OBAMA MAKES TWO MAJOR FOREIGN POLICY GAFFES ON EUROPE TRIP

RE-WRITING HISTORY THE FLY!!!!

President Obama has made two major gaffes so far during his Europe trip. After falsely claimed that Kosovo held a UN-assisted referendum on self-determination, he then wrongly said that Georgia was not being considered for NATO membership.

Speaking on Kosovo yesterday, Obama said : "...Kosovo only left Serbia after a referendum was organised not outside the boundaries of international law, but in careful cooperation with the United Nations and with Kosovo’s neighbours. None of that even came close to happening in Crimea."

But none of it came close to happening in Kosovo either, as Milos Subotic, the International Relations Officer of the University of Pristina, Kosovo told Breitbart London. 

"During his yesterday speech in Brussels, President Obama showed a lack of knowledge of the political situation in Kosovo. Kosovo never organised any kind of referendum, but the Assembly of Provisional Institutions of self-government of Kosovo made a unilateral declaration of independence on February 17th 2008.

"The declaration of independence has been recognised by approximately one hundred states, however Serbia and many countries have also showed their opposition to declaration of independence, most notably China and Russia. What Kosovo did was not in line with United Nations and that’s confirmed by the fact that Kosovo is not member of UN."

Dr. James Ker-Lindsay, a Senior Research Fellow on the Politics of South East Europe at the London School of Economics took to Twitter to correct the U.S. President before telling Breitbart London: "I think one must assume that this was indeed an error. However, it really does seem to be an incredible mistake to have made. Surely there must have been someone at hand who would have known that there was no UN organised referendum in Kosovo. It really was not that long ago.

"It will certainly play into the hands of those who believe that the United States is now trying to rewrite history to put a better gloss on its own actions.

"It will be interesting to see if a retraction or correction is issued by the White House."

If messing up on Kosovo wasn’t enough, Obama has now also potentially undermined Georgia’s application to join NATO.

Speaking at the press conference after the EU-US summit yesterday the US President wrongly suggested that Georgia "is not currently on a path to NATO membership". In fact the country has been on the path to membership since 2008.

VIA: Breitbart

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Michelle Obama Takes Another Taxpayer-Funded Trip

The first lady, her mother, her two kids, plus numerous White House aides and security personnel are going to tour China this month, but White House officials are refusing to say how much the taxpayers will pay for the trip.

However, they did say it would be a thrill for everyone on the trip, including for Michelle Obama’s top aide, Tina Tchen.

“It is a real honor and privilege, and I think we are all, here in the first lady’s office, quite excited about the upcoming trip,” said Tchen, just after she declared that “my parents emigrated from China in the late ’40s, so this … will be my fourth time returning to China but the first time, obviously, in a role such as this.”

(Read Full Article)

Via: California Political Review

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EPIC FAIL: UN climate talks fall apart as 132 countries storm out

Poor countries pulled out of the United Nations climate talks during a fight over transferring wealth from richer countries to fight global warming.

The G77 and China bloc led 132 poor countries in a walk out during talks about “loss and damage” compensation for the consequences of global warming that countries cannot adapt to, like Typhoon Haiyan. The countries that left claim to have the support of other coalitions of poor nations, including the Least Developed Countries, the Alliance of Small Island States and the Africa Group.

Poor countries have demanded that the developed world give them $100 billion annually by 2020 to prepare for the impacts of global warming, such as heat waves and droughts. Brazil even put forward a proposal last week that would have made rich countries pay for historical greenhouse gas emissions.

Via: Daily Caller

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The Progressive Degradation of Freedom

There are Chinese towns near the border with North Korea that send rice across the Yalu River in exchange for girls to marry.  It makes sense.  North Korea needs rice, because communist farming is a failure.  China needs girls, after thirty years of sex-selective abortion and female infanticide.  And this neat little arrangement in an obscure corner of the East holds an important lesson for what is left of a Western civilization looking down the barrel of a gun of its own aiming: the feeling of self-determination can be reduced to the satisfaction of having a daughter to sell for food. 

As totalitarian dreamers of both the one-party and multi-party varieties have long understood, and have come to count on, humans have an almost infinitely elastic ability to accommodate themselves to conditions that seem inescapable or predetermined.  Our natural desire for self-preservation virtually guarantees it -- there is almost no degradation that men cannot learn to live with, given enough time. 

