It Was Never About Obama in the First Place—Why Barack is Merely Puppet o’ Hope

If the first debate between Barack and Mitt proved anything, besides this emperor having no clothes, it’s that the point of electing Obama was never about his “genius.” It was simply a convenient leftist power grab, obscured by a ridiculous cartoon of leadership. As has been richly illustrated, despite all his intellectual bluster—Barack is no Einstein. After exposure as a cocky, know-nothing parrot of others’ words, it became startlingly obvious Barack has a very limited pool of knowledge. Like a blind man searching for his cane all evening, was Barack Obama “debating.”

Now certainly those working with Obama the past 5-10 years knew of his inherent limitations, that he was essentially an unthinking figure head for their movement. Further, they wagered with his grandiose self-image, belief in his own inevitable rise, preposterously condescending manner, and photogenic style, he’d be a perfect Trojan-horse to ride to victory. But finally, Obama was revealed as a charlatan as silly as any from a rock-n-roll opera:

Ever since I was a young boy I played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton I must have played them all
But I ain’t seen nothing like him in any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball

So what has actually happened the last four years in the White House? Obviously, an elaborate fraud has been foisted upon a credulous, tired and intellectually inert American public. But why? Because liberalism is a movement so inherently illogical, unstable and anti-intuitive it needs leaders who are either dense blowhards, moral misfits, or literally insane to head the cause (see Sources of Madness—The Insane Thinkers of the Modern Age). Alarmingly, modern liberalism (socialism, Marxism, Fascism, etc) is a political religion intent upon converting the world, even by sword, if necessary. So the real star of Obama’s administration is this quasi-religious, atheistic world movement which finds a surprising ideological partner in classic Islam. This menacing, anti-liberty movement will not rest until it has enslaved the globe.

Via: Canada Free Press

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Obama Campaign Releases Record Number of Attack Ads Following Debate

In the weekend following President Barack Obama’s terrible debate performance, the Obama campaign released 18 videos on their YouTube channel, 10 of which are attack ads against Mitt Romney, in an effort to rally their campaign back to success.

This extreme meltdown of Obama advertising focused especially on the debate, calling Romney “Dishonest,” “Misleading,” Untrustworthy,” and a, “Liar.” Most of them have specially selected footage from the debate. One even talks about, “Romney’s debate performance,” calling it “mostly false.”

Well, when your candidate swings and completely misses in a disaster of a debate, there is not much left to do but relentlessly try to draw attention away from the extent of the failure.

Clearly, the Obama campaign is grasping at straws, trying to come up with a reason why Obama couldn’t pull it together on Wednesday.

“After the debate Romney didn’t tell the American people the truth,” one ad claims. “Because his real plans would hurt the middle class.”

“Mitt Romney claims he wants more teachers. Not true,” another ad says. “He has been saying for months that he doesn’t want more teachers. If we can’t trust him on the debate stage, how can we trust him in the oval office?”

Keep the ads coming, Obama, but your debate performance speaks for itself.

Check out the most desperate one where the Obama campaign says that Romney misled the American people about Obama’s green energy record. Really, you’re going to defend Solyndra?:

Via: Red Alert Politics

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Chavez's socialist rule at risk as Venezuelans vote

(Reuters) - Hugo Chavez loyalists blew bugles in a wake up call for voters on Sunday as the Venezuelan leader faced the biggest electoral challenge yet to his socialist rule from a young rival tapping into discontent over crime and cronyism.

Henrique Capriles, a centrist state governor, edged toward the still-popular Chavez in final polls thanks to a vigorous campaign that united the opposition and made him its best chance of ending the president's 14-year tenure.

Chavez has used record oil revenue to support ideological allies around the world while preaching a fiercely anti-American line, so the election is being watched eagerly from the United States to Belarus and Iran.

Queues formed at some polling centers long before they opened, and despite a few delays voting was going smoothly.

"The battle has started!" the flamboyant former soldier wrote in an early morning rallying cry on Twitter. "Today we will write another chapter in history."

