DNC CHAIRMAN VILLARAIGOSA'S EXTREMIST PAST

Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles who was featured on the June 2009 cover of Los Angeles Magazine with the one-word caption, “Failure,” is the chairman of the upcoming Democratic National Convention.  The obvious reason is that the Obama administration, which views ethnic communities as separate fiefdoms to cultivate, is targeting the Latino community. And in the separatist prism through which they view the country, it’s only natural that they should pick Villaraigosa, whose entire career started with an extremist Latino group.

Villaraigosa, whose original name was Tony Villar, entered UCLA as a transfer student from East Los Angeles Community College in 1972.  He joined the UCLA chapter of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), and was leading it by 1974. MEChA is an Hispanic separatist organization that encourages anti-American activities and civil disobedience. The radical members of MEChA who refer to themselves as "Mechistas,"romanticize Mexican claims to the "lost Territories" of the Southwestern United States -- a Chicano country called Aztlan.  As head of the UCLA chapter, Villar called on the Chicano Studies Center (CSC) Director Rudolfo ‘Rudy’ Alvarez to resign from his post, accusing him of  “trying to alter the concept behind Chicano studies.” 

The UCLA Bruin, the campus newspaper, reported on July 25, 1974: “Chicano students are considering filing a class action suit against Rodolfo Alvarez, Chicano Studies Center (CSC) director … ‘Where at one time the Steering Committee composed of students, faculty, and community people was the policy making body of the Center, now Rudy is its sole dictator,’ said Tony Villar.”

The Bruin continued:  “Both Villar and Garcia attacked the Alvarez-directed CSC for working only with government-sponsored drug programs ‘instead of community organizations like the National Committee to Free Los Tres.’”   The “National Committee to Free Los Tres,” was created by former MEChistas to defend three members of the militant Chicano organization Casa Carnalismo who were convicted of assaulting a federal narcotics officer posing as a drug dealer in East Los Angeles.  By 1974, a Marxist-Leninist faction emerged within the NCFLT that intended to transform its parent group Casa Carnalismo into a "revolutionary vanguard" dedicated to the "liberation of the Mexican people.” Professor Alvarez wound up resigning.

Via: Breitbart

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Dem. Women’s Caucus: Republicans ‘Want to Relegate Women to the Back of the Bus’

Luci Ramirez and Jodi Salyers, both Texans, have just spent two hours hearing from top Democratic women like House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at the Democratic National Convention’s Women’s Caucus. The message? Republicans don’t like women and want to take away their birth control.

“We are celebrity overdosed!” says Ramirez “I didn’t realize how anti-birth control, how anti-women, period, the Republicans are until today,” adds Salyers.

The recurring theme: Republicans have what one speaker calls a “disregard for women’s freedom.”

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi began by mocking Republican emphasis on women at their convention last week in Tampa. “I love hearing how they loved their mother and loved their wife and all of that,” said Pelosi. “I’m interested to hear how they respect women’s decisions to determine the size of their family, if they choose to have a family. Republicans “are not even pro-birth control," Pelosi added, "That’s a radical position. That’s just wrong.”

Republicans do not want to force religious groups and taxpayers to pay for free contraceptives, abortifacients, and abortions for others. But banning contraceptives is not a Republican position. But that’s not what the audience heard Tuesday.

Republicans “want to take us backwards—so far back that we’ll be in the kitchen,” said Stephanie Schriock, president of the pro-choice group EMILY’s List.

Donna Brazile, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, compared Republicans to segregationists: “They want to relegate women to the back of the bus,” she said. Democrats “don’t have to pretend to love women."

Via: Weekly Standard

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After 2010 Rebuke, Obama Never Turned to Center

The byzantine relations between President Obama and former president Bill Clinton could fill several psychology textbooks, providing juicy examples of passive aggression, older man/younger man competition, complex alliances (Hillary as secretary of state is the perfect embodiment of the maxim “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”), and mutual interests.

