An FAA spokesman, Jim Peters, defended the event, calling it "a planned, pre-approved military flight over New York to take photos." He said it was "pre-coordinated with everyone involved, including the city."
Except that an FAA memo specifically warned officials that if they released information about the flights to the public or the press, they’d be violating the law.
U.S. Park Police say they have arrested 91 protesters in front of the White House, including some in wheelchairs who chained themselves to a fence.No word yet on whether Obama knew about the protest or not.
The protesters are calling on the president to support legislation that would give people with disabilities in need of long-term care alternatives to nursing homes.
A jumbo jet being chased by a F-16 fighter jets buzzed Lower Manhattan this morning, panicking New Yorkers, many of whom were forced to evacuate their office buildings.
You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there.I really don't understand the negative reactions to her comments.
“But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you.
President Barack Obama has gone abroad and gored an ox—the deeply held belief that the United States does not make mistakes in dealings with either friends or foes.I'm not really sure what to make of this statement. He seems to be saying Obama has made mistakes both with allies and enemies during his recent trips abroad. He is correct, but I'm not sure that was his point.
And in the process, he's taking a huge gamble both at home and abroad, for a payoff that could be a long time coming, if ever.Unfortunately, Axelrod may be correct. The seeds of 9/11 were sown by Clinton, convincing Bin Laden and Al Qaida that the US was weak and would not forcefully respond to attacks upon US interests. Or even attacks on US soil.
By way of explanation, senior adviser David Axelrod describes the president's tactics this way:
"You plant, you cultivate, you harvest. Over time, the seeds that were planted here are going to be very, very valuable."
While historic analogies are never perfect, Obama's stark efforts to change the U.S. image abroad are reminiscent of the stunning realignments sought by former Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev. During his short—by Soviet standards—tenure, he scrambled incessantly to shed the ideological entanglements that were leading the communist empire toward ruin.The point here that must be made is that the "ideological entanglements" ruining the Soviet Union were communism and despotism. In his attempt to save the Soviet Union, Gorbachev allowed more freedom and moved his economy more towards a free-market capitalism. Exactly the opposite of what Obama has pledged to do.
"One of the benefits of my campaign and how I've been trying to operate as president is I don't worry about the politics—I try to figure out what's right in terms of American interests, and on this one I think I'm right."Hmmm. Sounds rather "arrogant" and "cowboy" like. No?
Something hugely significant just happened here at the Sacramento Tea Party. Organizer Mark Meckler singled out GOP opportunists who wouldn’t give him the time of day weeks ago — and then wanted to hitch their wagons to the Tea Party bandwagon at the last minute.Excellent.
Meckler said he heard that California GOP chair Ron Nehring was in the audience. Meckler invited him to say hi to the crowd — and then ripped him for waffling on the massive tax hike ballot measures (particularly Prop1A - $16 billion tax hikes).
Massive boos from the crowd of thousands here against the Calif. GOP establishment.
Will this make the MSM coverage? It doesn’t fit the narrative. But it’s yet another demonstration that this movement is not partisan and equal opportunity when it comes to holding politicians’ feet to the fire for fiscal irresponsibility and fecklessness.
mplayer -cache 16384 -vc ffh264vdpau -vo vdpau trailer-autobot.mkvThe cache option is because the movie resides on a samba/cifs share.
So, I actually think ... pause [FANTASTIC. I'VE LOST EVERYONE, INCLUDING MYSELF] ... there's enormous consensus that has emerged in terms of what we need to do now and, er ... pause [I'M OUTTA HERE. TIME FOR THE USUAL CLOSING BOLLOCKS] ... I'm a great believer in looking forwards than looking backwards.
Accompanying the party will be a total of 500 officials including kitchen staff, 35 vehicles in all, four speech writers and 12 teleprompters.
Friends said 23 year-old Richard Poplawski feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.
LONDON - APRIL 1: The President of the United States Barack Obama (C back to camera) greets King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (C) before the official G20 leaders photograph with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on April 1, 2009 in London, England. Obama is on his first trip to the UK as President and will be attending G20 world leaders' summit dedicated to tackling the global financial crisis.
“Tom, Tim and Kathleen are some of the smartest people on the planet,” said President Obama, “and if they can’t file an accurate tax return, it’s not a reflection on their competence or honesty, but rather on the tax code that I inherited from George W. Bush.”
The president ordered the IRS to trash more than 800 tax forms, replacing them with a simple postcard for the taxpayer to record his income, multiply it by a rate of 17 percent, and send it in. That rate will apply to all but the “very wealthy” whose rate will be 83 percent.
“The rich, meaning anyone who earns more than $40,000 per year in the private sector, will of course continue to reimburse the rest of us for the surplus blessings they have received,” the president said. “And they’ll be eager to do so out of gratitude for the simplified tax form. After all, people like Tom Daschle, Tim Geithner and Kathleen Sebelius have been wracked with guilt over filing false returns almost from the moment they were nominated.”
Democrats have proposed a plan that would instead lower the state income tax rates and increase certain tax credits to offset the increase.
Democrats have maintained that two-thirds of Iowans would either see a tax savings or no change at all in their taxes due to the proposal.
Specific numbers show that 49 percent of Iowans who file taxes would get a break in the current tax year, while about 18 percent would see no change.
The remainder – 450,292 people – would see a tax increase, according to the Iowa department of Revenue and Finance.