Chavez loyalists in poor neighborhoods, where he draws his most fervent following, blew bugles and trumpets in the predawn wake-up call. In the center of Caracas, some red-clad fans shouted "Long live Chavez!" from the back of trucks.

Chavez, 58, staged a remarkable comeback from cancer this year. But he could not match the energy of past campaigns - or the pace set by his 40-year-old basketball-loving opponent.

"Today we decide the future of our Venezuela," Capriles said on Twitter. "Today we are millions of Davids! God will be our guide," he added, referring to his depiction of the vote as the biblical underdog's battle against Goliath.

Capriles had prepared for the election by hiking a mountain trail on the edge of Caracas on Saturday, donning sports gear and mirrored sunglasses and posing for pictures with supporters.

Via: Reuters

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REPUBLICAN YOUTH VOLUNTEERS HIT THE ROAD IN SWING STATES

The Republican National Committee is deploying as many grassroots supporters as it can to go door-to-door for the Republican presidential ticket in three swing states, starting this weekend.

“Deploy to Ohio, Virginia, or North Carolina to knock on doors and make phone calls for Romney-Ryan 2012 and other Republican candidates,” reads the flyer for the Republican National Committee Swing State Bus Deployment.

The Republican campaign effort for this election cycle has vastly outpaced that for previous presidential elections. This year, volunteers for the Republican National Committee have made nearly 5 times more phone calls than in Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)’s 2008 campaign for president, according to a statement from Kirsten Kukowski, Communications Director for the RNC.

“We’ve already contacted more voters than both the 2004 and 2008 cycles and we still have 5 weeks left,” she said.

The bus deployment that starts this weekend is part of the larger Get Out the Vote ground game, she said.

Keegan Conway, a recent college graduate volunteering at the RNC headquarters, hopes to make the cut for this weekend’s bus trip to North Carolina, he said.

“I’d be going with another intern from the office and some of my friends at the phone bank,” he said.

Conway came to Washington from California’s Central Valley 3 months ago to educate people about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s message, he said.

Via: Human Events

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Ryan’s Impossible Debate Challenge

In a rational world, Paul Ryan should have a fairly easy time in the upcoming debate against Vice President Joe Biden. Ryan is a man who has mastered the intricacies of legislation and the federal budget while Biden has shown scant interest in anything in his senatorial career other than the AMTRAK schedule from Washington, DC to Delaware.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a rational world. We live in one where Barack Obama is president AND Joe Biden is vice president. To win a debate against Joe Biden one must be prepared to engage with a man who has hardly more than a nodding acquaintance with the truth.

Most of us are familiar with Biden’s ill-starred run for the Demcocrat nomination in 1988 as part of the Seven Dwarfs. He was forced out when it was revealed that he’d not only plagiarized a speech by British Labor Party leader Neal Kinnock, he’s actually gone so far as to steal Kinnock’s biography, claiming to be the son of an impoverished coal miner. (Though to his credit, when Gary Hart was dropped out due to his marital infidelities Biden remarked, “We’ve lost Horny.”) To this day, Biden claims he was “raised in Scranton (PA)” though he left when he was 10 years old.

This should be a danger sign.

The fact is that when Biden gets put in a tough position he will simply make stuff up. For instance,Jonah Goldberg relates this tale:

The most notorious comes from Biden’s 1988 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. He had been hounded about his law-school record and plagiarism problems (among other things, he copied five pages from a law journal for a 15-page paper and then claimed it was a footnoting error), and he was asked a question about his academic record by a resident of New Hampshire.

He responded: “I think I have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect.” He went on:

I went to law school on a full academic scholarship, the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship. In the first year in the law, I decided I didn’t want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two-thirds of my class and then decided I wanted to stay, went back to law school, and, in fact, ended up in the top half of my class. I won the international moot-court competition. I was the outstanding student in the political-science department at the end of my year. I graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school and 165 credits — only needed 123 credits. And I would be delighted to sit down and compare my IQ to yours.

Most of these statements were outright lies.

Via: Red State

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1,035,000: Construction Jobs Lost Under Obama

(CNSNews.com) - When President Barack Obama signed his economic stimulus legislation on Feb. 17, 2009, he said that one impact of the act would be to create jobs for 400,000 people building and rebuilding the nation's infrastructure.

