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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Bernanke Holds First Press Briefing as Fed Chief



Predicts moderate economic reco
very through 201

PHOTO GALLERY
WASHINGTON, DC 
Wednesday, April 27, 2011

 
Following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke held his first press briefing with reporters as Fed Chief, beginning what is to be a quarterly event.
Bernanke said the economy will recover at a moderate pace for the remainder of the year. He also said the Federal Reserve continues to balance economic policy geared at recovery with concerns of inflation.
He reiterated a previous assertion that the Fed’s efforts to stimulate the economy, through an aggressive program of large bond purchases, will not raise inflation. The Fed keeps its federal funds rate between zero and 0.25%, a rate it has kept since December 2008.
Chair Bernanke has been a long-time advocate of Federal Reserve transparency. According to a statement on the Fed's website, "The introduction of regular press briefings is intended to further enhance the clarity and timeliness of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy communication. The Federal Reserve will continue to review its communications practices in the interest of ensuring accountability and increasing public understanding."
Tomorrow, the government will release the first-quarter gross domestic product data.  It is expected to show light economic growth at the start of the year.
Updated: Wednesday at 7:59pm (ET)

National Security Team Personnel Changes

 White House
President Obama announced changes to his national security team. Among those changes, he nominated CIA director Leon Panetta to be defense secretary and General David Petraeus to head up the CIA.


Santorum: Planned Parenthood "Not Far" From Its "Poisonous Roots"



By Robin Marty, RH Reality Check
April 28, 2011 - 5:44pm
Robin Marty's picture
Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum isn't content blaming abortion for the "need to reform" social security.  Now, he's claiming that states should continue their efforts to try and defund Planned Parenthood because they are probably practicing eugenics.
...Santorum doesn't think the Planned Parenthood of today is much different from the age of Sanger's controversial views. He called on Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) to sign a bill in his state that would "defund" Planned Parenthood for Hoosiers, pointing to what he calls the group's shady past and sketchy present.
"I can't imagine any other organization with its roots as poisonous as the roots of Planned Parenthood getting federal funding of any kind," Santorum said. "This is an organization that was founded on the eugenics movement, founded on racism -- I mean, it's horrific. It's origins are horrific. And you can say, 'well it's not that anymore.' It's not far from where it was in my opinion."
...
"They've stayed in that same general area of saying that there are certain people in society that we should -- you heard Ruth Bader Ginsburg say it in her comments about you know "undesirables" in society," he said. "I just don't think that's what federal government or state government money should be going to."
So, to draw the next logical step, Santorum should propose that all Title X funding should be stopped and put in the Social Security fund.

Donald Trump's racial discrimination problem


In the 1970s, he was sued by the feds for not renting to African-Americans

Apology from Orly Taitz?


Republicans Retreat


INDIANA GOV. DANIELS APPROVES MOST EXPANSIVE SCHOOL VOUCHER SYSTEM IN U.S.

FreedomWorks 
Apr 28, 2011


School choice allows Hoosier children to escape failing public schools

Indianapolis, IN- Today, FreedomWorks activists across the state of Indiana are celebrating the passage of legislation establishing a statewide school voucher program. The bill allows families to choose the school that best meets the individual needs of their children. The legislation was approved along with other Daniels proposals for education reform, including the expansion of charter schools, merit-based pay for teachers, and restrictions on the collective bargaining powers of teachers unions.
School choice vouchers cost taxpayers a fraction of what they would pay under a public school system monopolized by teachers unions, and have proven to boost student performance at every level. Just as competition and choice improve everyday products in the marketplace, they have positive effects on schools as well.
“The bold leadership of Gov. Daniels to advance the principles of freedom is exactly what voters are looking for,” commented Matt Kibbe, President of FreedomWorks. “We applaud Mitch Daniels for having the legislative courage to propose these sweeping educational reforms, and we hope it will inspire governors across the country to do the same.”
FreedomWorks recently awarded Governor Daniels with the FreedomWorks "Legislative Entrepreneur Award" for his dedication to rein in spending and restore economic competition in Indiana. “Legislative Entrepreneurs” are identified by their deep-rooted commitment and unwavering leadership in the promotion and defense of economic liberty.
FreedomWorks will continue to support school choice and education reform efforts in states like Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
“Victory in Indiana is just the beginning,” added Kibbe. “School choice is sweeping the nation state-by-state, and FreedomWorks will be there to support taxpayers and parents every step of the way.”

White House releases Obama 'birth certificate' (tea party central)

BORN IN THE USA?

Cites Kapiolani as location, father's race as 'African'


Posted: April 27, 2011
9:23 am Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
The White House today released a copy of President Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth," a document that for the first time claims Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital as the president's birth place.

