Officials say stimulus bill to cost $75B more

See http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9DFNU4O1&show_article=1

Officials say stimulus bill to cost $75B more

Jan 26, 2010
By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - "Last year's $787 billion economic stimulus bill is going to be even more expensive—$75 billion more.

The new Congressional Budget Office estimate, released Tuesday, provides more ammunition for Republicans who say the stimulus has been long on spending and short on creating promised jobs. The additional cost also eats into the savings forecast from the budget freeze President Barack Obama is expected to propose Wednesday night during his State of the Union address.

Almost half of the additional cost, $34 billion, is because the food stamp program won't be able to take advantage of lower-than-expected inflation rates and will instead have benefits set by the stimulus bill.

Higher unemployment insurance costs added $21 billion to the bill, and stimulus-subsidized bonds to pay for infrastructure projects have proven more popular than expected with state and local governments.

The $75 billion increase would erase one-third of the $250 billion in 10-year savings that would come from the partial domestic spending freeze being proposed by Obama. The boost in unemployment payments alone would more than erase the $10 billion to $15 billion in first-year savings from such a freeze.

Democrats say the beleaguered stimulus measure, a mixture of tax cuts and lots of spending, has helped keep the economy going and has produced up to 2 million jobs.

The nonpartisan CBO said five programs were responsible for most of the $112 billion in stimulus spending between last February and October: Medicaid; a $250 payment to almost 53 million Social Security recipients; Pell Grants; and fiscal relief for state governments. Tax cuts added $88 billion.

The stimulus is expected to add about $400 billion to the deficit in this budget year.

Democrats are pressing for another stimulus measure and top Senate Democrats have drafted an $82.5 billion jobs plan that would help small businesses, boost spending on road construction and mass transit, and give local governments money to retain teachers.

A draft document obtained by The Associated Press proposes $20 billion for a job creation tax credit and $12.5 billion to retrofit homes and businesses to make them more energy efficient.

The House passed a so-called jobs bill last month, costing about $174 billion. That plan was heavy with safety net spending such as a six-month extension of unemployment benefits and subsidies to help the jobless buy health insurance.

Democrats claim their proposals are partly paid for by repealing $150 billion worth of Treasury Department bailout authority to claim $75 billion in budget savings. But CBO director Douglas Elmendorf said those claims are based on outdated estimates.

Since the remaining bailout money won't be used, it can't be claimed as savings, he said.

"There really isn't money there to be saved," Elmendorf said."

ABC: Drone Strike on Al Qaeda Scrapped Because Officials Feared Prosecution

From http://biggovernment.com/ See ABC News

U.S. Mulls Legality of Killing American al Qaeda "Turncoat" at http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=9651830

Opportunities to "Take Out" Radical Cleric Anwar Awlaki In Yemen "May Have Been Missed" by MATTHEW COLE, RICHARD ESPOSITO and BRIAN ROSS Jan. 25, 2010


"White House lawyers are mulling the legality of proposed attempts to kill an American citizen, Anwar al Awlaki, who is believed to be part of the leadership of the al Qaeda group in Yemen behind a series of terror strikes, according to two people briefed by U.S. intelligence officials.

One of the people briefed said opportunities to "take out" Awlaki "may have been missed" because of the legal questions surrounding a lethal attack which would specifically target an American citizen.

A spokesperson said the White House declined to comment.

While Awlaki has not been charged with any crimes under U.S. law, intelligence officials say recent intelligence reports and electronic intercepts show he played an important role in recruiting the accused "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Awlaki also carried on extensive e-mail communication with the accused Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, prior to the attack that killed 12 soldiers and one civilian.

According to the people who were briefed on the issue, American officials fear the possibility of criminal prosecution without approval in advance from the White House for a targeted strike against Awlaki.

An American citizen with suspected al Qaeda ties was killed in Nov. 2002 in Yemen in a CIA predator strike that was aimed at non-American leaders of al Qaeda. The death of the American citizen, Ahmed Hijazi of Lackawanna, NY, was justified as "collateral damage" at the time because he "was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," said a former U.S. official familiar with the case.

In the case of Awlaki, born in New Mexico and a college student in Colorado and California, a strike aimed to kill him would stretch current Presidential authority given to the CIA and the Pentagon to pursue terrorists anywhere in the world.

Where Anwar al Awlaki Might Be Hiding
Awlaki's father told reporters in Yemen last week that his son had gone into hiding in the mountains of Yemen and was being protected by al Qaeda, even though, the father claimed, his son was not part of al Qaeda.

He told reporters he was pleading with the United States, "Please don't kill my son."

