Obama's Lowlights (2/27/12)

USDA - The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs - including in-home day care centers - to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home. A girl’s lunch which consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice was deemed not acceptable according to the lunch police, but chicken nuggets made by the cafeteria were deemed as acceptable.

Diversity – The Supreme Court is deciding whether to hear a case about a lawsuit brought by Abigail Fisher, a white student, who said she was denied admission to the University of Texas because of the color of her skin. If the justices vote to hear the case, it could mean a majority of the court is willing to curtail or further restrict race-conscious admissions policies at public universities.

Iran - Iran hailed its advanced nuclear capabilities this past week by unveiling what it says are a new generation of centrifuges to speed up uranium enrichment and its first domestically produced fuel rods.

Manufacturing – Manufacturing jobs have increased the past two years after declining every year since 1998. Obama thinks it’s his policies, but it’s solely because recession manufacturing jobs are increasing due to weakened unions, falling wages, high unemployment, and growth in lower paying manufacturing jobs.

Daily Kos – Founder Markos Moulitsas had this to say about Occupy Wall Street “They [Occupiers] can be as filthy and they can rape people — if you want to make stuff up — but the fact is nobody really cares about it ….”

Economy – Jobless claims continue to decline, but consumer price indices are slowly increasing raising fears of growing inflation. GM posted record profits in 2011 and Chrysler also posted a sizable profit – both due to restructuring from bankruptcy, not bailouts. Also, the Congressional Budget Office reports the United States has now seen the longest period of unemployment since the Great Depression. Unemployment has remained about eight percent the last three years. 

Obama Energy Program - Overall, the Washington Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 ‘green’ companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama administration staffers and advisers.

Alcohol Abuse – Health experts and the World Health Organization may look into new global regulations for alcohol use.

CFPB - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is seeking to bring debt collectors and credit bureaus under its purview, marking the first time the often controversial industries would be subject to federal supervision. Any such change should be considered a Constitutional breach under the “Contracts Clause”.

Student Loan Rule Change - Under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, all federal student loans are forgiven if one works in "public service" for ten years after graduation.  Until recently, working in any capacity for any nonprofit was enough for one to quality.

Underwear Bomber - Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian who tried to bring down a U.S. commercial flight on Christmas Day 2009 by detonating a bomb hidden in his underwear, was sentenced to life in prison this past week in federal court in Detroit.

Tim Geithner – Commenting about the federal debt to Paul Ryan in front of the Budget Committee while representing the White House: "You are right to say we're not coming before you today to say 'we have a definitive solution to that long term problem.'  What we do know is, we don't like yours."

Occupy Wall Street - Occupy is officially starting a PAC, which will enable them to raise money for or against candidates and to provide information about legislation and ballot initiatives. Isn’t this no different from Wall Street funneling millions into political campaigns?

2012 Election - President Obama raised $29 million in January for his campaign and the Democratic Party. His total combined fundraising for his re-election bid now tops $250 million.

Fast and Furious - Obama is proposing to remove a provision from the 2013 spending bill that would make it illegal for the federal government to sell firearms with suspected criminals.

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Obama's Lowlights (2/23/12)

Obama Budget – He proposed huge budget increases in community college programs, the Arab Spring countries, and highway construction. The budget calls for $1.3 trillion in deficit spending next year, including $350 billion in spending on jobs programs and $476 billion in infrastructure projects. The budget plans to raise $1.5 trillion in added tax revenue over the next decade largely from higher taxes on wealthier Americans (along with other bad ideas such as eliminating tax exempt status for municipal bonds). The budget also calls for $360 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. In fact, most of what Obama proposes in his current budget are things that have failed to pass in the past – it is purely a political budget. To make matters worse, the White House relies on rosier economic forecasts than the CBO in the budget proposal. In 2012 and 2013, the White House uses growth numbers of 2.7 percent and 3 percent, whereas the CBO has projected 2.2 percent and 1 percent growth during those years.

Samuel L. Jackson – Unfortunately, Jackson is the same angry man he portrays in most of his movies as he is in real life. In a recent interview in Ebony Magazine, Jackson admits he voted for Obama solely because he is black and then accused Americans of being racist in a rant where he used the N word 4 times.