Released by the White House
The White House confirmed the document as "proof positive" the president was born in Hawaii.
According to White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, Obama decided the full document was needed because of the growing questions about the president's birth.
He described how there had been concern about the Internet "chatter" that had grown into a national political debate.
He said the president thought it was becoming a "distraction" from the issues that face the nation.
On April 22, Obama sent a letter to Hawaii authorities asking for the document.
"The President directed his counsel to review the legal authority for seeking access to the long form certificate  and to request on that basis that the Hawaii State Department of Health make an exception to release a copy of his long form birth certificate. They granted that exception in part because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting," Pfeiffer said in a statement.
Real estate entrepreneur Donald Trump, a possible GOP Republican candidate in 2012, has been asking questions about Obama's documentation for several weeks now.
"First we have to look at the certificate," he said. "I want to look at it, but I hope it's true, so we can get to more important national issues."
"Why he didn't do it when the Clintons asked for it. Why he didn't do it when everyone else was asking about it, I don't know," he said.

President Barack Obama in the Oval Office April 4, 2011

"You're going to have many people looking at it …. It's amazing that all of a sudden it materializes. Experts will look at it … and I'm very proud that I was able to bring this to a point."
The issue has been dogging Obama since before his election, and WND has reported on the multitude of lawsuits and other challenges to the president's tenure in the Oval Office. They center on his status as a "natural born citizen."
The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."
If the document proves valid, it could answer the questions raised by those who have alleged he was not actually born in Hawaii. But it also could prove his ineligibility because of its references to his father. Some of the cases challenging Obama have explained that he was a dual citizen through his father at his birth, and they contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born citizens.

Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, the only news agency that has waged a relentless investigative campaign on questions swirling around the Obama’s eligibility for nearly three years, was elated at the turn of events.
"We're gratified that our work has begun to pay off," he said. "Thecertificate of live birthis an absolutely vital foundation for determining constitutional eligibility of any president. We look forward to reviewing it like so many other Americans do at this late date. But it is important to remember there are still dozens of other questions concerning this question of eligibility that need to be resolved to assure what has become a very skeptical public concerning Barack Obama’s parentage, hisadoption, his citizenship status throughout his life and why he continues to cultivate a culture of secrecy around his life."
Obama, addressing the White House press corps, said, "Normally, I would not comment on something like this."
"We posted the certificate that is given by the state of Hawaii on the Internet for everybody to see. Provided an affidavit that they have seen it. Yet this thing just keeps on going."
He boasted of giving a speech about the budget and the nation's debt, but lamented, "during that entire week, the dominant news story wasn't about these huge monumental choices we have to make as a nation, it was about my birth certificate."
He said the nation can't solve problems if "we spend time vilifying each other … if we just make stuff up and pretend facts are not facts … if we get distracted by side shows and carnival barkers."
The Washington Times described Obama as "visibly frustrated" and noted that a recent CBS News-New York Times poll showed 45 percent of registered Republican voters believe Obama was not born in the U.S.
"I know that there's going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest, but I'm speaking to the vast majority of the American people," Obama said. "We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do. I've got better stuff to do."
Obama was scheduled today to travel to Chicago to appear on the Oprah television show.
"The news media and the political establishment were quick to rush to judgment regarding Obama's eligibility in 2008, without any basis. It would be a big mistake for everyone to jump to a conclusion now based on the release of this document, which raises as many questions as it answers," Farah added.

Hawaii governor can't find Obama birth certificate (tea party central)


 BORN IN THE USA?


Suggests controversy could hurt president's re-election chances


Posted: January 18, 2011
8:05 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2011 WorldNetDaily

Neil Abercrombie
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie suggested in an interview published today that a long-form, hospital-generatedbirth certificate for Barack Obamamay not exist within the vital records maintained by the Hawaii Department of Health.
Abercrombie told theHonolulu Star Advertiserhe was searching within the Hawaii Department of Health to find definitive vital records that would prove Obama was born in Hawaii, because the continuing eligibility controversy could hurt the president's chances of re-election in 2012.
Donalyn Dela Cruz, Abercrombie's spokeswoman in Honolulu, ignored again today another in a series of repeated requests made by WND for an interview with the governor.
Toward the end of the interview, the newspaper asked Abercrombie: "You stirred up quite a controversy with your comments regarding birthers and your plan to release more information regarding President Barack Obama's birthcertificate. How is that coming?"
In his response, Abercrombie acknowledged the birthcertificateissue will have "political implications" for the next presidential election "that we simply cannot have."
Suggesting he was still intent on producing morebirth recordson Obama from the Hawaii Department of Health vital records vault, Abercrombie told the newspaper there was a recording of the Obama birth in the state archives that he wants to make public

