Another Obama "I" Speech; Freddie and Fannie Woes; The UK Telegraph on Obama and Osama; Obama's Half-Brother Runs Bogus Charity; Ground Zero Union No-Work Jobs Cost $100 Million at Ground Zero Alone; University of Iowa's Response to Republican Student Group Shows Lack of Acceptance and of Decorum; Muslim Terrorists Across Mexico Border; Pakistani Media Named CIA Chief; AZ Seeking Donations for Border Fence; Right-to-Work in New Hampshire and Missouri Possible; Communists March in Los Angeles;

Here are a few excerpts from President Obama’s speech on Sunday night about the killing of Osama bin Laden, as National Review opines:

“Tonight, I can report . . . And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta . . . I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden . . . I met repeatedly with my national security team . . . I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action. . . . Today, at my direction . . . I’ve made clear . . . Over the years, I’ve repeatedly made clear . . . Tonight, I called President Zardari . . . and my team has also spoken. . .These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief . . . Finally, let me say to the families . . . I know that it has, at times, frayed. . . .”
If one wonders why former President Bush did not attend ceremonies with President Obama this week in New York, it might be because of past rhetoric like this about policies Obama once derided and then codified: “I taught constitutional law for ten years at the University of Chicago, so . . . um . . . your next president will actually believe in the Constitution, which you can’t say about your current president.” George Bush did not believe in the U.S. Constitution?
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/266580/first-person-presidency-victor-davis-hanson
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News from the AP regarding Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae: The company said it lost $8.7 billion in the first three months of the year. Those losses led Fannie to request more than three times the federal aid it sought in the previous quarter. The total cost of rescuing the government-controlled mortgage buyer is nearing $100 billion - the most expensive bailout of a single company.

Combined with the bailout of sibling company Freddie Mac, the government expects their rescue to cost taxpayers about $259 billion. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EARNS_FANNIE_MAE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-06-16-58-01

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The UK Telegraph opines: When Leon Panetta, the CIA director, stated candidly in February that Osama bin Laden would be transferred to Guantanamo if he were captured, there was a sharp intake of breath at the White House.
Under Mr Obama, drone strikes in Pakistan have increased dramatically, resulting in dead suspects, civilian casualties and fewer prisoners to interrogate.
Terrorists who would have been captured under Mr Bush so that every last morsel of information could be wrung out of them have been sent straight to their maker under Mr Obama.
It is against this backdrop that Osama bin Laden’s death should be viewed. Although the Obama administration has squirmed and wriggled when dealing with the issue, it is clear that the US Navy SEALs were sent on a “kill mission”.

It is a supreme irony that Mr Bush was vilified around the world as a war criminal and condemned for his bellicose rhetoric. But it is Mr Obama, armed with a silky tongue, a Nobel Peace Prize and an education in hardball Chicago politics, who took the Wild West adage a stage further. He decided that he wanted bin Laden “dead or dead”. Toby Harnden is the Daily Telegraph's US Editor, based in Washington.  Toby Harnden’s American Way column is published in the Sunday Telegraph each week.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/100086952/american-way-barack-obama-wanted-osama-bin-laden-dead-or-dead/
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The UK Telegraph opines: But the brilliance of the military operation, carried out on the foundations of a painstakingly constructed war on terror built by President Bush and largely continued by his successor, has been a rare moment of success for a presidency that remains in deep trouble with the American electorate. And the bungling by the White House of the aftermath of bin Laden’s killing, including confusion over the release of photographs and the muddled delivery of conflicting accounts of the raid on Bin Laden’s compound, has served as a stark reminder of an administration that has all too often looked inept and poorly managed. For this is a presidency that remains in an overall state of decline, overwhelmingly distrusted on the key issues that will ultimately decide the presidential election in 2012, while still clinging to the big government policies massively rejected by American voters in the mid-term elections last November. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100086957/the-obama-presidency-remains-in-decline-despite-the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden/
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The New York Post reveals: President Obama's half-brother runs an off-the-books American charity that claims to support poor Kenyans -- but it lies about its federal status and no one knows how it spends its money.
The group, the Barack H. Obama Foundation, was named after the president's father and founded by his sibling Abon'go Malik "Roy" Obama, a 53-year-old polygamist who recently made headlines by adding a third wife -- who's still in her teens.

