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Democratic Bundler in Bed with Congolese Warlord
OBAMA TRADE ADVISOR ACCUSED OF BUYING GOLD FROM WARLORD, STEALING FROM NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
A prominent Obama administration trade advisor is one of the central players in a series of scandals and ethical rows that have reportedly placed him in cahoots with corrupt Congolese warlords and other questionable figures.
Kase Lawal, an oil mogul with longstanding ties to the Clinton family, was appointed in 2010 as a member of Obama’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
Since his selection to the trade board, Lawal has become enmeshed in a pact to purchase large quantities of illegal gold from a violent Congolese warlord, according to a U.N. investigation and various reports.
The crooked gold deal—as well as several other past scandals—raise concerns that the Nigerian-born Lawal is unfit to advise the White House about an issue as sensitive as global trade.
Lawal—founder of the oil and gas conglomerate CAMAC International—stands accused of transferring millions of dollars to Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, a rebel commander who has been linked by the International Criminal Court to a series of ethnic massacres and rapes. The deal, if verified, violates a U.N. ban on doing business with rogue Congolese warlords.
Originally brokered by the former NBA All Star Dikembe Mutombo, the deal commenced just months after Lawal was appointed the trade board, Stefaans Brummer reports in the Mail & Guardian.
The arrangement began innocently enough.
Mutombo approached Lawal in 2010 with an offer to purchase a lump of Kenyan gold valued at nearly $10 million. It soon became apparent that the true owner of the gold was the warlord Ntaganda.
The U.N. obtained a copy of the Powerpoint presentation that Lawal associates used to tout the deal.
“We will play the role of buyer initially in partnership with lead contact,” one presentation slide states. “Using the highest discretion and confidentiality is a priority.”
A series of text messages between Lawal and his confidant Carlos St. Mary, who played a principal role in the deal, reveal that Lawal was well aware that the gold originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Lawal wasn’t deterred by that striking revelation.
Read More HERE
(just another stinker that obama will protect)
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If you are feeling demoralized? Then view this video.
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White House economic team never believed ‘stimulus’ would work
From NetRight Daily
[Via Government Spending and Other Outrages]
By Bill Wilson — Former White House Council of Economic Advisors head Christina Romer apparently never thought the $800 billion “stimulus” that was supposed to turn the economy around would work, a new book shedding light on the early days of the Obama Administration says.
A memo brought to light in “The Escape Artists” by Noam Scheiber shows Romer originally proposed a spending plan that totaled $1.8 trillion, but the figure was dismissed as politically infeasible by Larry Summers, Director of the White House Economic Council. Romer came back with a watered down proposal of $1.2 trillion, but that was left out of the final proposal brought before Barack Obama himself.
Nonetheless, even though the final proposal was a full $1 trillion short of what she thought would work, Romer penned the political document that justified the $800 billion figure. Romer’s “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment” warned that “The recovery plan needs to be large to counter the tremendous job loss that is likely to occur.”
Based on her methodology, she wrote, “the package contains enough stimulus that we can have confidence that it will create sufficient jobs to meet the President-Elect’s goals.”
Then Obama was promising to “save or create” 3 million jobs, a promise he fell way short of. Since he took office, the labor force participation rate has dropped from 65.7 percent to 63.7 percent, resulting in over 4.7 million people have been dropped out of the civilian labor force.
In fact, there were almost 142.2 million people employed when Obama took office. Now, that number dropped to a low of 137.9 million in Dec. 2009 and has only risen to 141.6 million since then. The economy is not even keeping up with the growth of the population, let alone reclaiming a single one of the lost 8 million jobs in this recession.
(did we get lied to? I do believe so)
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From April 9 to 15, “100,000 Americans will train for non-violent direct action,” promises a new website called “The 99% Spring.” But while the 43 organizations co-signing a letter on the ragtag-looking site indicate the sort of leaderless resistance characterized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, a series of files The Daily Caller downloaded from the United Auto Workers website indicate that the organized labor powerhouse is behind the effort.
The files, downloaded Sunday, include campaign talking points, a fill-in-the-blank press release template for participating organizations and an advance look at the social media campaign the organizers plan for Facebook and Twitter.
Also included is a “FYI” letter designed for endorsers to distribute, complete with a blank space at the top of the list of participating groups. Filling in a given organization’s name lends the impression that it, not the UAW, is the campaign’s driving force.
A Google cache indicates that the files were available on an unprotected area of the UAW’s web server at least as early as February 16. They disappeared from public view Monday.
(can anyone explain why we bailed out these idiots with our tax dollars?)
