From Mike Allen of The Washington Post: For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper’s own reporters and editors. "Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate," says the one-page flier. "Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth. ... Bring your organization’s CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders." So much for a free press..... Guess one needs to PAY the paper to get some influence. Since this news hit the air, the paper has issued an apology for it's [discovered] and misguided intentions.
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At a recent staged Obama town hall meeting, Obama knew the questions and answers ahead of time. Even old reporter Helen Thomas pointed out that "Even Nixon didn't try to do that. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try. “What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.” A writer for the liberal Huffigton Post was invied by the White house attend the conference with the condition that he ask Obama a question about Iran. “When you call the reporter the night before you know damn well what they are going to ask to control you,” Thomas said. “I’m not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well–for the town halls, for the press conferences,” she said. “It’s blatant. They don’t give a damn if you know it or not. They ought to be hanging their heads in shame.” It has to be REALLY bad to get Helen Thomas so incensed... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Byron York: Key Republicans in both the House and the Senate are accusing the White House of giving “incomplete and misleading” information to investigators probing the president’s abrupt firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin. In return, the White House is hinting that documents concerning its actions in the Walpin affair may be protected by executive privilege. Not surprising, given the situation.....
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The Census Bureau responded to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, leading Judicial Watch to report that:

In its official statement responding to the ACORN controversy, the Obama Commerce Department downplayed ACORN's participation in the Census, and labeled "baseless" the notion that ACORN would be involved in any Census count. However, the Census Bureau offered ACORN the opportunity to "recruit Census workers" who would participate in the count. Moreover, as an "executive level" partner, ACORN has the ability to "organize and/or serve as a member on a Complete Count Committee," which, according to Census documents, helps "develop and implement locally based outreach and recruitment campaigns."

According to its application ACORN also signed up to: "Encourage employees and constituents to complete and mail their questionnaire; identify job candidates and/or distribute and display recruiting materials; appoint a liaison to work with the Census Bureau; provide space for Be Counted sites and/or Questionnaire Assistance Centers; sponsor community events to promote participation in the 2010 Census," among 18 requested areas of responsibility. The documents also show the decision to add ACORN as a partner occurred in February, long after the January 15th Census partnership application deadline.

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Did you know that workers who lose their jobs if the pending climate change legislation becomes law could get a weekly paycheck for up to three years, subsidies to find new work and other generous benefits -- all courtesy of Uncle Sam -- under a little-noticed provision of the bill? Watch your wallets! It's yet another reason our taxes will be going up! This is certainly an acknowlegement that the Cap-And-Trade (Tax) bill will cause many jobs to be LOST - not gained!
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Two senior Republican senators, Jeff Sessions and Jon Kyl, sent a letter to President Obama on Wednesday expressing concern over the possibility that the administration negotiated "directly or indirectly" with terrorists for the release of those British hostages in Iraq. In the letter, the two senators said that a deal to free the hostages had been "reported by numerous outlets in the United States and Europe. If these reports are accurate, they confirm that your [Obama] administration released a major terrorist detainee in connection with hostage negotiations with a terrorist group." That ought to encourage more hostage-taking, don't you think?
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Concerning global warming: not only are NASA satellites showing a cooling trend, but 700 scientists, comared to the UN's 50, have come out in opposition to the patently false claims of the global warming lobby. The only way that meteorologists have been able to reproduce the findings of the IPCC is using 'data-padding", which the IPCC has admitted to using. The IPCC, therefore, lied by manipulating data in order to get the alarming results they desired. Now, it has been discovered that NYC has had the coolest June since 1958. This is yet another example of the FACT that the globe has been cooling over the last 10 years!

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Former Gitmo prisoner Mullah Zakir is now leading a reconstituted Taliban. We can look for this happening again and again when Gitmo detainees are released....
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From ABC: With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a “provisional basis” until the Senate ratifies the treaty.