"Learning to live with it," however, is both a natural reflex and a great danger.  For although self-preservation is not at all the same as acquiescence, the former can devolve into a rationalization of the latter due to the slackening of will and reason that results from battle fatigue and the stretching of the soul's moral cords by' the constant pull of inescapable conditions.  And when this slackening of the soul occurs, men may become bound to oppressive rulers more firmly than could ever be achieved with mere chains and fences.  For what they are losing is a faculty of perception less obviously vital to our bare existence than others, and therefore easier than others to survive without, namely the capacity to feel free. 

Via: American Thinker

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[VIDEO] Protesters slam Jimmy Kimmel over 'kill everyone in China' joke

More than 1,000 people picketed ABC’s headquarters in Burbank on Saturday to protest a Jimmy Kimmel segment that joked that the United States should “kill everyone in China.”

Burbank police said they responded to the protest in the 2300 block of Riverside Drive after some demonstrators went into a restricted area. However, police said the protest was peaceful and no one was arrested.

The protest was part of a nationwide move backed by Chinese American organizations against the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” recurring segment called “Kids' Table.” Similar protests...

Via: LA Times

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IRS Sent 343 Refunds Worth $156K to 1 Address--in Shanghai, China

(CNSNews.com) – A new audit-report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) shows that the IRS sent at least 343 potentially fraudulent tax returns in 2011 to the same, single address in Shanghai, China, for a total of $156,533 in tax refunds.

The same report also shows that 655 potentially fraudulent tax refunds totaling $220,489 were sent to the same address in Kaunas, Lithuania. Other potentially fraudulent refunds, 580 of them, were sent to the same address in Orlando, Fla.; 355 to the same address in Lakewood, Colo; and another 291 to another single address in Orlando, Fla.

In total, those potentially fraudulent refunds totaled $2,715,391.

On a related note, the TIGTA report, which analyzed Tax Year 2011 tax returns, showed that at least 3,145 persons applied for potentially fraudulent Individual Tax Identification Numbers from the same address at five different locations in the United States: one in Santa Ana, Calif; one in Salinas, Calif.; one in Mountlake Terrace, Wash.; one in Milwaukee, Wisc.; and one in Sanford, N.C.

Moreover, the top five countries (not counting the USA)  the IRS sent tax refunds to, to addresses that were potentially fraudulent were Bulgaria, 701 tax returns; Lithuania, 676 returns; Ireland, 657 returns; China 443 returns; and Canada, 337 tax returns.

Via: CNS News

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Obama’s new climate council to regulate economy

President Barack Obama has given the nation a new “Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience” that expands government bureaucrats’ role in how Americans use their lands, energy, waters and property.

Obama announced the executive order Friday, the day after Halloween.

The order is titled “Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change.”

The new order was issued even though recent scientific data have contradicted claims that use of carbon energy — such as gasoline — will drive up the world’s temperature and induce damaging climate change. Average temperatures have leveled for more than a decade, despite the sharply rising use of carbon energy in China and other countries.

U.S. use of carbon energy has stabilized with increasing market-driven efficiency and tightening regulations.

The council is officially intended “to prepare the Nation for the impacts of climate change by undertaking actions to enhance climate preparedness and resilience.”

The order bypasses Congress, and is directly implemented by Obama’s deputies and appointees in the federal bureaucracies.

It allows agencies use the promise of environmental disaster to force changes on Americans’ use of energy and land, and to increase taxpayer spending on expanding the fledgling renewable energy sector.

Via: Daily Caller

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Inside China: Nuclear submarines capable of widespread attack on U.S.

Chinese state-run media revealed for the first time this week that Beijing’s nuclear submarines can attack American cities as a means to counterbalance U.S. nuclear deterrence in the Pacific.

On Monday, leading media outlets including China Central TV, the People’s Daily, the Global Times, the PLA Daily, the China Youth Daily and the Guangmin Daily ran identical, top-headlined reports about the “awesomeness” of the People's Liberation Army navy’s strategic submarine force.

“This is the first time in 42 years since the establishment of our navy’s strategic submarine force that we reveal on such a large scale the secrets of our first-generation underwater nuclear force,” the Global Times said in a lengthy article titled “China for the First Time Possesses Effective Underwater Nuclear Deterrence against the United States.”

The article features 30 photos and graphics detailing, among other things, damage projections for Seattle and Los Angeles after being hit by Chinese nuclear warheads and the deadly radiation that would spread all the way to Chicago.

China’s sub fleet is reportedly the world’s second-largest, with about 70 vessels. About 10 are nuclear-powered, and four or more of those are nuclear ballistic submarines capable of launching missiles.

