Ground Zero; Another Vacation; Preempting Immigration Laws; Ground Zero Mosque; Our Mortgage Market

State Department: Maybe We'll Publish Remarks of Ground Zero Mosque Opponents, Too

The Weekly Standard writes: The State Department is finally explaining why it decided to publish on its affiliate website, www.america.gov, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s speech, which endorsed the building of the Ground Zero mosque two blocks from the site of an Islamist terrorist attack that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans. In an interview with THE WEEKLY STANDARD, State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley said the State Department does "not take a position" on the Ground Zero mosque but merely wanted to help people abroad "understand" the debate on the issue. [What ever happened to speaking to Americans?] http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/state-dept-defend-publishing-bloomberg-remarks-ground-zero-mosque
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Politics USA News opines: There they go again. For the fifth time since July, the first family has set plans to board Air Force One for a frilly vacation, a 10-day return trip to exclusive Martha's Vineyard where they are expected to stay at the 28-acre oceanfront Blue Heron Farm that rents for up to $50,000 a week. http://politics.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2010/8/11/obamas-plan-fifth-vacation-since-july.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How the Obama administration is preempting federal immigration law

Powerline Blog writes: Two days ago, the Washington Times reported that the union that represents rank-and-file field agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unanimously passed a "vote of no confidence" for the agency's leadership. The National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 7,000 ICE agents and employees, stated that ICE has "abandoned" its core mission of protecting the public to support a political agenda favoring amnesty. The vote, by the Union's Council, was 259-0. Has this story made it into the mainstream media? Not to my knowledge.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/08/026976.php
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsmax reports: Gov. David Paterson said Wednesday that developers of an Islamic cultural center that would include a mosque near ground zero have rejected his offer to help them find a different site. http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Ground-Zero-Mosque-Paterson/2010/08/11/id/367268 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And what does Volcker think?

Money News writes: “We are going to have to reconstruct the whole mortgage market,” the ex-Fed chairman told Smart Money.
“The mortgage market now is almost a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S. government.”
That’s because Fannie, Freddie and other government agencies guarantee or own more than 90 percent of the mortgages originated since the financial crisis.
“Not much exists without the government running it. I don’t think that’s what we want,” Volcker said.
It’s clear Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to go. We don’t need these hybrid institutions. You don’t know whether they should be responsible to the government or to stockholders. It’s an unfortunate invention.” http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/paul-volcker-fannie-freddie/2010/08/11/id/367229
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A New Hampshire Democrat has quit the state legislature after cracking a joke on Facebook about Sarah Palin’s death. Rep. Timothy Horrigan of Durham posted a comment Wednesday that a “dead Palin wd be even more dangerous than a live one” and she “is all about her myth & if she was dead she cdn’t commit any more gaffes.” Horrigan apologized Thursday and resigned. He is also discontinuing his re-election campaign.
http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/12/democrat-quits-nh-house-over-anti-palin-remark/ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AMERICA UNDER SIEGE - a Guest Commentary in Local Paper

AMERICA UNDER SIEGE - my latest Guest Commentary published by my local liberal newspaper:  Feel free to send it on to YOUR newspapers just as it is, or with changes you make.  Spread it far and wide, for conservatives just don't know this history!

 

   In the 1960s, radical Columbia University professors, Cloward and Piven, wrote the The Cloward and Piven Strategy, detailing how to force “political change through orchestrated crisis, seeking to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, stressing the system, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.”

Remember now the rule of Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s Chief of Staff: “Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

   The welfare system was the first target of the Cloward and Piven strategy, using violent demonstrations to achieve desired results. In NYC one of every three people ended up on the welfare rolls, sending the city into bankruptcy and turning welfare from a limited-time expectancy into a lifetime entitlement. The drain on local resources persists indefinitely, just as planned.

In 1970 ACORN was established – the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has been responsible for widespread criminal activity countrywide.  As divulged by Townhall, they successfully used the following Cloward-Piven Strategy to get more Democrat voters:

 1. Register as many Democrat voters as possible, legal or otherwise and help them vote, multiple times if possible.

2. Overwhelm the system with fraudulent registrations using multiple entries of the same name, names of deceased, random names from the phone book, even contrived names.