The question of what limits apply to an American with suspected operational ties to al Qaeda comes as the U.S. steps up efforts to track any American with ties to Yemen.

Hundreds of FBI and other federal agents will fan out this week as part of a secret operation to pursue leads about Americans with connections to Yemen that were previously dismissed as not significant, according to law enforcement officials."

Corrupt Global Warming Scientists Deliberately Misled on Glaciers and More

Too bad, this is not in the U.S. press, but see UK DailyMail.co.uk January 24, 2010 article by David Rose at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245636/Glacier-scientists-says-knew-data-verified.html
"Glacier scientist: I knew data hadn't been verified"
■ "The scientist behind the bogus claim in a Nobel Prize-winning UN report that Himalayan glaciers will have melted by 2035 last night admitted it was included purely to put political pressure on world leaders."
■ "Dr Murari Lal also said he was well aware the statement, in the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), did not rest on peer-reviewed scientific research."

And more, see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7000063.ece The Sunday Times turns up more errors in a January 24, 2010 article by Jonathan Leake:
■ "The United Nations climate science panel faces new controversy for wrongly linking global warming to an increase in the number and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods."
■ "It based the claims on an unpublished report that had not been subjected to routine scientific scrutiny--and ignored warnings from scientific advisers that the evidence supporting the link too weak. The report's own authors later withdrew the claim because they felt the evidence was not strong enough."

Designate the Christmas Day Bomber as an "Unprivileged Enemy Belligerent"

See Commentary.com Jennifer Rubin January 25, 2010 entry at http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/223751

■ "Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins have written a letter today to Attorney General Eric Holder and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan urging them to designate Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day bomber, as an 'unprivileged enemy belligerent' so he can be 'questioned and charged accordingly'. The senators note that Obama himself has declared that 'we are at war with al-Qaeda'. However, Abdulmutallab was read his Miranda rights and, as others have reported, provided only 50 minutes of conversation to FBI agents who lacked the needed detail to elicit all the helpful material he might possess. The senators note that last week, Dennis Blair and other officials conceded in congressional testimony that the Justice Department 'did not consult with leadership in the intelligence community and the Department of Defense for their input on whether or not to treat Abdulmutallab as a criminal and read him his Miranda rights'. Senators also learned that the 'High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which the Department of Justice announced last August -- more than four months ago -- is not yet operational'."

■ "The senators conclude that the president’s repeated admonitions that we are at war do not appear to 'be reflected in the actions of some in the Executive branch'. But they note that the president can “reverse this error” and transfer the Christmas Day bomber to the Department of Defense.”

Gallup: Obama Most Polarizing President Ever

See http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/obama-gallup-polarizing-gop/2010/01/25/id/347929?s=al&promo_code=9609-1 January 25, 2010 article:


- "President Barack Obama is the most polarizing president in American history, according to a poll released by the Gallup organization Monday."

- "The average difference in Obama's approval ratings between Democrats and Republicans turned out to be 65 percent -- the highest first-year gap of any president so measured."

How Is President Obama Doing?

How Is President Obama doing?

See January 25, 2010 Wall Street Journal "The President's Bank Reforms Don't Add Up" op/ed piece by Peter J. Wallison at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704509704575019333516533828.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

"Restricting loans to real estate virtually guarantees another bank crisis in the future."

"After the Democrats' disaster in Massachusetts last Tuesday, President Obama appears to be flailing. Gone is the cool and measured demeanor that made him look presidential when the financial crisis struck during the 2008 campaign. Instead, the financial reform proposals he advanced later in the week seem to reflect political panic—a desperate attempt to appeal to the populist sentiment against Wall Street. Unfortunately, they also reflect a limited understanding of good financial or banking policy."

Pachauri Must Resign at Once as Head of Official Climate Science Panel

See UK Telegraph January 24, 2010 article by Geoffrey Lean at http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geoffreylean/100023489/pachauri-must-quit-as-head-of-official-science-panel/

- "It is time for the embattled Rajendra Pachauri to resign as Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), He is steadfastly refusing to go, but his position is becoming more and more untenable by the day, and the official climate science body will continue to leach credibility while he remains in charge."

- "the latest IPCC report on Himalayan glaciers that contained the notorious – and now withdrawn - claim that they would disappear by 2035."

- "there are now reports that it erred in relying on an unpublished report in linking natural disasters like flood and hurricanes to global warming. All appear much less serious than the original Himalayan howler, but they add to the impression of sloppiness at the IPCC."

- "

Did Obama Buy the Election?