That the president needs Bill Clinton now to make his case to the country must be richly satisfying to the only American whose ego can compete with Barack H. Obama’s.

Let’s recall that one of Obama’s supposed triumphs in 2008 was defeating the vaunted Clinton machine. The Democratic party’s delirium for Obama supposedly obliterated the Clinton magic. After winning the South Carolina primary in January, Obama exulted that “we’re up against the conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as president comes from longevity in Washington. . . . But we know that real leadership is about candor and judgment and the ability to rally Americans . . . around a higher purpose . . .” Though he never tired (and still doesn’t) of insulting George W. Bush, that barb wasn’t aimed at him. It was for the Clintons. 

Bill Clinton, for his part, nurses grudges. Obama eclipsed Clinton as the most charismatic Democrat. The former president and his wife also got a crash course in media bias. Obama spoiled the Clintons’ carefully nurtured plan of returning to the White Houseand achieving vindication. And as someone who preened himself on his high standing among blacks (Toni Morrison called him America’s “first black president”), Clinton was justly outraged when Obama supporters Donna Brazile and Rep. Jim Clyburn accused him of racism in 2008 because he referred to Obama as a “kid” and dismissed his Iraq War stance as a “fairy tale.” Good thing he didn’t use the word “Chicago” or mention “golf” — as those are now “dog whistles,” we’re told.Now His Royal Majesty needs old Bill. He needs him to mount the stage in Charlotte and persuade waverers to reelect The One. Why? Because Clinton, for all his squalid ways, and for all that he was a practitioner par excellence of what Obama disdained as the “old politics,” has something Obama lacks — a successful economic legacy to brag about.

Via: Real Clear Politics

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CLINTON: NOTHING COULD BE MORE FRIGHTENING THAN FOUR MORE YEARS

Okay, who’s the quisling at the DNC who said of the president:

A record of failure. The highest unemployment in eight years. The worst economic record since the Great Depression.  Aren’t you ready to say enough is enough?

This fifth-column spy also said of the president:

The worst economic record of any president in 50 years. Nothing could be more frightening than four more years.

Why, it’s Bill Clinton –from attack ads he ran in 1992 against George H. Bush.

You mean the honorary president of the Treat Women with Dignity Foundation is being hypocritical?

That’s correct. The same guy who has a record of abusing women, yet will act as if he’s fighting against the “War on Women,” is somehow going to twist himself in knots trying to explain that a president who has an exponentially worse record on the economy than George H. Bush should be reelected.

It’s ironic to see a man who once asked women to bend every-which-way for him contort himself into a pretzel – all because he’s shilling for someone whose kind of economic record he once gleefully attacked.

Go ahead, Mr. Clinton.  It’s your reputation, stupid.

Via: Breitbart

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Democratic Platform Calls for Constitutional Amendment Limiting Free Speech

(CNSNews.com) – The 2012 Democratic Party platform includes language calling for a constitutional amendment restricting free speech rights during elections, saying that the Supreme Court decision in theCitizens United case should be overturned.

“Our opponents have applauded the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United and welcomed the new flow of special interest money with open arms. In stark contrast, we believe we must take immediate action to curb the influence of lobbyists and special interests on our political institutions,” the 2012 platform says.

“We support campaign finance reform, by constitutional amendment if necessary,” it adds.

In its 2010 decision, the Supreme Court said that the government could not restrict the political speech of activist groups or other independent organizations by limiting how much money they could spend during an election cycle. The court also struck down federal limits on when independent groups could engage in election-related activities such as running television ads or publishing political materials.

During oral arguments, the Obama administration argued that federal campaign finance laws allowed the government to ban the publication of books, pamphlets, or any other material it felt qualified as election-related communications.

By calling for a constitutional amendment – as President Obama has in the past – the Democratic Party is saying it supports an amendment restricting the First Amendment rights affirmed by the Supreme Court. Such restrictions, by the Obama administration’s own admission, would allow the government to ban the publication of books, pamphlets or any other type of material by independent political groups.

