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"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans
began to slow and our planet began to heal"
Barack Hussein Obama
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| $1 Trillion in New Taxes |
Obama's budget
proposes $989 billion in new taxes over the course of the next 10
years, starting fiscal year 2011, most of which are tax increases on
individuals.
1) On people making more than $250,000.
$338
billion - Bush tax cuts expire
$179 billlion - eliminate itemized
deduction
$118 billion - capital gains tax hike
Total: $636
billion/10 years
2) Businesses:
$17 billion - Reinstate
Superfund taxes
$24 billion - tax carried-interest as income
$5
billion - codify "economic substance doctrine"
$61 billion - repeal
LIFO
$210 billion - international enforcement, reform deferral, other
tax reform
$4 billion - information reporting for rental payments
$5.3 billion - excise tax on Gulf of Mexico oil and gas
$3.4 billion
- repeal expensing of tangible drilling costs
$62 million - repeal
deduction for tertiary injectants
$49 million - repeal passive loss
exception for working interests in oil and natural gas properties
$13
billion - repeal manufacturing tax deduction for oil and natural gas
companies
$1 billion - increase to 7 years geological and geophysical
amortization period for independent producers
$882 million -
eliminate advanced earned income tax credit
Total: $353 billion
His total new budget is $3.55 trillion -- $25,573.48 per taxpayer -- $11, 833 for every
American man, woman and child -- Obama has redefined the "tax and spend"
Democrat. |
| Obama Spreading Panic |
Ultimately, all recessions and depressions resolve themselves
into crises of confidence. The instant, global, 24/7
communications of today make them ever more so. Obama, in his
pursuit of liberal big-government spending, has totally neglected his
role in reversing global panic. To the contrary, his every remark
and the constant preoccupation of his Cabinet is to heighten the sense
of crisis and to escalate the predictions of doom if we do not do as
they tell us and raise spending now and taxes later.
Instead of
being a firewall, reassuring Main Street even as Wall Street crashed, he
has become a conduit of panic, spreading the mood of desperation from
the stock exchange floor to kitchen tables across the world.
There are bad loans, which became bad assets, that lie at the root of
the crisis. Through deregulation by the government and the greed
of financial institutions, they spread to every portfolio in the world.
But these basic facts have metastasized out of all proportion to their
real harm into job and financial insecurity for every family on Earth.
It is Obama, not the markets themselves, who has spread this fear.
A global Paul Revere, he has not only aroused us, but incited fear and
trepidation in his wake.
Obama has been instrumental in purveying
fear and spreading doubt. It is his pronouncements, reinforced by
the developments they kindle and catalyze, that are destroying good
businesses, bankrupting responsible people and wiping out even
conservative financial institutions. Every time he speaks, he
sends the markets down and stocks crashing. He doesn’t seem to
realize that the rest of the world takes its cue from him. He
forgets that he stands at the epicenter of power, not on the fringes
campaigning for office. This ain’t Iowa.
Why does Obama
preach gloom and doom? Because he is so anxious to cram through
every last spending bill, tax increase on the so-called rich, new
government regulation, and expansion of healthcare entitlement that he
must preserve the atmosphere of crisis as a political necessity.
Only by keeping us in a state of panic can he induce us to vote for
trillion-dollar deficits and spending packages that send our national
debt soaring.
The crash of the stock market in the days since he
took power (indeed, from the moment he won the election) can
increasingly be attributed to his own failure to lead us in the right
direction, his failed policies in addressing the recession and his own
spreading of panic and fear.
The market collapse makes it
evident that
it is Obama who is the problem, where he should, instead, be the
solution. |
| Obama's Role In The Economic Crisis |
Sources point to Obama's vigorous black racial
advocacy as a possible starting point
to the domino affect that lead to the housing crises we are now
facing. Check the provided links and judge for yourself.
Obama had a part in the lawsuit that started the
government on a course of forcing lenders to give more loans to
those who had poor credit. Lending companies were forced to
come up with imaginative ways of fulfilling the quota that was
required. Sub-prime lending was born as a result. The
mortgage crises was forecast by many who were able to look beyond
the quota.
