January 26, 2012

Fox News Drifting Leftward?

By James Simpson

Cliff Kincaid at America's Survival has launched a call for Fox News to bring back Glenn Beck.

This announcement comes on the heels of troubling revelations about Beck's firing and other disturbing trends at Fox.  It quickly got front-page coverage at the Huffington Post, presumably to launch a campaign of ridicule and smears before Kincaid's idea builds momentum.  No matter how much they sneer, the left is terrified of Beck.

Beck's firing was the work of George Soros, Kincaid has revealed.  Soros funded Color of Change, the organization founded by Van Jones that launched a boycott against Fox after Beck (really Trevor Loudon) outed Jones as a communist.  But Soros is also behind the groups Jewish Funds for Justice and Media Matters, both of which attacked Beck as an anti-Semite for his reporting about Soros' activities during WWII.  Soros admitted in a 1998 CBS 60 Minutes interview that as a teenager in Hungary, he had participated in the confiscation of Jewish properties but felt no guilt about it.

Beck's demise apparently came some time after an article, published by Jewish Funds for Justice President Simon Greer, criticized Beck for his exposé on Soros.  It was followed by a letter signed by hundreds of rabbis that was published in the Wall Street Journal demanding that Fox sanction Beck.  Writing in the Jerusalem Post about Beck's departure, Caroline Glick blamed "the liberal American Jewish establishment," who, she said:

... rejected [Beck's] 'outspoken attacks on George Soros,' the 'extremist leftist anti-American and anti-Zionist global financier who has given more than $100 million to radical leftist groups.'

Fox now appears to be working with Soros.  The network recently hired the radical-left, openly lesbian Sally Kohn, formerly of the Soros-funded Center for Community Change.  The Center for Community Change received $5.8 million from Soros' Open Society Institute between 2004 and 2010.  Its former Board Chair is Cecilia Munoz, now President Obama's White House director for intergovernmental affairs.  Munoz is also a former National Council of La Raza vice president and former board member of the illegal immigrant advocacy group CASA de Maryland.  She has been pushing housing grants to illegals in her White House position.

Sally Kohn has been a frequent guest on leftwing MSNBC host Ed Shultz's Ed Show.  She is now a regular "Fox News Contributor."  Her worldview is evident in an insufferably smug video where she explains her version of left and "right."  You guessed it: we're all Nazis.  She, on the other hand, is a "moderate."  Sure.  Now Fox will actually be paying someone to promote such stuff.

Yet despite Fox's compromises, or perhaps because of them, Soros is continuing his attacks.  Geraldo Rivera recently reported that a former ABC colleague, Lowell Bergman, now a professor at Berkeley, is heading up a Soros-funded operation to dig up dirt on Fox.  The radical-left ProPublica, which receives funding from Soros and Soros allies Herb and Marion Sandler and Peter Lewis, has teamed up with the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism to dig up dirt on News Corp. properties, including Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post.

In his call for Beck's return, Kincaid said:

Fox should stand up to Soros, not buckle under to his financial pressure. Fox News has been disintegrating since Soros-funded groups forced Glenn Beck off the air. His show was replaced by a program featuring Democratic Party hack Bob Beckel, who regularly insults conservatives.

It's time for Glenn Beck, now on Internet TV, to return to the cable channel so that he can continue his investigative journalism into the rapidly expanding influence of the Soros network of organizations. We urge Fox News CEO Roger Ailes to negotiate Beck's return at the earliest possible date.

Since its inception, Fox News has provided a much-needed change from the uniformly extreme-left bias of other cable and network TV news.  Fox sticks out like a sore thumb in the overwhelmingly liberal media spectrum.  But the modest voice conservatives enjoy on the nation's only non-radical-left news channel is vulnerable to political pressure.  The corporate parent News Corporation is under immense pressure in the United Kingdom over the cell phone-hacking scandal involving its now-closed News of the World tabloid.  The founder is aging, the presumptive heir is reportedly liberal, and none of the other cable news channels has moved to compete with FNC for the center-right majority.

The already unfavorable media environment for conservatives may look like the good old days all too soon.