Enlarge Photo

Image for Yu column Inside China Source: Global Times more >

Heavily influenced by Soviet naval models that stressed underwater forces, China’s nuclear submarine development began with the reverse-engineering of a Soviet Golf-class conventional-powered sub in the 1950s.

In the 1980s, China developed its first ballistic missile sub, the Type 092 Xia-class, which has 12 launch tubes for the Julang (Giant Wave)-1 missiles. The JL-1 had a limited range and failed multiple test launches.

In 2010, a new class of missile sub, the Type 094 Jin class, entered the service. It is capable of launching 12 to 16 JL-2 missiles with a range of about 8,700 miles, covering much of the continental U.S. with single or multiple, independently targetable re-entry vehicle warheads.

Chinese calculations for nuclear attacks on the U.S. are chillingly macabre.

“Because the Midwest states of the U.S. are sparsely populated, in order to increase the lethality, [our] nuclear attacks should mainly target the key cities on the West Coast of the United States, such as Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego,” the Global Times said.

Via: Washington Times

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CHART: WHO DOES THE U.S. GOV’T OWE $17 TRILLION TO?

The U.S. government owes a lot of money.

A lot.

In fact, U.S. debt today stands at about $17 trillion.

Obviously, that’s a little difficult to understand with just words.

So here to help you visualize the debt situation in the U.S. — and help you understand where money is owed — is a helpful chart from National Public Radio:

National Public Radio

Here are some key takeaways [as presented by Business Insider]:

• We owe most of the money to ourselves.
• We owe a big chunk of the money — about $6 trillion — to the Federal government. So if there ever were a default (hopefully there won’t be) the government would also be stiffing itself.
• We owe about $5 trillion to other countries, including China.
• The total debt to China is only $1.3 trillion. So we’re not in hock to China as much as some people think we are.
• Yes, it’s a boatload of debt. But the experience of Japan, the U.S. after World War 2, and other countries, suggests that it’s a manageable amount, as long as we eventually get our long-term entitlement spending under control.

Click here to read the full NRP article on the U.S.’ debt load.

Via: The Blaze

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Data show China passing US as biggest oil importer

Play Video

China, the world's biggest oil importer

Thursday, 10 Oct 2013 | 2:00 PM ET

CNBC's Sharon Epperson discusses China as the leading oil importer.

China has achieved another world-beating status its leaders don't want: Biggest oil importer.

China passed the United States in September as the world's biggest net oil importer, driven by faster economic growth and strong auto sales, according to U.S. government data released this week.

STR | AFP | Getty Images

Trucks arrive with containers to be loaded on to a ship at the Qingdao port, in northeastern China's Shandong province.

Chinese oil consumption outstripped production by 6.3 million barrels per day, which indicates the country had to import that much to fill the gap, the Energy Information Administration said this week.

(Read more: Drillers, traders left in the lurch by DC shutdown)

"China's steady growth in oil demand has led it to become the world's largest net oil importer, exceeding the United States in September 2013,'" the agency said in a report. "EIA forecasts this trend to continue through 2014."

Via: CNBC

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UN climate report sneaks in worldwide carbon emissions limits

The United Nations’ climate report has already garnered criticism from scientists, but now fights are brewing around the 2,200-page document’s advocacy for a global cap on carbon dioxide emissions.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its fifth assessment of the Earth’s climate which asserted “95 percent” certainty that global warming was manmade while receiving criticism for glossing over the lack of significant warming in the last 15 years.

One highly contentious paragraph in the report states that society cannot emit more than one trillion tons of carbon dioxide for global temperatures not to warm more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

“[F]or warming due to CO2 emissions alone to be likely less than 2°C at the time CO2 emissions cease, total cumulative emissions from all anthropogenic sources over the entire industrial era would need to be limited to about… one trillion tonnes of carbon,” reads the report.

More than half of this carbon allowance has been used, according to the New York Times, and the report’s authors noted that carbon emissions would have to be limited even more than one trillion tons once other greenhouse gases other than carbon are taken into account.

“Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time,” said Thomas F. Stocker, IPCC co-chairman. “In short, it threatens our planet, our only home.”

UN scientists have not so subtly suggested that countries effectively limit their economic development, since the carbon-intensive energy is the main driver behind rapid industrialization in developing nations like China and India. This suggestion of a global carbon cap was not welcomed by developing nations who fear that their share of the emissions “pie” would be diminished through bullying from developed countries.