But despite a price tag that the Congressional Budget Office now says was $833 billion, the economic stimulus of February 2009 did not create 400,000 new construction jobs.

In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there are now 1,035,000 fewer construction jobs in the United States than there were in January 2009, when Obama was inaugurated, and 925,000 less than in February 2009 when Obama signed his stimulus act.

The decline in construction jobs in the United States did not start when President Obama took office, but the $833 billion stimulus act he pushed through Congress and signed did not stop or reverse that decline.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research--on which Obama's former top economic adviser Christina Romer serves--says that the last recession ended in June 2009. Since then, according to BLS, America has lost 484,000 construction jobs.

In September 2012, according to BLS, 5,523,000 Americans had jobs in the construction industry. That is down from 6,558,000 in January 2009, when Obama took office; it is down from6,448,000 in February 2009, when Obama signed the $833 billion stimulus; it is down from 6,007,000 when the recession ended in June 2009; and it is down from 5,564,000 from January of this year, when Obama started the fourth year of his presidential term.\

Via: CNS News

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WINDFALL: OBAMA RAISES $181 MILLION, ONLY AROUND 2% CAN BE VERIFIED

The Obama campaign dropped a bombshell this morning. It announced that, combined with the DNC, the campaign raised a staggering $181 million in September. The windfall is a huge increase over July and August, when the campaign raised around $100 million, although it is slightly down from the $193 million it raised in September 2008. The news should raise eyebrows. 

The campaign said that just over 1.8 million people made donations to the campaign last month. According to the campaign, over 500k of these were brand-new donors, having neither given in 2008 nor 2012. 98% of contributions were under the reporting threshold of $250. Of these, the average contribution was $53. 

Its really a tale of two worlds. 35k people gave an average of $2,600, while just over 1.7 million people gave an average of $53. Half the campaign's haul came from people giving around the maximum amount and half from people who don't have to be disclosed. Seems a bit odd. 

The average of $53 from small donors is particularly noteworthy. Contributions under $200 don't have to be disclosed, but the campaign still has to keep track of the donor's name, in case subsequent donations push their contribution over the reporting threshold. 

For contributions under $50, however, the campaign doesn't even have to keep track of the donor's name. It is effectively considered a "petty cash" donation. A person could theoretically make 10 $49 donations and never be reported, even though their total contributions are above the FEC's reporting threshold. 

With an average donation of $53 from small donors, Obama has A LOT of donors who will never be disclosed and whose names aren't even known to the campaign. Tens of millions of dollars worth. 

Today's report certainly adds a great deal of interest to this news story from last week. 

Via: Breitbart

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Obama attacks Romney on oil tax break remarks he never made

President Barack Obama is back on the campaign trail, blasting the “fake” Mitt Romney for false claims he supposedly made during Wednesday night’s presidential debate.

“Last night, my opponent says he refuses to close the loophole that gives big oil companies $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies every year,” Obama said at a Denver campaign event on Thursday. “He ruled out closing the loophole that gives oil companies $4 billion in corporate welfare.”

Obama continued this line of attack at other campaign events as well.

“The guy who was playing Mitt Romney said he refuses to close a loophole that gives big oil companies $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies every single year,” Obama said in Wisconsin on Thursday.

And again at a Friday event in Virginia, Obama claimed Romney said that there is “no way” he’d close loopholes for oil companies.

“He said there’s no way that he’d close the loophole that gives big oil companies billions each year in corporate warfare,” Obama said on Friday.

In fact, Mitt Romney said during the debate that getting rid of tax breaks for oil companies was “on the table” and that these breaks probably wouldn’t survive a lowering of the corporate tax rate.

Via: The Daily Caller

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Obama Flying To L.A. To Reassure Hollywood Donors After Denver Debate Debacle

The president arrives for a star-studded concert and high-roller dinner on Sunday amid "shock" in Hollywood over his Denver debate performance.

