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As the campaign heats up, one problem is that we continue to meet lots of different Barack Obamas — to such a degree that we don’t know which, if any, is really president. I think the president believes that private-equity firms harm the economy and that their CEOs are at best indifferent and sometimes unsympathetic to the struggle of average Americans. I say “I think” because Obama has himself collected millions of dollars from such profit-driven firms, and uses their grandees to raise cash for his reelection. Cynical, hypocritical, or unaware? You decide. I think the president is in favor...

Joe Biden, speaking in Ohio today, said that he is "tired of being called a 'Middle Class Joe.'" While it's not clear who actually calls the vice president that, it is clear that his house and finances tell a different story. Here's a picture of his home (not his official vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.):

Warren Buffett, who is infamous for supporting high inheritance taxes, then buying high value family-owned companies when the children of the founders can't afford to pay the inheritance tax, is well known for supporting high tax/high spend policies. But the hypocrisy of those statements are clearly seen in Buffett's statements yesterday that those very policies are causing him to shun US companies, and buy foreign companies instead. "We are happy to invest in businesses that earn their money in euros in France or Italy or sterling in the UK, because I don't have a feeling that those currencies are likely...

The actual Republican Establishment — political consultants, The Wall Street Journal, corporate America, former Bush advisers and television pundits — are exhorting Mitt Romney to flip-flop on his very non-Establishment position on illegal immigration. Both as governor of Massachusetts and as a presidential candidate, Romney has supported a fence on the border, E-Verify to ensure that employees are legal and allowing state police to arrest illegal aliens. He is the rare Republican who recognizes that in-state tuition, driver’s licenses and amnesty are magnets for more illegal immigration.

In recent days, if he hasn't been pitching "fairness" and adoption of higher taxes with his so-called Buffet Rule, President Obama has been pandering to women voters.  On April 6, he paraded a group of ladies in front of cameras at a blatant campaign event – funded by taxpayers and hosted at the White House - thinly disguised as an economic forum.   The White House said the purpose was to "highlight ways the administration has helped create ECONOMIC SECURITY for women."  (emphasis added) But, so far as we know, the President failed to explain to the visiting ladies why women...

No wonder President Obama is so keen on passing the Buffett Rule -- it wouldn't have affected his tax rate this year! Yes, that's right: the Obamas raked in less than $1 million this year. Therefore, in a "Buffett Rule" world, they wouldn't have to pay their "fair share." President Obama earned $789,674 in 2011, the White House announced on Friday. However, with this income, he does not even qualify for the so-called Buffett Rule that he has promoted relentlessly and the Senate will take up on Monday. The Buffett Rule calls for those making over $1 million a year...

Here’s one of the overriding ironies of the strange, strange 2012 Republican nominating season: as damaging as the primaries have been to Mitt Romney’s standing in the public eye, he hasn’t actually taken that many hits for his exceedingly moderate record in Massachusetts. Rick Santorum has been the only candidate to make a half-decent attempt to go after Romneycare. Other candidates have halfheartedly nicked Romney for raising revenues in the state by closing some business tax loopholes. But there has been so, so much that has gone untouched. Romney’s rivals have barely mentioned his claim, on the eve of the...

Wherein a couple (?) of "ardent environmentalists" express their opposition to fracking and drilling, except for this special situation where they would make money by having it done on their own property...

Vince Carter may be better-known for his scoring, but the NBA star and Mainland High School graduate will be looking to make an assist to President Barack Obama by hosting a fundraising dinner at his Windermere home during the NBA All-Star Weekend. Cost of admission: $30,000. Attorney John Morgan, a big Democratic Party fundraiser, is organizing the evening he described as "a once in a life time event," in an email to invitees. "The room will be filled with NBA hall of famers and future hall of famers and some musical superstars," he said. About 40 guests are expected at...

