Malkin:Club Fed for Illegal Aliens

Michelle Malkin

Thanks to their international “human rights” advocates, Gitmo detainees receive art therapy, movie nights and video games at their U.S. taxpayer-funded camp in Cuba. Now, the left’s bleeding heart lobby wants to provide similar taxpayer-sponsored perks to illegal alien detainees on American soil. Welcome to the open-borders Club Fed.

According to an internal Department of Homeland Security e-mail obtained by the Houston Chronicle, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency plans a radical overhaul of the immigration detention system. No, the reforms will not increase the nation’s measly, chronically underfunded detention bed capacity — fewer than 35,000 beds last fiscal year to cover an estimated illegal alien population of between 12 million and 20 million. The Obama ICE leadership is headed in the exact opposite direction.

ICE chief John Morton — the same man who signaled last month that he may refuse to process illegal aliens sent to him by Arizona law enforcement officials — has already eliminated 50 detention facilities. This despite a DHS inspector general report released last spring exposing the federal government’s bipartisan failure to expand detention space capacity to end the dangerous game of illegal alien “catch and release.”

Instead, among the p.c. makeover measures under consideration or about to be made by Obama’s ICE agency in the next 30 days:

– “Softening” the physical appearance of privately contracted detention facilities with “hanging plants.”

- Giving illegal alien detainees e-mail access and free Internet-based phone service.

- Abandoning lockdowns, lights-out, visitor screening and detention uniform requirements.

- Serving fresh veggies and continental breakfast and providing Bingo sessions, arts and crafts classes, and, yes, movie nights.

Ensuring humane treatment of detainees is one thing. This, on the other hand, is beyond ridiculous. Detention centers should be clean, safe and temporary way stations for illegal immigrants on their way out the door. These proposals turn the immigration detention centers into permanent Dave & Buster’s-style comfort zones for illegal aliens biding their time until the next amnesty. Dancing lessons? Game halls? This is an invitation for abuse — and a recipe for exploitation by smugglers and drug cartels. Open-borders and civil liberties activists will end up endangering DHS/ICE workers — and the rest of us — under the guise of “immigrant human rights.”

The left-wing campaign by the American Civil Liberties Union, change.org and illegal alien activists targeting our detention system began in earnest after 9/11. Under the Bush administration, hundreds of illegal aliens of Arab descent were detained and questioned as “material witnesses” in counterterrorism probes. The use of immigration laws in the war against Islamic jihadists became a rallying point for the open-borders propagandists.

The New York Times hysterically reported that most of these post-9/11 detainees were held for months without charges. In fact, 60 percent of the 762 immigrants detained after the 9/11 attacks were charged within 72 hours. And the Justice Department inspector general found that there were legitimate reasons for delay in the remaining cases, including logistical disruptions in New York City after 9/11, such as electrical outages, office shutdowns and mail service cancellation that slowed delivery of charging documents. Immigrant abuse charges were hurled recklessly by the likes of Al Gore, who slandered DHS’s detention program during a paid appearance in Saudi Arabia — despite the DOJ’s failure to find any such patterns.

The truth got lost along the way. So did common sense. Allowing illegal alien terror suspects to roam free in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks would have been a dereliction of duty. And countless homeland security experts and DHS inspector general reports have repeatedly spotlighted lax enforcement in the detention safety net over the past decade.

Hundreds of thousands of “absconders” remain on the loose because of failure (or refusal) to detain them. The immigration lawyers’ racket has lobbied for compassionate “alternatives” to detention that routinely result in deportation fugitives simply ditching the process and disappearing.

Their goal is not to improve detention. Their goal is to sabotage it — all while law-breakers munch on croissants and joyfully shout “BINGO!”

Are unions Dock Blocking oil cleanup ships in the Gulf of Mexico?

White House watchdogs call for investigation into tech official

Fri. night news dump: W.H. says 51% of company health plans won’t meet Obamacare guidelines

Mark Hemingway

Watch the other hand:Bam’s budget is a monstrosity

Bam’s budget is a monstrosity: Deficits are huge. A value-added tax could be coming.

Betsy Mccaughey

I’m not interested in another debate over big government versus small government,” President Obama told a Buffalo crowd on May 13. What this means is that the President doesn’t care about how much freedom you have.

When government spends more, less is left for people to spend as they choose. And the events of the last four months indicate that Americans are being conned into giving up their freedom.

On Feb. 1, President Obama released his fiscal 2011 budget. It’s a whopper. It calls for federal spending of $3.8 trillion, soaring to $5.7 trillion in 2020.

A 5-foot-high stack of hundred-dollar bills totals $1 million. To get to $1 billion, you need 10 stacks as high as the Washington Monument. To get to $3.8 trillion, you need 38,000 Washington Monuments.

$3.8 trillion also equals 25% of everything produced in the U.S. (Gross Domestic Product). State and local government spending brings the total to 42% of GDP.

Government spending has crossed the 40% line just twice in American history: when the nation plunged into World War II and again last year, during the economic crisis. The Obama administration intends to make big government permanent, with spending at 40% even in 2020, when no crisis is expected. The White House rosily predicts full employment that year.

The President claims he pared the budget line by line – which is what he promised to do when he was a candidate in 2008. But the numbers prove otherwise. Foreign aid is increased 50% from 2011 to 2015. Most Americans would rather pay their mortgage.