Via: CNSNews

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Bureau of Labor Statistics: Unemployment Rates Of Women Up Under Obama

Unemployment rates of women, young women, and single women have all increased since O took office

The Democratic Party plans toprominently feature women at its convention in Charlotte this week, an effort that could be haunted by the Obama administration’s troubled relationship and failed record with respect to the fairer sex.

The sluggish economy under President Obama has been particularly hard on women. Nearly six million are currently unemployed, more than 400,000 have lost their jobs, and poverty rates among women have soared to record highs.

Since Obama took office, the unemployment rate among women has jumped from 7 percent to 8.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Young women have fared even worse. Their unemployment rate has risen from 12.5 percent to 14.4 percent since 2009.

The jobless rate among single women, a demographic the Obama administration is targeting, has nearly doubled compared with prerecession levels.

A recent Pew report found that women are the only demographic group for which employment growth fell short of population growth between 2009-2011, and have consistently lagged behind men.

“By this yardstick, the economic recovery has proceeded in opposite directions for men and women,” Rakesh Kochhar, the report’s author, toldthe Hill.

“Where have all the women’s jobs gone?” CNN asked in April 2012, noting that the “mancession”—during which men lost twice as many jobs as women—has since turned into the “hecovery,” during which men have gained backfour times as many jobs.

Even strong Obama backers concede that women are struggling. “Though we are seeing some recovery, we have not seen it in a recovery of jobs for women,” Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the left-wing Center For American Progress, told CNN.

Via: WFB

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Harry Reid: Tea Party Must Be Stopped From Winning The Senate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) addressed the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte earlier tonight. Below is the transcript of his speech, as prepared for delivery.

“My name is Harry Reid, the majority leader of the United States Senate and the senator from Searchlight, Nevada. It has been my honor to support and work with President Barack Obama, a man who has brought courage and character to the presidency. President Obama’s strength of character leads him to do the right thing, even when it isn’t the easy thing.

Some said he shouldn’t save Detroit. But President Obama made the tough and right call to save more than a million American jobs in an important, iconic industry.

Some said he shouldn’t move heaven and earth to get bin Laden. But President Obama made the tough and right call to bring the world’s worst terrorist to justice.

Some said he couldn’t take on the big banks that brought our economy to its knees. But President Obama made the tough and right call so taxpayers will never again be on the hook for Wall Street’s risky bets.

Some said he couldn’t take on the insurance companies that were ripping us off. But President Obama made the tough and right call to save lives, save Medicare and ensure no one goes broke just because they get sick.

His whole life, there have been so many who told him what he shouldn’t or couldn’t do. But America has a president who knows what we must do.

President Obama has also faced down another group of naysayers. In addition to the crowd of “couldn’ts” and “shouldn’ts,” the Republican Party has become the party of the “wouldn’ts” and the “won’ts.” They pledged on day one they wouldn’t lift a finger to help. And they haven’t.

In the depth of the Great Recession, as millions of Americans were struggling to find work, the Republican leader of the senate, Mitch McConnell, said Republicans’ number one goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president. They wouldn’t cooperate to create jobs. They wouldn’t try to turn around the economy. They wouldn’t do anything but stand in President Obama’s way.

Via: Fox News

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Cutter: An incomplete is a totally awesome grade after four years

We’ve been waiting for the Barack Obama re-election campaign to come up with a new slogan ever since they added a period to “FORWARD.”  If the last 24 hours are any indication, the new slogan is either “INCOMPLETE” or possibly “GIVE ME ONE MORE CHANCE.”  After Barack Obama gave himself an “incomplete” on the economy in a Colorado Springs TV news interview last night, ABC’s Jake Tapper asks Team Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter whether that “cut[s] it” as an answer.  Absolutely, Cutter responds:

TAPPER: “So President Obama was asked recently about the grade he would give himself. And once again he gave himself an incomplete. It’s been four years. Does that answer cut it? An incomplete after a full term?”