Jim Simpson is a businessman, consultant, and freelance writer.  He publishes at American Thinker, Accuracy in Media, Big Government, Big Peace, Washington Times, WorldNetDaily, and others.  His regular column is DC Independent Examiner.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/fox_news_drifting_leftward.html#ixzz1koAiSVey

Good news: Obama’s dumb “Buffett Rule” budget gimmick would reduce the deficit by around … four percent

POSTED AT 9:57 PM ON JANUARY 27, 2012 BY ALLAHPUNDIT

  

What’s the saddest part of this? That The One is so desperate to demagogue Romney and the GOP as the party of the rich that he’d make a chump-change gambit like this the centerpiece of his budget agenda? Or that liberals are pretending to be impressed? Good lord, I hope they’re pretending.

The liberal outfit Citizens for Tax Justice expects $50 billion in new revenue from the Buffett Rule in year one. Other estimates peg the total take even lower. Remember, the feds spend north of $10 billion each day.

Republican lawmakers — noting the absence of real numbers — attacked the plan as a political charade, an attempt to score points in the November election instead of a serious policy to reduce federal debt. One outside analysis by the non-partisan Tax Foundation indicates the rule would generate another $36.7 billion a year in revenue — far from enough to make a serious dent in a national debt of $15 trillion.

“It’s a smokescreen,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) told POLITICO. “Barack Obama just wants to pit one group against another so he can raise more money to spend on a bloated government.”…

On average, someone hauling in $1 million a year might have fork over another $50,000 to Uncle Sam. That’s a sizable tab for individuals but not a lot for the government, said David Logan, an economist at the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank.

“It’s an insignificant revenue gain,” he said. “I view it more as a political tool than anything else, because it doesn’t raise enough revenue to dent the deficit or the debt.”

Curiously enough, the White House has been in no rush to release its own inevitably disappointing projection. $36.7 billion would reduce the projected deficit for 2012 by a tidy 3.8 percent — essentially a rounding error — but lefty Greg Sargent’sexcitement is palpable at the thought of Democrats forcing a high-profile floor vote in the Senate on the Buffett Rule to make Republicans squirm. The response to this will be, “Well, $50 billion’s better than nothing,” but that’s actually not true. It’s less healthy for the country to waste time on gimmicks like this, which sustain the fantasy of low-information voters that tax hikes on the rich can close the hole in the budget, than it would be for Obama to offer nothing and let the sense of crisis grow until Congress feels public pressure to act on mandatory spending. That’s the only real fix, of course, but reforming Medicare doesn’t get Obama any closer to his real goal of winning re-election whereas the “Buffett Rule,” a.k.a. the Romney Rule, does, so we’re going to jerk around with this red herring for months and months and months to come. Those priorities deserve a second term, no?

Here’s Reason editor Matt Welch with a better idea for how to make Warren Buffett a featured player in this debate.

  

Tags: Buffett rule, medicare, obama, rich, Taxes

SHOCK REPORT: TARP FRAUD GROWS, FEDS ADMIT TAXPAYERS ‘WILL NEVER GET BACK’ BILLIONS OF DOLLARS

• Posted on January 27, 2012 at 6:32am by  Becket Adams
• Print »
• Email »

• Comments (109)

Christy Romero, Deputy Special Inspector General and acting Special Inspector General for the federal bailout program known as TARP (SIGTARP.gov)

U.S. taxpayers are still owed nearly $133 billion that companies haven’t repaid from the financial bailout, according to a quarterly Special Inspector General Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) report. The report also states that as of December 31, 2011, the Treasury has “written off $4.2 billion and realized losses of$7.8 billion that the taxpayer will never get back,“ and that it ”predicts losses on other TARP investments.”

But perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, some programs were designed as a “Government subsidy with no return to taxpayers,” according to the report.

Of the $700 billion Congress authorized for the bailout of financial companies and automakers, also known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), approximately $413 billion has been lent. Of the $413 billion, the government has allegedly recovered about $318 billion, or about 77 percent of it, according to the Associated Press.