The President’s budget was supposed to be voted on by April 15, but hearings drag on. Civil servants making budget requests seem numb to the layoffs and belt tightening in the private sector. Dr. James Billington, head of the Library of Congress, requested a “lean increase” of 4.6% “in recognition of the difficult budget environment.” Lean? Hasn’t it dawned on Washingtonians that people would rather have money to spend on books for their own kids instead of on the Library of Congress?

It’s a tradeoff: More money for government programs means less money for you to spend on your family.

When the President announced his budget, he said, “It is time to save what we can, spend what we must and live within our means once again.” But his budget includes such vast spending increases that even after hiking income taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend taxes and estate taxes, the nation faces a $1.3 trillion deficit in 2011, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Obama’s budget will result in a federal debt of $20.3 trillion by 2020, $5trillion more than it would be without Obama’s new policies.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said, “The proposed budget is woefully insufficient to achieve the President’s goal or the important fiscal goal of stabilizing the debt at a reasonable level in the medium and long term.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) explained on April 19 why Congress was stalling on the budget: “It is difficult to pass budgets in election years.” What he meant is that most members are much too addicted to spending to make cuts but afraid to raise taxes before the election. They’re planning a postelection ambush.

Congress is taking cover behind the President’s new Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, which is not scheduled to report until after the election. Commission members are already floating the idea of a VAT to pay for big government.

VATs, or value-added taxes, enable European governments to repeatedly raise taxes on an unsuspecting public. The tax is hidden in the price of goods and services, rather than visibly added at the register.

This type of tax started small in Europe, but in every country it has been raised to at least 15%. Great Britain announced last week that it will likely raise its VAT to 25% to solve its deficit. That means British consumers will need 25% more to buy a car, a kettle or a weekend vacation than if there were no VAT.

The President has said he will not rule out any commission recommendation, even a value-added tax. Don’t be snookered by this strategy of delaying “deficit reduction” until after the fall election and don’t be misled by the phrase “value-added.” A VAT would be nothing less than a Vanishing America Tax. Voters should interrogate candidates about their stand on it and stop government from growing beyond the consent of the governed.

Read the original article NY Daily News

RUSH:Obama Regime Denies Collusion with SEC, Goldman Sachs, Google

Rush Limbaugh

RUSH: The regime is denying any conspiracy between themselves and the SEC and Goldman Sachs over an effort to get this financial regulatory reform bill passed with Honest Obe heading to the Cooper Union Thursday in New York to make the first big pitch.  Here is Rahm Emanuel last night on Charlie Rose.  Charlie Rose said, “What’s the impact of the SEC’s complaint against Goldman Sachs on financial reform, and what argument are you making?”
EMANUEL:  I have no idea.  Everybody at the White House found out like everybody else, when it hit the news.

ROSE: When it hit The New York Times, you had it.

EMANUEL:  No, when it hit the news, it is — the SEC is an independent agency, operates independently. Nobody at the White House knew anything ahead of anybody else.

RUSH:  All right, now, as you digest that from the regime, “It’s an independent agency, we had no idea what was going on here.”  “Well, how did New York Times get it before you did?”  “I don’t have any idea.  It’s an independent agency.”  New York Post today:  “President Obama is bringing his war on Wall Street to the enemy’s turf.
He’ll make his pitch for financial reform in the heart of lower Manhattan Thursday – even as his team make hay of the Goldman Sachs fiasco with a tech savvy appeal to Democratic donors.” Now listen to this.  “Internet surfers who entered ‘Goldman Sachs SEC’” as a search term, Goldman Sachs, Securities Exchange Commission, “were directed to the president’s campaign website via a sponsored link titled ‘Help Change Wall Street.’  The White House’s political arm paid for the keywords — but would not say how much.”

So this is pure Alinsky on steroids.  This guy is incompetent to run the private sector but, boy, does he know how to agitate and community organize.  They had no advance knowledge this was happening, but they happened to get hold of Google and they said, “Look, we want to buy the search terms ‘Goldman Sachs SEC,’ we want you to direct the first hit to our website where we are going to raise campaign funds and awareness of the effort to demonize Wall Street.”  Meanwhile, the White House continues to deny that there’s any link between the timing of the SEC suit and its push for regulatory reform.  Here’s the smartest regime spokesman that we have ever had, Robert Gibbs yesterday afternoon in the White House, reporters said, “Can you talk about the Goldman Sachs story?  Do you think the charges will galvanize the push for reform?”

GIBBS:  The SEC doesn’t notify the White House of its enforcement actions, and certainly didn’t do so in this case.  There was plenty of evidence Friday morning before the SEC got involved of the need to create new rules in the road and the desire of the American people to see those put into law.  The president will travel to New York on Thursday to once again make the case to the American people about why financial reform is so important to get done and to get done quickly.  The American people want us not to play politics with this important issue, but instead get something done and that’s the case the president will push this week.