President Barack Obama returns to Los Angeles Sunday for a star-bedecked celebrity concert and fundraising dinner. In the wake of his Denver debate troubles, however, the long scheduled visit has acquired another, equally urgent purpose—reassuring his Hollywood supporters that he's fighting to win the race and he's poised for a comeback in the next televised forum with former Gov. Mitt Romney.

From the now iconic dinner at George Clooney’s house that created a new Internet raffle style of campaign fundraising, through a series of lucrative Westside fundraisers and a wildly successful gala staged by the gay and lesbian community, the entertainment industry—in both L.A. and New York—has turned out to be a critical component in the Obama campaign’s fundraising efforts. There’s also no doubt that the president’s Hollywood supporters were deeply shaken by his lackluster performance in this week’s debate with Republican nominee Romney.

STORY: Presidential Debate Hits 32-Year Record in Gross Ratings

“Everyone is in shock,” said one long-time Democratic activist. “No one can understand what happened.”

At the very least, several longtime Obama supporters told THR, the chief executive should expect some directorial notes on how to tailor his performance to television’s split screen. “Everyone with a connection to the president is reaching out to him,” said another veteran Dem. “At the end of the day, the best coach he has is himself.”

The cloud of anxious fallout from Denver has all but overshadowed what otherwise would be considered a particularly glittering and gala L.A. appearance for Obama. His Sunday evening will kick off with a concert at downtown L.A.’s Nokia Theater featuring Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Earth Wind and Fire, and Jon Bon Jovi. Presidential pal Clooney will make a special appearance to introduce Wonder. Afterward, Obama will head next door for a $25,000-per-plate dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s chic WP24. Both events were sold out before the debate. The two events could easily raise more than $5 million for the president's reelection campaign. 

On Monday, the president will head north to San Francisco for a fundraising dinner hosted by superstar chef Alice Waters, and a concert headlined by John Legend.

In Hollywood political circles this weekend, Obama’s shaky showing in Denver remained the conversational Topic A.

Via: Hollywood Reporter

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The 2003 Obama-PLO video and Obamacare – is there a pattern of hiding the facts?

SAN DIEGO, October 5, 2012 ― The line between political speech and public consequences is often blurry, if not complex. Many politicians mean well, but effect risky policies and laws that have unintended consequences.

Americans are a rich and multi-faceted people. Many people, including physicians of all backgrounds, demand more than platitudes when it comes to their careers and the well-being of their patients. In the setting of elections and the massive overhaul of the American medical system through Obamacare, it is just as valuable to know what is said as it is to uncover what is being hidden.

THE VIDEO

Flashback to the 2008 Presidential campaign between Obama and McCain: “The Los Angeles Times did not publish the [2003 Palestine Liberation Organization fundraiser] videotape because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it,” said the newspaper’s editor, Russ Stanton. “The Times keeps its promises to sources.”

Apparently, Americans will never see the 2003 video in which touted "Barack Hussein Obama" and his wife, Michelle, are seen cavorting in an openly anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, anti-American milieu at the P.L.O. event. The LA Times, which purportedly holds the only copy, refuses to release it so that it may retain its journalistic integrity and keep its promise to the original source.

Using the same logic as the LA Times, it would seem appropriate that an individual who feared personal harm or career-damaging actions would likewise seek protection for his 'story' of that same event.  Such an individual exists.

Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter

Via: The Washington Times

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Obama's Assertion That Companies Get Tax Breaks To Ship Jobs Overseas Is A Political Ploy He Never Does Anything About

THE CLAIM: Today, Obama Presented As Fact The Notion That There Are "Tax Breaks To Corporations That Move Jobs And Profits Overseas." OBAMA: "He says there's no way that he would close the loophole to give -- that gives oil companies billions each year in corporate welfare. Any tax breaks to corporations that move jobs and profits overseas, he had never heard of such a thing. Who knew? Who knew?" (President Barack Obama, Presidential Debate, Denver, CO, 10/5/12)