CUTTER: “Yeah, it does, because, you know, once again I’ll remind you of what life was like when he took office. 800,000 jobs were lost in that month alone. 3.5 million in the 6 months prior. And, you know, pretty quickly he was able to turn job loss into job growth. But when he’s saying incomplete, it means a number of different things. One: we’re on a path forward. You know, we’re on our way up. And there is a lot more that he wants to get done. He’s not done yet.”

We’re moving forward?  Really?  Unemployment has been above 8% since before the recovery began, and we’ve only averaged an additional 66,000 jobs per months since — far below the level needed to keep up with population growth.  Once again, here’s the latest from the BLS on the civilian participation rate, which started at 65.7% when Obama took office and was at the same level when the recovery began in June 2009 — but has plunged ever since, to a 30-year low:

Cutter says, “He’s not done yet.”  That’s what keeps many of us awake at night.

Via: Hot Air

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Five Times Obama Has Apologized for America

In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney said:

“I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. President Obama began with an apology tour. America, he said, had dictated to other nations. No Mr. President, America has freed other nations from dictators.”

The Obama campaign and notoriously liberal “fact-check” websites such asfactcheck.org, Politifact, and the Washington Post‘s “Fact Checker” said President Obama never went on an “apology tour” and has never apologized for American actions.

However, in the first few months of the president’s term, Obama repeatedly did speak of America’s past mistakes in a series of appearances, several of which fell in foreign countries. It was also revealed in a top secret cable published in 2011 by Wikileaks that the Japanese government vetoed the idea of President Obama visiting Hiroshima in September 2009 and apologizing for the atomic bomb.

Here are five examples of Obama apologizing for America, first collected in 2009 by “Hannity,” which occurred in quick succession during Obama’s April 2009 tour of foreign countries and in two speeches in the United States shortly thereafter.

1. April 3, 2009: Strasbourg, France

“In America, there’s a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.”

Via: Washington Free Beacon

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Report: Bill Clinton’s ‘closest political adviser’ voting for Romney

Former President Bill Clinton greets President Barack Obama to speak at a campaign event at the Waldorf Astoria, Monday, June 4, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Douglas Band, former President Bill Clinton’s top aide, plans to vote for Mitt Romney in November, according to a report in The New Yorker.

In an extensive article on the complicated and often unpleasant relationship between Bill Clinton and President Obama, the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza reports that Band intends to cast his ballot for the former Massachusetts governor this fall.

“According to two people with direct knowledge, Douglas Band has said that he will vote for Romney,” Lizza writes. “Band declined to comment.”

Lizza explains that Band believes an Obama defeat will bode well for Hillary Clinton’s presidential prospects.

“For [Bill] Clinton, the politics are more complicated,” he writes.

“His associates take it as a given that he would like nothing more than to see his wife become President. Hillary Clinton will step down as Secretary of State after the campaign and begin the process of deciding whether she will run in 2016. By some measures a defeat for Obama in November would leave Hillary the undisputed leader of her party and propel her toward the Oval Office that much faster. At least one of Clinton’s closest advisers seems to be backing that strategy.”

Lizza describes Band, 39, as “Clinton’s closest political adviser.”

Bill Clinton will give a keynote address to the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night.

Via: The Daily Caller

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Labor tries to soften image with 'hug a union thug' booth in Charlotte

This Labor Day, unions are trying a mix of celebrity, social media and humor to polish up the labor movement’s image in the eyes of everyday people.

In Charlotte, people will be asked to “hug a union thug” at a CarolinaFest booth sponsored by the North Carolina State AFL-CIO the day before the Democratic National Convention officially begins. Also in honor of Monday, videos are being posted online thanking workers, while actors and athletes will use Twitter to express support for union rights.

The effort comes as labor has seen increased attacks from Republican-controlled state legislatures and governors since the 2010 elections. Unions were unsuccessful in their attempt earlier this summer to oust Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) after he pushed through legislation that curbed some public workers’ collective bargaining rights.

MaryBe McMillan, secretary-treasurer for the North Carolina State AFL-CIO, said the state labor federation wanted to break down stereotypes regarding union members by dishing out the hugs.

