

Obama's Consumer Product Safety Commission to crack down on garage sales

Michelle Obama on Forbes' list of "100 Powerful Women in America" at number 40

VIDEO: Obama could not find the time in his schedule for the National Day of Prayer, but finds time to make a video giving Muslims his best wishes on Ramadan- he end's the video with a "god's peace be upon you" for his Muslim viewersThe Obama administration has quietly announced there will be no raise in social security payments next year and maybe not until 2012, a presidential election year.

VIDEO: Robert Gibbs says "wee weed up" means when "people get overly nervous over something that still has a long way to go." He added "bed wetting" would be the more "consumer friendly term."

"The list" for 8/20/2009

AUDIO: Now Air America calls Obama a liar.  Takes him to task for deal with big PhRMA

VIDEO: Obama says his plan will cover abortions in July 17, 2007 in speech to Planned Parenthood, says abortions are at the "center and heart" of his plan

Buried in the 1,017 pages of the House Democrats’ health-care bill is a little-noticed provision that for the first time could give the government access to the checking or credit-card information of every American.  Under section 163, which is entitled “Administrative Simplification,” the bill sets new “standards” for electronic transactions between individuals and their health-care providers. ...collection of such data is unprecedented. At no other time has the government sought to collect this type of financial information from everyone in America.

VIDEO: Obama talking to his "Organizing for America" ground troops- "all wee weed up" about Gov. Sarah Palin being nominated for the Republican Vice-Presidential nomination. He said "Everyone was saying Obama has lost his mojo. Remember that?"

Obama devoted a single conference call to non-Orthodox Jewish religious leaders before addressing over 140,000 other American religious leaders to promote his ideas on healthcare

The United States is warning Libya not to make a hero out of the terminally-ill Libyan, convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, who was allowed to return home by Scottish authorities or face unspecified consequences in bilateral relations.

Obama administration plans to end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday (10/23/2009)

The White House had reserved 400 rooms for the town hall meeting in Montana

VIDEO:  Obama says GOP opposed to health care to stop Dem victory

Obama took to the conservative airwaves Thursday to charge that Republican leaders are engaged in a vast right-wing conspiracy to kill health care reform in order to repeat the 1994 mid-term takeover of Congress, which followed the defeat of President Clinton's reform plan

The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes

VIDEO: Conflicts of interests between Axelrod and big Pharma companies and big Unions detailed by Michelle Malkin

Obama claims it is a "fabrication" and "distraction" to say abortion funding is included in the health care reform plans pending in Congress

In a move some fear is a reprisal for opposing President Obama's health care plan, Democrats sent 52 letters to health insurers requesting financial records for a House committee's investigation.

"The list" for 8/19/2009

GM sells Saab to the Swedes, American workers get the shaft

AUDIO: Obama taking the mantle of the nation's preacher by accusing critics of his Government Health Care Plan of "bearing false witness," and insinuating that adoption of his plan is the only way to "be our brother's keeper," meeting moral and ethical obligations to "look out for each other.

The United States has harshly criticized new Israeli restrictions placed on foreign nationals entering the West Bank via the Allenby Bridge, calling the new regulations 'unacceptable'.

The government will announce a plan as soon as tomorrow for winding down its popular but problem-plagued "cash for clunkers" program.

Attny Gen. Eric Holder invited Arab American Institute President James Zogby to be the closing speaker last month at a Justice Department conference marking the 45th anniversary of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Zogby has no direct tie to the Civil Rights movement.  Zogby's record shows he is an apologist for Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups like the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and terrorist organizations Hamas and Hizballah.   He is a strident foe of the federal government's efforts to cut off funding for terrorist organizations, including efforts by Holder's department.  Zogby's address barely touched on the significance of the Civil Rights Act

The federal deficit this year will total $1.58 trillion, a senior White House official said late Wednesday. That's three times more red ink than last year.

Link to VA Vets' booklet: Your Life, Your Choices

Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use.   Under Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."

Obamacare weight watchers: The health care reform bill approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) would provide federal grants to state and local governments and a “national network of community-based organizations” to "promote healthy living and reduce disparities" and to monitor people's weight, eating, exercise habits and other individual behaviors that affect health at the community level

VIDEO: White House Press Secretary Gibbs in testy exchange with the press over health care

Obama is preparing to abandon attempts to broker bipartisan health care reform and instead push through proposals using only the votes of Democrats.

A media consulting firm with ties to White House senior strategist David Axelrod, AKPD Message and Media, founded by Axelrod and whose son still works there, has been hired to produce a multi-million dollar ad campaign touting the Obama administration's health care overhaul. Republicans are questioning whether Axelrod stands to gain from the profits.

Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government's Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government

"The list" for 8/18/2009

Obama's advisers acknowledged Tuesday that they were unprepared for the intraparty rift that occurred over the fate of a proposed public health insurance program, a firestorm that has left the White House searching for a way to reclaim the initiative on the president's top legislative priority.

The inspector general in charge of overseeing the Treasury Department's bank-bailout program says TARP could end up costing taxpayers almost $24 trillion

David Axelrod implicated in conflict of interest with his old firm and the White House- Axelrod was president and sole shareholder of AKPD from 1985 until he sold his interest after Obama’s victory, government records show. The firm owes Axelrod $2 million, which it’s due to pay in installments beginning Dec. 31. Axelrod’s son, Michael, still works there. He didn’t return a phone call. The firm’s Web site continues to feature David Axelrod’s work on the Obama campaign.

