How convenient, Obama just ordered ICE to halt all deportations less than two weeks ago.

FRAMINGHAM, Massachusetts (AP) — President Barack Obama’s uncle was stopped on suspicion of drunken driving, told police he planned to arrange bail through the White House and was being held without bail on an immigration detainer, authorities said Monday.

Onyango Obama was arrested last week in Framingham, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Boston, after police said he made a rolling stop through a stop sign and nearly caused a cruiser to strike his sport utility vehicle.

Police said that after being booked at the police station, Obama was asked whether he wanted to make a telephone call to arrange for bail.

“I think I will call the White House,” he stated, according to a police report filed in Framingham District Court.

Police said Obama, who’s originally from Kenya and is the half-brother of the president’s late father, pleaded not guilty Friday and was being held without bail on a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a court document, ICE said he had an earlier deportation or removal order.

His immigration status couldn’t immediately be confirmed, but such orders are generally reserved for people living in the country illegally.

An immigration detainer, used by ICE to identify people in jail or prison who could be deported, is a request to another law enforcement agency to notify ICE before releasing the person from custody so ICE can arrange to take over custody.

Sweet.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are applying a search and destroy tactic to international funding for global warming this budget season. It goes like this: Ax any line items with the words “climate change.”

Their primary targets are a pair of crucial United Nations initiatives designed to slow warming worldwide and educate policymakers about the evolving science of climate change.

On the chopping block for 2012 are millions in funding for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading scientific advisory body on global warming. The IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Vice President Al Gore in 2007, and governments often use its periodic reviews of climate risks to set targets for reducing carbon emissions.

The GOP-led effort would also cut all U.S. funding for the 19-year-old U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the main forum for the global effort to limit emissions of heat-trapping gases. UNFCCC climate treaty talks are mired in longstanding rich-poor rifts and mistrust of the United States for its refusal to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and accept binding emissions limits.

Those who support the cutbacks say they are a sign of severe belt-tightening times. But critics say Republicans are using the budget crisis to hide their loathing of any kind of climate initiative.

Even though eliminating funding for IPCC and UNFCCC has little chance of gaining traction in the Democrat-majority Senate, some worry that the negative messages these efforts are sending will reverberate around the globe and neuter this nation’s ability to lead on the climate front.

Or something.

Via Naked Emperor News

Are you effing kidding me?

WASHINGTON (NYT) — The White House has issued detailed guidelines to government officials on how to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, with instructions to honor the memory of those who died on American soil but also to recall that Al Qaeda and other extremist groups have since carried out attacks elsewhere in the world, from Mumbai to Manila.

The White House in recent days has quietly disseminated two sets of documents. One is framed for overseas allies and their citizens and was sent to American embassies and consulates around the globe. The other includes themes for Americans here and underscores the importance of national service and what the government has done to prevent another major attack in the United States. That single-page document was issued to all federal agencies, officials said.

After weeks of internal debate, White House officials adopted the communications documents to shape public events and official statements, and they sought to strike a delicate balance between messages designed for these two very important but very different audiences on a day when the world’s attention will be focused on President Obama, his leadership team and his nation.

The guidelines list what themes to underscore — and, just as important, what tone to set. Officials are instructed to memorialize those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and thank those in the military, law enforcement, intelligence or homeland security for their contributions since.

“A chief goal of our communications is to present a positive, forward-looking narrative,” the foreign guidelines state.

Copies of the internal documents were provided to The New York Times by officials in several agencies involved in planning the anniversary commemorations. “The important theme is to show the world how much we realize that 9/11 — the attacks themselves and violent extremism writ large — is not ‘just about us,’ ” said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal White House planning.

It’s almost like the CBC wants to start a race war.

Via The Blaze

The bill will also end all funding for Palestinian “refugees” and is being led by one of the most pro-Israel members of Congress GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

(Politico) — House Republicans are planning to introduce legislation Tuesday that will force major changes at the United Nations, an organization that the bill’s author has called a “stew of corruption, mismanagement and negligence.”

The bill, by Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, would require the UN adopt a voluntary budget model, in which countries selectively choose which UN agencies to fund.

The bill is expected to be introduced on Tuesday, and will also end funding for Palestinian refugees and limit the use of U.S. funds only to projects directly outlined by Congress.

An aide familiar with the legislation told Bloomberg News that shifting the UN budget to a voluntary system would encourage competition for funds and better performance from UN agencies.

Ros-Lehtinen’s leverage for change at the U.N. is the large amount of the international body’s budget that the American taxpayer has traditionally been responsible for. The United States pays 22 percent of the UN’s regular operations budget, and is assessed 27 percent of the peacekeeping budget. U.S. payments totaled $3.35 billion in 2010, of which $2.67 billion was spent on peacekeeping operations worldwide.