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Obama Finance Chief Funded Media Matters
Malaysia Blocks British Sex Education Books, Fears It Will “Corrupt” Muslim Minds
mjhawkeye Blog to check out. By some Iowan hiding out down on the gulf coast.
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Anyone who claims the “Occupy” movement has no clear message is either trying to discredit it or simply isn’t paying attention. This protest always has been about economic injustice and the fact that a small handful of people have corrupted our system in their favor (“Editorial: ‘Occupy’ movement fading out in a whimper“).
The fact that so many elites were alarmed and frightened by the initial outcry (including members of Congress, who are supposed to represent all the people — shame on them!) goes to show that they are in fact living in a house of cards.
USA TODAY’s editorial is right to say that Occupy might lack clear goals on how to move forward, but the movement has accomplished its main original goal: to protest these injustices, not by simply holding a rally and going home, but by keeping the rally going to underscore the seriousness of this problem. Your piece accuses the protesters of sitting around and doing nothing. So maybe they should take up their Second Amendment-sanctioned guns and storm Wall Street and our nation’s capitals. If our country doesn’t change, it could very well come to that one day.
Rich Latta; Austin
(can you imagine if someone said the Tea Party should do this? FBI and DHS and lord knows what other outfits would be all over whoever wrote it)
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Outspoken New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had some rather harsh words for billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Tuesday.
During a discussion with CNN’s Piers Morgan about tax rates, Christie made it known that he’s just about had it with Buffett, the world-famous investor who lent his name to a proposed tax hike on the rich.
“He should just write a check and shut up,” Christie said. “I’m tired of hearing about it. If he wants to give the government more money, he’s got the ability to write a check — go ahead and write it.”
Earlier in the interview, responding to a question on class warfare in the political system, Christie, who has developed a reputation for not mincing words, said he didn’t want to discuss Buffett.
“I’m so tired of talking about Warren Buffett,” Christie said. “What are you going to bring up next, his secretary?”
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(CNS News) – Pro-lifers including lawmakers seeking to outlaw abortions at 20 weeks or later in the District of Columbia voice concern for black babies while in the womb, but “could care less” about them after they are born, a senior Planned Parenthood official charged Tuesday.
Ludwig Gaines, the African American leadership and engagement director for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, was replying to a question about abortion’s disproportionate affect on black women.
Gaines was taking part in a press conference criticizing legislation introduced in the House and Senate that would protect unborn children at 20 weeks gestation or older from being aborted by making abortions performed at or after that time unlawful in D.C.
CNSNews.com asked him about the fact that African American women have more abortions than other American women. (Blacks account for 33 percent of abortions but make up 13 percent of the U.S. population.)
(even the PP uses the race card!)
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(Fox News) — Students in ninth through the 12th grade attending summer programs at a community college outside Washington, D.C., will get a taste of the Occupy operation in a new course that aims to get them interested in “the movement for justice.”
“Occupy MoCo!,” one of the newest courses at Montgomery College in Montgomery County, Md., is part of the Summer Youth program offered for 2012.
“We are at an exciting time in the history of the world. People all over the planet are taking democracy into their own hands and working together to create solutions for a better world,” reads the course description for YOU392.
“Take advantage of this interactive opportunity to learn critical thinking skills that will help you in college and gain insight into becoming a global leader of the 21st century. Learn about the Occupy Wall Street movement and explore real-life human rights implications. Review social justice concepts and explore human rights issues related to current events. Young people hold the power to change their community, their schools, their future — are you ready to join the movement for justice?”
Elizabeth Homan, the school’s director of communications, said the class “does not take a stance on the Occupy movement. Rather, the movement provides a creative opportunity for students to discuss protests throughout history, as well as current events, definitions, and various processes that can be used to voice opinions in the community.”
(again lefty commies wanting to make sure their message is heard, while they collect their pay from the government. no mention of the real “movement for justice”, the Tea Party)
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No picture of a good looking woman tonight. Better luck tomorrow.
Was the Obama Stimulus a Scam?
11 stunning revelations from Larry Summers’s secret economics memo to Barack Obama
Pethokoukis: Secret 2008 Memo to Barack Obama reveals White House knew Stimulus was a partisan scam…
Jim Pethokoukis alerts us to the stunning release of a confidential memo sent to Barack Obama by senior economic adviser Larry Summers on December 15, 2008.
In short, Obama and Summers both knew the Stimulus was a scam.
1. The Stimulus Had Nothing to Do With Reviving the Economy, It Was Designed To Reward Allies and Implement Left-Wing Policies – “The short-run economic imperative was to identify as many campaign promises or high priority items that would spend out quickly and be inherently temporary. … The stimulus package is a key tool for advancing clean energy goals and fulfilling a number of campaign commitments.”