3. Make the system difficult to police by lobbying for minimal identification standards.

           ACORN also has its imprint on the current mortgage crisis as well as efforts to gain amnesty for illegal aliens for a permanent Democrat voting bloc.

   Rules for Radicals, written by Saul Alinsky in 1989, became the go-to book for those interested in fomenting progressive revolution. With the intent to create a crisis, Progressives use some of the “rules”:  “Pick the Target, Freeze It, Personalize It, and Polarize It.” Remember their treatment of President Bush as well as others. Remember these rules while reading current events.

Then along came Barack Hussein Obama, almost out of nowhere. Having been deeply influenced in childhood by his mentor (self-proclaimed Communist Frank Marshall Davis); employed as a Community Organizer and attorney for ACORN; befriending unrepentant, bomb-throwing Weather Underground’s Bill Ayers; and maturing in the thugocracy which is Chicago politics, Obama is uniquely qualified to sell his Hope and Change mantra.  Who could be against that? Those interested in reading the full story can go to: http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html

Obama openly campaigned for “fundamental change” for America, and Michelle Obama proclaimed: “Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices; we are going to have to change our conversation; we're going to have to change our traditions, our history; we're going to have to move into a different place as a nation."  I agree with the President that words, indeed, do matter.

Our country is being fundamentally changed as promised: bail-outs; government take-over of private companies; the breaking of legal contracts; stimulus spending mostly on government jobs; widely unpopular government healthcare; unemployment compensation now reaching almost two years; higher taxes; plans for a VAT tax and a Cap & Tax tax; promotion of amnesty for illegal aliens before border security; federal lawsuits against states; failure to urgently stop an oil spill crisis; dropping prosecution of blatant Black Panther intimidation at voting centers;  and tasking NASA to make Muslims feel better about their historic contribution to science, among others.

It really doesn't matter if this is coincidental - or if it demonstrates the above strategies in action.  Either way, our country is in great crisis!  And only we can end it - with our votes!

Below are websites which impart this information.

http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html
http://www.thefoxnation.com/nasa/2010/07/06/obamas-new-mission-nasa-make-muslims-feel-good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKfwz3NnSlY
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/4383/2
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2410091/posts

George Greets Troops; Teacher Bailout Raids Food Stamps; Wishing Palin Dead; 10 Reasons....; A Bankrupt USA; and Al-Queda Wants us Killed

Here is one of the photos of a USO group in the Dallas Airport greeting soldiers who are coming home....

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6894887&id=361997510504&ref=fbx_album

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fox News reports: Some Democrats are upset and advocacy groups are outraged over the raiding of the food-stamp cupboard to fund a state-aid bailout that some call a gift to teachers and government union workers. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/10/democrats-advocacy-groups-blast-cuts-food-stamps-fund-m-jobs/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Politico writes: [Proving once again how kind and fair are those wonderful Democrats]: A Democratic candidate for state representative in New Hampshire, Democrat N.H. House candidate Keith Halloran, expresses, on Facebook naturally, the wish that Sarah Palin and Levi Johnston had gone down with Ted Stevens's plane. http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0810/NH_Dem_wishes_Palin_ill.html?showall
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[The UK Telegraph, unafraid, writes of the stunning decline of Barack Obama:]
1) The Obama presidency is out of touch with the American people
2. Most Americans don’t have confidence in the president’s leadership
3. Obama fails to inspire
4. The United States is drowning in debt
5. Obama’s Big Government message is falling flat
6. Obama’s support for socialised health care is a huge political mistake

7. Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill has been weak-kneed and indecisive
8. US foreign policy is an embarrassing mess under the Obama administration
    "It is hard to think of a single foreign policy success for the Obama administration"
9. President Obama is muddled and confused on national security
10. Obama doesn’t believe in American greatness
   "Barack Obama has made it clear that he doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism, and has made apologizing for his country into an art form"  Read details at: 
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100050412/the-stunning-decline-of-barack-obama-10-key-reasons-why-the-obama-presidency-is-in-meltdown/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also from the UK Telegraph: And you thought we’d got problems here in the UK. Have a read of this terrifying article by Professor Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University, which using recent IMF analysis pretty convincingly demonstrates that the US is as fiscally bankrupt as a busted flush. [Snip] As Professor Kotlikoff notes, the entire Federal tax base amounts to 14.7 per cent of GDP, so to close the gap from a revenue perspective would require the authorities to double the rate of taxation in the US.  http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jeremywarner/100007268/why-the-us-is-as-busted-as-a-busted-flush/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bloomberg News writes: Al-Qaeda urged soldiers to help topple the Saudi monarchy and kill Christians and government officials in the kingdom, said someone purporting to be a leader of the group in a recording. Al-Qaeda ordered supporters in the Saudi army to “collect information on everything related to the Saudi royal family” in an effort to dethrone them.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-11/al-qaeda-seeks-overthrow-of-saudi-arabia-monarchy-killing-of-christians.html  [As we keep mentioning, they want us ALL dead!]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unstated Embarrassment; US to Buy Own Debt; Moscow Protecting Nuclear Sites; Fed Workers Paid Twice as Much; Taliban Not a Terrorist Organization Now; More Global Warming Myths Exposed; and Imam to go to Middle East on our Dime

 

 

 

 

 

 

By FOUAD AJAMI http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421363005578460.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion

_LEADTop

There is a widespread sense of unstated embarrassment that a political majority, if only for a moment, fell for the promise of an untested redeemer [Barack Hussein Obama]—a belief alien to the temperament of this so practical and sober a nation. 
----------------------------------------------------------
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Despite the failure of the Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus plan to move unemployment below 9.5 percent, the White House has a new idea – maybe the United States should just begin once again buying its own debt.
Remarkable as the concept seems, reputable news agencies are beginning to telegraph the concept.
"With interest rates already close to zero, the Fed will have to execute any monetary stimulus through the management of its balance sheet," the Financial Times in London said today.
What this means is that the Obama administration, through the auspices of the Federal Reserve, is about to resume buying Obama administration debt issued through the U.S. Treasury Department to finance what is likely to be a $1.5 trillion federal budget deficit in fiscal year 2010. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=188885
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia fought a deadly battle Tuesday to prevent wildfires from engulfing key nuclear sites as alarm mounted over the impact on health of a toxic smoke cloud shrouded over Moscow.
Two soldiers were killed by blazing trees as they worked to put out a fire dangerously close to Russia's main nuclear research centre, while workers were also mobilised to fight blazes near a nuclear reprocessing plant.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100810/ts_afp/russiaheatwavefires_20100810101712
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal News Radio reports: When it comes to pay, federal workers receive benefits that averaged about $41,791 in 2009. When you factor in salaries and those benefits, which include pensions, federal civil servants earned about $123,049 in 2009. By comparison, private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, tells USA TODAY the data are not useful in a direct public to private pay comparison.
Public union employees say the gap reflects the growing skill and education levels needed for most federal jobs, while the government farms out lower paid jobs to the private sector.  http://wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2023582
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the Daily Caller: A new State Department report designating terrorist organizations notably excludes one group: the Taliban. The U.S. has been fighting a war in Afghanistan for almost a decade aimed at “defeating the Taliban,” Taliban members repeatedly have threatened and killed American citizens and lawmakers have increased pressure on State to add the Taliban to the list.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/10/state-department-taliban-is-not-a-terrorist-organization/#ixzz0wEU6k1RW

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

American Thinker opines: The theory that the minute amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere have an outsize influence on climate was dealt another serious blow by the publication in a peer-reviewed journal of a study showing that the climate about 460 million years ago was similar to that of today, even though atmospheric carbon dioxide was at least 4 or 5 times the level of today. From Watt's Up with That?: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/another_blow_to_warmist_claims.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And from the New York Post: The imam behind a plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero is set to depart on a multi-country jaunt to the Middle East funded by the State Department -- raising concerns that taxpayers may be helping him with the controversial project's $100 million fund-raising goal. Feisal Abdul Rauf is taking the publicly funded trip to foster "greater understanding" about Islam and Muslim communities in the United States, the State Department confirmed yesterday. "He is a distinguished Muslim cleric," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley  [I can't figure out how his trip to the Middle East will help us have greater understanding about Islam in the US, can you?]  http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/feds_funding_zero_imam_mideast_trip_OTq9dmoHpxbaKvJbB4VLGM