RUSH:  Yeah, don’t want to play politics so we’ll get hold of Google, we’ll buy the search terms, we’ll make sure the first item that pops up when you search “Goldman Sachs SEC” takes you to our White House website, “Help Change Wall Street.”  And yet they deny that there is any link between the timing of the SEC suit and its push for regulatory reform.  I told you I played golf with some savvy business guys on Sunday who for the life of them could not figure out on their own until I enlightened them that there was some kind of collusion here.  They’re strictly money guys. Everybody hates Goldman Sachs. They were hoping Goldman would get its comeuppance.  Oh, no.  Goldman’s in on this.  They’ll pay a little bitty fine here, but I mean they’re going to be sitting pretty once this bill passes.  
So a friend of mine, not in the golf group, but another friend of mine just aghast at this sent me a little e-mail a few moments ago. “You know, Rush, we have spent a zillion years working in or closely observing the federal government. Now, Bill Clinton’s war room was an amazing monstrosity but I have never seen anything like this kind of strategic intermingling of a bare knuckles political operation with the levers of power. And the cynicism about how stupid the public must be is breathtaking. Even as Gibbs and Emanuel are denying the SEC case and the push for new regulations have nothing to do with each other, Obama’s Alinskyites are buying web links, knowing that people will be surfing to get information about the case, ensuring that they’ll get Obama’s spin first. I mean who even thinks of doing this stuff? Yet they’re not just thinking about it, they’re doing it. I don’t think he’s competent at anything else except giving speeches from a teleprompter. But I do think this guy knows the tactical community organizer stuff through and through, and Alinskyite community organizing is a mix of the lawful, the barely lawful, and the clearly unlawful and the extortionate which is what they call direct action, pretty much the same as what the Gambino family calls making you an offer you can’t refuse. That’s what Obama is a professional at and that’s frightening to watch. Anybody who thinks these people will refrain from any tactic to get reelected or that if reelected Obama’s next move won’t be to repeal the 22nd Amendment, needs to get real.”

I really cannot disagree with any of this. Who would think of this kind of stuff? No collusion? No collusion? It’s an independent agency? We weren’t informed and we didn’t know what they were doing? But somehow — and of course they have a close relationship with the Google buds, they always have. Net neutrality was going to really reward Google if that ever happens. So yeah, Goldman is showing these big profits here and it’s all part of the plan, demonize Wall Street. “This is what Main Street hates about Wall Street,” many headlines out, because Main Street can’t package a bunch of loser investments and send them to some guy who knows they’re losers and then sell ‘em to their customers as though they’re winners so that the hedge fund guy makes a billion, Goldman makes a billion but Goldman’s customers lose big. We in Main Street can’t do that. This is what we resent about this. The hedge fund guy is simply smart and there’s not a crime against that yet. The real question with the hedge fund guy and with Goldman is that they have any insider information from the Treasury department knowing that the housing market via these subprime mortgages was about to implode.

Many people think that all Goldman has to do is pick up the phone and they can get to Treasury because Rubin was there, former CEO of Goldman, Hank Paulson was there, former CEO of Goldman, Goldman’s nickname is Government Sachs because they’ve got so many people at various bureaucratic levels. So if they knew that the subprime thing was about to implode and then this hedge fund guy is very smart, could figure it out based on some things that wants to bet short on these collateralized debt obligations, which basically it’s pooling mortgages and then selling them as an investment. If the mortgages you’re pooling are mortgages given to people that don’t have jobs and never did have jobs and have not made a payment, it doesn’t take an Einstein IQ to figure out that you’ve got worthless paper. You just gotta time it right. This investigation has been going on for nine months. Now, there’s no collusion in the timing of the announcement of the investigation and their culmination and the civil charges, there’s no connection between that and Obama just happening to have the lead search item at Google, “Goldman Sachs SEC” right to the White House website urging support for reforming Wall Street now. You’ve got Emanuel and Gibbs, “Independent agency, never tell us what they’re going to do, especially in this case.”

I remember Roethlisberger, the case out in Nevada. His lawyer said, “I never did that, especially with that woman.” This is like Gibbs is saying, “They never tell us about this, especially in this instance.” (laughing) So we’re all being scammed. My friends pointed out, “How stupid do they think we are?” The cynicism in the Obama White House about how stupid all of us are has got to be at an all-time high. They’re in full-fledged takeover mode here.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH:  Folks, let’s go back to the premise of this whole financial regulatory reform bill.  The whole premise of this is that is based on the fact that Wall Street’s to blame for the financial meltdown, and it’s not.  Government is to blame for the meltdown — and no less than Alan Greenspan said so in testimony before some congressional committee last week.  It was these subprime mortgages that were required by the government to be lent through the Community Redevelopment Act or what have you. This was a Clinton operation picked up by the Obama administration.  ACORN’s involved in this.  So here once again we have people on Capitol Hill — Chris Dodd, who’s being shamefully retired from his seat in the Senate; Barney Frank over in the House and any number of other people; Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — who are the literal and real architects of the financial meltdown last year and they get to act like spectators. 

“Whoa, what happened there?  Why, how did those people on Wall Street pull the wool over our eyes on this one?  These thieves! We gotta go in there and regulate these people. Why, look! You can’t trust the private sector at all.  Private sector always screws you.” That’s why we’re here. The whole thing, the whole Dodd bill for financial regulatory reform is bogus.  The only reform that’s need is a reformation of government, a reformation of the Congress, a reformation of what’s going on at the White House.  I mean, even without getting into any other specifics, the whole premise of this is wrong.  A lot of us are, frankly, fed up.  Every time the government makes a mistake, which is frequently, they sit back and turn it around and blame it on the private sector, which is the golden goose of this country, and they exonerate themselves!

And they host themselves up as great heroes, saving the downtrodden from the excesses of the greed of people like those at Goldman Sachs. Now, one other thing on this whole notion that Obama had no clue and the White House had no clue what the SEC was going to do and when they were gonna do it.  My friend has infiltrated the Organizing for America website. Technically that’s a Democrat Party operation, and that’s why the guy, Mitch, who sends out the notes to all the subscribers at Organizing for America says, “By the way, the president has asked me to include a note, “which in this latest e-mail on Sunday they did included a note from the president which was written on Friday. In that Obama message on Friday he tells everybody to go to that same link to Stand for Wall Street Reform, which happens to be the same link as the Google link when you search “Goldman Sachs SEC.” 