“We see this as an opportunity to dispel that stereotype that union members are mean, scary and violent. What better way to disarm folks than to hug them?” McMillan said. “Union members take care of you in the hospital, deliver your packages and sit next you in church. We are just average folks.”

McMillan hopes the hugs will help draw people into the federation’s booth, which will show videos of union members running the Guide Dogs of America program, rebuilding the Word Trade Center and so on. Further, expect to see photos of people embracing union members at unionhugs.com.

“This will help draw people into our exhibit space and we will be able to show them how unions help build the middle class and why they should support the right to organize,” McMillan said.

The cuddle campaign will be only one aspect of labor’s effort to highlight union members’ and other workers’ good deeds.

The AFL-CIO is asking people online to thank workers for the jobs they do every day. In one video, actor Martin Sheen of “The West Wing” thanked his newspaper delivery person.

Via: The Hill

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PHOTO: DEMS TO USE TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY TO FILL CONVENTION HALL?

Call it "The Empty Chair Convention."

Rick Klein, Senior Washington Editor of ABC News, just tweeted out this photo of the stage the Democrat convention will be held on (posted above).

As you can see, Klein's photo reveals the screens that will serve as the television backdrop behind whomever's speaking -- and it looks to me as though the Democrats intend to show an artificial sea of faces in order to make the convention hall look a whole lot fuller than it might be.

If you look closely, they have three tiers of adoring, enraptured Obama-worshippers at the ready should they need them.

There's a lot of talk and concern amongst Democrats and their Media Palace Guards  that for his big acceptance speech Thursday night, President Obama might not be able to fill the Bank of America stadium. There are also reports that Democrat operatives have been reduced to handing out free tickets to the event at bars and elsewhere -- probably in a frantic last minute attempt to fill seats.

There's no question that, like most failed incumbents, Obama has an enthusiasm gap to deal with this year. Long before Clint Eastwood forever branded Obama an "empty chair," the President has been plagued by the disturbing optics of a one-time political rock star no longer able to pack a house. Most memorably, this all started with Obama's disastrous reelection kick-off event.

Ever since, Team Obama has been forced to save face and not risk a repeat of that calamity with the hilarious spin that President Greek Columns has now chosen to campaign before smaller, more intimate crowds.

Whatever.

Thankfully for Obama, though, he need not worry about filling his convention hall. After all, we live in a magic age of illusion -- one manufactured by Democrats and their media allies who constantly tell us that a failed president currently sitting with an approval rating of 43% is still popular.

Via: Breitbart

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States That Spent Most Per-Pupil Get Labor Dept. Grants; States That Spent Least Get None

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Labor Department announced last week that it will distribute $75.7 million in taxpayer-funded YouthBuild grants to provide instruction and occupational training for high school dropouts, ages 16 to 24.

With some 5,000 individuals expected to benefit, the grants average $15,140 for each “out of school” individual. Meanwhile, the nation's elementary-secondary public school systems spent an average $10,615 per pupil in fiscal year 2010, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to a  June 2012 Census Bureau’s report, the District of Columbia spent the most on education in 2010 – $18,667 per student. The Labor Department just awarded a $1,099,932 YouthBuild grant to the city’s Sasha Bruce Youthwork Inc., which helps young people “transform their lives.”

New York spent the second highest amount on each pupil – $18,618. Six recipients in that state will receive a combined total of $5,209,046 from taxpayers through the YouthBuild grants.

New Jersey ranks third, spending $16,841 per pupil in fiscal year 2010. The Labor Department is awarding five grants to that state for a combined total of $4,323,900.

Census figures show that states spending the least per pupil were Utah ($6,064), Idaho ($7,106), Arizona ($7,848) and Oklahoma ($7,896). And none of those states received grant funding from the Labor Department.