Iran – According to Reuters Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks, but the U.S. Navy can prevent it by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region said. In other news, Israel also claims that Iran is behind recent terrorist attacks in India, Indonesia, and Georgia.

Quote of the Week: “I do whatever Michelle and Joe Biden tell me to do” said Obama in a recent campaign stop.

Occupy Movement - Film director Stephen K. Bannon is bringing us an in-depth look at who the Occupy Movement really is and what their goals are in "Occupy Unmasked." The truth is, the Occupy movement is violent, anti-American, anti-law enforcement and willing to do whatever it takes to infringe on the free speech and property rights according to Bannon.

Gay Marriage – Gay marriage got a big boost this week when New Jersey legislation made it legal. However, Governor Chris Christie is expected to veto the bill.

Cost Savings Enhancement Act - "Under current law, agencies are required to spend all of the money they are allocated and have no incentive to identify areas in the budget where savings could be found," Senator Rand Paul said. "When this occurs, federal agencies with a surplus of funds must rush to spend the funds before the end of the fiscal year, often on unnecessary purchases." The Cost Savings Enhancement Act is supported by Citizens Against Government Waste and Americans for Prosperity. The Act creates an employee suggestion program under which federal workers would get as much as $10,000 if their suggestions for trimming are adopted. This bonus policy system for identifying cost savings measures is no different than how private sector businesses operate.

Genesis – Genesis is a solar company in California which may be the next Solyndra. Genesis received 825 million in federal funding and the company is struggling to meet deadlines and is getting pressure from outside influences, including environmentalists and Native Americans, to seize opperation because the solar farm is being built on federal lands.

Voter System – According to Politico the United States’ voter registration system is in chaos — about 24 million registrations are no longer valid and nearly 2 million dead people are still on voter rolls, according to a new report this past week.

Video Game Czar - Constance Steinkuehler, a professor from University of Wisconsin whose appointment as “Senior Policy Analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology” constitutes, in the admiring words of USA Today, “one of the most unconventional White House hires in recent memory.” She’s supposed to use her presidential appointment to promote development of “big, save the world” video games.

Nuclear Weaponry – Obama wants to reduce the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal by 80%.

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Obama's Lowlights (2/20/12)

Climate and Weather – From Good Morning America: Is global warming throwing our weather out of whack? Scientists tell us there's no easy, blanket answer. The bottom line is that the evidence can be strong or weak, depending on the type of weather. That, admit researchers, can be confusing to anyone looking for a clear answer.

Earmarks – The Washington Post has conducted a study revealing that 33 members of Congress earmarked more than $300 million for projects within two miles of land they own. As Elizabeth Warren says “Bringing home earmarks is part of the job”.

Shyness - Shyness could soon be classified as a mental illness, according to new studies. It seems everyone needs an excuse to be irresponsible and dependent on prescription drugs.  

FEMA - The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last week that it is rolling out a plan to waive debts for many victims of Hurricane Katrina and other disasters who may have mistakenly received millions of dollars in aid.

Lawsuit of the Week - A Staten Island mom made national headlines this past week after suing the city of West Brighton for $900 trillion, alleging the city improperly placed her two children in foster care.

Planned Parenthood – Executive Angie Murie said she had no problem with gender based abortions. How’s that for sticking up for women’s rights?

Nuclear Power – Good news, the nation's first new nuclear power plant in a generation won approval this past week as federal regulators voted to grant a license for two new reactors in Georgia.

Education – Obama has granted waivers to 10 states for more lenient enforcement of “No Child Left Behind” legislation.

Housing Market – Congress passed a 25 billion dollar bailout to help prevent future foreclosures.

Move On - First lady Michelle Obama said this past week that poor nutrition in the military was a "national security issue."

ObamaCare / Contraception Mandate – Under increased scrutiny from religious groups, Obama announced that the contraception mandate rule would be tweaked, so in cases where non-profit religious organizations have objections, their insurance companies will be required to reach out to employees and offer the coverage directly.