So we know that at least as of last Friday they had already made arrangements with Google to buy the search terms so that Organizing for America’s website, Stand for Wall Street Reform — it’s actually at My.BarackObama.com/StandForWallStreetReform. That’s where you get taken. That’s where you’re directed, if you search “Goldman Sachs SEC” at Google.  But we’re told that there’s no collusion. “It’s an independent agency. We didn’t know what they were doing.” These guys are light years ahead of everybody.  This plan has been in the works for months is what this means.  This has been in the works for months.  This is the tactic, just like Anthem Blue Cross announces a 39% rate increase when the health care bill gets in trouble.  Now the financial regulatory reform bill’s in trouble.  Here. Even at ThePolitico.com. 

“Are Democrats or Republicans hurt more by ties to Goldman Sachs?”  And they went out and they asked Brad Sherman, Democrat from California (who has had very, very many unkind things to say about me and this program) and the question that the Politico asked these guys in the health care arena — I guess it’s a blog they have and David Mark is the guy at Politico doing the interview. He asked Brad Sherman, “How can Democrats get out ahead of the Goldman Sachs story politically?” Sherman says, “We can say, ‘No taxpayer money to Wall Street firms, their creditors and the counterparts.’ Then we go to the voters and tell them there’s no money for Wall Street, but regulation instead. If you can’t run on that slogan, you’ve got a problem.” 

If you can’t run on the slogan: No more money for Wall Street, just regulation. “But there are serious problems with the Dodd bill.” Now, this next is very interesting, folks, because the Democrats from Dodd on down are denying that the $50 billion slush fund is there to bail out companies.  “It’s not about that!”  Dodd’s on the floor of the Senate: “I can’t believe members are distorting the purpose of my bill like I’ve never seen anything like this on my entire career.”  But here’s Brad Sherman, Democrat in California: “The Dodd bill has unlimited executive bailout authority. That’s something Wall Street desperately wants but doesn’t dare ask for. The bill contains permanent, unlimited bailout authority.” This is Brad Sherman (if I’m reading this right from The Politico) a Democrat, California.  

“As an active member of the House Financial Services Committee were you surprised to see suspicious shorting – perhaps illegal – by a top financial services firm?” Meaning Goldman. “Goldman is accused of hand-selecting bad mortgages to sell. If that’s true it’s absolutely outrageous. There are two issues here. First, did they mislead their clients into buying this type of mortgage rule? And second, did they hand-select the worst?” No, the hedge fund guy did!  At any rate, it is bailout authority.  What’s the $50 billion slush fund for?  So it’s happening right before our very eyes.  They are insulting our intelligence. They are thinking that we are the biggest bunch of rubes and hicks to come down the pike since Sarah Palin.  You know, they think Sarah Palin is a rube and a hick and they’re all worried about her. She’s I guess gonna appear in testimony in Tennessee on this hacking case, hacking here e-mails, and state-run AP is very worried that she could dazzle jurors.  

She could be very persuasive with the jurors? Wait a minute, I thought she was a hayseed hick and a rube?  I thought Sarah Palin was a walking personification of stupidity! How in the world can she possibly dazzle and impress a bunch of jurors in Tennessee?  They tell us the truth now and then.  So right out in front of our eyes, my friends: Manipulation of everybody’s thoughts and emotions. The government single-handedly caused the subprime mortgage problem.  Now in order to extricate themselves they act like white knights, Dodd, Barney Frank, “We’re going to stop these business cycles! It’s just a shame how these Wall Street people are enriching themselves on the backs of Main Street.  We gotta put a stop to this.  This greed. And of course the Republicans are lying numbered with all these lobbyists from Wall Street,” when in fact the Republicans would kill for a dime from Goldman Sachs.  

Republicans don’t get any campaign contributions from these people.  The dirty little secret is, this is classic crony capitalism. Classic.  What we were talking about last week and the week before.  Classic crony capitalism.  In this case the capitalist entities have surveyed the field and they see this regime.  They understand what this regime is, where this regime is going, and they fully understand they want to be most favored status with the regime rather than an enemy of the regime.  So, wherever the regime is taking the country, they’re gonna hop on and go — and hope, as an insider, to limit the damage the regime causes in their industry.  And if the regime happens to really rip into their industry but Goldman Sachs is part of the regime and supports the regime in this, maybe the market gets thinned out.

There are fewer competitors to Goldman Sachs and they get an even bigger share of the market at the end of the day.  A small price to pay for being a fine in this SEC investigation into bungling a bunch of mortgages that were worthless and selling them to investors as a good deal — and right at the top of this whole mountain of deceit is the president of the United States and his cronies organizing practically every step of this. 
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Oh! Goldman Sachs! Folks, folks, this is too rich.  Goldman Sachs has hired Greg Craig! This is incestuous.  Greg Craig was the lawyer for Elian Gonzales’ father, hired by Fidel Castro to make sure that Elian Gonzalez was returned to “Cuber” with his father, and of course Janet Reno sent in the AFT guys in a full raid of that little house in Little Havana, took the little kid out of there and flew him back to Havana.  Greg Craig was a lawyer.  Greg Craig was also big in the Clinton administration before he was hired by Fidel Castro.  Then, Obama gets elected and he hires Greg Craig to be White House counsel to lead the effort on closing Guantanamo Bay.  But that got botched.  Well, it didn’t get botched.  I mean, it was supposed to be closed, but it never was going to be closed.  Since it never got closed, Obama needed a fall guy.  So Greg Craig got canned.  Now Goldman Sachs has hired Greg Craig to defend them against this charge brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.  