“Despite a concerted disinformation campaign to the contrary, there has been no increase in hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or droughts over the past 50 years—a period over which we supposedly used half of our carbon budget for all time,” economist David Kreutzer of the conservative Heritage Foundation told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Via: Daily Caller

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China sending warship to Syrian coast

We spend a lot of time debating the domestic ramifications of President Obama’s handling – to use the word loosely – of the situation in Syria, ranging from political fallout to impacts on upcoming elections. But it’s a big world out there and other countries have taken a keen interest in the subject. You can now bump up the level of engagement that China has in this mess, as they have dispatched a warship of their own to the party.

China has reportedly sent warships to the coast of Syria to “observe” the actions of US and Russian ships as tensions build in preparation for a potential military strike on Syria which could come as soon as next week.

According to the Russian news outlet Telegrafist.org, the People’s Liberation Army dispatched the Jinggangshan amphibious dock landing ship and the vessel was seen passing through the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal, the waterway in Egypt that leads to the Mediterranean Sea and waters off the coast of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

It may be for “observation” purposes, but this is no Carnival cruise ship. Launched in 2011, the Jinggangshan was built for action.

China has launched its largest amphibious dock landing warship, the 19,000 metric ton Jinggangshan, in Shanghai.

The 689-foot-long warship can carry 1,000 soldiers, helicopters, armored fighting vehicles, boats and landing craft, a report in the China Daily said.

The vessel is the second Type 071 dock landing ship built by Shanghai’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.

In addition to the troop and chopper carrying capabilities, the ship has a number of conventional guns. This comes on the heels of news that Russia already dispatched ships to the region this week, so it’s starting to get a little crowded out there. I was watching Fox and Friends this morning – where I first saw the story – and there were some probablyhyperbolic comparisons being made to 1914, but it does make one wonder. Over the past two decades, when the United States has decided to launch any sort of air strikes from mobile / naval platforms, it was just taken as a given that we could do it. And our targets generally don’t have much in the way of sea power to challenge elements of the most powerful navy on the planet. But the Russians and the Chinese have considerable forces as well.

Via: Hot Air

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Syria crisis: Russia and China step up warning over strike

Russia and China have stepped up their warnings against military intervention in Syria, with Moscow saying any such action would have "catastrophic consequences" for the region.

The US and its allies are considering launching strikes on Syria in response to deadly attacks last week.

The US said there was "undeniable" proof of a chemical attack, on Monday.

UN chemical weapons inspectors are due to start a second day of investigations in the suburbs of Damascus.

The UN team came under sniper fire as they tried to visit an area west of the city on Monday.

A spokesman for UK Prime Minister David Cameron says the UK is making contingency plans for military action in Syria.

Mr Cameron has cut short his holiday and returned to London to deal with the Syrian crisis.

Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich has called on the international community to show "prudence" over the crisis and observe international law.

"Attempts to bypass the Security Council, once again to create artificial groundless excuses for a military intervention in the region are fraught with new suffering in Syria and catastrophic consequences for other countries of the Middle East and North Africa," he said in a statement.

Late on Monday, the US said it was postponing a meeting on Syria with Russian diplomats, citing "ongoing consultations" about alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Via: BBC

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The Darkest Design of Barack Obama

For some time, there have been unsubstantiated reports of the Obama administration engaging in clandestine negotiations with China toward satisfying America’s debt to that nation via exchanges of land and resources. Such an arrangement would be illegal and treasonous of course, but given its deportment to date, that would not likely deter this administration.

Also, in the face of having trillions of dollars in debt called by China, and the economic catastrophe that would ensue, it is entirely possible that Obama might request and be granted some manner of dispensation from Congress to legitimize this pact.

This week, I presented substantiation to the aforementioned reports, much to the fear and consternation of most people who became apprised of this phenomenon. Referencing sources that have proven reliable in the past, I cited such things as Chinese military operatives engaging in clandestine “research” within U.S. borders, and assessments of land and resources having been conducted by China in recent years, all with the administration’s approval.

All of this falls well within the parameters of Barack Obama’s long-standing desire to bring America down, as it were, punishing the American people for centuries of enjoying the spoils of imperialism, colonialism, and oppression, as well as finally bringing this nation under the heel of communism.

Via: Canada Free Press

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U.S. Government's Foreign Debt Now $47,495 Per Household

(CNSNews.com) - The debt that the U.S. government owes to foreign interests now equals approximately $47,495 for each household in the United States, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Treasury and the Census Bureau.

The portion of the U.S. government’s foreign debt now owed to interests in Mainland China is about $10,090 per household.