Ray Nagin – The former New Orleans mayor is under investigation as to whether he received favors or items of value from vendors to the city in return for contracts they received while Nagin was in office.

Obama Budget Proposal - Obama expects the federal budget deficit to reach $1.33 trillion this year (higher than the CBO estimate), administration officials said this past week, the fourth straight year of trillion-dollar deficits. ABC news says “The White House is focusing on re-election themes such as jobs and public works projects in Obama's new budget blueprint while relying on familiar but never enacted tax increases on the wealthy and corporations to reduce future deficits after four years of trillion dollar-plus shortfalls.”

Greece - Tens of thousands of government dependent Greeks gathered this past week near the country’s Parliament as lawmakers voted on a tough austerity package sought by lenders.

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Obama's Lowlights (2/16/12)

Florida – A proposed bill will forbid citizens from using food stamps to buy sweets. The law would also restrict ATMs where food stamps can be redeemed.

Egypt - Ignoring a stern U.S. threat, Egypt this past week referred 43 NGO workers, including 19 Americans, to trial before a criminal court for allegedly using illegal foreign funds to foment unrest.

Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) – CPAC was actively protested by the Occupy DC movement which was set up by the AFL-CIO union head.

Energy Tax Credits - Last week, Senators Jim Demint (R-South Carolina) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the Energy Freedom and Economic Prosperity Act (EFEPA), a bill to repeal all energy-specific tax credits.

Health Records – Since the conversion to electronic medical records began there has been nearly a 100% increase in health data breeches.

Ginsburg - "I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012," Ginsburg said in an interview this past week.

Quotes – "What's frustrated people is that I've not been able to implement every aspect of what I said in 2008. Well, it turns out our Founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes. But what we have been able to do is move in the right direction” said Obama in an interview with Matt Lauer. “Handing airport screening duties to private companies could result in another terrorist attack like Sept. 11,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said last week.

Occupy DC - Authorities say 11 people have been arrested in Washington's McPherson Square since Park Police began clearing away tents from one of the nation's last remaining Occupy sites. David Schlosser, who is a spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said that one of those arrested was charged with felony assault on a police officer and assault with a deadly weapon. That person is accused of hitting an officer in the face with a brick Saturday evening. The officer was treated at a hospital. Three others were charged with assault on a police officer.

Joe Biden – He admitted in a speech this past week that government subsidies have worked to raise college tuitions. Imagine that, Joe saying something that actually makes sense.

Free Speech – Remember Obama chastising the Supreme Court in his 2011 SOTU address over their ruling on Citizens United? Now all of the sudden, Obama is in favor of Super PAC’s. This from ABC’s Jake Tapper “In a conference call with members of President Obama's 2012 reelection committee this past week, campaign manager Jim Messina announced that donors should start funding Priorities USA, the Democratic Super PAC run by two former White House staffers, Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney.

Obama Occupy Fundraiser – Obama held a fundraiser for Occupy sympathizers – Event tickets cost as much as 38,500 dollars. This is just more hypocrisy.

Birth Control - Students at Shippensburg University will now be able to get Plan B, the morning after pill, from vending machines on campus. 

Gay Marriage - In a 2-1 ruling on Tuesday, the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned “Prop 8”, which banned same-sex marriages in California.

ObamaCare – The legislation has a provision that will force companies (more than 50 employers) to provide a room (cannot be a restroom) for women to breast feed their children.

Planned Parenthood – The organization made 164 million dollars on abortions this past year.

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Obama's Lowlights (2/13/12)

Economy – Some good news for Obama: the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent while 243,000 new jobs were created in January. But then Obama had the audacity to warn Congress not to “muck up” the recovery.

Planned Parenthood – The Susan G Komen foundation has ended its funding to the controversial organization. The foundation then caved to Democrats who were furious over this, but Planned Parenthood itself doesn't even do breast screenings by its own admission, it only "connects" women to entities that do provide cancer screenings and mammograms.  In other news, a day after NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made a $250,000 gift to Planned Parenthood, the city’s teachers’ union is answering the mayor’s call for matching donations with a $125,000 gift of its own.