THE FACTS: " Under Present Law, There Are No Tax Credits Or Disallowance Of Deductions Specific To Locating Jobs In The United States Or Transferring Jobs Overseas." "Under present law, there are no tax credits or disallowance of deductions specific tolocating jobs in the United States or transferring jobs overseas. However, Congress has providedvarious credits to encourage certain activities or behavior and has disallowed deductions to curtail behavior deemed inappropriate or to discourage certain economic choices." ("Descriptions Of Revenue Provisions Contained In The President's Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Proposal," Joint Committee On Taxation, p.73, 6/12)

• The Actual Tax Provision Obama References Would Raise Only $17 Million A Year, Or What You'd "Call A Rounding Error" With Obama's $1 Trillion Annual Budget Deficits. "Moreover, it is pretty small potatoes given the attention Democrats pay to it. The JCT estimated that ending the deduction for moving operations overseas would raise just $168 million over a decade. In the federal government with an annual budget deficit of more than $1 trillion, that's what you call a rounding error." (Glenn Kessler, "Factchecking The First Presidential Debate Of 2012," The Washington Post 's The Fact Checker , 10/4/12)

OBAMA HAS RECYCLED THIS PROMISE FOR YEARS

2004: Obama Said He Wanted To Ensure That "We Close Tax Loopholes To Companies Moving Jobs Overseas, And Making Them Invest Right Here In The United States." OBAMA: "The fact of the matter is, it's more fun being in the majority. You can get more stuff done. And to the extent that I can lend my assistance to these other candidates so that we can promote some of the policies that we've talked about: making sure that we close tax loopholes to companies moving jobs overseas, and making them invest right here in the United States. Then, I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen." (State Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks In Illinois Senate Debate, Chicago, IL, 10/21/04)

2007: Obama Said " That's Why We've Got To Stop Giving Tax Breaks To Companies That Send Jobs Overseas." OBAMA: "That's why we've got to give unions the power to do what they do best, which is organize workers to lift themselves up into the middle class. That's why we've got to stop giving tax breaks to companies that send jobs overseas. Save those tax breaks for companies that invest right here in the United States of America." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Columbus, OH, 10/26/07)

2008: Candidate Obama Again Presented His Economic Plan As One That Ends "Tax Breaks For Companies That Ship Our Jobs Overseas And Give Them To Companies That Create Jobs Here In America." OBAMA: "At this defining moment in our history, the question is not, 'Are you better off than you were four years ago' - we all know the answer to that. The real question is, 'will our country be better off four years from now?' How will we lift our economy and restore America's place in the world? Here's what I'll do as President. …I'll end the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and give them to companies that create jobs here in America." (Obama For America Ad, "Barack Obama: Defining Moment," 10/24/08)

EVEN AS PRESIDENT, OBAMA USED THE SAME TALKING POINT

2009: Obama Said " We Need To Stop Giving Tax Breaks To Companies That Stash Profits Or Ship Jobs Overseas…" OBAMA: "We're also doing away with the unnecessary giveaways that have thrown our tax code out of balance. I said this during the campaign, I'm now saying it as President: We need to stop giving tax breaks to companies that stash profits or ship jobs overseas so we can invest in job creation here at home." (President Barack Obama, Remarks On Taxes, Washington, D.C., 4/15/09)

2010: Obama Said "That's Why We Want To End Tax Breaks Going To Companies That Are Shipping Jobs Overseas…" OBAMA: "And that means a future where we encourage American innovation and American ingenuity. That's why we want to end tax breaks going to companies that are shipping jobs overseas and start giving those tax breaks to companies that are investing in jobs and research and plants and equipment right here in the United States of America." (President Barack Obama, Remarks By The President At Finance Reception For Congressman Sestak , Washington, D.C., 9/20/10)

2011: Obama Said That Voters Have A Choice To " Go Back To The Ideas We Tried In The Last Decade -- Where Corporations Got To Write Their Own Rules And The Most Fortunate Among Us Got All Of Our Tax Breaks, And Jobs Got Shipped Overseas…" OBAMA: "We can go back to the ideas we tried in the last decade -- where corporations got to write their own rules and the most fortunate among us got all of our tax breaks, and jobs got shipped overseas, and incomes and wages flat-lined as the cost of everything went up, and this society became less equal, and opportunity was diminished for too many. (President Barack Obama, Remarks By The President And The First Lady At A DNC Event , New York, NY, 9/20/11)