This is incestuous.  This is all a scam!  Every bit of it is a scam.  If you missed the first hour of this program, I really don’t want to take the time to repeat this, but the New York Post is reporting that if you go to Google and you search “Goldman Sachs SEC,” you know where you end up?  The first website you’re taken to is a White House website, a Barack Obama website urging you to support financial reform now.  They bought the search field.  They bought the search terms from Google.  Well, Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gibbs say, “Oh, we didn’t know about this. There’s no collusion going on here. There’s no conspiracy.  SEC is independent agency.  We didn’t know what they’re going to do and when they were going to do it.  

“It’s just a coincidence here that we had a website set up to take advantage of the charge to help us demonize Wall Street to get our regulatory reform bill passed.”  Greg Craig now… (laughing) Jeez.  Folks, the cynicism in the White House over just what a bunch of rubes that we must be in this country. They have got to look at us with so much contempt.  Greg Craig was also supposed — and we haven’t heard any results of this. Obama assigned Greg Craig, when he’s in the White House, to investigate the Air Force One flyover of New York City.  You remember that?  The president said, “Well, how did this happen?”  Let me tell you something: Air Force One does not leave the ground without the president knowing about it.  But he didn’t know about it.  So some flunky took the fall in the travel office or somewhere and Greg Craig was investigating how this happened.  

So Greg Craig botched that investigation, he botched closing Gitmo, he gets canned, and now the Goldman Sachs people hire him. The template on this is: “A-ha! Craig Greg gets his revenge.”  (interruption) Snerdley, do not doubt me. You doubted me yesterday when I told you that this is all a scam that Goldman’s in on, and now you realize I was right.  Don’t doubt me when I say the reason they’ve hired Greg Craig is because they want to present him as a guy, “He’s got it out for the White House. The White House let him go. He didn’t do it right on Club Gitmo, and they got rid of him, and now Greg Craig representing evil Goldman Sachs has a chance to get even.”  That’s the story line.  Don’t doubt me on this.  When, in fact, they’re all in bed.  It’s a giant bed.  The Sleep Number people made them a giant bed. There are 15 of them in there. The sleep number is 69. I guaran-damn-tee you.  
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Greg Craig cleared Obama from any dealings with Rod Blagojevich.  Remember that?  Greg Craig defended Kofi Annan in the oil-for-food scandal.  You’d forgotten that, Snerdley?  Greg Craig was supposed to investigate the Air Force One flyover of New York City.  Greg Craig represented Fidel Castro and Elian Gonzalez’s father.  Greg Craig was big in the Clinton-Gore recount I think at some point, David Boise, I’m not sure if he was part of that, but like I said, folks, it’s a giant bed these people are all sleeping in.  He’s the fixer.  And now he’s at Goldman Sachs ostensibly to get even with the Obama administration.  He’s now sided with these evil Wall Street guys. Yeah, he may as well be a Republican now.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Lebanon, Ohio.  Greg, I’m glad you waited.  I appreciate it.  Thanks very much.

CALLER:  Hey, Rush, 24/7 dittos to you.  I think you might need to add in one of the Democrat ad agencies, the AARP came out Monday with an ad that ties right into this whole banking regulation thing and it’s got a quaint little folk singer song to it, and it’s amazing and ironic that they had it ready to go Monday morning of this week.

RUSH:  Oh, yeah, these people, that’s just what community organizers do.  This is what Obama excels at.  He’s incompetent running the country or any of that, at least for the good, but all of this is the health care bill redux.  It’s the exact thing.  Remember, when they got in trouble, out of the blue, Anthem Blue Cross jacked up rates 39%.  And now, get in trouble in the banking bill, lo and behold, here comes the SEC, independent agency, only Democrats voting to go forward on the charge.  Fraud against Goldman Sachs, evil Wall Street, in bed with Republican lobbyists, and the very next day Obama is ready for the big push, Honest Obe coming to the Cooper Union in New York on Thursday to begin the big push.  It’s a pattern that’s repeating itself.  

And this is from the Huffing and Puffington Post: “Republican leadership made it clear on Tuesday that, even if Democrats drop from regulatory reform legislation a suddenly controversial $50 billion fund to help wind down failing banks, they will still denounce the bill for including an unlimited bailout.  The announcement, which came in the form of an email from House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office, is yet another indication that the GOP is edging towards a major fight on regulatory reform. And it left Democrats with a queasy feeling of deja vu.”  It is health care all over again.  God bless the Republicans.  They’re sticking together on this.  They really are.  Because again, this is not about financial regulatory reform, just like health care was not about health care.  It’s identical.  The push, the deception, this is all about giving the administration, the regime — and, folks, I am not amplifying this at all.  