From FactCheck.org November 3, 2008 at http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/who_spent_more_money_on_advertising_mccain.html
■ "Public financing limits candidates to spending $84.1 million on their general campaign. The money is provided to them in the form of a grant from the U.S. Treasury." "Obama's choice to turn down public financing and McCain's choice to accept it helped create a relatively large campaign fundraising disparity.

■ "Overall, Obama has outspent McCain by nearly 3-to-1, but in the closing week it's been closer to 5-to-1."

■ "According to figures supplied by the campaign Media Analysis Group of TNS Media Intelligence, Obama has spent an estimated $280 million on TV advertising since Jan. 1 of last year through Nov. 1. McCain has spent less than half as much, just under $134 million, according to CMAG, which tracks advertising in the top TV markets."

■ "Those figures include amounts spent in both the primary and the general election campaigns. Since the two candidates clinched the nominations of their respective parties, the spending disparity has been greater, reflecting Obama's greater ability to attract private donations, and his decision to do without public funds or the spending limits that go with them."

■ "There's no question that Sen. Barack Obama, who opted out of the public financing system, has raised more money than anyone in the history of U.S. politics. As a result, Sen. John McCain, who opted to receive public financing, was at a stark financial disadvantage to his Democratic rival."

President Barack Obama on Health Care Death Panels

This is from April and August 2009.

From April 29, 2009 see Bloomberg article by Hans Nichols at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aGrKbfWkzTqc
"Obama Says Grandmother’s Hip Replacement Raises Cost Questions"
■ "President Barack Obama said his grandmother’s hip-replacement surgery during the final weeks of her life made him wonder whether expensive procedures for the terminally ill reflect a 'sustainable' model” for health care."
■ "Obama said 'you just get into some very difficult moral issues' when considering whether 'to give my grandmother, or everybody else’s aging grandparents or parents, a hip replacement when they’re terminally ill'."

See New York Times April 28, 2009 "After the Great Recession" article by David Leonhardt see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03Obama-t.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
President Barack Obama said:
■ "So that’s where I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues. But that’s also a huge driver of cost, right? I mean, the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here."
■ "Well, I think that there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place. It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And that’s part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance. It’s not determinative, but I think has to be able to give you some guidance. And that’s part of what I suspect you’ll see emerging out of the various health care conversations that are taking place on the Hill right now."

From August 2009 at http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/kausfiles/archive/2009/08/11/a-debate-we-didn-t-have-to-have.aspx
■ "Gee, where could the misinformed town hall crazies have gotten the idea that Obama was thinking about saving money by denying expensive procedures toward the end of life?

President Obama - It Has Been a Year of Fecklessness, Amateurism, and Posturing

See Conrad Black at National Post, January 22, 2010 article
"Incompetent Obama teeters on the edge" at http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/01/22/conrad-black-the-lessons-of-massachusetts.aspx

"The president has three principal problems. He is well to the left of the public and of what he promised the voters in 2008, and it is an old, passe leftism, that is authoritarian, deviously presented and was discredited in this country decades ago; the sort of nostrums that caused Bill Clinton and others to become 'New Democrats.' He is increasingly perceived as having credibility problems and of being cold, cocksure, narcissistic and intoxicated by what he modestly called 'the gift' of his own articulation. And as president, he has been quite, and quite surprisingly, incompetent.

The second of these problems seems to prevent the president from appreciating the last. The only serious domestic initiative to show for the last year is an obscene stimulus bill that has had to be defended by the spurious supposition of 'jobs saved' since, contrary to promises, unemployment has risen by over five million after it was enacted. That target could have been attained without squandering 787 billion borrowed dollars.


Current economic projections call for massive debt increases of $1 trillion a year for a decade, with huge money supply increases that will make history not only by their size but, according to forecasts, by their non-inflationary nature, accompanied by tax increases that will, also miraculously, not retard recovery from the recession. No audible sane person believes this arithmetical fairy tale, including, one dares to hope, the president himself. It is a recipe for guaranteed stagflation and currency devaluation.


The administration bought wholly into the unproved claim that carbon emissions are causing global warming, but global warming has not, for the last ten years, been happening. The president padded around the Copenhagen global warming conference trying to generate enthusiasm for $100 billion annual transfers to the Mugabes and Chavezes, as well as the Chinese (the world's largest carbon emitters), as conscience-alleviating payments for the carbon emissions of the economically advanced countries."

"It has been a year of fecklessness, amateurism, and posturing."

