Thursday, July 14, 2011

Michigan Medicaid births at 47%; Omaha schools spend $130,000 for manuals on cultural sensitivity; President doesn't like shouted questions, bars tv and print reporters from presser; Woman arrested when saving her 6 yr. old daughter from TSA patdown; Wheelchair-bound duo "search raped"; Obama threatens Social Security payments; Skyrocketing public employee costs causing financial ruin; Video of Justice official saying "the President has directed us" [on Project Gunrunner]; "Don't call my bluff", says Obama; Project Gunrunner in Florida?

In the state of Michigan, about 47% of all births are paid for by taxpayers, via Medicaid!  Let us count the things which are wrong with this picture...................
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The Omaha World Herald reports: The Omaha Public Schools used more than $130,000 in federal stimulus dollars to buy each teacher, administrator and staff member a manual on how to become more culturally sensitive.
The book by Virginia education consultants could raise some eyebrows with its viewpoints.
The authors assert that American government and institutions create advantages that “channel wealth and power to white people,” that color-blindness will not end racism and that educators should “take action for social justice.”
The book says that teachers should acknowledge historical systemic oppression in schools, including racism, sexism, homophobia and “ableism,” defined by the authors as discrimination or prejudice against people with disabilities. http://www.omaha.com/article/20110710/NEWS01/707109937
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Politico reports: When asked today why TV crews and print reporters were barred from the pool covering the White House meeting with congressional leaders on the deficit, Carney responded by pointing out that the administration has held two press conferences in the past two weeks and allowed TV cameras into the spray earlier this week.
"People shouted questions at him," Carney said. He then added, "The purpose of the meeting is not to create a circus, but to negotiate, so today we're doing stills only."
The White House Correspondents’ Association has protested exclusion of print and TV from pools — and several reporters in the briefing room took Carney’s comment as an annoyed expression of presidential displeasure with shouted questions.
“It's an absurd reason to say that because we asked questions you're not going to allow cameras in there. He's capable of ignoring our questions. He does it all the time,” said Chip Reid of CBS. http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0711/shout_of_bounds_729191ad-6922-4221-8711-77a68d3802df.html
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The Tennessean reports: A 41-year-old Clarksville woman was arrested after Nashville airport authorities say she was belligerent and verbally abusive to security officers, refusing for her daughter to be patted down at a security checkpoint.
Andrea Fornella Abbott yelled and swore at Transportation Security Administration agents Saturday afternoon at Nashville International Airport, saying she did not want her daughter to be “touched inappropriately or have her “crotch grabbed,” a police report states.
After the woman refused to calm down, airport police said, she was charged with disorderly conduct and taken to jail. She has been released on bond. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110713/NEWS01/307130115/Police-charge-mother-Nashville-airport-altercation
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WTSP News reports: "It was extremely thorough, almost a violation, "says Jason Steitler as he describes how a TSA official searched him at the Greater Rochester International Airport July 6th. Steitler's disability requires he uses a wheelchair.
"They did the hair then did the neck. Then they had me do a pushup in my chair, then got down into my inner thigh around my back side. It's the most thorough search [I've] had done in  my life," says Steitler.
Steitler and his wife, Jennifer, were heading home to New Port Richey that morning. She too is in a wheel chair and was searched by a TSA official.
"She's been using the phrase 'search raped' because it was that thorough. She says it was nearly to her crotch," says Steitler  http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/article/200788/250/New-Port-Richey-couple-says-TSA-search-went-too-far
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The Washington Examiner writes: So when Obama threatens not to pay Social Security checks on time, the proper response of congressional Republicans should be to pass emergency legislation directing the Secretary of the Treasury to pay interest on the national debt, Social Security and Medicare, active-duty members of the military and government bond-holders before any other government bills are paid.
Of course, the Senate Democratic majority won't go along with this and even if it did, Obama would veto such legislation if it reached his desk. But that's exactly the point - Make congressional Democrats and Obama explicitly choose not to pay Social Security, et. al. so that the responsibility for that decision is clear.
Congressional GOPers have got to rediscover the power of Congress and be willing to use it if they are ever to start winning real and enduring victories against Big Government.
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Business Insider reports: Public employee costs account for a large share of municipal budget woes. While worker compensation accounts for just 30% of state spending, personnel costs tends to eat up between 70% and 80% of local government funds.
Skyrocketing employee costs — the result of overly generous union contracts, an aging workforce, and bad pension investments — are now pushing several municipalities to the brink of fiscal ruin. Without union concessions or substantial reform, these cities will edge closer to insolvency while residents pay higher taxes for deteriorating public services.

Here's a look at 14 cities where the problem is particularly acute: NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, North Las Vegas, San Jose, CA, Providence Rhode Island, New Haven, Connecticut, Newark, NJ, Stockton, CA, Colorado Springs, Costa Mesa, CA, and Central Falls, Rhode Island. http://www.businessinsider.com/cities-that-are-being-eaten-alive-by-their-employees-2011-7?op=1
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Fast And Furious Scandal: A Watergate For Obama?

  Border: A 2-year-old video shows a high Justice official saying "the president has directed us," including the attorney general, to speed up Project Gunrunner and the offshoot that got a border agent killed.  "The president has directed us to take action to fight these cartels," Ogden begins, "and Attorney General Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration's comprehensive plan." http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=578184&p=1
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The UK Daily Mail writes: Barack Obama is said to have come to blows with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on the fifth straight day of debt talks.
The 'tough' and 'testy' meeting got ugly quickly, according to sources who said Mr Cantor clashed with the President after repeatedly pushing for a short-term resolution to the crisis.
According to Mr Cantor the President said: 'Eric, don't call my bluff,' before adding: 'Would Ronald Reagan be sitting here? I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this.
'This process is confirming what the American people think is the worst about Washington: that everyone is more interested in posturing, political positioning, and protecting their base, than in resolving real problems,' Mr Obama added.
Mr Obama then 'abruptly' walked off, according to Mr Cantor. 'I know why he lost his temper. He's frustrated. We're all frustrated,' the Virginia Republican said.
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The Daily Caller reports: Recent reports have suggested that Project Gunrunner may not have been limited to weapons trafficking to Mexico and that similar programs included the possible trafficking of arms to criminal gangs in Honduras with the knowledge of the ATF’s Tampa Field Division and the Department of Justice’s Middle District of Florida through an operation known as ‘Operation Castaway,’” the letter read.
Bilrakis added that, as a member of the House Committees on Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs, he finds it “troubling” that the U.S. government would “willfully allow weapons to be acquired by dangerous criminal and drug trafficking organizations in direct contravention to our strategic and national interests.”
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