The White House declined to comment Tuesday about a letter sent by the American Civil Liberties Union asking why President Obama is refusing to make public information about the detainees imprisoned at the US military’s Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan

VIDEO: video of Fox News' Shepherd Smith grilling White House Spokesman Bill Burton on the shifting positions of the White House on whether a "Public Option" is a "must" or just "preferred" as part of his Health Care Plan.

Obama's assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, John O. Brennan calls for appeasing terrorists: "Even as we condemn and oppose the illegitimate tactics used by terrorists, we need to acknowledge and address the legitimate needs and grievances of ordinary people those terrorists claim to represent."

Obama claim that 62% of all bankruptcies caused by medical debt proven untrue in speech before house subcomittee

Letter to Obama from the President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Expresses "our profound disappointment with your recent comments"

EPA says it will toss artifacts from historic 18th century fort into a landfill

The president's liberal allies on health care reform have a message for the president: Don't think you can drop the public option without a fight. ""If the president thinks we're gonna get the votes without the public option, he's got another thing coming," "We've got a tire track on our chests"

The White House is blaming the controversy over its Web site and mass e-mails on viral rumors, "fear-mongering" and "sinister conspiracy theories"

The first lady now requires 26 servants

"The list" for 8/17/2009

The first lady now requires 26 servants

VIDEO: Obama: Post Office Has Problems, FedEx Fine

Postal service fires back at Obama comments at town hall

Obama official Sebellius wants end-of-life counceling in health care bill

PhRMA-gate....PhRMA's note to its clients

Email surfaces between the White House and PhRMA outlining a four-part deal that industry lobbyists were sending to each other on July 7.

Obama says a proposed overhaul of the nation's health care system is not going to change how veterans get their medical services.

Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box — flag@whitehouse.gov —

The Obama administration has filed court papers claiming a federal marriage law discriminates against gays, even as it continues to defend the law.

Obama's myspace page says his age is 52, not 48.  This would make his birth in Hawaii at the time it was a territory, not a state.

"The list" for 8/16/2009

Chrysler Group is planning to produce Fiat 500 subcompact at a Chrysler plant in Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reported

Union members pack Obama town halls.  Members of the nation's labor unions have made up a hefty segment of the audiences that flocked to town halls Obama held in the past week, and they have played an even larger role in a nationwide campaign for an insurance overhaul. Financially, and with boots on the ground, unions have become the backbone of the president's effort.

The federal government has only reimbursed auto dealers for 2 percent of the claims they've submitted through the popular "cash for clunkers" program, a Pennsylvania congressman said, calling on the Obama administration to help speed up the process.  Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., called for "immediate action" to address the problem in a statement Sunday, after writing a letter to Obama expressing his concerns.

VIDEO: Fox News report with Major Garrett over White House denials over "email-gate"White house issues public statement

VIDEO:  A nasty exchange with Major Garrett of Fox news and White House Press secretary Robert Gibbs

An administration official said tonight that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "misspoke" when she told CNN this morning that a government run health insurance option "is not an essential part" of reform

The White House for the first time Sunday seemed to acknowledge that people across the country received unsolicited e-mails from the administration last week about health care reform, suggesting the problem is with third-party groups that placed the recipients' names on the distribution list.- passing the blame for the emails

The White House says that it will change its e-mail sign-up procedures after recipients of a health-care e-mail complained that they had not asked to receive updates.

VIDEO: White House press secretary Gibbs re town hall meeting protests, "good TV, and that's about it,"

The Obama administration, in a major shift on housing policy, is abandoning George W. Bush’s vision of creating an “ownership society’’ and instead plans to pump $4.25 billion of economic stimulus money into creating tens of thousands of federally subsidized rental units in American cities.

Obama uses Op-Ed piece in the New York Times to criticize the health insurance industry

Corpus Christi gets 200 million in stimulus cash, the money should create close to 2,000 jobs, based on White House formulas.... job creation numbers likely are “severely inflated,” said Jason Alaniz, the city’s intergovernmental relations project manager in charge of stimulus projects

Obama's health secretary is suggesting the White House is ready to accept nonprofit insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run public option in a health overhaul plan. A Republican senator says that is worth looking at.

Obama is under serious pressure to study the possibility of an Israeli military strike against Iran.  An Egyptian official said the pressure does not only come from Israel but also from Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia that are at odds with Iran and its Shiite theocracy

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she hopes the final reform package will include measures to encourage end-of-life counseling – despite the controversy such a proposal has caused in recent weeks.  “I am hoping at the end of the day it will be in the package,”

Obama invokes grandmother's death to support ObamaCare, but failed to attend her funeral service

[Nachum]

Has it been 200 days already? Where does the time go? This has been the shortest 3 years of my life.

Putting this up for those who are keeping track. Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list. Full archives at the website.

[Cicero]

I missed the cancellation of Social Security increases for inflation. Was that posted here?

Big news, one would think.

[PGalt]

Thanks for your work, Nachum. Tremendous effort. Much appreciated.

[Nachum]

I missed the cancellation of Social Security increases for inflation. Was that posted here?

I posted it to the website, but it may have been after this list posting for the week. If you check nachumlist, it is the 6th posting down for today.

N