14th Amendment; Undoing Part of Financial Services Act?; Slimming Government Work Force; Wind Mill Problems; Obamanomics Has Failed

 Joe [the plumber] Wurzelbacher speaks....
----------------------------------------
 The Dallas News reports:  Still, the debate [on the 14th amendment, whereby babies born to illegals are US citizens] could resonate in Texas, where not only 1.5 million illegal immigrants are estimated to reside but at least 60,000 babies are added to their households annually. As Republican members of Congress press for changes to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, preventing automatic citizenship for babies born to illegal immigrants, opponents insist the debate is not really about babies. (snip) Parkland Memorial Hospital delivers more of those babies than any other hospital in the state. Last year at Parkland, 11,071 babies were born to women who were noncitizens, about 74 percent of total deliveries. Most of these women are believed to be in the country illegally. State Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, accused Republicans of using the births to generate an explosive election issue.

"They're violating our law, and we're giving their children the benefit of U.S. citizenship," said state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, whose 2009 bill in the Legislature would have challenged the birthright of immigrant children.
That bill died in committee, although Berman has vowed to file another version next year that would prohibit the state from issuing birth certificates to the children of "illegal aliens."
"I've checked the Congressional Record for when the 14th Amendment was written, and the author was quoted as saying that it did not apply to foreigners," he said. "There's no question in my mind about it." [What the 14th Amendment was about was giving citizenship to slaves, not to foreigners....] http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/080810dnmetbabies.2be9a7e.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[It's getting so outrageous that even some Democrats are working to undo one of the newly passed laws!]  According to Fox business news: Four prominent members of the U.S. Senate introduced a bill Thursday that would strike the provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that potentially gives the Securities and Exchange Commission broad powers to deny Freedom of Information Act requests.

The bill introduced by a bipartisan group of Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee - Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del. and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa - is similar to a House version introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., that would strike the provision in the law.

The drafting of a Senate bill to strike the SEC FOIA provision comes a day after House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said he would hold hearings next month regarding potential abuse of the bill. [Does our Congress never read the bills they pass and figure out the unintended consequences?] http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/08/05/senators-introduce-sec-foia/?cmpid=prn_baynote_Senators_Introduce_Bill_to_Kill_SEC_FOIA_Powers

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Federal News Radio: Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch has introduced a bill that could slim the government's workforce. The Reduce and Cap Federal Workforce Act would bring down and freeze the number of civilian feds at February of 2009 levels. Agencies would need to make those reductions through attrition. The bill would exempt the Defense and Homeland Security departments and some intelligence agencies. Hatch says the government has become bloated, and his bill would cut it down to size.  http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?sid=2022811&nid=15
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 The Examiner writes:  The carbon cost of construction is only one downside to using wind power.
  Wind power has a high negative effect for wildlife, particularly birds. The green credentials of wind turbines are challenged especially in Altamont pass in California which is to blame for thousands of bird deaths every year, many of them protected species. Offshore wind farms can affect dolphins and seals in addition to birds.
  There are concerns that wind turbines sited near communities cause health problems for residents. Reported problems include dizziness, nausea and headaches. A common complaint is about the ‘whooshing’ noise made by turbine blades, which can interrupt sleep and affect concentration. The effects on human health are still being studied, but it is a valid factor to consider when evaluating wind power.
Wind farms are increasingly common sights no matter where in the world you live, but while the intentions of wind power advocates and generators are generally well-meaning, there are some serious problems and unintended consequences with the renewable option. http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-63210-Environmental-Policy-Examiner~y2010m8d8-Five-reasons-to-rethink-wind-power
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is part of a Washington Examiner Editorial - Time to Admit Obamanomics Has Failed: Predictably, the stimulus bill has proven to be an extraordinary waste of borrowed money that has failed to create jobs, generate economic growth or do much of anything other than line the pockets of White House political allies. That and give $308 million in subsidies to BP before the Gulf oil spill disaster, and subsidize a study on what happens when monkeys snort coke.
As Romer fades back to her teaching post at Berkeley, Obama is adding to the economic misery by creating an environment of regulatory uncertainty. The Wall Street reform law Obama recently signed potentially requires 533 new regulations, 60 studies and 93 reports, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Obama's Environmental Protection Agency has 29 active rulemakings, and there are 100 new rules on the Labor Department's agenda and 26 at the Transportation Department.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Time-to-admit-Obamanomics-has-failed-1008050-100154469.html#ixzz0wChNHM9U