Public Employee Unions Are Sinking California

See Wall Street Journal January 22, 2010 op/ed piece by Steven Greenhut at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703699204575017182296077118.html includes:

- "Approximately 85% of the state's 235,000 employees (not including higher education employees) are unionized. As the governor noted during his $83 billion budget roll-out, over the past decade pension costs for public employees increased 2,000%. State revenues increased only 24% over the same period. A Schwarzenegger adviser wrote in the San Jose Mercury News in the past few days that, "This year alone, $3 billion was diverted to pension costs from other programs." There are now more than 15,000 government retirees statewide who receive pensions that exceed $100,000 a year, according to the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility."

- "Many of these retirees are former police officers, firefighters, and prison guards who can retire at age 50 with a pension that equals 90% of their final year's pay. The pensions for these (and all other retirees) increase each year with inflation and are guaranteed by taxpayers forever—regardless of what happens in the economy or whether the state's pensions funds have been fully funded (which they haven't been)."

- "A 2008 state commission pegged California's unfunded pension liability at $63.5 billion"

- "Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, a well-known liberal voice, recently wrote this in the San Francisco Chronicle: 'The deal used to be that civil servants were paid less than private sector workers in exchange for an understanding that they had job security for life. But we politicians—pushed by our friends in labor—gradually expanded pay and benefits . . . while keeping the job protections and layering on incredibly generous retirement packages. . . . [A]t some point, someone is going to have to get honest about the fact'."

- "State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, another prominent liberal Democrat, told a legislative hearing in October that public employee pensions would 'bankrupt' the state."

The Incredible Deflation of Barack Obama

See Mort Zuckerman January 21, 2010 article "The Incredible Deflation of Barack Obama" at http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/mzuckerman/2010/01/21/mort-zuckerman-the-incredible-deflation-of-barack-obama.html?PageNr=2
which includes:
President "Obama, the theoretician in a hurry, made no allowance for the normal resistance to dramatic change and the public's distaste for big government, big spending, and big deficits. He didn't seem to realize that Americans understand in the most personal terms that excessive debt has real consequences, given how many have mortgages that exceed the value of a home and credit lines that are too much to carry. Yet this was what the president seemed to be getting us into. Over 60 percent of the country believes that government spending is excessive; Obama's lowest approval ratings come from his mishandling of the present and future deficits."

"Unfortunately, there is not much solace in international affairs either, where, again, expectations were so pumped up. America's image is better, no doubt, but uncertainty and procrastination prevail. One major international political leader recently put it well: 'Not only does the leadership of this region not think that Obama is strong enough to confront his enemies; they aren't sure he is strong enough to support his friends.' The administration seems 'hopelessly naive,' according to one Arab foreign minister, and unable to face the full truth about Islamic terrorism. The public frustration over the administration's mismanagement of the latest jihadist attempt to blow up a plane with all its innocent travelers (on Christmas Day) was captured in the New York Daily News headline 'Mr. President, it's time to get a grip!'"

NO LAW ABRIDGING POLITICAL SPEECH

U.S. Constitution First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
They were talking about political speech, so it is OK to regulate pornography or misleading commercial advertisements.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission "One issue in particular that likely contributed to the Court's desire to have the case reargued was the statement by then-Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm L. Stewart, representing the FEC, that the government would have the power to ban books, if those books constituted express advocacy and were published by a corporation or union."

The position of the Obama administration is the government has the right to censure and burn books. That the government allows newspapers to write editorials and endorse candidates, but that the government could withdraw that privilege. The government could make it criminal for a newspaper to write editorials or for endorsing candidates.

Mort Zuckerman on President Obama "He's Done Everything Wrong"

Here's a great article from an Obama supporter.
See
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-19/hes-done-everythin
g-wrong/ He's Done Everything Wrong by Mort Zuckerman who "I'm very disappointed. We endorsed him. I voted for him. I supported him publicly and privately."

He's Done Everything Wrong
by Mort Zuckerman

"Obama punted on the economy and reversed the fortunes of the Democrats in
365 days.

He's misjudged the character of the country in his whole approach. There's the saying, "It's the economy, stupid." He didn't get it. He was determined somehow or other to adopt a whole new agenda. He didn't address the main issue.

This health-care plan is going to be a fiscal disaster for the country. Most of the country wanted to deal with costs, not expansion of coverage. This is going to raise costs dramatically.

In the campaign, he said he would change politics as usual. He did change them. It's now worse than it was. I've now seen the kind of buying off of politicians that I've never seen before. It's politically corrupt and it's starting at the top. It's revolting.