In this New York Times
article (.pdf),
Steven A. Holmes, writing for The New York Times, forecast the
mortgage meltdown.
In a move that could help increase home
ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the
Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans
that it will purchase from banks and other lenders, ... under
increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration.
"Fannie
Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the
1990s by reducing down payment requirements," said Franklin Raines,
Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. "Yet there
remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what
our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying
significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime
market."
Demographic information on these borrowers is
sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of
the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared
to 5 percent of loans in the conventional loan market.
In
moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae
is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any
difficulties during flush economic times. But the
government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an
economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of
the savings and loan industry of the 1980s.
"From the
perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift
industry growing up around us," said Peter Wallison, a resident
fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. "If they fail,
the government will have to step up and bail them out, the way it
stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry."
Here's a
must-see video
of of Maxine Waters, Barney Frank, and Gregory Meeks defending
Fannie Mae in 2004.
And, lets not forget that all
during the 1990s, Barney was
sharing vital bodily fluids with Herb Moses, who was Fannie
Mae’s assistant director for product initiatives -- a clear conflict
of interest. Now, almost daily, Barney and the rest of these
hypocrites criticize the Bush administration and the banks for the
mess they and Obama created.
And this -- Illegal aliens can
apply for mortgage relief under the Obama administration’s $275
billion plan, according to immigration experts and a group the
government will use to help homeowners modify loans.
Steven
Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies
in Washington, D.C., said approximately 1 million households headed
by illegal immigrants
acquired mortgages through the beginning of 2007, before the
housing bubble burst.
Chad Buchanan, a manager at
SaveMyHomeUSA -- a group cooperating with the Obama administration
that assists homeowners facing foreclosure -- said illegal
immigrants who own a home "could certainly apply under our program."
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| My Muslim President Obama |
I know President Obama is not Muslim, but I am tempted
nevertheless to think that he is, as are most Muslims I know. In a
very unscientific oral poll, ranging from family members to Muslim
acquaintances, many of us feel, just as African-Americans did for the
non-black but culturally leaning African-American President Bill
Clinton, that we have our first American Muslim president in Barack
Hussein Obama.
I know it's odd to say this. At first, I
thought I was the only Muslim engaging in this folly, and I am reluctant
to express it lest right-wing zealots try to use "Muslim" as a smear and
cite my theory as proof of an Islamic traitor in the White House or some
such nonsense. But, since Election Day, I have been part of more
and more conversations with Muslims in which it was either offhandedly
agreed that Obama is Muslim or enthusiastically blurted out. In
commenting on our new president, "I have to support my fellow Muslim
brother," would slip out of my mouth before I had a chance to think
twice.
"Well, I know he's not really Muslim," I would quickly
add. But if the person I was talking to was Muslim, they would
say, "yes he is." They would cite his open nature and habit of
reaching out to critics, reminiscent of the Prophet Muhammad's own
approach, and also Obama's middle name, Hussein. Most of the
Muslims I know (me included) can't seem to accept that Obama is not
Muslim.
Of the few Muslims I polled who said that Obama is not
Muslim, even they conceded that he had ties to Islam. These
realists said that, although not an avowed and practicing Muslim,
Obama's exposure to Islam at a young age (both through his father and
his stint in Indonesia) has given him a Muslim sensibility. In my
book, that makes you a Muslim -- maybe not a card-carrying one, but part
of the flock for sure. One realist Muslim ventured that Obama
worships at a Unitarian Church because it represents the middle ground
between Christianity and Islam, incorporating the religious beliefs of
the two faiths Obama feels connected to. Unitarianism could be
Obama's way of still being a Muslim. (And let's not forget that
the church Obama worshiped at for so many years had a minister who
reminds most Muslims of their own raving, excitable ministers.
Even if Obama really is Christian, he picked the most Muslim-esque
minister out of the bunch to guide him.)
The rationalistic,
Western side of me knows that Obama has denied being Muslim, that his
father was non-practicing, that he doesn't attend a mosque. Many
Muslims simply say back, "my father's not a strict Muslim either, and I
haven't been to a mosque in years." Obama even told The New York
Times he could recite the Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, which the
vast majority of Muslims, I would guess, do not know well enough to
recite.