Keep reading…

Pretty much in line with every minority group the Dems pander to.

(Reuters) — A majority of U.S. Muslims are content with the nation’s direction in contrast to many Americans and few Muslims believe there is support for Islamic extremism here, a survey released on Tuesday found.

With the 10th anniversary of the al Qaeda attacks on New York and the Pentagon approaching, the Pew Research Center found that most Muslims felt ordinary Americans were friendly or neutral toward them.

In contrast to the majority of the general public dissatisfied with the nation’s direction, 56 percent of the estimated 2.75 million American Muslims said they are satisfied, the survey showed.

Two-thirds of those survey said the quality of life for Muslims in the United States is better than in most Muslim countries.

Muslim American attitudes toward terror attacks and al Qaeda had not changed much in four years, with 81 percent saying suicide bombings and other violence against civilians to defend Islam were never justified, with 1 percent saying it was often justified.

Only 5 percent had a somewhat or very favourable view of al Qaeda, with a growing majority of 70 percent holding very unfavourable views of the group.

The general level of satisfaction among American Muslims was reflected in the 76 percent who approved of Obama’s performance as president — nine out of 10 said they voted for the Democrat in 2008. Muslim support for Obama contrasts with unfavourable views of his Republican predecessor, George Bush.

You know it’s getting old when even MSM lapdogs like CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell are sick of the Obama blaming Bush for the craptastic economy.

Jay Carney: Since this President’s economic policies had a chance to take effect. There have been more than two million private sector jobs created, the economy has grown, albeit not at a pace that satisfies him or the Administration and that’s just a matter of absolute record and fact and indisputable. The fact is we inherited a terrible situation, a terrible economy.

CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Norah O’Donnell: You say he inherited the economy, at what point does it become his economy?

Jay Carney: Look, he’s responsible every day for this economy, he makes it clear. . . . But we’re climbing out of a terrible, great recession that this country has endured.

Via HAP

And this plan will end like the last one — in total failure.

(CNS News) — President Barack Obama, in an Aug. 29, 2010 interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, said he would propose a plan for jobs and economic growth when he returned from his summer vacation [in Martha’s Vineyard — ed.], the same claim he made after returning from his vacation this year.

“We anticipated that the recovery was slowing — the economy is still growing, but it’s not growing as fast as it needs to. I’ve got things right now before Congress that we should move immediately, and I said so before I went on vacation, and I’ll keep on saying it now that I’m back,” Obama told Williams when asked if he had a jobs plan.

“There are a whole host of measures we could take — no single element of which is a magic bullet — but cumulatively can start continuing to build momentum for the recovery,” he said.

The promise of a plan echoes a similar promise Obama made on Monday, saying that in the coming week he would present concrete proposals that would spur hiring and economic growth.

“Next week, I will be laying out a series of steps that Congress can take immediately to put more money in the pockets of working families and middle-class families, to make it easier for small businesses to hire people, to put construction crews to work rebuilding our nation’s roads and railways and airports, and all the other measures that can help to grow this economy,” Obama said on Monday at a Rose Garden ceremony for new Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Alan Krueger.

Keep reading…

Paul Krugman is smarter than us. Just ask him, he’ll tell you.

Republicans Against Science — NY Times, Paul Krugman

Jon Huntsman Jr., a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, isn’t a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And that’s too bad, because Mr. Hunstman has been willing to say the unsayable about the G.O.P. — namely, that it is becoming the “anti-science party.” This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us.

To see what Mr. Huntsman means, consider recent statements by the two men who actually are serious contenders for the G.O.P. nomination: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, recently made headlines by dismissing evolution as “just a theory,” one that has “got some gaps in it” — an observation that will come as news to the vast majority of biologists. But what really got peoples’ attention was what he said about climate change: “I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. And I think we are seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.”

That’s a remarkable statement — or maybe the right adjective is “vile.”. . .

And the deepening anti-intellectualism of the political right, both within and beyond the G.O.P., extends far beyond the issue of climate change.

Almost immediately after Mubarak was overthrown, the government lifted its ban on Egyptian Islamic Jihad (same group Ayman al-Zawahiri once presided over), which is now a legal political party that is running in the upcoming elections.

(MEMRI) — On August 13, 2011, the Egyptian daily Roz Al-Yousef published an interview[1] with Sheikh ‘Adel Shehato, a senior official in Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), who, on March 23, 2011, was freed from prison in the wake of the Egyptian revolution. He was imprisoned in 1991 upon returning from a three-year sojourn in Afghanistan.