Housing Market - Obama called on Congress to approve a $5 billion to $10 billion effort to help U.S. homeowners refinance as part of a wider package of proposals to shore up the depressed housing market. Obama had sketched out the proposals in his State of the Union address last week, including a tax on banks to pay for the plan that Republicans quickly rejected.

Afghanistan - A growing number of attacks by Afghan troops on U.S. and NATO forces is raising questions as Afghanistan prepares to take more responsibility for security. In other news, the Pentagon’s monthly spending in Afghanistan dipped (due to troop reduction) to $5.3 billion in October and November, down from an average of $7.8 billion a month in the fiscal year that ended in September, according to data compiled by the Defense Department comptroller’s office.

California – The state will officially run out of cash next month. They are reporting a 21 billion dollar deficit on a 90 billion dollar budget.

Class Act - By a vote of 267-159, the House of Representatives voted to overturn the Class Act, a long-term care provision of Obamacare that would have become a budgetary nightmare.

National Prayer Breakfast – Obama cites scripture to defend his policies, saying God is on his side of isle.

NY Times - The New York Times Company suffered a net loss of almost $40 million in 2011, with its fourth quarter profits falling by 12.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2010.

Stimulus 2 – Speaking to Virginia firemen Obama proposed a new conservation program that would put veterans to work rebuilding trails, roads and levees on public lands. He's also expected to announce the administration will seek additional grant money for programs that allow local communities to hire more police officers and firefighters.

Heath Shuler – The North Carolina Democrat will retire after completing his term this year. This is a very winnable seat for the GOP.

Federal Budget - Senate Democratic leaders on Friday said they do not intend to bring a fiscal 2013 budget up for a floor vote. "We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year — it's done, we don't need to do it," said Harry Reid. It has already been over 1000 days since the Senate officially passed a budget.

Iran - The U.S. and Israel are publicly disagreeing over timing for a potential attack on Iran’s disputed nuclear facilities, as that nation’s leader said it won’t back down. The U.S. and Israel have a “significant analytic difference” over estimates of how close Iran is to shielding its nuclear program from attack, Aaron David Miller, a former Mideast peace negotiator in the Clinton administration said.

Occupy DC - The police used barricades to cordon off sections of McPherson Square, a park under federal jurisdiction near the White House, and checked tents for mattresses and sleeping bags and sifted through piles of garbage and other belongings. Some wore yellow and white biohazard suits to guard against diseases identified at the site in recent weeks. Officials also have raised concerns about a rat infestation.

Syria - Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution backing calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, despite international outrage this past week over a devastating bombardment of the city of Homs by his regime's forces.

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Obama's Lowlights (2/9/12)

Pentagon - The Pentagon unveiled a 2013 budget plan that would cut $487 billion in spending over the next decade by eliminating nearly 100,000 ground troops. 

Entitlements - Dependence on entitlement programs continues to soar under President Obama. The number of food stamp recipients is up 45 percent since he took office, while the number of people receiving a government benefit of any kind is up 44 percent. 

Europe - Fitch Ratings downgraded the debt of Italy, Spain and three other countries that use the euro this past week, a possible setback as European leaders work to contain the continent’s debt crisis.

Elizabeth Warren - Warren says she is not part of the 1%. “I realize there are some wealthy individuals – I’m not one of them, but some wealthy individuals who have a lot of stock portfolios" she proclaimed. Hard to see how Warren wouldn't be, by most standards, wealthy, according to the Personal Finance Disclosure form she filed to run for Senate shows that she's worth as much as $14.5 million. She earned more than $429,000 from Harvard last year alone for a total of about $700,000, and lives in a house worth $5 million.

Occupy Movement – More trouble in Oakland as nearly 200 protestors were arrested this past week. Part of their activity included burning the American Flag. And what’s worse, a 15-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his adoptive parents after reportedly arguing with them over how much time he was spending at an Occupy protest camp. Robert Kamin, 55, and Susan Poff, 50, were found strangled under blankets in a car outside their home in Oakland, California. In other news, the World Social Forum wrapped up a five-day meeting in Brazil, urging citizens to "take to the streets on June 5" for the global action, which would be in support of social and environmental justice.