Is Tracy Morgan really worth $18 million?That's one estimate reported and despite his wealth, he appears to hold enough of a grudge against his own mother that he won't help her stave off foreclosure on her modest home. The bank is threatening to foreclose on her Ohio home if the mother doesn't make a payment, plus her utilities are also getting ready to be turned off and she has reached the maximum for her unemployment checks. "My mom's house isn't extravagant, but it's her home, Her health is failing. She has diabetes and her legs are giving out on her,"...

epublican presidential candidate Ron Paul has been spending large amounts on airfare as a congressman, flying first class on dozens of taxpayer-funded flights to his home state. The practice conflicts with the image that Paul portrays as the only presidential candidate serious about cutting federal spending. Paul flew first class on at least 31 round-trip flights and 12 one-way flights since May 2009 when he was traveling between Washington and his district in Texas, according to a review by The Associated Press of his congressional office expenses. Four other round-trip tickets and two other one-way tickets purchased during the period...

In what could lead to a big reorganization of the federal government, the Associated Press reports that President Obama will ask Congress for the power to merge departments and agencies to help streamline government and improve efficiency. The president's first priority would be combine the trade and commerce departments, according to a senior administration official. The president would request fast-track consolidation authority that would allow him to propose agency mergers that would then be subject to an up-or-down vote from Congress within 90 days. Under the terms of the president's proposal, lawmakers would still need to grant the president the...

...5. Island of Misadventure Incident: With the White House still working on an unfinished jobs plan, Mr. Obama took a vacation to the resort island of Martha’s Vineyard last August. ...4. Hawaii Five-Oh No Incident: The Obamas took a 17-day trip Hawaii at the end of last year, the family’s annual Christmas vacation. ...3. Concerted Efforts Incident: In May of last year, the Obamas held a “celebration of poetry and prose” party in the East Room of the White House, with Chicago rapper Common among the invited guests ...2. Date Fright Incident: Mr. and Mrs. Obama jetted up to New...

click and enjoy singing and mocking Michelle

FMR. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER is today reported to have not only sent off a condolence message to North Korea over the death of mass murderer, horrendous DICTATOR Kim Jong-il, in it he also addressed comments to the heir-apparant, Kim Jong-un, and wished for "his success" as he goes forward to "assume power."

Meghan McCain Rips Gingrich's Wife For Being A 'Mistress'... As Adultery Website Endorses Newt By THOMAS DURANTE 21st December 2011 As questions about Newt Gingrich's past infidelity have hit him in the polls, one GOP mouthpiece warns his current wife may cost him the presidency. Fightin' words: Meghan McCain, the daughter of Sen John McCain and MSNBC correspondent, targeted Callista Gingrich in a bizarre attack Meghan McCain, the daughter of Sen John McCain, a blogger and MSNBC correspondent, targeted Callista Gingrich in a bizarre attack today. Callista is Mr Gingrich’s third wife, and it has been revealed that she and...

As a rueful Queen Elizabeth once said of a particularly rough year for the royal family, 2011 is "not a year on which" Queen Nancy Pelosi "shall look back with undiluted pleasure." The former House Speaker relinquished her crown -- er, gavel -- in January. It's been an epic downhill ski crash ever since. Most recently, Pelosi faced questions from liberal "60 Minutes" and conservative investigative author Peter Schweitzer about a 5,000-share Visa stock purchase she made with her husband as the House was considering credit card regulations. She made a "killing" off the highly sought-after initial public offering. The...

Obama crows about killing Bin Laden an 22 Al Qaeda leaders A fed-up President Obama fired back at GOP presidential hopefuls who claimed he runs a soft foreign policy - by pointing to the notches on his belt as proof of his toughness. "Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top Al-Qaeda leaders who have been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement," dared Obama during an unscheduled White House news conference Thursday. Several GOP White House hopefuls - including current favorites Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney - attacked the President’s record the previous day...

News today that presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich believes that life begins at implantation does not come as a great surprise. Other pro-life denizens of Capitol Hill, such as elected officials Connie Mack and Orin Hatch have also stated that the embryo is not human until it’s in the womb. Having recently covered this topic on when a human life begins, I’d like to probe deeper into the thoughts of Mr. Gingrich and extend to him an invitation to a cordial dialogue on this issue. A telling remark made by Mr. Gingrich sheds light on...