I think many of us Muslims see Obama as Muslim, or at
least of Muslim heritage, because his background epitomizes one of the
major Muslim experiences -- a diverse upbringing that eludes any easy
classification as specifically one religion or one culture. So
many of us Muslims around the world have Islam in common, but an
altogether different culture from one another. Many Muslims share
a culture with a Christian, Hindu or Buddhist community but not the same
religion. When faced with such diversity, there are no hard and
fast rules for Muslim identity.
(Note: A reference to Jews, the "People of the Book," is conspicuous, by
its absence)
The Qur'an speaks often of the umma,
or the worldwide community of Muslims. In the early days of Islam,
the Prophet Muhammad led the small umma. Every decision, every
effort, everything was for the umma -- people who were often unrelated
by blood but had become related by choice as Muslims. In those
early days, many Muslims had gone against the wishes of their own
families in converting to Islam, pitting brother against sister, father
against child. Perhaps that's why the concept of umma became so
dear and is still echoed today -- in my opinion, echoed more than that
Western favorite jihad -- in Muslim homes, whether those homes are in
the United States or in Palestine.
Perhaps it is my -- and most
Muslims' -- loyalty to the umma that is behind our insistence on seeing
Obama as Muslim. Islam survived and continues to survive because
Muslims believe we have to respect and take care of each other, as
members of the umma. If we were to start excluding members, or
revising our broad guidelines for admittance, the very essence of the
community feeling that is important in Islam, that gives me and other
Muslims comfort everyday, would be undercut. So when Obama
says he's not Muslim, my umma mentality says I know better. Once
you have a Muslim parent, especially a dad, you're in. Whether you
like it or not, Muslims all over the world see you as one of them.
Forbes
commentary by:
Asma Gull Hasan
The
Muslim Mainstream and the
New Caliphate
I
have received countless emails calling me a hater, a racist, an
Islamophobe and a Xenophobe for making the same observation. |
| Strange Bedfellows |
Barack Obama's
cousin, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, met
with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Laico Regency hotel,
Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday -- February 25th, 2009.
In the above photo released by the Kenyan Prime Minister's Press
Service, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, left, is seen with Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, during their meeting."
In the photo below, Obama enthusiastically
campaigns for Raila Odinga during his taxpayer funded trip to Kenya
in August 2006.
While campaigning in the northeast of Kenya, Obama was photographed
as a Somali elder, in full Muslim regalia.
The photo appears in the
February 4th, 2008 edition of "The Examiner," under the caption,
"Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is dressed in Muslim
attire while on a trip to Kenya." (Click source image to enlarge)
Odinga, who is Obama's first cousin, has,
in his own words, a "close personal friendship" with Obama.
When Obama went to Kenya in August of 2006, he was hosted by Raila and
spoke in praise of him at several rallies in Nairobi. Obama’s bias
for his fellow Luo was so blatant that a Kenya government spokesman
denounced
Obama during his visit as Raila’s "stooge." On the
27th, Odinga lost the presidential election in Kenya. In true
Marxist fashion, Odinga ordered his people to the streets to protest the
outcome. Odinga called the march to protest President
Mwai Kibaki's re-election in the Dec. 27 vote, insisting the disputed
poll was a sham -- and the violence commenced.
Raila
vowed to go ahead with a "million man" protest rally Thursday that
many fear could worsen the wave of political and ethnic violence that
humanitarian groups say has already killed 300 people and displaced
100,000.
According to
witnesses, the mob was mostly Kalenjins,
Luhyas and Luos, the followers of Raila Odinga.
They overran Kikuyu guards in front of the
church and then pulled out cans of gasoline.
There were no police officers around, witnesses
said, and no water to put the fire out.
Most people escaped. But in addition to
those killed, dozens were hospitalized with
severe burns. Witnesses said most of the
people hiding inside had been women and
children.
The Eldoret area has become a killing zone.
Residents say dozens of Kikuyus have been hacked
to death, including four who were beheaded on
Monday.