In the interview, Shehato expressed complete opposition to democracy “because it is not the faith of the Muslims, but the faith of the Jews and Christians.” He said that although the youth of the Arab revolutions have not declared the implementation of shari’a as one of their goals, the mujahideen nonetheless identify with their aspiration to overthrow the Arab rulers, whom they had always considered “infidels who must be killed because they do not rule according to the shari’a.” He added, however, that “once Allah’s law is applied, the role of the people will end and Allah will reign supreme.” He went on to say that although he supports Al-Qaeda’s ideology, shari’a law would not be enforced by violence but by da’wa (preaching), whereas violence would be used only against the infidel Arab rulers.

Shehato said that if the mujahideen came to power in Egypt, they would launch a campaign of Islamic conquests aimed at subjecting the entire world to Islamic rule. Muslim ambassadors would be appointed to each country, charged with calling upon them to join Islam willingly, but if the countries refused, war would be waged against them. He also described the nature of the Islamic state to be established in Egypt: there would be no trade or cultural ties with non-Muslims; tourist sites at the pyramids, the Sphinx, and Sharm Al-Sheikh would be shut down “because the tourists come [there] to drink alcohol and fornicate,” and all tourists wishing to visit Egypt would be required to comply with the conditions and laws of Islam; all art, painting, singing, dancing, and sculpture would be forbidden, and all culture would be purely Islamic.

Keep reading…

He could give a crap less. The only thing Obama cares about is votes and veterans aren’t exactly his biggest supporters.

(Fox News) — The Veterans of Foreign Wars convention this week will not feature a top-tier official from the Obama administration, a breach in tradition that the group’s commander described as an “insult of the highest magnitude.”

However, an administration official claimed Monday that the White House made “every effort” to provide a speaker for the event, offering up a range of top officials.

“In all instances, the VFW declined those offers,” the official said.

The veterans group is accustomed to playing host to the nation’s most powerful people at its national conference. Obama addressed the VFW in 2009, followed by Vice President Biden in 2010.

But the 2-million strong VFW accused the administration of snubbing its members by not providing a “first-tier speaker” for the first time in VFW history.

“The VFW has had a long-standing tradition of inviting the sitting president to address our convention,” Richard Eubank, national commander of the organization, said in a statement, adding that the White House typically chooses a “high-level administration official” to speak if the president cannot attend.

“It is an insult of the highest magnitude that for the first time in the history of the VFW, the White House has apparently decided that this great and iconic organization of combat veterans and all of its members are not worthy of its notice by not at least offering a first-tier speaker from the administration.”

Even without the not-so-clever edit it sounds pretty clear to me, she said “wet people,” not “white people.”

This is how Wonkette spun it:

Here’s the doctored video they posted, note at the 12 second mark you can clearly see where the edit began:

Here’s the full clip where she says “Who likes wet people? Yeah, that’s right. Because we have the God of the winds and the rain don’t we?”

Via Yahoo! News:

An edited video that makes it appear as if Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann asked an Iowa crowd, “Who likes white people?” is quickly spreading around the Web. However, if you watch the full, unedited version of the video, it’s clear the Minnesota congresswoman said something very different.

Bachmann made a campaign stop at the Midwest Spirit Christian Music Festival on Aug. 5 in West Des Moines to give a speech about her Christian faith. It was raining during her the appearance, so when Bachmann took the stage, she asked, “Who likes wet people?” referring to the still-damp masses who stuck around for her talk.

“Yeah, that’s right. Because we have the God of the winds and the rain don’t we?” she said immediately after — a key phrasing that was edited out of the shorter clip. “We serve a mighty God.”

Assploding hypocrisy.

(NYP) — This one’s truly, uh. . . rich: Billionaire Warren Buffett says folks like him should have to pay more taxes — but it turns out his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, hasn’t paid what it’s already owed for years.

That’s right: As Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson notes, the company openly admits that it owes back taxes since as long ago as 2002.

“We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the US Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for the 2002 through 2004 tax years. . . within the next 12 months,” the firm’s annual report says.

It also cites outstanding tax issues for 2005 through 2009.

Obvious question: If Buffett really thinks he and his “mega-rich friends” should pay higher taxes, why doesn’t his firm fork over what it already owes under current rates?

Likely answer: He cares more about shilling for President Obama — who’s practically made socking “millionaires and billionaires” his re-election theme song — than about kicking in more himself.

Buffett’s free to back Obama, of course.

And if his firm wants to keep its tax bill low, well, that’s its right, too.

But it would be nice if this “pro-tax-hike” tycoon were a bit more honest about it.

Start, for example, with his grossly disingenuous recent claim that, as he wrote in The New York Times, he paid only 17 percent of his income last year to the government — even as many working stiffs who make far less than him coughed up higher percentages.

Fact is, unlike most other folks, Warren Buffett gets most of his income from dividends and capital gains, which are nominally taxed at 15 percent.

Keep reading…

I can almost hear the sound of liberals gnashing their teeth.