Country music gets its due at the Obama White House next week. The Obamas will play host to a string of country stars — legendary and contemporary — Monday at their seventh “In Performance at the White House” program. Among those performing Monday night: Lauren Alaina, The Band Perry, Dierks Bentley, Alison Krauss, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett, Mickey, Darius Rucker and James Taylor.

With "Occupy Wall Street" now over one month old with no coherent plan or demands, it is not surprising that the movement is now faltering. However, the collapse is coming from a slightly unexpected source: inside the movement itself. Already there are reports of rampant thievery and rape. More telling, however, is the in-fighting all over the Occupy Wall Street forum and another, separate website called "The Multitude." Most stark is the fact that Occupy Wall Street says that it stands for Democracy, yet those with dissenting opinions are castigated and ridiculed, while being told that they "don't count." Take...

Kanye West visited Occupy Wall Street in a $355 Givenchy shirt topped with wearing gold grills and chains. Alec Baldwin claims he supports Occupy Wall Street, but makes big bucks starring in commercials for Capital One Bank. Numerous other celebrities who annually pull in multiples of the average American salary also say they sympathize with the plight of the so-called 99 percent. So are the stars who say they support the Occupy Wall Street movement some of the cause’s heroes, or are they hypocrites? Producer and hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, who brought West to the protests at Liberty Square/Zuccotti...

Once the war on terror’s fiercest critic, Obama has become its deadliest practitioner.We are in a long war against radical Islamic terrorism. The struggle seems almost similar to the on-again/off-again ordeals of the past — such as the French-English Hundred Years War of the 14th and 15th centuries, or the Thirty Years War between Catholics and Protestants in the 17th century. In these kinds of drawn-out conflicts, final victory will go to the side that responds best to new challenges. And we’ve seen a lot of those since 9/11, when the United States was caught unaware and apparently ill-equipped to...

George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund manager, has lost a case at the European Court of Human Rights to have his criminal conviction for insider dealing quashed. The failed appeal in a 4-3 decision by the Strasbourg-based court is the latest twist in a nine-year battle by the 81-year-old Mr Soros to clear his name following his conviction in France in 2002.

When running for the US Senate in 1994, Romney supported abortion on demand, gay marriage and gun control. That same year he attacked President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush saying "I don't want to take us back to that, to Reagan-Bush."

CNBC: "Are you happy that the way it is being described. Is the program that the White House has presented a million dollars and over your program? " Warren Buffett: "Well, the precise program which will -- I don't know what their program will be. My program would be on the very high incomes that are taxed very low. Not just high incomes. Somebody making $50 million a year playing baseball, his taxes won't change. Make $50 million a year appearing on television, his income won't change. But, if they make a lot of money and pay a very low...

Hours after delivering a White House speech that called on wealthy Americans to pay higher taxes, President Barack Obama dined with some of these very Americans in New York. He was expected to raise more than $2 million for his reelection campaign. He didn’t mention his plan to tax the rich, at least not in front of reporters. But he did allude to the controversy around his plan. “We’re already hearing the moans and groans of the other side,” he said. “You’re already hearing the moans and groans from the other side about how we are engaging in class warfare...

Reporting from Costa Mesa— Michele Bachmann, struggling to regain her footing in the GOP presidential contest, Friday assailed rival Rick Perry, saying he abused his power as governor of Texas and rewarded political donors in a manner similar to President Obama. (snip) She compared it to the federal controversy unfolding around Solyndra, a solar equipment maker that received a $535-million federal loan guarantee and which went bankrupt last month. Republicans have suggested that the guarantee was pushed by the White House to reward a major campaign donor with ties to Solyndra's biggest shareholder, a charge the Obama administration denies. Bachmann...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Calorie by calorie, first lady Michelle Obama is chipping away at big portions and unhealthy food in an effort to help America slim down. In the two and a half years since she announced her campaign to curb childhood obesity, Mrs. Obama has stood alongside Wal-Mart, Olive Garden and many other food companies as they have announced improvements to their recipes - fewer calories, less sodium, better children's menus. The changes are small steps, in most cases. Fried foods and french fries will still be on the menu, though enticing pictures of those foods may be gone....