This will give the regime total, unchecked oversight over American businesses.  And if the regime just plain decides that a business is risky by virtue of the way it’s operating they can fire everybody on the board, they can fire the management team, or they can shut the business down, all under the guise of making sure we don’t have a repeat of what happened with the financial meltdown a year ago.  It’s all designed to make us feel comfortable.  It’s all designed to make us less anxious about our financial future because of course the regime is looking out for us.  Well, the regime has forgotten, Bill O’Reilly is looking out for us.  The regime is not.  The regime is trying control us.  Bill O’Reilly is looking out for us.  Don’t get the two confused.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: New York Times today:  “A Difficult Path in the Goldman Case.” Evidence that the Goldman charges aren’t serious, that they are just meant as a prop, maybe? The case is shaky, the New York Times says? Perhaps the case is shaky on purpose, meaning the case is not meant to win anything in court but to win in Congress.  I’m not a legal expert.  My dad was a lawyer so I know more about the law than those of you whose dads were not a lawyer.  But it seems suspicious that so many people so quickly doubt the substance of the suit.  Listen to this:  “In accusing Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors, regulators are not only taking aim at a company with deep pockets and a will to fight — they are also pursuing an unusual claim that could be difficult to prove in court, legal experts said, Binyamin Appelbaum reports in The New York Times.

“Rather than asserting that Goldman misrepresented a product it was selling, the most commonly used grounds for securities fraud, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil suit filed Friday that the investment bank misled customers about how that product was created. … Several experts on securities law said fraud cases like this one, which focuses on context rather than content, are generally more difficult to win, because it can be hard to persuade a jury that the missing information might have led buyers to walk away.” So, the case is shaky.  I say it’s shaky on purpose.  Meaning: They don’t intend to win this case.  They’re not going for a conviction.  They don’t care about what happens in court.  They want this case tried in Congress, and they want the verdict to be in the vote members of Congress take.  

So you better get ready.  You’re never going to see a solution to this case in court.  You might see an out-of-court settlement after a while, a slap on the wrist, a little fine, a promise not to do it again (chuckle, chuckle)  and then Obama out there raising holy hell about what a bunch of thieves Wall Street bankers are, while they’re in that giant Select Comfort Sleep Number Bed together on setting 69.  “A Difficult Path in the Goldman Case.” If this bill is passed, if they sign this bill into law, shortly thereafter Goldman will settle — as in they’re giving up.  “Okay, Mister President, you got us!  Okay, we promise to be good.” Oh, it’s going to be such a show. Folks, the show on this is going to be out do health care.  “What a victory for our young man-child little president who no experience in finance but brought down the titans of Wall Street. He brought down the titans of Wall Street.  Oh, what a wonderful accomplishment. Next he’s going to go work on the sea levels, our young president.”  I’m telling you, I saw this coming last week, and I told you, and even in my own staff they doubted me. You know, it’s a wonder I’m still together.  I’m right all the time except at home and with my staff.
END TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, there’s a little pattern forming out here, ladies and gentlemen, I have detected. When Obama was in trouble over Obamacare, out of the blue Anthem Blue Cross announced a 39% premium increase — and bammo! The regime got into immediate gear. “Look at this! We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen. How unfeeling could these insurance companies be? Why, here we are in the midst of all kinds of unemployment and people nervous about the economy, and these thieves have the audacity to raise premiums by 39%? Who do they think they are?”

And the regime gets to ride in like a white knight to the rescue. Now, while the regime is speculating out bank reform, out of the blue comes the Goldman Sachs charge! Following the Goldman Sachs charge comes the announcement of exorbitant profits for the first quarter: Over $3 billion in profits in Goldman Sachs. What a lucky break. What a lucky break for Obama. Isn’t that just amazing. And get this. This is from the Financial Post in Canada. The headline: “Goldman Charge Looks More Like Politics Than Fraud — The vote at the SEC to press the charges against Goldman Sachs … split along party lines, with the Democrats on the panel approving the action.” Well, I’m sure that’s just a coincidence here that only the Democrats in the SEC approved moving forward with the charge against Goldman (laughing) out of the blue here after a nine-month investigation — and it just so happens right at the time the regime is running into trouble on their regulatory reform bill.

I have a friend, ladies and gentlemen, a business associate who has made himself a member of Organizing for America, which is the regime’s website and White House outreach operation. It’s their version of ACORN. My friend got a note from Mitch Stewart at BarackObama.com on Sunday at 1:15 in the afternoon. “Dear…” I’ll keep the name of my infiltrator here off the record. “Dear [whoever], “President Obama means business. He’s committed his administration to reining in Wall Street and creating the strongest consumer protections in history. And on Friday he made it clear that we can’t allow another devastating financial crisis — so he’ll veto any reform bill that doesn’t bring the derivatives market under control.

“But the Senate could begin debate as soon as this week, and Republican leaders are teaming up with Wall Street lobbyists to defeat the bill — so the President needs your help to show that the American people stand with him on Wall Street reform.” This is last Sunday. This is two days ago. But of course the White House had no idea the SEC was going to do what it did, and only the Democrats on the SEC voted to bring charges against Goldman. There’s nothing political about this, you understand — and of course the Republicans are not in bed with Wall Street. Wall Street gave all of its money to Obama! In fact, Goldman Sachs gave almost a million dollars to Obama. A million dollars Obama got from Goldman Sachs. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac! Drudge has a little lead item there on his front page: Will Obama send the money back? Of course he not going to send the money back, but it’s a great question.

Now, it is supposed to be against the law — but, of course, this regime is lawless whenever it feels the need to be. It is supposed to be against the law out there for our government to propagandize against American citizens, which it sounds like they’re doing by buying that Google link. Now, this message from Obama to members of Organizing for America was actually from last Friday. “P.S. — Don’t miss the President’s message from Friday below. … It has now been well over a year since the near collapse of our entire financial system … We’ve made strides — businesses are starting to hire,” blah, blah, blah, blah, “We cannot delay action any longer. … Please stand with me to show your support for Wall Street reform. … So I’m asking you to join me, starting today, by adding your name as a strong supporter of Wall Street reform.” This is last Friday. But (stammering) we didn’t know SEC was going to do what it did. The fact that we bought some links at Google to make ourselves the lead search? Bah! Pure coincidence. The president hates Wall Street. Just so the American people know, we’re going to fix it.