Five states got deals on health care-one of them was Harry Reid's. It is disgusting, just disgusting. I've never seen anything like it. The unions just got them to drop the tax on Cadillac plans in the health-care bill. It was pure union politics. They just went along with it. It's a bizarre form of political corruption. It's bribery. I suppose they could say, that's the system. He was supposed to change it or try to change it.

Even that is not the worst part. He could have said, "I know. I promised these things, but let me try to do them one at a time." You want to deal with health care? Fine. Issue No. 1 with health care was the cost. You know I think it was 37 percent or 33 who were worried about coverage. Fine, I wrote an editorial to this effect. Focus on cost-containment first. But he's trying to boil the ocean, trying to do too much. This is not leadership.

I don't consider it a triumph. I consider it a disaster.

One business leader said to me, "In the Clinton administration, the policy people were at the center, and the political people were on the sideline. In the Obama administration, the political people are at the center, and the policy people are on the sidelines."

I'm very disappointed. We endorsed him. I voted for him. I supported him publicly and privately.

I hope there are changes. I think he's already laid in huge problems for the country. The fiscal program was a disaster. You have to get the money as quickly as possible into the economy. They didn't do that. By end of the first year, only one-third of the money was spent. Why is that?

He should have jammed a stimulus plan into Congress and said, "This is it.
No changes. Don't give me that bullshit. We have a national emergency."
Instead they turned it over to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi who can run circles around him.

It's very sad. It's really sad.

He's improved America's image in the world. He absolutely did. But you have to translate that into something. Let me tell you what a major leader said to me recently. "We are convinced," he said, "that he is not strong enough to confront his enemy. We are concerned," he said "that he is not strong to support his friends."

The political leadership of the world is very, very dismayed. He better turn it around. The Democrats are going to get killed in this election. Jesus, looks what's happening in Massachusetts.

It's really interesting because he had brilliant, brilliant political instincts during the campaign. I don't know what has happened to them. His appointments present somebody who has a lot to learn about how government works. He better get some very talented businesspeople who know how to implement things. It's unbelievable. Everybody says so. You can't believe how dismayed people are. That's why he's plunging in the polls.

I can't predict things two years from now, but if he continues on the downward spiral he is on, he won't be reelected. In the meantime, the Democrats have recreated the Republican Party. And when I say Democrats, I mean the Obama administration. In the generic vote, the Democrats were ahead something like 52 to 30. They are now behind the Republicans 48 to 44 in the last poll. Nobody has ever seen anything that dramatic."

Mortimer B. Zuckerman is chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report and publisher of the New York Daily News. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Boston Properties Inc. He is a trustee of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, and the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

Large Majority Of Americans Say They Want A Smaller Government

See http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/59933

What Washington Post Didn’t Tell You about Its Own Poll: Most Americans Say They Want a Smaller Government
Monday, January 18, 2010
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief


(CNSNews.com) - A large majority of Americans say they want a smaller government that provides them with fewer services, according to a new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News. But the Washington Post story about the poll makes no mention of this fact.

The poll asked: “Generally speaking, would you say you favor smaller government with fewer services, or larger government with more services?”

Fifty-eight percent said they favor a smaller government with fewer services, and only 38 percent said they favor a larger government with more services.

Obama's Goal to Permanently Increase Government's Grasp on the Nation's Wealth

See George Will Washington Post January 17, 2010 column at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/01/17/off-the-cliff_but_catching_on_99924.html

"Year one of the Obama administration was devoted to deliberately exacerbating the fiscal crisis. The gusher of spending, combined with the new multitrillion-dollar health care entitlement, is half of liberalism's plan to radically and permanently increase government's grasp on the nation's wealth."

Let the Market Work - Government is Part of the Problem

See January 2, 2010 The New York Times article by Peter S. Goodman
"U.S. Loan Effort Is Seen as Adding to Housing Woes" at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/business/economy/02modify.html

"The Obama administration’s $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good.
Since President Obama announced the program in February, it has lowered mortgage payments on a trial basis for hundreds of thousands of people but has largely failed to provide permanent relief. Critics increasingly argue that the program, Making Home Affordable, has raised false hopes among people who simply cannot afford their homes. "
A question asked to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner “Are we creating a program in which we’re talking about potentially spending $75 billion to try to modify people into mortgages that will reduce the number of foreclosures in the short term, but just kick the can down the road?” she asked, raising the prospect “that we’ll be looking at an economy with elevated mortgage foreclosures not just for a year or two, but for many years. How do you deal with that problem, Mr. Secretary?”
A good question, Mr. Geithner conceded. “What to do about it,” he said. “That’s a hard thing.”