DETROIT (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Monday that congressional Republicans must put their country ahead of their party and vote to create new jobs as he used a boisterous Labor Day rally to aim a partisan barb at the GOP. In a preview of the jobs speech he will deliver on Thursday to Congress, Obama said there are numerous roads and bridges that need rebuilding in the U.S., and over 1 million unemployed construction workers who are available to build them.

This one’s truly, uh ... rich: Billionaire Warren Buffett says folks like him should have to pay more taxes -- but it turns out his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, hasn’t paid what it’s already owed for years. That’s right: As Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson notes, the company openly admits that it owes back taxes since as long ago as 2002. “We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the US Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for the 2002 through 2004 tax years ... within the next 12 months,” the firm’s annual report says. It also cites outstanding...

The United States tax code is so backward that billionaire investor Warren Buffett pays only 17 percent in income taxes, a rate even lower than that of his secretary. Or so he claims. While I have great respect for Mr. Buffett, and while I agree that our tax code could benefit from major adjustments, Mr. Buffett's statement is misleading. And he knows it. Even worse, when Mr. Buffett implies that wealthier Americans are under-taxed, it gives public officials cover to pursue disastrous policies such as Maryland's failed millionaire's tax, and the pending sales tax on interstate Internet purchases known as...

OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched. While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80...

SALEM, IN (WAVE) – A police officer is facing drunk driving charges in Washington County, Indiana and the arresting officers say he was carrying a message about drug abuse education at the time. Not only a police officer, but according to the Seymour Police Department website, he is the School Resource Officer, responsible for seven schools, acting as a mentor and providing students with a role model. It even states that he conducts lectures on narcotics and alcohol and their effects on driving. Seymour Police Officer John Newcomb (Source; Washington County, IN Jail) Witnesses say when Newcomb was taken from...

To cleanse the palate, via Mediaite, an easy joke but a gratifying one.We’ve actually reached the point of class warfare in American politics where Rangel’s pander isn’t even the dumbest one this week. CLICK ABOVE LINK TO WATCH THE VIDEO

Lawrence O'Donnell on Tuesday accused Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) of being a socialist. "The Last Word" host, who has admitted on national television to himself being a socialist, did so by cherry-picking from an article published at the perilously liberal website "The Huffington Post" (video follows with commentary and full transcript at end of post): LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Michele Bachmann, as has been pointed out in this space before, has a family farm that has received over a quarter of million dollars in direct cash from the federal government. That is, of course, in addition to her federal salary of $174,000...

What's with the hatred of Michele Bachmann at Free Republic lately? I've seen some psychotic paranoid drivel about her secretly working for Mitt Romney, but apparently there's more to it than that. Please help me out here, folks.

It could be said that Newt Gingrich's campaign "problems" of late have put the White House beyond the former speaker of the House's reach. The most recent issue was the defection of Newt's campaign staffers, who believed there was a strategy difference between themselves and Gingrich on how to move forward. But not so fast. The departure of Gingrich's staffers is nothing more or less than a breath of fresh air -- after all, it is Newt himself, and not his campaign advisers, who is running for president. The fact is that Newt Gingrich has a vision on how to...

Foreign Car-Bashing DNC Chair Owns ... Foreign Car Wasserman Schultz attacked the GOP for putting US auto industry at risk By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff Posted May 27, 2011 8:04 AM CDT The chairwoman of the DNC—who slammed Republican 2012 hopefuls for putting the US auto industry at risk by favoring foreign automakers—herself owns a foreign car, the Hill reports. “If it were up to the candidates for president on the Republican side, we would be driving foreign cars; they would have let the auto industry in America go down the tubes,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, referencing their opposition...

In an emotional assault on the Republicans, new Democratic Party Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz today called the GOP agenda "anti-women" and "a war on women" that will backfire on Republicans in the 2012 election and provide a cushion for President Obama's re-election bid. "It's just so hard for me to grasp how they could be so anti-women as they are," she said at a breakfast roundtable with reporters. "The pushback and the guttural reaction from women against the Republican's agenda out of the gate, the war on women that the Republicans have been waging since they took over the...