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And from the UK: The Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancien Régime: extravagant and out of touch with the American people 

As much as the media establishment turn a blind eye to stories like this, which are major news in the international media, the American public is increasingly turning to alternative news sources, including the British press, which has a far less deferential approach towards the White House. It is also showcased by Barack Obama’s drive towards a socialised health care system, which, as I’ve noted before, is “a thinly disguised vanity project for a president who is committed to transforming the United States from the world’s most successful large-scale free enterprise economy, to a highly interventionist society with a massive role for centralized government.” http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100050002/the-obama-presidency-increasingly-resembles-a-modern-day-ancien-regime-extravagant-and-out-of-touch-with-ordinary-people/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

National Review reports:  House Democrats, Tom Price (R) of Georgia predicts, “won’t be honest with the American people,” [during a lame duck session of Congress]  and may attempt to “shove through” a “national-energy tax,” an “amnesty bill,” and card-check for labor unions — even if they lose their majority in November. Democratic leaders, like Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), say Price’s worries are “nonsense” and call his resolution a “scare tactic.”

Still, Price says recent comments by Democratic leaders were enough to make him push for a floor vote. For example, on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Carol Browner, President Obama’s energy adviser, said that Democrats could potentially revive their energy bill during the lame-duck session. While Price commends Browner “for her candor,” he warns that her comments are an example of Democrats “pushing issues the American people don’t want.” http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/242858/price-lame-duck-threat-robert-costa

  

Voter Intimidation and Corruption by Barack Obama's Forces; Medical Missionaries Killed in Kabul; Dangerous Restriction to Access to Primary Care in Health Insurance

[How in this world did Barack Obama get elected???]    Accuracy in Media writes: Recently AIM interviewed Gigi Gaston, director of the documentary film, “We Will Not Be Silenced.” The film documents voter intimidation and corruption by forces working for then-candidate Barack Obama at Democratic precinct caucuses and state conventions during the 2008 Presidential primary. The filmmaker is surprising in that she is a lifelong Democrat, whose grandfather was the mayor of Boston and later the governor of Massachusetts, and she is a Hollywood screenwriter.
It was down to Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. What she found, as described on the website for the film, was “falsified delegate counts, falsified documents, and other violations” And she describes the “disenfranchising of American citizens by the Democratic Party and the Obama campaign,” and said that the “infamous campaign of ‘change’ from Chicago encouraged and created an army to steal caucus packets, falsify documents, change results, allow unregistered people to vote, scare and intimidate Hillary supporters, stop them, threaten them, lock them out of their polling places, silence their voices, and stop their right to vote.” http://www.aim.org/on-target-blog/serious-questions-raised-about-obama-tactics-in-2008-election/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical News Today reports: The first for-profit insurance company approved to offer government-subsidized coverage under Massachusetts' health reform has dangerously restricted access to primary care, according to data reported in Thursday's (Aug. 5) New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers say the findings raise troubling concerns about the Obama administration's new health law, which is modeled after the Massachusetts plan.  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196930.php
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Washington Times reports: In Arizona man who has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his property is being sued by 16 Mexican nationals who accuse him of conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Roger Barnett, 64, began rounding up illegal immigrants in 1998 and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, he said, after they destroyed his property, killed his calves and broke into his home.  His Cross Rail Ranch near Douglas, Ariz., is known by federal and county law enforcement authorities as "the avenue of choice" for immigrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.