Via: CNSNews

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Right rallies for 'Empty Chair Day'

The right rallied on Labor Day to celebrate “National Empty Chair Day,” a show of solidarity with Clint Eastwood after his infamous address to an invisible President Barack Obama at the Republican National Convention last week.

The action picked up steam on Twitter, where the hashtag #emptychairday began trending on Monday morning as users tweeted pictures of empty chairs in various poses.

Notable conservatives like Michelle Malkin and writers at Breitbart.com, as well blogger Prof. Glenn Reynolds, kicked off the trend, according to the conservative blog Legal Insurrection.

(PHOTOS: 5 'empty chair' incidents)

The blog, which had asked readers to send in photos of empty chairs, updated its post midday to say that the response had been so overwhelming — and the backlog of photos so great — that they were forced to close submissions.

(Scroll down for POLITICO’s top #EmptyChairDay tweets)

Meanwhile, #Eastwooding — which was trending on Twitter last week after the Hollywood icon’s speech, and refers to an address to an empty chair — has arrived at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

AFSCME president Lee Saunders, capping off a fiery speech to the Wisconsin delegation Monday morning, held a conversation with an invisible Eastwood.

An empty chair had been brought on stage before Saunders started speaking, but he ignored it for most of his speech.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but you see this chair? I don’t know if you noticed that he actually walked in with me. He’s invisible, he’s sitting right here. He’s been listening to everything I had to say,” Saunders said. “So I want you to welcome Clint Eastwood.”

Via: Politico

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Dems Busing in Crowds to Fill Stadium for Obama Speech

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –  College students from across North Carolina will arrive in Charlotte by the busload. Same with members of predominantly black churches in neighboring South Carolina. 

Their goal: help fill a 74,000-seat outdoor stadium to capacity when President Obama accepts the Democratic nomination Thursday night.

Anything short of a full house on the final night of the Democratic Party's national convention will be instant fodder for Republicans eager to use empty seats as symbols of waning voter enthusiasm for Obama. 

Democrats have been fretting for months over whether the president can draw a capacity crowd at Bank of America Stadium. Polls show voter enthusiasm is down, as are Obama's crowds for his battleground state campaign rallies. 

Obama advisers insist the stadium will be filled when Obama delivers his speech. Vice President Joe Biden also will speak Thursday night, along with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who will vouch for Obama's national security credentials. 

"The response we've seen from the community has been incredible and it's obvious that people have a big interest in owning a piece of the most open and accessible convention in history," said Adam Fetcher, a campaign spokesman. "President Obama's speech on Thursday night will bring this election into focus for the American people, and it will be even more significant because so many North Carolinians will be there to see it." 

Convention delegates, volunteers and other Democratic officials already in Charlotte for the party gathering could make up as much as one-third of the crowd. But filling the rest of the stadium is a piecemeal process.

Elena Botella, a student at Duke University and president of the College Democrats of North Carolina, said her school was busing 100 students to the speech. 

Via: Fox News

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Daily Caller: With Landmark Lawsuit, Barack Obama Pushed Banks to Give Subprime Loans to Chicago’s African-Americans

President Barack Obama was a pioneering contributor to the national subprime real estate bubble, and roughly half of the 186 African-American clients in his landmark 1995 mortgage discrimination lawsuit against Citibank have since gone bankrupt or received foreclosure notices.

As few as 19 of those 186 clients still own homes with clean credit ratings, following a decade in which Obama and other progressives pushed banks to provide mortgages to poor African Americans.

The startling failure rate among Obama’s private sector clients was discovered during The Daily Caller’s review of previously unpublished court information from the lawsuit that a young Obama helmed as the lead plaintiff’s attorney. [RELATED: Learn about the 186 class action plaintiffs]

Since the mortgage bubble burst, some of his former clients are calling for a policy reversal.

“If you see some people don’t make enough money to afford the mortgage, why would you give them a loan?” asked Obama client John Buchanan. “There should be some type of regulation against giving people loans they can’t afford.”