At the end of August, the latest period reported by the U.S. Treasury, foreign interests held a total of $5,430,000,000,000 in U.S. government debt. According to the Census Bureau’s latest estimate (which was for June 2012) there were 114,328,000 households in the United States. Therefore, the total U.S. government debt held by foreign interests was about $47,494.93 per household.

Back in January 2009, foreign interests held a total of $3,071,700,000,000 in U.S. government debt. That month, according to the Census Bureau, there were 111,079,000 households in the United States. Therefore the total U.S. government debt held by foreign interests was about $27,653.29 per household.

Since January 2009, the total U.S. government debt held by foreign interests has climbed from approximately $27,653.29 per household to approximately $47,494.93 per household—an increase of about $19,841.64 per household.

Among foreign interests, those in Mainland China hold the largest share of the U.S. government’s debt. The Mainland Chinese, according to the Treasury, owned $1,153,600,000,000 in U.S. Treasury securities as of the end of August.

Back in January 2009, interests in Mainland China held only $739.6 billion in U.S. government debt. That month, the U.S. government owed about $6,658 per American household to interests in China. As of the end of August, the U.S. government owed about $10,090 per American household to interests in China—an increase since January 2009 of about $3,432 per household.

Via: CNS News

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Third debate could be dated before it’s over

President Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney will meet for the third and final presidential debate Monday night to discuss foreign policy. It is a broad topic that was sidelined in the first debate on domestic issues and engendered only one question at the candidate's subsequent tete-a-tete, a town-hall meeting.

At last, we will hear the candidates' uninterrupted views on America's security. The debate's topics have already been disclosed by moderator Bob Schieffer. They include the usual cast of ominous characters: the long war in Afghanistan, the red lines of Iran and Israel, the rising power of China, and the changing Middle East. Another query, on ”America's role in the world,” could be a softball or a snoozer, but might also be quite revealing.

Nonetheless, the night may not be greeted with the rapt attention that attended the other two. The foreign policy debate is fighting an uphill battle for relevance not only because of the condition of our economy, the fight over our taxes, and the looming fiscal cliff. It is because, for those who remember other recent debates on international affairs, the gap between what was asked and what the winning candidate actually faced as president has been wide.

A candidate's policy towards Iran, Afghanistan, or China will have to share center stage with the unpredicted, the incidental, and the utterly dramatic once he becomes president or wins a second term. The stylized theatrics of a debate stand in sharp contrast to the randomness of the world.

”I am not going to make unilateral cuts in our strategic defense systems or support some freeze when they 1 / 8the Soviet Union 3 / 8 have superiority. I'm not going to do that, because I think the jury is still out on the Soviet experiment,” Vice President George H. W. Bush stated on Sep. 25, 1988, when he faced Governor Michael Dukakis. The jury would soon rule; the Berlin Wall fell just over a year later. Eastern Europeans realized they were being governed by a spent ideology and weak captor. The Soviet empire would dissolve by the end of Bush's presidency. Strategic defense debates were replaced by diplomatic challenges in a new, open Europe.

Via: Heraldonline.com

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Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/10/20/4351191/third-debate-could-be-dated-before.html#storylink=cpy

Ryan Slams Obama's Stance on China

Obama soft on 'cheating' China, which is hurting U.S. manufacturing

Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan told Ohio voters Saturday that China’s unfair trade and currency practices are hurting the U.S. manufacturing sector and vowed that if elected he and Mitt Romney would “hold cheaters accountable.”

Ryan, R-Wis., made his pitch one day after the Obama administration announced it would delay a decision due Monday on whether to declare that China is manipulating its currency to gain trade advantages.

“The administration had its eighth chance to label China a currency manipulator,” Ryan said during a rally at Youngstown State University. “And they’ve indicated they are going to push this deadline off until after the election. That’s eight opportunities to say: ‘You know what, play fair with us, trade with us fairly.’ ”

The report examines the foreign exchange practices for major U.S. trading partners and has previously cited China for failing to allow its currency to appreciate more rapidly.

The Treasury Department now says the decision will come after finance ministers and central bank presidents meet Nov. 4 -5 in Mexico City. 

The agency said the delay would allow the administration to "assess progress" following the discussions of officials in the Group of 20 nations, which includes China.

Romney has already attacked the administration for not targeting China for unfair trade practices and is expected to renew the attack during an economic speech next week.

Ryan on Saturday also told potential voters in Ohio – a hub of U.S. manufacturing and rich in mineral resources – that China is hurting the middle class and a vital part of the U.S. economic by stealing secrets to make then sell less expensive goods in the global market.

