| Obama: Valerie Jarrett agonistes, defined by leftwing extremists, friend of George, agonizes over ACORN, USW-P2P angers China. Mismanagement: Labor-state cools on Bam, Rathke-SEIU-ACORN fail, bipartisan fail, Progs H8 Constitution, SEIU election fraud, ex-Teamsters rewarded, gov't-union greed reported. International: Obama preps for hot war, U.N. H8s term limits, Cuba put on hold. |
Obama wears thin in #1 labor-state ... In a troubling sign for President Obama, his popularity is dipping -- in New York of all places -- as he tries to get a handle of the bad economy, the ongoing war in Afghanistan , while trying to push through a controversial health care bill. Although 57 percent of registered voters across the state believe Obama is doing either an excellent or good job in office, the president’s support has slipped over the summer, according to a Marist Poll released today. Forty-three percent of state voters currently say Obama is falling short of expectations since taking office in January. By comparison, Obama got high marks from 63 percent of voters polled by Marist in July. (nypost.com)
Who is Valerie Jarrett? ... Many have wondered how anyone as extreme as Obama's "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones - a self-described "Communist" obsessed with racial conspiracy theories - could have been named to head a federal agency. David Horowitz described the radicalization of the Democratic Party as the appointment's subtext. Closer to the fore, Jones owed his elevation to another new factor: the unparalleled influence of Valerie Jarrett. To call Jarrett a presidential adviser, even a close adviser, is misleading. She is an alter ego, an inner conscience, a touchstone of clarity for both President Obama and first lady Michelle. In the frenzy of the presidency, she reminds both Obamas of their identity and deepest-held beliefs. In exchange, the president makes no decision without her and has said she can "speak for me." Unfortunately, she is also a racially polarizing elitist. She obtained her first foothold in Chicago politics through the patronage of a former SDS radical who regrets "nothing" about her role in the Days of Rage and ventured in 2003 that she "would probably reject violence as a useful form of revolution." The same radical tried to persuade Rod Blagojevich to name Jarrett to Obama's empty senate seat. Instead, Jarrett has served as a conduit of far-leftists into the administration. (rightsidenews.com)
Disgraced White House aide dispatched ... White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrettt, who seemed to vanish at the end of last week, was actually dispatched to India on a delicate diplomatic mission: President Obama' tapped her to meet with the exiled Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama. (blogs.suntimes.com)
White House confidante linked to controversial Communist ... Some people are wondering who is next after Van Jones. But the Van Jones story is not over. And we still don't know who hired this "obscure" official, as some on the left are now trying to refer to him. Some of these controversies are currently being investigated by the new media. Blogger Trevor Loudon, who broke the story about Jones' communist background, thinks White House official Valerie Jarrett needs to be seriously scrutinized. She appears to have had a family connection to Barack Obama's childhood mentor, Communist Party member Frank Marshall Davis. (postchronicle.com)
Radical leftwing extremists define Obamunism ... Gibbs knows that the Jones controversy undermines confidence in the President, who bears ultimate responsibility for the appointment. Gibbs also has to know that, if Jones’ background can sink Jones, the President himself is in trouble. Obama has decades of friendly associations with communists and terrorists, ranging from Communist Party USA member Frank Marshall Davis in his youth in Hawaii to communist terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn in Chicago when he was doing community organizing and running for political office. (worldtribune.com)Bonus links:
• Summary of Saul Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals'
• More Saul Alinsky stories: here
• 'Rules for Radicals' at amazon.com
Meet FOB George Soros ... Is it possible to lay the global financial meltdown, the radicalizing of the Democratic Party, and America’s moral decline, at the feet of one man? It is indeed possible. If George Soros isn’t the world’s preeminent “malignant messianic narcissist,” he’ll do until the real thing comes along. Move over, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot. There’s a new kid on the block. What we have in Soros, is a multi-billionaire atheist, with skewed moral values, and a sociopath’s lack of conscience. He considers himself to be a world class philosopher, despises capitalism, and just loves social engineering. (canadafreepress.com)
In Obama Progs We Trust ... Horowitz is a former leftwing radical who turned conservative. He sees Obama’s manipulators as a coalition of left-wing groups who have helped pave Obama's road to the White House. One is the Center for American Progress, which is funded by billionaire George Soros and headed by John Podesta, co-chair of the Obama transition team. Another is the Apollo Alliance, a "coalition of radicals, left-wing union leaders and corporate recruits, which had a major role in designing Obama's green economy plans, including the 'cash for clunkers' program," Horowitz writes on the FrontPageMag.com Web site. Apollo Alliance's board includes Van Jones, who recently resigned as Obama's "green jobs czar" after his past inflammatory statements came to light. Horowitz notes that Jones is a "self-styled 'communist' and a proponent of the idea that the Katrina catastrophe was caused by 'white supremacy.'" (newsmax.com)