Via RCP:

NBC’s Jamie Gangel sits down with former Vice President Dick Cheney who opens up about the controversial programs he supported after 9/11 and why he and former President George W. Bush tell different stories on the war in Iraq.

Jamie Gangel, NBC News: “A conservative hero the his fans, Darth Vader to his critics, Cheney’s book is an unapologetic defense to his Vice Presidency and the controversial programs he’s championed after 9/11. In your view, we should still be using enhanced interrogation?”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney: “Yes.”

Gangel: “Should we still be waterboarding terror suspects?

Cheney: “I would strongly support using it again if we had a high-value detainee, that was the only way we could get him to talk.”

Gangel: “People call it torture. you think it should still be a tool?”

Cheney: “Yes.”

Gangel: “Rendition?”

Cheney: “Yes.”

Gangel: “Secret prisons?”

Cheney: “Yes.”

Gangel: “Wiretapping?”

Cheney: “Well, with the right approval.”

Gangel: “You say it is one of the things you are proudest of and you would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Cheney: “It was controversial at the time. It was the right thing to do.”

Gangel: “No apologies?”

Cheney: “No apologies.”

Keep reading (w/video)…

JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Palestinians in Gaza have acquired anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets from Libya during its six-month civil war, enlarging but not significantly improving their arsenal, Israeli officials said on Monday.

While the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi has stirred concern abroad about the fate of Libya’s aging chemical weapons stockpiles, Israel has no indication Hamas or other Palestinian factions have sought these, the officials said.

Instead, Israeli officials have detected an inflow of SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), said one official, describing an overland supply route that opened up between eastern Libya — after it fell to the rebels — and the Gaza Strip via Egypt.

“We’ve been seeing more SA-7s and RPGs coming across,” said the official. “It’s not a major qualitative enhancement for them.”

Will they sacrifice a human fetus on stage? Only time will tell.

(Chicago Sun-Times) — Feminist icon Gloria Steinem — the subject of a fascinating HBO documentary about her storied career — is teaming up with First Lady Michelle Obama and other key abortion rights activists to raise money for President Obama’s re-election drive.

The event, in New York on Sept. 20, offers a unique fund-raising and messaging opportunity for the Obama team.

Joining Steinem and Mrs. Obama will be Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, and Stephanie Schriock, named president last year of EMILY’s List, which supports politically viable abortion rights backing female Democratic candidates. Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who attends most major fund-raisers, will also be at the Park Ave. funder.

This will be the must-attend event for the New York area feminist crowd.

The Obama White House, some might say, has not sent a clear enough message to the womens community — about its accomplishments and what a GOP White House may mean for the cause. This type of event gives Mrs. Obama a chance to send a message in a loud and distinct voice. There have been attempts in the Republican controlled House to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding it uses to provide health services for women — not abortions.

Keep reading…

In related news, one in four Democrats are RACIST!

(Beltway Confidential) — A new poll by CNN and ORC International finds that 27 percent of Democrats would like to see their party nominate a candidate other than Barack Obama for president in 2012.

In response to the question, “Do you think the Democratic party should renominate Barack Obama as the party’s candidate for president in 2012, or do you think the Democratic party should nominate a different candidate for president in 2012?” — 72 percent said they wanted to see Obama renominated. But 27 percent, slightly more than one in every four, said they wanted to see Democrats nominate a different candidate. One percent had no opinion.

The poll was taken August 24–25. In a survey taken in early August, 28 percent of Democrats said they wanted a different candidate. Polls taken in July and before showed Obama in a stronger position, with no more than 22 percent saying they preferred a different candidate. The current poll is based on interviews with 463 Democrats and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

Weak.

(Politico) — Alabama’s tough new immigration law on Monday was temporarily put on hold by a federal judge.

Alabama’s toughest in the nation crackdown had originally been set to take effect Sept. 1, but had come under fire from several groups that filed lawsuits against the measure. Last week, U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn heard motions to block the contentious legislation, but did not issue a ruling.

According to the court order, the temporary hold was issued to give Blackburn additional time to address the challenges to the law. The hold will remain in effect until Sept. 29 at the latest, or until the court issues a ruling on the motions to block the law.

According to the temporary order, this move in no way addresses the merits of the motions or offers a reflection on a potential decision.

The order stated that Blackburn will issue detailed comments on the injunction motions no later than Sept. 28.

Multiple lawsuits — filed by the Obama administration, bishops from Alabama’s Catholic, United Methodist and Episcopal churches and civil rights groups including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union — were consolidated for the motions seeking a preliminary injunction against the measure.

The law is considered even tougher and more restrictive than Arizona’s and has several key features to deter illegal immigration, including allowing police officers to arrest anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant during a routine traffic stop, making it a crime to transport or rent to an illegal immigrant, and requiring schools to report the status of students.

Keep reading…