OBAMA'S RHETORIC ON INSOURCING TAX BREAKS ARE A "FANTASY"

TRUTH: FactCheck.org: "Obama's 'Jobs Overseas' Fantasy, Again" (Brooks Jackson, Lori Robertson, Joe Miller and Viveca Novak "Closing Arguments: Obama," FactCheck.org, 11/3/08)

FactCheck.org: The Tax Breaks That Obama Is Referring To Have Nothing To Do With Why Companies Ship Jobs Overseas. "Back in 2004 when we criticized John Kerry for using a similar iteration of this claim against President Bush, we pointed out that Christian Weller, a senior fellow at the Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress, had said taxes 'are a very small part' of companies' decisions to move jobs offshore. Those at a 2005 Brookings Institution summit on trade also said taxes had little to do with outsourcing. Joel Slemrod, a tax expert at the University of Michigan's business school, summed it up by saying: 'For those who see [offshoring] as a problem, this is not a solution.'" (Justin Bank, "Obama's Trade Trickery," FactCheck.org, 9/26/08)

• Factcheck.Org: "Eliminating This Incentive Would Have Very Little Effect On U.S. Employment ." "The claim that the tax code favors locating jobs overseas has been a Democratic mantra since at least 2004, when John Kerry brought it up constantly in his campaign against then-President George W. Bush. It has some truth to it - but not much. As we reported in 2004, eliminating this incentive would have very little effect on U.S. employment." (Brooks Jackson, "A False Tax Attack," FactCheck.org, 4/9/10)
• Factcheck.Org: "As We've Been Saying For More Than Four Years Now… Eliminating Them Won't Do Much To Keep Jobs In The U.S." "Obama's infomercial, and his closing TV ads, continue to harp on the theme of 'tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas,' which Obama proposes to eliminate. We can't say whether or not he can deliver on that promise, but as we've been saying for more than four years now, (and most recently on Sept. 26) eliminating them won't do much to keep jobs in the U.S. In a recent exchange of e-mails with us, Eric Toder of the Tax Policy Center concluded that eliminating such tax breaks 'is a nice political slogan, but will do little or nothing for U.S. employment or incomes.'" (Brooks Jackson, Lori Robertson, Joe Miller and Viveca Novak "Closing Arguments: Obama," FactCheck.org, 11/3/08)

Via: GOP.com

Obama Has Left The Economy And The Middle Class Buried Under The Weight Of His Failed Policies

OBAMA HAS PRESIDED OVER A RECORD PERIOD OF ECONOMIC STAGNATION

Since Obama Took Office, The Nation Has Lost 61,000 Jobs And The Unemployment Rate Has Remained At Or Above 7.8 Percent (What The Rate Was When Obama Took Office) For 45 Straight Months. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)

• Jim Pethokoukis: "10.7%: Unemployment Rate If Labor Force Participation Rate Was The Same As When Obama Took Office" (Jim Pethokoukis, Twitter Feed, 10/5/12)
• By This Point Obama's Advisers Predicted The Unemployment Rate Would Be Near 5.4 Percent. (Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, "The Job Impact Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Plan," 1/9/09)

• Under Obama, The Nation Has Lost 1,035,000 Construction Jobs And 610,000 Manufacturing Jobs. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)

• The Manufacturing Sector Shed 16,000 Jobs In September And 22,000 Jobs In August. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)

Former Obama Council Of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee Said The Jobs Numbers "Need To Be A Lot Better." FORMER OBAMA COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS CHAIRMAN AUSTAN GOOLSBEE: "You want to take multiple months to take an average, that's far more accurate than any one month. If you look at the last few months, it's been okay. We should take some heart in that the numbers are improving but they're not improving fast enough. They need to be a lot better. I mean if you look around the world, I think one of the things to note is, we're not growing that fast, and we're one of the fastest growing of all the advanced countries. This is a pretty tough spot that the entire advanced economic world is in, especially in Europe, and so that's just a big weight that we're trying to get off. We're making slow progress but it's got to be faster." (CNBC's "Squawk Box," 10/5/12)