Trial continues Monday in the federal lawsuit, which seeks $32 million in actual and punitive damages for civil rights violations, the infliction of emotional distress and other crimes. Also named are Mr. Barnett's wife, Barbara, his brother, Donald, and Larry Dever, sheriff in Cochise County, Ariz., where the Barnetts live. The civil trial is expected to continue until Friday.

The lawsuit is based on a March 7, 2004, incident in a dry wash on the 22,000-acre ranch, when he approached a group of illegal immigrants while carrying a gun and accompanied by a large dog. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/9/16-illegals-sue-arizona-rancher/

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phoenix, AZ (JULY 17) - J.D Hayworth, running against John McCain in Arizona says:  Sen. John McCain looked the people of Arizona in the eye during last night's televised debate and lied when he said "And by the way I never supported amnesty."In Worth the Fighting For, his 2002 memoir, Sen. John McCain explains why he supported South Carolina’s right to fly the Confederate flag during the 2000 presidential primary. “I didn’t want to do this,” he writes. “But I could tell from the desperate looks of my staff that we had an enormous problem. And that it could come down to lying or losing. I chose lying.” I chose lying. Those three words are haunting McCain this week. J.D Hayworth, McCain’s chief opponent in Arizona’s Aug. 24 GOP Senate primary, has clipped the line from McCain’s audiobook.
On May 29, 2003, the Tucson Citizen quoted McCain saying: "Amnesty has to be an important part because there are people who have lived in this country for 20, 30 or 40 years, who have raised children here and pay taxes here and are not citizens."
He sponsored not once, but twice the McCain-Kennedy amnesty legislation that would cost American taxpayers $2.6 trillion in retirement benefits alone for illegal aliens who are granted amnesty.
And as late as April 10 of this year, his office was sending out letters that stated:  "Considering our national interest in identifying these individuals (illegal aliens) and our inability to round up and deport all of them, we must provide these individuals with incentives to come forward, complete security background checks, pay any owed taxes and stiff penalties for breaking the law, learn to speak English, and regularize their status."
Hayworth said "regularize" is just McCain's latest code word for amnesty. http://www.jdforsenate.com/news/2010/07/17/mccains-amnesty-once-worth-fighting-now-worth-lying
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New York Post opines:  “From Washington to Wall Street,” Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis wrote on Thursday, “there are rumors that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth.” That’s right. “From Washington to Wall Street,” Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis wrote on Thursday, “there are rumors that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth.” That’s right. If you bet badly in the housing-market casino of the Aughties, the government is thinking of refunding some of your chips so you can play again. You may have heard something about a sub-prime real-estate bubble that popped and nearly took down the financial system with it? President Obama wants to double down.
Unlike most rumors, this one became more, not less, plausible when you examine the details. The White House has made it clear in recent months that it is frustrated by what the Framers called “the legislative branch,” what President Obama calls “politics” and what I call “the wishes of the American people.”

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_end_of_responsibility_wMUZX8RDtJliTA2kRAB1PP#ixzz0w0vqkc8R

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

However, Money News adds: The Obama administration is not considering a change to its policy regarding mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a Treasury spokesman said on Thursday.
 

The actual vehicle for the bailout could be the Bush-era Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, a sister program to Obama’s loan modification effort. HARP was just extended through June 30, 2011, Reuters Breakingviews reported. On Christmas Eve 2009, the Treasury Department waived a $400 billion limit on financial assistance to Fannie and Freddie, pledging unlimited help.

The move, if it happens, would be a stunning political and economic bombshell less than 100 days before a midterm election in which Democrats are currently expected to suffer massive, if not historic losses, Pethokoukis wrote.

The key date to watch is Aug. 17 when the Treasury Department holds a much-hyped meeting on the future of Fannie and Freddie, Reuters Breakingviews reported.

Pethokoukis wrote that Republican leaders believe this is going to happen since Republicans and Democratic moderates in the Senate are unwilling to spend more taxpayer money on more stimulus. But such a housing plan would allow the White House to sidestep congressional objections and show voters it is doing something tangible about an economy that seems to be weakening.
  http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/Treasury-Denies-Big-Fannie-Freddie-refinance/2010/08/05/id/366736

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------