Rutherford said the Obamas' relatives are the only Muslims in a village of 4,000 Christians and that Malik has a private mosque on his property.
Malik started his charity the year his brother ran for president.
The foundation claims to be a tax-exempt, federally recognized nonprofit. It is not.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/prez_brother_has_trust_issues_8rW5Gm1Dl9DLb5bcLAhmLM#ixzz1LlZ3LQ5K

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The New York Daily News reveals: No-work jobs in a mob-linked union could add nearly $100 million to the public cost of rebuilding Ground Zero, a new report charges.
The Real Estate Board of New York, a major developers' group, says antiquated rules let a cadre of crane and heavy equipment workers pocket six-figure paychecks for little more than showing up.
In the next three years the no-work jobs, controlled by Locals 14 and 15 of the Operating Engineers, could add $96.2 million to the cost of World Trade Center projects, the REBNY says.

On one day in mid-March, for example, contractors said 56 of 204 Local 14 and Local 15 employees on site held no-work jobs.

With a $135,000 base salary, a master mechanic can make a staggering $405,000 a year with overtime that's guaranteed by six-day, 12- to 16-hour-a-day schedules. Welfare benefits, insurance and other costs hike the annual bill to $700,000 for that one mechanic.
It's a ridiculous requirement, REBNY says, because the manufacturer or crane owner does the repairs, not the contractor's master mechanics.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2011/05/08/2011-05-08_nowork_all_pay_ground_zero_rebuild_costs_up_96m_under_union_rules.html#ixzz1LlbF3

wJL

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GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: "Whatever happened to healthy political debate? Things are getting nasty at the usually mild-mannered University of Iowa. Tonight, the college Republicans are not very happy. They received an e-mail from one of the school's professors telling them to back off. OK, it wasn't exactly "back off." The professor used the F-word to the students."

Monday, the university of Iowa college Republicans sent out an e-mail to the entire student body faculty and staff about our coming out week we were having. That afternoon we received an e-mail from Professor Lewin that wasn't too nice.  Student GINTY: All it was, was "F-you Republicans."  http://ontherecord.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=25657&content=51252204&pageNum=-1
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Ten News reveals from San Diego  -- A terrorist organization whose home base is in the Middle East has established another home base across the border in Mexico.
"They are recognized by many experts as the 'A' team of Muslim terrorist organizations," a former U.S. intelligence agent told 10News.The former agent, referring to Shi'a Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah, added, "They certainly have had successes in big-ticket bombings."  

However, the group is now active much closer to San Diego."We are looking at 15 or 20 years that Hezbollah has been setting up shop in Mexico," the agent told 10News.  http://www.10news.com/news/27780427/detail.html

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The Wall St. Journal writes: Pakistani media aired the name of a man they said is the Central Intelligence Agency's station chief, prompting questions about whether the Pakistani government tried to out a CIA operative in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The U.S. is looking into the matter. There are no plans at this time to withdraw the station chief. If the government had attempted to publicize the name, that would be the second such outing in the past six months, a sign of how deeply U.S.-Pakistan relations have soured.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576311153848904130.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
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The UK Daily Mail reports: Arizona lawmakers want to erect a fence along the border with Mexico - whether the federal government thinks it's necessary or not.
They've got a plan that could get a project started using online donations and prison labour. If they get enough money, all they would have to do is get cooperation from landowners and construction could begin as soon as this year.
Governor Jan Brewer recently signed a bill that sets the state on a course to building a permanent barrier along its borders, and a website is being launched to raise money for the work.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385012/Arizona-calls-online-donations-bid-build-fence-entire-border-Mexico.html#ixzz1Lr1is8rP

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The Wall St. Journal writes: Lawmakers in New Hampshire and Missouri are advancing so-called right-to-work bills that would allow private-sector workers to opt out of joining unions, the latest such efforts to curb labor unions in the legislative season that in many states is now entering the home stretch.

The measures, if successful, would mark the first expansion in a decade of right-to-work laws, which are on the books in 22 states.
Lawmakers in New Hampshire, where Republicans took control of both chambers last fall, passed a right-to-work measure last week. Its success will hinge on whether the state House of Representatives has enough votes to override a promised veto by Democratic Gov. John Lynch. If the bill passes, New Hampshire would become the first right-to-work state in the Northeast, historically a union stronghold.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704810504576305642336428176.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5
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A May Day rally in Los Angeles, co-sponsored by the SEIU and various communist groups, as well as other unions, reflected yet another step in the normalization of self-identified communist and socialist ideologies in the Obama era. Not only did the SEIU help to organize the rally in conjunction with communists, they marched side-by-side with communists, while union members carried communist flags, communists carried union signs, and altogether there was no real way to tell the two apart.
Southern California citizen journalist and photographer “Ringo” was on hand to record the day’s events, and posted a full-length photo essay on his site Ringo’s Pictures. To bring this important photo essay to a wider audience, I present here a small selection of Ringo’s May Day pictures; visit his site to see dozens more.  photos from the rally.

http://pajamasmedia.com/zombie/2011/05/06/seiu-drops-mask-goes-full-commie/
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