Read the original article and listen to audio RushLimbaugh

Religious terms being removed from security document

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Officials say President Barack Obama’s advisers will remove religious terms such as “Islamic extremism” from the central document outlining the U.S. national security strategy and will use the rewritten document to emphasize that the United States does not view Muslim nations through the lens of terror.

 The change is a significant shift in the National Security Strategy, a document that previously outlined the Bush Doctrine of preventative war and currently states: “The struggle against militant Islamic radicalism is the great ideological conflict of the early years of the 21st century.”

The officials described the changes on condition of anonymity because the document still is being written, and the White House would not discuss it.

WSJ: Overhaul Splits Party Faithful

Nearly Half in Poll Oppose Health-Care Plan, but Core Democrats Want Action.

PETER WALLSTEN And JEAN SPENCER

The pending health-care overhaul remains unpopular with a broad swath of the public, but core Democrats the party needs to show up and vote in November are strong backers, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.

The survey found that opinions have solidified around the health-care legislation, with 48% calling it a “bad idea” and 36% viewing it as a “good idea” when presented with a choice between those two. That gap is consistent with surveys dating to the fall.

At the same time, Democratic voters strongly favor the legislation being pushed by President Barack Obama, particularly constituencies such as blacks, Latinos and self-described liberals. Those groups mobilized in 2008 to help elect Mr. Obama, but are far less enthusiastic than core Republicans about voting in this year’s midterm elections.

The survey found a 21-point enthusiasm gap between the parties, with 67% of Republicans saying they are very interested in the November elections, compared with 46% of Democrats. “If the Democrats are going to close that gap, they’ve got to get their people excited. And I don’t see how you get those people if you vote no” on the party’s health-care legislation, said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican Bill McInturff.

“I don’t think it’s about winning the middle. It’s really about alienating the base,” Mr. Hart said of Democratic lawmakers’ calculations about the upcoming health-care vote.

The survey found that Mr. Obama’s job-approval rating of 48%—as opposed to the 47% who disapprove—has remained steady since its precipitous drop last summer, which coincided with rising public opposition to the health-care initiative.

Where the health-care debate has been a drag for Mr. Obama’s numbers, it also has been an anchor for Congress, which now has an anemic 17% approval rating. Half of Americans, if they had the choice, would vote to replace every member of Congress, including their own representative, the survey found.

On health care, the results underscore the argument from liberal activists that the bill’s demise would dissuade the Democratic base from voting in November. The Journal/NBC survey shows that majorities of African-Americans and liberal Democrats, as well as a plurality of Latinos, would be less likely to vote for their representative in Congress if he or she voted against the health-care plan.

Further complicating the calculation for all lawmakers is that a clear plurality of Americans wants the issue addressed in some form. Forty-seven percent of poll respondents said they wanted Congress to consider significant health-care legislation “immediately” if the Obama plan fails, while another 23% wanted that done at least within the next couple of years.

“Something’s got to be done,” said Phil Boyd, a 58-year-old retired teacher from Roanoke, Va., a registered independent who voted for Mr. Obama in 2008. Mr. Boyd said he worried that the cost of health care is “getting out of hand,” but he wasn’t convinced yet that this particular bill is “the one we want or need.”

Selena King, a 34-year-old registered nurse who is a registered independent voter in Nevada, said she supported a health-care overhaul but not in its current form. “I think they should redo it and not pass it at this time,” she said.

No matter what happens on the vote this week, the survey points to political challenges facing both parties as they weigh how to talk about health care on the campaign trail this fall.

Thirty-six percent of voters said they would be less likely to support their member of Congress if he or she voted for the bill, but 34% said they would be less likely to support their representative if he or she voted against it. While Republican leaders have said they would encourage GOP candidates to campaign for repeal of the legislation should it pass, the survey showed voters split on that possibility: 37% were more likely to back a candidate who embraced repeal and 33% less likely.

More broadly, the survey showed continued gloominess among all voters about the country’s direction, with nearly six in 10 saying it is on the wrong track. Adding to Democrats’ election-year concerns: Voters are souring on the party’s ability to deal with the country’s economic troubles.

As an issue, handling of the economy has favored the Democrats in the past four election cycles. But now, by a 10-point margin, registered voters with the highest interest in the November elections said they believe the GOP is better at dealing with the economy.

Some of Mr. Obama’s highest ratings relate to his work on foreign policy, an area that had been a weakness when he was a presidential candidate. Clear majorities said they approve of Mr. Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan and the situation in Iraq. In both cases, 53% of respondents said they approved of his work.

The high numbers reflect the support by many Republicans and independents for the president’s decision to boost troop levels in Afghanistan. Liberal activists have blamed that stance for adding to the decline in enthusiasm among core Democratic voters.

On another foreign-policy matter confronting the White House, a 51%-38% majority in the survey supported initiating military action to destroy Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons if Tehran continues its nuclear program and is close to developing a weapon. Thirty-nine percent said they strongly supported military action.