I recently received a barrage of Facebook posts from my Leftist friends regarding Jon Stewart of the “The Daily Show” and his rant on the so-called hypocrisy of Sean Hannity and Fox News over the rapper Common’s invitation to the White House. Democrats accusing Republicans of hypocrisy… how ironic. My first reaction to the story was that my friends don’t understand the definition of hypocrisy. Quite simply, hypocrisy is the act of stating beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not actually personally hold or possess. In other words, it is saying one thing and doing the opposite. So, when...

"So when does Seal Unit 6, or whatever it's called, drop in on George Bush? Bush was responsible for a lot more death, innocent death, than bin Laden. Wasn't he, or am I wrong here?," Liberal radio talk show host Mike Malloy said on his show Monday evening.

In this interview Asmaa al-Assad, wife of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, in 2009. She is talking about the killing of Palestinians bij Israel. Clearly she cares about civilians being killed by armed forces. Like her husband is doing right now. I wonder how she feels about being married to a mass-murderer...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi isn't known as a small-government advocate. But she and members of her camp have sounded more like fiscal conservatives ever since House Speaker John Boehner hired a law firm for up to $500,000 to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal law banning gay marriage. "The hypocrisy of this legal boondoggle is mind-blowing," Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said in a statement to the Washington Post this week. "Speaker Boehner is spending half a million dollars of taxpayer money to defend discrimination. If Republicans were really interested in cutting spending, this should be at...

(AP) Democrat Barack Obama on Friday blamed high gasoline prices on Washington and a political establishment that he says hasn't stood up to oil companies, his two rivals for the presidency included. "The candidates with the Washington experience - my opponents - are good people. They mean well, but they've been in Washington for a long time and even with all that experience they talk about, nothing has happened," Obama said in remarks delivered at a gas station.

If President Obama knew then what he knows now, he would not have voted against raising the debt limit in 2006. That was the explanation trotted out by the White House Monday, as it sought to square the administration's pleas to Congress to lift the debt ceiling by next month against Obama's voting history. As a senator in 2006, Obama voted against raising the debt limit. But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president now views that vote as a "mistake." "He now believes it was a mistake," Carney said. He said Obama understands that senators want to...

Almost every promise, almost every reset proclamation from Barack Obama about the struggles against, and those within, the radical Muslim world has either been withdrawn or proven bankrupt. On the day the president announced his reelection bid, his administration renounced its loud promises to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a New York civilian court. While blaming Congress for the flipflop, Team Obama conceded that it had no public support for such a sensational courtroom drama — and knew that the trial of the mastermind of 9/11, a few blocks from the site of his mass murdering, might have endangered the...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Two Senate Republicans joined an effort to rapidly wind down government controlled mortgage titans Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC), hoping to put pressure on Democrats to take action soon. Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) introduced a bill Thursday to wind down or privatize Fannie and Freddie over the next five years. Their bill mirrors one introduced earlier this month by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas). "The events of the past three years have made it clear that never again can we allow the taxpayer to be responsible for poorly managed financial...

(CNSNews.com) - During the official announcement of his presidential campaign in Chicago, then Senator Barack Obama said, “no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else's civil war.” At the time Obama was speaking about his opposition to the war in Iraq, “Most of you know that I opposed this war from the start. I thought it was a tragic mistake,” Obama said to a crowd at the Springfield, Illinois town square on Feb. 10, 2007. “Today we grieve for the families who have lost loved ones, the hearts that have...

Springsteen writes Letter to the Editor NEPTUNE, N.J. (AP) — Bruce Springsteen has written a Letter to the Editor to what he calls his hometown newspaper. Springsteen on Thursday thanked the Asbury Park Press for a March 27 article about how anti-poverty groups in New Jersey are facing an uphill battle as Gov. Chris Christie seeks to cut spending and property taxes. Springsteen writes that the "article shows that the cuts are eating away at the lower edges of the middle class, not just those already classified as in poverty." Springsteen says it will "likely to contin ue to get...