Abercrombie did not report to the newspaper that he or the Hawaii Department of Health had found Obama's long-form, hospital-generated birthcertificate. The governor only suggested his investigations to date had identified an unspecified listing or notation of Obama's birth that someone had made in the state archives.
"It was actually written, I am told, this is what our investigation is showing, it actually exists in the archives, written down," Abercrombie said.
For seemingly the first time, Abercrombie frankly acknowledged that presidential politics motivated his search for Obamabirth records, implying that failure to resolve the questions that remain unanswered about the president's birth and early life may damage his chance for re-election.

"If there is a political agenda (regarding Obama's birthcertificate), then there is nothing I can do about that, nor can the president," he said.
So far, the only birth document available on Obama is a Hawaii Certification of Live Birth that first appearedon the Internetduring the 2008 presidential campaign. It was posted by two purportedly independent websites that have displayed a strong partisan bias for Obama –Snopes.com released the COLB in June 2008, and FactCheck.org published photographs of the document in August 2008.
WND previously reportedthe Hawaii Department of Health has refused to authenticate the COLB posted on the Internet by Snopes.com and FactCheck.org.
WND has reported that in 1961, Obama's grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham, could have made an in-person report of a Hawaii birth even if the infant Barack Obama Jr. had been foreign-born.
Similarly, the newspaper announcements of Obama's birth do not prove he was born in Hawaii, since they could have been triggered by the grandparents registering the birth as Hawaiian, even if the baby was born elsewhere.
Moreover,WND has documentedthat the address reported in the newspaper birth announcements was the home of the grandparents.
WND also has reported that Barack Obama Sr. maintained his own separate apartment in Honolulu, even after he was supposedly married to Ann Dunham, Barack Obama's mother, and tha tDunham left Hawaii within three weeks of the baby's birth to attend the University of Washington in Seattle.
Dunham did not return to Hawaii until after Barack Obama Sr. left Hawaii in June 1962 to attend graduate school at HarvardUniversityin Cambridge, Mass.
Conceivably, the yet undisclosed birth record in the state archives that Abercrombie has discovered may have come from the grandparents registering Obama's birth, an event that would have triggered both the newspaper birth announcements and availability of a Certification of Live Birth, even if no long-form birthcertificateexisted.
WND has also reported that Tim Adams, a former senior elections clerk for the city and county of Honolulu in 2008, has maintained that there is no long-form, hospital-generated birthcertificateon file with the Hawaii Department of Health and that neither Honolulu hospital – Queens Medical Center or Kapiolani Medical Center – has any record that Obama was born there.

Bush Economist Schools Bush, Republicans: Domestic Oil Drilling Won’t Lower Gas Prices

By Tanya Somanader at 12:40 pm


President George W. Bush stepped away from the ranch yesterday to “opine on the issues of the day” with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. First up, a lesson on Texas tea. Bush suggested Americans try to “understand how supply and demand works” and realize that offshore drilling is key solution to rising gas prices. “If you restrict supplies of crude, the price of oil is going to go up and it affects gasoline,” he said.
But, in what is becoming an unfortunate pattern for the ex-president, his own former administration official disagrees. Doug Holtz-Eakin, the White House’s Chief Economistunder Bush, joined MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Tuesday to discuss the problem of rising gas prices. When asked whether the conservative “dig, drill” mantra would actually lead to lower gas prices, Holtz-Eakin — who was also the cheif economic adviser for Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) 2008 presidential campaign — offered a simple answer: “no“:
MATTHEWS: If we were taking apart the ANWR and drilling everywhere, would the price of gas be much different? In the world market, since this all fungible, if we were doing all that here in the United States, would the price of gas be much different? I‘m just asking that question.
HOLTZ-EAKIN: No, he can‘t change the price very much. So, I mean, he‘s trying to do things—
MATTHEWS: But the conservatives are saying all you have to do is pump like—all you got to do is drill like—Pawlenty said, just got at this, dig, dig, and dig, drill, drill, and drill, and somehow the price of the gas is going to down on the world market. You‘re saying that‘s not true?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Well, I mean, you can‘t change the oil price very much with the U.S. exploration. It certainly can‘t change it quickly. We know that. And I think Republicans have been honest about that.
Watch it:

Holtz-Eakin is correct that increased oil and gas drilling won’t lower gas prices because the amount of extra oil produced is minuscule compared to consumption. Indeed, any extra oil the U.S. managed to produce would be quickly offset by a cut in OPEC production. “This drill drill drill thing is tired,” said the Oil Price Information Service’s chief oil analyst Tom Kloza. “It’s a simplistic way of looking for a solution that doesn’t exist.” The idea that “Republicans have been honest about that”, however, leavessomething (like veracity) to be desired.
Holtz-Eakin also told Matthews that, though he didn’t believe it’d affect gas prices, he would get rid of the billions in subsidies for Big Oil. “You’ve got to have a tax reform at the levels of the playing field. We know that,” he added. But given the number ofRepublicans that remain opposed to that, it seems he must be using the royal “we.”