Read the original article on WSJ

Specter Opens Door on White House Felonies

Jeffrey Lord

“There’s a crime called misprision of a felony. Misprision of a felony is when you don’t report a crime. So you’re getting into pretty deep areas here in these considerations.” – U.S. Senator Arlen Specter on March 12, 2010

“Right now, they’re doing the ‘I won’t confirm or deny,’ and for us, it leaves two possibilities. One is the promise of transparency in this administration is just shot. The second one is even worse, which is either Sestak is lying or the administration has done something wrong and is covering it up…” – U.S. Congressman Darryl Issa on Friday on March 12, 2010

“The ‘stonewall strategy’ functioned from the very first episodes of the cover-up. It was instinctive, from the very top of the Administration to the bottom. It was also ad hoc, developed in small reactions to the flurry of each day’s events…we found ourselves trying to hold a line where we could.” – Nixon White House Counsel John Dean in his Watergate book Blind Ambition

Here we go again.

Even as the drama of health care carries the headlines, beneath the surface, visible now, the iceberg of scandal ripples.

First, the timeline on the blossoming scandal upon which we will now officially fix the dreaded “gate” descriptive. Jobsgate.

• September 27, 2009 — The Denver Post reports that Obama White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina allegedly offered a job in the Obama administration to ex-Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff if Romanoff dropped his planned primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Senator Michael Bennet. Romanoff refuses comment and runs anyway.

• February 18, 2010 — Philadelphia TV anchor Larry Kane reports that on his just taped Comcast show, he had asked Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak, who is challenging incumbent Senator Arlen Specter whether it was true that the Obama administration had offered Sestak a job if he would withdraw from his primary challenge to Specter. Sestak answers “yes,” specifically saying the offer came from someone in the White House and that he, Sestak, turned down the offer. Sestak refuses to name who it was that made the offer. Two hours later, Kane calls the White House, plays them the tape, and asks for comment. The White House never calls him back.

• February 22, 2010 — In a column here in this space, both the Sestak and Romanoff stories are reported with new information: to offer jobs for favors is in fact a federal crime, and Sestak is in effect accusing the Obama White House of doing just that, just as the Denver Post, months earlier, effectively reported the same activity with Romanoff.

• February 22, 2010 –  ABC White House correspondent Jake Tapper asks Obama White House press secretary Robert Gibbs for a reaction to the charge by Congressman Sestak. Replies Gibbs: “I was traveling for a couple of days, as you know. I haven’t looked into this.” He promises to get answers.

• March 1, 2010 — Seven days later, with no answers produced, Gibbs is asked again, this time by Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett, Gibbs responds: “I have not made any progress on that. I was remiss on this and I apologize.”

• March 9, 2010 – Fifteen days later, Major Garrett asks again. Below, from the transcript provided by the White House:

Q  A couple of quick political ones. On the Sestak issue, Arlen Specter said on another — this afternoon that Sestak and his opinion on this allegation that he was offered a job not to run against Specter, needs to prove it, needs to back it up, and claims that Sestak’s accusation is hurting the White House, damaging its reputation.  You told us a couple of times you’d check back on this.  Can you give us an update, number one?  And number two –

MR. GIBBS: I don’t have the update with me, but let me check and see if I do have anything –

 Q  Do you have any evaluation of Senator Specter’s comments on this?

Read more American Spectator

President Obama Is Pooped!

By Brian Doherty    FOXNews.com

According to London’s Sunday Telegraph, the president’s decision to not welcome British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last March with the customary press conference and State Dinner was not a result of a deliberate slight, rather POTUS was tired.

“I’m so tired, haven’t slept a wink, I’m so tired, my mind is on the blink,” the late John Lennon sang in 1968, while he and the Beatles experienced “transcendental mediation” under the tutelage of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India.

Channeling the late Beatle in an early release of the cover story in this Sunday’s New York Times magazine, Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel exclaims, “I’m so tired, I’m so tired.” Congressman Heath Schuler is quoted, “I can see it in his eyes…it’s taking a toll on him.”

Lennon wasn’t really tired, he was reportedly suffering a major case of the lonely hearts when he penned the song, obviously unmoved by the Maharishi’s teachings that give practitioners the ability to walk through walls, levitate and become invisible.

The Obama administration hasn’t picked up the ability to walk through walls; instead, according to the Associated Press, the New York Times and other publications, they are walking INTO walls for lack of sleep.

“Big first year leaves Obama tired,” the AP’s Julie Pace wrote on December 29 of last year. “After a sleepless, overnight flight to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, President Barack Obama made a not altogether surprising admission. He was tired.”

The president was open in explaining his pooped-out appearance. “You have a convergence of factors that have made this a difficult year not so much for me but for the American people…Absolutely that weighs on me,” the fatigued commander-in-collapse sighed.

And according to London’s Sunday Telegraph, the president’s decision to not welcome British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last March with the customary press conference and State Dinner was not a result of a deliberate slight, rather POTUS was pooped. “People say he looks tired more often than they’re used to,” said an anonymous strategist.

And like a yawn, exhaustion in the White House is contagious. In another New York Times article, White House senior adviser David Axelrod admits he’s “tired” and his friends are worried “he’s getting close to a burnout kind of thing.” It sounds like the White House is in desperate need of some NoDoz, or better yet, more sleep.

The Telegraph also contained this stunning admission by a Democratic strategist with ties to several White House staffers, “…the president has regularly appeared worn out and drawn during evening work sessions with senior staff in the West Wing and has been forced to make decisions more quickly than he is comfortable.”

All last year, the President cited the Mayo Clinic as the exemplar of quality health care, and when you’re trying to reorder one sixth of the U.S. economy, maybe you ought to take Mayo’s advice and get the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep a night before making decisions of monumental consequence to the American people.

Read the original article on FoxNews.com