• "The Economy Is Growing At The Same Sluggish Pace It Has Been Since The Spring." "Those figures are roughly in line with economists' forecasts, and although the revisions were positive, the economy is growing at the same sluggish pace it has been since the spring." (Annalyn Censky, "September Jobs Report: Unemployment Rate Tumbles," CNNMoney, 10/5/12)
• "The Country Generally Needs At Least 150,000 New Jobs Each Month Just To Keep Up With Population Growth." (Annalyn Censky, "September Jobs Report: Unemployment Rate Tumbles," CNNMoney, 10/5/12)
• "That's Hardly Fast Enough To Recover All The Jobs Lost Since 2007." "That's hardly fast enough to recover all the jobs lost since 2007. Of the 8.8 million jobs cut during the recession, about 4.3 million have been added back. The Labor Department signaled last week that it may revise the job gains higher, but even so, the job market still has a long way to go before it's fully healed." (Annalyn Censky, "September Jobs Report: Unemployment Rate Tumbles," CNNMoney, 10/5/12)

CNBC's Brian Sullivan: "It's Not Good News For The Economy." CNBC'S BRIAN SULLIVAN: "It's not good news for the economy because as we've talked about you really need 125,000 jobs created a month to keep up with population and immigration growth." (MSNBC's "Morning Joe," 10/5/12)

• Sullivan: "The Labor Force Participation Rate At 65.6% Rate Is Awful." MSNBC'S JOE SCARBOROUGH: "Again just to push back with you though, Brian, the only reason that number went down below 8 is because, not because we're adding jobs to bring the unemployment rate down but because people have stopped looking for work, right? CNBC'S BRIAN SULLIVAN: "I agree with that, the labor force participation rate at 65.6% rate is awful." (MSNBC's "Morning Joe," 10/5/12)

The Average Duration Of Unemployment Has More Than Doubled From 19.8 Weeks To 39.8 Weeks. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)

• There Are Currently 802,000 Unemployed Workers That Have Given Up Looking For Work. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)

The Real Unemployment Rate, Including Those That Are Working Part-Time Due To Economic Reasons, Is At 14.7 Percent. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)

There Are Currently 23.2 Million Americans That Are Either Unemployed, Underemployed Or Have Given Up Looking For Work. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)

• There Are Currently 12.1 Million Unemployed Workers. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)
• The Number Of Workers Working Part-Time For Economic Reasons Is 8.6 Million. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)
• There Number Of Workers Marginally Attached To The Labor Force Is 2.5 Million. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 10/5/12)

 Via: GOP.com

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Bankrupt DOE Loan Recipient Abound Solar Under Investigation, Panels Suffered “Catastrophic Failure”

Abound Solar, a Department of Energy $400 million loan guarantee recipient that went bankrupt earlier this year, is under investigation by officials in Weld County, Colorado.

The company, which received nearly $70 million in loan funding before payments were cut off by DOE in 2011, also received a $100,000 tax break from the Colorado county in 2010. The county decided not to extend that offer when the company failed to achieve prescribed benchmarks for the tax break.

The county is also seeking nearly $2 million in unpaid property taxes from 2011 and 2012.

Denver’s 7NEWS has confirmed the investigation:

Sources tell 7NEWS that the company’s finances are under scrutiny.

7NEWS obtained internal documents from 2012 that show orders for tens of thousands of replacement solar panels. The orders cite different reasons for the replacements including, “low performance,” “under performance” and “catastrophic failures.”

The orders are for replacements requested after the Department of Energy stopped stimulus money payments to Abound.

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-CO, has announced his intent to issue a letter to DOE “seeking records and information about what it knew while providing money to Abound.”

Gardner told 7NEWS that the document request would be comprehensive.

“We need to know, did the Department of Energy — did they close on the loan when they knew there were technical problems with the product?” Gardner told the station.