Banks “were too eager to lend to many who didn’t qualify,” said Don Byas, another client who saw banks lurch from caution to bubble-inflating recklessness. [RELATED: Obama's Citibank plaintiffs hit hard when housing bubble burst]

“I don’t care what race you are. … You need to keep financial wisdom [separate] from trying to help your people,” said Byas, an autoworker.

Via: The Daily Caller

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EDITORIAL: Labor Day Is No Holiday Without a Job

AP Graphics

EDITORIAL: Another bummer Obama day
Labor Day is no holiday without a job

By The Washington Times

For 23 million Americans without jobs, the Labor Day holiday is not a day off but just another day without work. It’s a fitting hash mark for the presidential campaign kickoff, reminding Americans of President Obama’s tragic failure to deliver.

In 2009, Mr. Obama promised to lower unemployment to 5.5 percent by 2012. It’s stuck at 8.3 percent. In his first budget, hopefully titled “A New Era of Responsibility,” he projected current growth in the gross domestic product would be a red-hot 6.3 percent. Instead, the country creeps along at a miserable 1.5 percent. One measure of the Obama administration’s desperation is Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis applauding the latest youth unemployment figures, which dipped all the way to 17.1 percent. When numbers that high make officials “excited,” you know things are terrible.

From the White House perspective, this isn’t all bad news. The Obama administration thinks unemployment actually can be healthy for the economy. Obama press secretary Jay Carney said last year that jobless benefits somehow boost consumption and “every place that, that money is spent has added business and that creates growth and income for businesses that leads them to decisions about jobs, more hiring.” By that confused illogic, Mr. Obama should be cheering the worst sustained unemployment rate since the Great Depression. Congratulations, that’s a heckuva job, Barack. Apparently, the president’s re-election slogan, “Forward,” actually means “Reverse.”

Labor Day also draws attention to the role of organized labor in American public life. A new Gallup survey shows 52 percent of the public approves of unions while 42 percent disapproves. A lot has changed since the 1950s, when old Big Labor — the United Auto Workers, the United Mine Workers, the Teamsters — had a 75 percent approval rating. Back then, workers built things. The new Big Labor — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union — represents the service sector and public employees. Their influence grows through securing sweetheart deals from governments populated with the politicians they helped elect. Eventually, the cost of these deals becomes too great for states and municipalities to sustain. Even with these jurisdictions on the brink of bankruptcy, the unions refuse to give on any aspect of their plush compensation packages. Their answer is always the same: Raise taxes and fees; do anything it takes to extract more money from the public to keep alive the government golden goose.

Via: The Washington Times

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Obama after four years – change or more of the same?

WASHINGTON — He’s older. He’s grayer. The jaunty optimism about changing the world has given way to the sober reality of stubbornly high unemployment and economic anxiety. In his own words, President Barack Obama has “some dents and dings in the fender.”

Yet beneath those external differences, the question persists: How has Obama changed as a leader in the four years since he first accepted his party’s nomination for president as a young man with little executive experience and little history in Washington. Has he learned on the job? Has he been guided by core principles come what may, or has he changed to adapt to what’s become a vastly different political landscape? The answers could determine how successful he’d be in a second term.

In his first two years, Obama stayed the course and pushed an agenda through a friendly Democratic Congress to stimulate the economy, regulate Wall Street and overhaul health care. Yet he’s maintained much of that course even as the country balked at his health care law, as voters threw his party out of power in the House of Representatives, and as his agenda has stalled ever since.

“On the one hand, he’s got a legacy,” said George Edwards, a scholar of the presidency at Texas A&M University, pointing to sweeping financial regulations and health care legislation sought by Democrats for decades. But Obama also displayed what Edwards called a “misunderstanding of leadership,” which put too much emphasis on his own powers of persuasion and led Obama to “overreach” on health care.

“As a result, he lost the ability to govern because he lost Congress and he’s not likely to get Congress back. Ever,” Edwards said.

To Obama and his inner circle, his steadiness is a critical virtue.

Via: The News Tribune

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Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/09/01/2274377/obama-after-four-years-change.html#storylink=cpy