Union-backed, tax-funded fraud group backpedals ... ACORN's relentless death march continued last week as undercover sting videos surfaced in which the group's employees counseled reporters posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to set up a house of ill repute using tax dollars. Obama supporter Patricia Jessamy, Maryland State's Attorney for Baltimore City, released a statement saying the video might violate the state's anti-wiretapping law that was used against Linda Tripp after she recorded telephone conversations with President Clinton's Oval Office paramour Monica Lewinsky. The law requires consent to the recording by both parties in a conversation. Fox News contributor, former Judge Andrew Napolitano, said that's bunk. The Maryland statute does not apply to videotape recordings -- only to phone calls or other electronic "communications," Napolitano said. Meanwhile, the radical group and crime syndicate that is a longtime ally of President Obama went into damage control overdrive after the videos showed ACORN officials advising the pretend prostitute and her procurer about how to get taxpayer funds, launder money, commit tax fraud, and commit who knows how many other crimes. (spectator.org)
Union-backed social justice fraud group banks on Pelosi ... The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, a community organization under fire in several voter-registration fraud cases. The 83-7 vote would deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The Senate's move would mean that ACORN would not be able to win HUD grants for programs such as counseling low-income people on how to get mortgages and for fair housing education and outreach. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., said that ACORN has received $53 million in taxpayer funds since 1994 and that the group was eligible for a wider set of funding in the pending legislation, which funds housing and transportation programs. Just last week, the Census Bureau severed its ties with ACORN, saying it does not want the group's help in outreach efforts on the decennial count. (breitbart.com)We don't need no stinkin' ACORN stories ... This story has everything you could ever want – corruption, sleazy actions at tax-funded organizations, firings, government ties, sex, hookers. It is a network news director’s dream. Imagine the ratings. But almost no one is covering it. Bruce Springsteen once wrote: “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come).” I doubt he expected that story of love gone wrong would become ideal political commentary for the group known as ACORN. The small scandal showing an embarrassing video of Baltimore ACORN staffers looking like they were giving tax advice on how to set up a brothel, is now national news. — This story has everything you could ever want – corruption, sleazy actions at tax-funded organizations, firings, government ties, sex, hookers. It is a network news director’s dream. Imagine the ratings! Only almost no one is covering it. (biggovernment.com)
Rathkes reflect poorly on SEIU, ACORN ... Although the ACORN workers caught behaving badly "were immediately terminated for behaving unprofessionally...senior staff members who assisted and concealed a million dollar Rathke embezzlement remain employed," ACORN 8 said in the release. Reid and Inman were expelled from the ACORN board after they asked uncomfortable questions about ACORN's finances in the wake of an embezzlement scandal involving ACORN founder Wade Rathke. Rathke covered up his brother Dale's circa 2000 theft of $948,000 in ACORN funds but the long-hidden misappropriation was revealed last year and this led to the founder's expulsion from the group. Reid and Inman were appointed by the board to probe the group's finances. When they tried to actually do so, the same people who helped Rathke engineer and sustain a coverup showed them the door. (spectator.org)
Anti-socialists: Bipartisan fail ... As the 1963 gathering meant America’s Blacks would no longer accept second-class citizenship, Saturday’s march was the leading edge of the fabled Silent Majority that is silent no longer. That ought to give President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reason to sit down and rethink everything they think they know about the American people. And the same applies, but even more so, for Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steel, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader John Boehner. (washingtonexaminer.com)
U.S. Constitution inconveniences Progressives ... Many liberals lambasted the Bush administration on detention policy and warrantless surveillance, often arguing that they violated the Constitution. Now the Obama administration is pushing ahead with plans to require every American to purchase health insurance. Doesn't that also violate the Constitution? The Constitution created a federal government limited to its enumerated powers. Everything Congress is allowed to do is spelled out in Article I. The 10th Amendment makes it explicit: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Nothing in the Constitution authorizes any federal involvement in healthcare – yet Congress may soon require everyone in America to buy insurance. (csmonitor.com)