On one main road, police fired tear gas and
water cannons to push back a crowd of several
hundred people from the Kibera slum holding
branches and white flags. One of them,
22-year-old Edward Muli, said: "Without Raila
there will be no peace."
The rally, Odinga said, aimed to "to communicate
to our people, to inform them where we are
coming from, where we are and where we want to
go."
Obama was in frequent communication with his
cousin, during the insurrection. Odinga
said, "He (Obama) has called me to talk about
the destabilizing constitutional crisis in this
country, despite being in the middle of the very
busy New Hampshire primary."
Obama’s
spokesman Robert Gibbs
confirmed that the senator spoke to the
Kenyan opposition leader, but didn't reveal the
substance of the conversations, according to
Associated Press.
Islam
had picked Odinga to win.
This is a cached
photocopy of
the complete Memorandum of Understanding, dated
and signed on August 29, 2007, between Raila Odinga and Shiekh Abdullah
Abdi, Chairman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum of Kenya.
This is a summary of the signed agreement:
* It pledges the support of Kenyan Moslems for Raila’s election.
In return, as President of Kenya, Raila agrees to 14 actions, listed a)
through n) on page two.
* Within 6 months re-write the Constitution of Kenya to recognize
Shariah as the only true law sanctioned by the Holy Quran for Muslim
declared regions.
* Within one year facilitate the establishment of a Shariah court in
every Kenyan divisional headquarters. [Note: everywhere in Kenya,
not just in "Muslim declared regions."]
* Popularize Islam, the only true religion… by ordering every primary
school in Kenya in the regions to conduct daily Madrassa classes.
* Impose a total ban on open-air gospel crusades by worshippers of the
cross…
* Outlaw gospel programs… on KBC, the National Broadcaster.
* Impose a total ban on the public consumption of alcoholic beverages…
* Impose an immediate ban on women’s public dressing styles that are
considered immoral and offensive to the Muslim faith…
Obama's involvement in Kenyan
politics, whether tribal or religious, is bothersome.
Especially if it is both -- and now, Obama is preparing to sit down with
Ahmadinejad -- this duo will soon be a trio. |
| Byrd Criticizes Obama's Power Grab |
Does the Obama White House have too many "czars?" No less
an authority than Sen. Robert Byrd thinks so, and the West Virginia
Democrat has told the president as much.
In a letter he sent to
Obama on Monday, Byrd
expressed his displeasure at the increasing number of policy
positions being created in the White House, registering his fear that
those officials would usurp the authority of Cabinet secretaries.
"Too often, I have seen these lines of authority and responsibility
become tangled and blurred, sometimes purposely, to shield information
and to obscure the decision-making process," wrote Byrd, the
self-described "constitutional conscience of the Senate."
Byrd
specifically noted the creation of three new White House bodies -- the
offices of Health Reform, Urban Affairs Policy, and Energy and Climate
Change Policy -- and complained that "the rapid and easy accumulation of
power by White House staff can threaten the Constitutional system of
checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken
direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory
responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials."
Byrd asked Obama
to limit White House aides' authority over "any Senate-confirmed
department or agency head," to ensure that only Obama himself will
authorize assertions of executive privilege, "and that the lines of
authority and responsibility in the administration be transparent and
open to the American public." |
| ObamaCare |
Obama's first budget is seeking $634 billion over 10 years to
radically change America’s healthcare system. But that’s
likely to double to more than $1 trillion, administration
officials concede, as Democrats seek to create a massive
socialized medical bureaucracy.
Obama's first budget will seek
$634 billion over 10 years as a down payment on health care reform, a
senior administration official said Wednesday. The official said
Obama's proposal is meant to start a dialogue with Congress over how to
provide coverage for an estimated 48 million uninsured while also
slowing health care costs, which amount to $2.4 trillion a year and keep
rising even as the economy is shrinking.
Of the
48 million uninsured, 12 million are illegal aliens, 28 million are
people between the age of 24 and 38 with incomes of over $50k per year
who choose not to take insurance but can afford it, and 5 million are
getting government medical benefits but don't count as insured.
The senior official spoke on condition of anonymity because the budget
won't be released until Thursday. |
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©
Copyright Beckwith 2009
All right reserved
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