“We need a strong manufacturing base in American if we want a strong middle class in America,” Ryan said.

Via: Fox News

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GAI RESPONDS TO OBAMA 'FACT CHECK' OF FRAUDULENT DONATIONS REPORT

The Government Accountability Institute (GAI) on Wednesday called out the Obama campaign for refusing to address the ownership of the Obama.com domain by a campaign bundler who lives and has business interests in China. GAI also alleged that the Obama campaign has not fully addressed its weak online security measures to prevent fraudulent or foreign campaign donations. 

GAI President Peter Schweizer said GAI was “troubled by the fact that the Obama campaign has nothing to say about one of the main concerns we detailed in our report: the mysterious Obama.com redirect website anonymously owned by China-based campaign bundler Robert Roche.” 

“Robert Roche has an unusually close relationship with the Chinese government, to whom he is dependent for the operation of his Chinese-based company, Acorn International,” Schweizer said. “At the same time, he owns this redirect website which sends international web traffic to a contribution page of the president’s campaign.”

The Chinese government has a history of trying influence American elections through campaign contributions, and Roche is not a random figure. He was seated at the head table of the China State Dinner in 2011.

Immediately after the progressive magazine Newsweek published a story, based on a nine-month GAI investigation of how easily foreigners can illicitly donate to President Barack Obama’s campaign due to lax online security measures, the Obama campaignresponded with a purported “fact-check” that tried to dismiss the report as a partisan attack on the Obama campaign.

Via Breitbart

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SOLOPOWER: ANOTHER SOLYNDRA IN WAITING?

The Department of Energy's loan guarantee program has already had two significant failures in the solar industry, the best known being Solyndra. Now a third company, San Jose's SoloPower, seems to be following in Solyndra's footsteps and threatening to leave taxpayers on the hook for millions more.

Last August, as Solyndra was going bankrupt, the Department of Energy issued a loan guarantee in the amount of $197 million to help SoloPower manufacture their thin-film solar power product. Like Solyndra, SoloPower has a nice-looking product. Its panels are thin and flexible and don't require heavy brackets to mount on a roof. And like Solyndra, the company's plans to expand were welcomed by politicians excited about the promise of hundreds of new jobs.

But as was the case with Solyndra, SoloPower's product advantages don't necessarily mean the company will survive stiff competition from China. Industry analyst Andrew Soare of Lux Research tells Fox News that China can still undercut US manufacturers by 30 percent, making it difficult to see how SoloPower can compete in the marketplace. It's this ability to undercut price that doomed Solyndra and Abound, another failed solar power company with a government-backed loan.

William Yeatman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute says of SoloPower, "It looks like it will fail for the same reasons as Solyndra." If it does, taxpayers will once again be on the hook. So far, the stimulus-funded DOE loan program has lost $600 million on solar company bankruptcies.

Via: Breitbart

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ROMNEY CAMPAIGN TO SHIFT STRATEGY: WHAT WILL NEXT FOUR YEARS LOOK LIKE?

According to Mitt Romney adviser Ed Gillespie, the campaign willrefocus its message this week to hone in on President Obama’s vulnerabilities in the Rust Belt, particularly in Ohio. “We are talking not only on the president’s performance over the past four years, but the cost of his policies going forward,” said Gillespie this morning. Romney would center his argument on “how four more years of the last four years is not going to be good for the American people.”

This is a strategy Romney should have embraced long ago. President Obama has failed entirely to say what he would do with a second term, other than “finish” what he started – which could mean anything from full-scale social engineering to implementing Obamacare to raising taxes. Romney should have been pointing out all along that the only indicator of what Obama will do for the next four years is what he has done the last four years – Romney has been far more specific about what he would do in a first term than Obama has been about what he would do in a second.

Gillespie also said that Romney would hit Obama on trade policy, particularly with regard to China. Ohioans are generally less pro-free trade than other states around the country, since they have a heavy manufacturing base consistently undercut by foreign nations who use cheap labor and environmentally unfriendly working conditions, and who don’t tolerate private unions. “I think it’s clear that the message on China has resonated not only with the voters,” said Gillespie, “but you can tell with the response from the Obama campaign.”

It’s about time Romney embraced a campaign that has both strategy – broad overall messaging – and tactics. Targeting specific group will be necessary for him to swing particular states, especially battleground states that rely on small numbers of independents to swing for or against a candidate.

Via: Breitbart

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