2. Obama knew that the deficits he was about to run were dangerous — and didn’t care – “[The spending] would leave an average deficit over the next decade that would be worse than any post-World War II decade. This would be entirely unsustainable and could cause serious economic problems in the both the short run and the long run.”
Read everything HERE.
(in hindsight, the stimulus, the money given to banks, etc….just a big waste of money)
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With New Law, Profits Take a Back Seat
A brownie supplier to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, a skateboard maker and a payday lender are among the hundreds of existing businesses that plan to incorporate as “benefit corporations” in coming months.
They will be taking advantage of a new and untested corporate charter, available in only a half dozen states, allowing a company’s governing board to consider social or environment objectives ahead of profits. The legal structure is intended to shield the board from investor lawsuits.
That anything other than maximizing shareholder value should be considered in a company’s decision-making normally can open the door to investor suits.
But in the past two years, lawmakers in seven states, including Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey, passed legislation to create benefit corporations as an alternative business model.
California opened up the option Jan 1. New York will do so as of Feb. 10. Outdoor-apparel company Patagonia Inc., which places high priority on sustainable and renewable production methods, incorporated under the new structure in California this month.
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Ben & Jerry’s now plans to incorporate as a benefit corporation in Vermont within the next few months, he adds, through pressure from its current board. Unilever declined to comment.
By law, a benefit corporation’s social and environmental goals must be laid out in the bylaws and the company must publish an annual “benefit report” to measure itself against those goals.
The idea has its share of critics. “For an investor, this is a terrible idea,” says Charles Elson, who teaches corporate governance at the University of Delaware. “The structure creates a lack of accountability,” he adds, so if the management of a benefit corporation makes a bad decision, “there’s very little you can do about it as a shareholder.”
(hhmmmmmm…..now I like this idea and would love to see how these companies fare in the next 5 years or so. face it, business today is not about helping people but about making profits NOW at all costs)
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The Obama re-election campaign has produced another ad touting the president’s “successful” economic record of accomplishment. Critics will likely argue, however, that like his last campaign ad, this new one might get “three Pinocchio’s” from the Washington Post as well.
The new ad boasts of the upward trend on private sector job growth over the past 22 months, and “squarely places blame for the millions lost before Obama took office on former President George W. Bush,” writes Devin Dwyer of ABC News.
Read the article here.
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JUSTICE DEPT: STATES HAVE INTERNET CASINO RIGHTS! ABORTION AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION? NOT SO MUCH!
Geesh, saying states have this right? Good way to really bankrupt more and more people. Guess state lotteries were not sucking in enough money?
Bottom line? If it benefits the democrat party, states have “rights.” If it doesn’t, screw the states!
Oh, Iowa is seriously thinking of getting into this! Idiots…
Read MORE.
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American Troops Military Careers Being Ruined By Absurd Rules of Engagement One day, our soldiers will have to give the enemy 24 hour notice before they can shoot?
The Right Scoop Always worth reading every day.
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(The Hill) — The Congressional Black Caucus on Monday night took to the House floor to charge that voter ID laws popping up around the country are aimed at dissuading minority voters from voting, and making it harder for President Obama to win re-election.
“It is clear to me that whether racially based or not, this is a direct attempt, not only to undermine the election process, but a specific attempt to derail what surely would be and ought to be the re-election of Barack Obama,” Rep. Donna Christensen (D-VI) said on the floor.
She was preceded by other CBC members who postulated that voter ID laws are not meant to ensure votes are cast by legal U.S. residents, as supporters of these laws contend, but as a way to thwart minorities.
(unintentionally admitting that voter fraud comes from the left, democrats)
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(hmmm….al ‘fatman’ gore must be pissed his only cause is dead last! hahahahhahaha)
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And lastly. The Obama regime and all the freaking liberals he brought in do not believe in our laws, but will make their own or circumvent if they have to. Like this:
There are other ways to bring healthy people into the healthcare system if the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate in President Obama’s healthcare law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in an interview Monday.
Part of Sebelius’s appearance on “The Daily Show” did not make the televised broadcast and was posted online Tuesday morning.
Sebelius said she’s confident the Supreme Court will uphold the mandate, but that there are alternatives if it doesn’t.
“I think we keep going,” she said. “We find ways to encourage people to become enrolled and become insured. And the mandate’s the fastest way to do it, and it just says, basically, everybody’s got some responsibility. But there are other ways to encourage people to come in.”