Fast and Furious – New documents reveal that Holder was indeed aware of the operation the day Agent Terry was killed.

Quotes – Bill Maher over the Obama / Brewer exchange: “This kind of thing happens when we allow Negroes to Read”. Obama on GOP: “We weren’t sent her to wage perpetual campaigns”.

ObamaCare - The Department of Health and Human Services has issued an edict that, under ObamaCare, effectively all employers will be FORCED to offer health insurance that covers subsidized contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs.  

Freddie Mac - A recent investigation (NPR) into trades made by the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant shows that while Freddie with one hand is helping consumers get mortgages, it is, with its other, making those mortgages harder to refinance.

Biden – Not surprising, but Biden advised against the Bin Laden raid.

CBO - The Congressional Budget Office this past week predicted the budget deficit will rise to $1.08 trillion in 2012.  The CBO also projected the jobless rate would rise to 8.9 percent by the end of 2012, and to 9.2 percent in 2013. Also, the Congressional Budget Office found that federal workers are compensated 16 percent more than comparable private-sector workers on average. 

Arizona Union Bill – According to the Arizona Republic there is a new union bill that would make it illegal for government bodies to collectively bargain with employee groups. Public safety unions would be included in the ban. It would also end the practice of automatic payroll deductions for union dues and ban compensation of public employees for union work.

Insider trading - By a 93-2 vote, the Senate passed legislation this past week that “would require disclosure of new stock transactions on the Internet within 30 days and explicitly prohibit members of Congress from initiating trades based on non-public information they acquired in their official capacity,” the AP reports.

Unions - Private-sector unionization continues to decline. Only 6.9 percent of workers in the private sector are union members.

Marijuana – According to Reuters efforts to legalize marijuana for recreational use are gaining momentum in Washington State and Colorado, despite fierce opposition from the federal government and a decades-long cultural battle over America's most commonly used illicit drug.

Iran – According to ABC Five men arrested in November in connection with a plot to blow up the only bridge connecting the island of Bahrain with Saudi Arabia and to assassinate Bahraini politicians are allegedly tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and reportedly received military training in Syria, according to information leaked to the media by authorities.

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Obama's Lowlights (2/6/12)

Interest Rates – The Federal Reserve announced it is unlikely that they will increase interest rates before 2014.

Taxes – From the AP: President Barack Obama’s Democratic allies in the Senate promised Wednesday to press ahead this year with legislation drawn from his plans to require millionaires pay at least 30 percent in taxes and curb tax preferences for companies that ship jobs overseas. Also, A new report from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama's executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. Is this part of Obama’s fairness?

USDA – The Washington Post announced “School cafeterias will be serving more-nutritious meals with twice as many fruits and vegetables, more whole grains and less sodium and fat under new Department of Agriculture guidelines that will revamp the federally-backed school meals program for the first time in 15 years.”

Prison – From ABC News: A convicted murderer on death row in North Carolina wrote a taunting letter to his hometown newspaper about his life of "leisure" in prison and making a mockery of the legal system. Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. was found guilty of murdering 17-year-old Heather Catterton in 2009 and was sentenced to death on Nov. 18, 2011.

Florida Homeless – As reported by the Miami Herald, state legislators have unearthed an obscure law that has not been enforced since it was adopted in 1988. It states that any ballpark or stadium that receives taxpayer money shall serve as a homeless shelter on the dates that it is not in use.

Warren Buffet’s Secretary – Mrs. Bosanek was the center of attention (aka poster child) during Obama’s SOTU address for paying a higher tax rate then her billionaire boss. Forbes Magazine concluded that Bosanek made somewhere between 200 and 500 thousand dollars in 2009. Don’t you feel sorry for her?

Jan Brewer – The Arizona Governor and Obama got in a heated exchange on the Phoenix airport tarmac. Obama initiated the exchange and finished it by walking away to avoid discussing the stark differences between the administration and Arizona policy.

Hillary Clinton / Tim Geithner – Clinton will step down from her Secretary of State post and Geithner will step down from the head of the FED after this term.