Allen West To Town Hall: ‘If You Support Medicare…You Can Kiss The United States Of America Goodbye’

By Travis Waldron at 11:40 am


As Republicans across the country face a backlashfrom voters in their home in their districts for supporting the Medicare-ending GOP budget, Florida Rep. Allen West (R) has attempted to squash protesters and avoid tough questions at his town halls. In Ft. Lauderdale Tuesday, West only answered pre-screened questions that were read aloud by a staffer. In Boca Raton last night, protesters were removed from the town hall before it began.
But the preventive measures didn’t stop West from having to defend his vote last night, telling attendees that those who are fighting to save Medicare as we know it are putting the United States on a path toward destruction:
WEST: I gotta tell you something: if you support Medicare the way it is now, you can kiss the United States of America goodbye.
Watch WPTV’s report:


Voters in West’s district have plenty to be angry about. In the past month, West voted against funding the government, thus risking a shutdown, announced that he was willing to hold the debt ceiling hostage over corporate tax breaks, and voted to end Medicare while extending tax breaks to the wealthy. Now, he’s accused Medicare beneficiaries, along with those who support the widely popular program, of contributing to the country’s downfall.
Unfortunately for West, facts tell a different story. The GOP budget attempts to save money not by curbing health costs, but by shifting those costs to senior citizens. The Congressional Budget Office found that most seniors would pay more for health careunder the Republican plan, with 65-year-olds in 2022 paying double what a 65-year-old pays now. Meanwhile, ending Medicare as we know it would have an adverse effect on the nation’s health care costs, as the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that it would increase health care costs by $34 trillion over the next 75 years.
As the Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky reported, Republicans like West are following ideologyinstead of fact in their dismantling of Medicare. In 2009 and 2010, Republicans used scare tactics to drum up opposition to a health reform plan that actually will curb costs and expand access, the Affordable Care Act. In 2011, with voters targeting them, West and his Republican colleagues are using similar scare tactics to protect a plan that does just the opposite.

Trump To Black Journalist: ‘I Know You’re A Big Obama Fan’

By Judd Legum at 3:09 pm


Yesterday during his press conference in New Hampshire –- after the cable news networks cut to President Obama’s remarks regarding the release of his long form birth certificate — potential GOP presidential candiate Donald Trump spent some time extolling infrastructure investments made by China and other countries, suggesting the U.S. should follow suit. This prompted Les Trent, a reporter for Inside Edition, to ask Trump: “Isn’t that what President Obama tried to do with his stimulus package?”
Trump’s response to Trent, who is African American, was “Look, I know you are a big Obama fan.” Trent replied, “Why do you say that?”
Here’s the transcript of the exchange:
TRUMP:When was the last time – if you go to China, as an example – bridges being built, massive bridges. When is the last time we built a bridge in this country, other than a little toy.
LES TRENT: Isn’t that what President Obama tried to do with his stimulus package?
TRUMP: The President… Look I know you are a big Obama fan.The president doesn’t know what he’s doing.
LES TRENT: Why do you say that?
TRUMP: Because of your question. The President doesn’t know what he is doing.
Watch it:





In an interview with ThinkProgress about the exchange, Trent said, “I think race was a factor. … I’m just assuming, I mean I have no way of knowing that. But I just don’t understand why he said that to me and not anyone else.”



The incident appears to be part of a pattern of recent racially-tinged comments by Trump.
With additional reporting by Alex Seitz-Wald
UPDATELast night, on CBS Evening News, Face the Nation host and CBS correspondent Bob Schieffer criticized Trump's recent statements regarding Obama'scollege transcripts, saying race was Trump's underlying motive:
"That's just code for saying he got into law school because he's black.This is an ugly strain of racism that's running through this whole thing. We can hope that kind of comes to an end too, but we'll have to see," Schieffer said.
Trump responded today, saying he wasn't suggesting anything about Obama's race:
"That is a terrible statement for a newscaster to make. I am the last person that such a thing should be said about." [...] "Affirmative action is out there. It's a program that is available. But I have no idea whether it applies in this case. I'm not suggesting anything."