The revelation of an investigation into the shuttered solar manufacturer comes less than a week after The Daily Caller News Foundation cited sources that appear to corroborate the issue of faulty, underperforming, and even dangerous solar modules, one of which the outlet showed bursting into flames in a video released with their report:

Via: The Foundry

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House GOP Women Respond to Attacks by Rep. Wasserman Schultz

WASHINGTON - Conference Vice Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and U.S. Representatives Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Sandy Adams (R-FL), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Judy Biggert (R-IL), Diane Black (R-TN), Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Nan Hayworth (R-NY), Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Candice Miller (R-MI), Kristi Noem (R-SD), Martha Roby (R-AL), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) today issued the following joint statement in reaction to Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) comments that Republicans are “anti-women” and waging a “war on women.”

“Apparently it’s open season on Republican women.  Between Ed Schultz’s tasteless insult of a conservative woman radio host, and Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s comments that the Republican Party is ‘anti-women,’ the tone in Washington, D.C. has reached a new low.

“Debbie’s accusations are baseless and inaccurate.  Republican women fight every day for the women who can't start a business because of burdensome taxes and regulations, for the women who worry that we are capping their children's future and trading it to China in exchange for cheap loans, for the women who deserve to make their own health care choices, and for this year's young women graduates who are entering a job market stagnated by Washington-driven uncertainty.

“It’s disappointing that Democrats would rather call names and use such divisive language than find areas where we can work together on behalf of American women and families.”

Via: GOP.com

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Christian University Bans Conservative Student Club

Conservative students at Azusa Pacific University, an evangelical Christian university near Los Angeles, have been blocked from starting a chapter of Young Americans for Freedom because the school took issue with the group’s principles.

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The YAF is a program sponsored by the Young America’s Foundation — dedicated to introducing young people to the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise and traditional values. The foundation also owns and preserves the Reagan Ranch.

Patrick Coyle, vice president of the Young America’s Foundation, said they were approached by students who wanted to be recognized as a YAF chapter.

“They were told by the administrators that they could not change their name because they had looked at our website and didn’t like the language we used,” Coyle told Fox News.

Administrators specifically took issue with references to liberal professors and radical feminists who are trying to take over college campuses across the nation.

Ashley Blackwell was one of the students hoping to launch the YAF chapter. She is currently the president of the Young Conservatives club on campus.

“It is really disappointing that a school, which promotes diversity and uses the mantra ‘everyone matters,’ would ban an existing club from changing its name,” she told Breitbart.com — which first reported the incident.

So Coyle called Chuck Strawn, the director of the university’s “Office of Communiversity.”

“I asked if there were any written rules the students had violated and he said no,” Coyle said. “He said it was just their opinion.”

He said the specific language Azusa Pacific took issue with is:

“Are you tired of liberal ideas dominating your campus? Are you tired of liberal and Marxist professors indoctrinating your classmates? Do you want to advance conservatism?

“If you answered yes, then you should start a Young Americans for Freedom chapter. YAF chapters make a difference by boldly advancing freedom and conservatism.

“Radical feminists, big government bureaucrats, fringe environmentalists, race-baiters, Islamo-fascists, and run of the mill leftists are distraught that you would even think about promoting conservative ideas.”

Via: Todd Starnes Fox Radio

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Congressional Budget Office Confirms FY 2012 Deficit Exceeds $1 Trillion

Fiscal year 2012 concluded with a $1.1 trillion deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s monthly budget review released today. It marks the fourth year of trillion-dollar-plus deficits.

Anyone can see that these massive, continued deficits are hardly sustainable. Despite claims that tax hikes are the solution to reduce the deficit, the fact remains that too much spending is the root cause of federal budget deficits.

The federal government is currently spending about 23 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), well above the historical average level of 20.2 percent of GDP. Current spending levels follow even greater spending excesses recorded during years saturated with stimulus spending. Conversely, revenues are temporarily low due to the recession, but they will rise and even surpass their historical level of 18.1 percent of GDP as the economy recovers and more Americans return to work. (continues below chart)

Prompted by presidential debate moderator Jim Lehrer about deficit-reduction proposals, President Obama chimed in with an all-too-familiar refrain: “There has to be revenue in addition to cuts.” When Washington’s spending addiction is the problem, why hike taxes on Americans? Doing so would hurt a fledgling economy trying to recover.

Via: The Foundry

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