Powerful social-justice group takes on U.S. inequality ... Unions have new friends, too. In Washington, both Congress and the White House are in the hands of Democratic allies. Late last Friday, the White House decided to slap a 35% import tariff on Chinese tires. In doing so, the administration sided with the United Steelworkers despite the risks of a trade war with China, the largest holder of Treasuries at a time of record U.S. deficits. That's only the most recent example of Washington's union friendliness. The auto industry bailout -- though painful for all parties -- largely preserved unions' generous wages and benefits at the expense of creditors and taxpayers. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sent the convention videotaped hellos with effusive praise. "I look forward to working with your leadership team in the future," Pelosi said. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis echoed Pelosi in her speech Monday. She also called Sweeney "my good friend and colleague" and "our president." "I am proud and humbled to be your humble servant as labor secretary," she told the convention. She said the department was adding 670 labor law investigators. (finance.yahoo.com)
Missouri probes SEIU election fraud ... "They don't like the result" of the election, said union attorney Art Martin of St. Louis. "This is an attempt to end-run the process." Integra attorney Lowell Pearson countered that the state committed 17 errors in the election process and said his client should have standing to sue as a taxpayer. "We had a one-sided process where nobody — nobody — was providing any check and balance on the system," Pearson said. The union is seeking to represent about 13,000 workers who help people living in their own homes perform daily activities such as bathing, dressing, cooking and cleaning. The workers are paid through the state's Medicaid program. (columbiamissourian.com)
Workers rewarded for ousting oppressive Teamsters ... The Great Falls School Board Meeting on Monday night included a report on a district group that has recently cut its union ties. The Teacher and Library Aide Employee Group was represented by the Teamsters, a union group, since October of 2000. As a result of what the school board is calling a mutual decision, the group will no longer be represented by the teamsters, and are no longer union affiliated. As of this past July, all non-union school district workers received a 1-percent pay raise. In July, the group was still in the midst of union negotiations with the teamsters, therefore they were not eligible for any raise. (kfbb.com)
Shameful gov't-union greed reported ... Don't believe the teachers in Andover when they say it's "all about the children." Don't believe the firefighters when they say their only interest is in protecting the public. Their actions speak much louder than their words. It is all about them. With the town struggling to close a $1.4 million budget deficit, and with residents in the private sector struggling with wage freezes, unpaid furloughs, increased health care costs or outright job losses, those unions have refused to negotiate pay concessions of a mere 1 percent. (eagletribune.com)
Obama-USW P2P angers China ... None of which is meant to defend Obama's decision one way or another. But with advisors like Larry Summers and Austan Goolsbee on staff, I'd be pretty surprised if Obama has turned into some kind of tariff warrior. Frankly, the tire decision looks to me like a fairly standard payoff to a core constituency, not something that suggests a long-term change in policy. (motherjones.com)International Collectivism
Obama preps U.S. for hot LatAm war ... The US has voiced concerns over an arms deal between Venezuela and Russia, giving Caracas over two billion dollars worth of tanks and missiles on credit. "We have concerns in general about Venezuela's stated desire to increase its arms build-up, which we think poses a serious challenge to stability in the Western Hemisphere," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters on Monday. (presstv.ir)
We don't need no stinkin' term limits ... The Honduran ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said on Monday he had been ordered out of the U.N. Human Rights Council after other Latin American countries accused him of representing an "illegal" regime. After a day of confusion which stalled the start of the three-week session of the 47-nation council, envoy J. Delmer Urbizo left the hall declaring loudly in English and Spanish: "We will be back! Volveremos!" The dramatic scenes came after Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Cuba insisted that Delmer Urbizo, who has served as ambassador in Geneva for three years, could not stay unless he was approved by ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya. (reuters.com)
Wait until next year ... President Barack Obama has extended the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba for one year, the White House said in a statement released on Monday. The extension was expected and has been the practice of all U.S. presidents dating to the 1970s under a section of the so-called "Trading With the Enemy Act." Obama extended the embargo even though he has made reaching out to old U.S. foes a key plank in his foreign policy. (washingtonexaminer.com)