Social Conservatives – “Research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.” I would really like to see this data!

North Carolina – Embattled Democratic governor Beverly Purdue will not seek reelection this year. Also, Democratic congressman Brad Miller will retire at the end of the year. Both of these vacancies are very winnable for the GOP come November.

Economy – 2011 was the worst year on record for new home sales and fourth quarter GDP only hit 2.8%.

Ener1 – The battery manufacturer is the latest “green” company to go belly up after receiving 118 million in stimulus funding from the Department of Energy.

Higher Education - President Barack Obama announced this past week a plan to shift some federal dollars away from colleges and universities that don't control tuition costs and new competitions in higher education to encourage efficiency as part of an effort to contain soaring college costs. It was exactly this type of federal interference in our grade school system that led directly to its decay and lack of global competitiveness.

Keystone Pipeline - A senior Democratic congressman (Henry Waxman) likened Republican lawmakers to terrorists this past week for their insistence on tying approval of construction of a new oil pipeline to must-pass legislation.

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Obama's Lowlights (2/2/12)

Roe v. Wade – Obama says in a statement that the court's decision (Roe v. Wade) also makes clear that the government "should not intrude on private family matters." Yes, this from the man who is mandating health insurance and wants to control family wealth.

Gabrielle Giffords – The Arizona Congresswomen resigned a little more than a year after she was shot. Giffords recovery has been a remarkable story.

Human Rights - The United States and other Western governments must accept the new reality that Islamists have emerged to fill the power vacuum in the Arab world after a wave of popular uprisings, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report this past week. Now, that is irony!

TSA - U.S. Sen. Rand Paul was detained briefly by security at the Nashville airport when a scanner found an "anomaly" on his knee.

Obama – Leaked memos from the 2008 campaign shows that Obama (Mr. Civility) approved the character attacks against Hillary Clinton.

Oil Production - “President Obama has pursued a comprehensive energy strategy that has increased our domestic energy production, reduced our dependence on foreign oil to below 50 percent for the first time in 13 years and supported more than 224,000 clean energy jobs,” Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement. But what the White House fails to acknowledge is that U.S. oil production is up because of the efforts of his predecessors, not him. It takes years to see the effects of pro oil polices in terms of production.

Privacy - The Supreme Court ruled this past week that police must obtain a warrant before attaching a GPS tracker to a suspect's vehicle, voting unanimously in one of the first major cases to test constitutional privacy rights in the digital age.

Right to Work – Indiana passed a right to work bill (anti-union), which was protested by Democratic legislators who refused to show up to work.

Salon – Joan Walsh of Salon had this say “We have a really interesting case study in the Republican Party in these two candidates because Mitt is the candidate of vulture capitalism that hollowed out the middle class and represented and enriched the top one percent. But Newt is the face of the politics of resentment and racism and angry white male rage that let guys like Mitt do that to the economy.”

Romney – He released his income tax records and in the past two years he paid 6.2 million in taxes on 42 million dollars of income. This is a low effective tax rate because his income is based mostly on capital gains. However, the Romney’s donated 7 million to charities during the past two years. This is more charitable contributions than the cheap Pelosi, Reid, Obama, and Biden will donate in their lifetimes combined (and they too are all millionaires). Romney’s 2010 tax return was 500 pages long! This fact is even more troubling than the numbers in the return and a better reason why tax reform is needed.

Obama Drug Use – A few editorials this past week made a valid point – If Newt Gingrich’s divorce and marital issues are a chief concern for his qualifications to be president of the United States then so should Obama’s past history of drug use (which incidentally is a felony) and his affiliation to a rogue church.

Federal Budget – It has been 1000 days since Congress officially passed a federal budget.

Chevy Volt - According to numerous auto trade reports, a number of U.S. car dealerships are turning away the Chevy Volt due to safety concerns.

SOTU – Obama’s message last week in the SOTU address was: Fairness. When will politicians realize any government interference or intrusion into corporate or individual lives is never fair? It always favors one group of people or one industry over another (diversity, cap and trade, entitlements, and so forth).

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