However, although 77 percent sounds pretty good, keep in mind that the TARP bailouts, which were launched at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008, will continue to exist for years.

According to SIGTARP report:

TARP programs that support the housing market and certain securities markets are scheduled to last until as late as 2017, and Treasury can spend an additional $51 billion on these programs during those years.

“TARP is not over,” Christy Romero, the acting special inspector general for the $700 billion bailout, said in a recent statement.

But perhaps even more troubling than the prospect of the continuation of the bailouts or the massive amounts of taxpayer dollars being “written off” is the fact that SIGTARP continues to uncover TARP-related fraud.

While the mainstream media has kept itself busy reporting that a large chunk of the TARP money has been returned, it has failed to report that the known instances of TARP-related fraud has increasedsince SIGTARP’s January 2011 report.

Consider the following [all emphases added]:

Jan. 2011: “As of December 31, 2010, SIGTARP had 142 ongoing criminal and civil investigations…”
Jan. 2012: “As of December 31, 2011, SIGTARP had more than 150 ongoing criminal and civil investigations…”

Jan. 2011: There were “criminal convictions of 13 defendants for fraud”
Jan. 2012: There were “criminal convictions of 31 defendants, of whom 22 have been sentenced to prison (others are awaiting sentencing)”

Jan. 2011: SIGTARP reported “civil or criminal actions against 45 individuals to date, including22 senior officers (Chief Executive Officers, owners, founders, or senior executives)”
Jan. 2012: SIGTARP reported “criminal actions against 61 individuals, including 45 senior officers (CEOs, owners, founders, or senior executives) of their organizations)”

Jan. 2011: There were 12 “civil cases naming…corporate entities as defendants”
Jan. 2012: There were 18 “civil cases naming…corporate or other legal entities as defendants…”

Now, to be clear, SIGTARP reports are released quarterly and the above is an annual comparison. However, whether it’s a matter of 3 or 12 months, the increase in known TARP fraud is still troublesome. And while it’s laudable that SIGTARP has prosecuted and convicted a good number of these financial thieves, it is unsettling to see that that number continues to grow with each report.

It would seem that FBI Director Robert Mueller was correct when he predicted that TARP fraud would become the “next wave of financial fraud cases.”

But before we get lost in these numbers, let’s revisit that part about companies who have yet to repay their debts. Who still owes?

“Among the largest bailed-out companies, American International Group Inc. [AIG] still owes taxpayers around $50 billion, General Motors Co. owes about $25 billion and Ally Financial Inc. about $12 billion,”  the AP reports.

General Motors Co. still owes about $25 billion? That’s odd. It seems that just yesterday someone was touting the Detroit auto manufacturer as the very model of economic success.

Where does that put us? Billions of taxpayer dollars “written off” and an increase in known instances of TARP fraud. Is there any other bad news in the SIGTARP report?

Actually, there is.

“Treasury bailed out companies in the form of loans. It converted its loans to some of the biggest recipients into common shares in those companies,” the AP reports. “Those shares are now trading below Treasury’s break-even prices.”

What does this mean?

“For Treasury to sell its stock in the largest recipients at the price where taxpayers would break even — $28.73 a share for AIG, $53.98 for GM — it could take years,” the AP reports.

Considering that AIG’s shares closed Thursday at $25.14 and GM ended at $24.72 (Ally isn’t publicly traded), the AP is probably correct.

“We’ll continue to balance the important goals of exiting our investments as soon as practicable and maximizing value for taxpayers,” Treasury spokesman Matt Anderson said.

While that’s supposed to sound reassuring, the bottom line is still this: billions of dollars have been “written off” by the Treasury, SIGTARP is uncovering more cases of TARP-related fraud, and it could take years for the Treasury to offload the stock from the biggest bailout recipients.

Read the Full SIGTARP report here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Michelle Obama's Africa Trip Cost More Than $424,142

October 4, 2011 RSS Feed Print

First lady Michelle Obama's family trip to South Africa and Botswana in June cost taxpayers well over $424,000, according to new accounting based on Air Force manifests obtained by Judicial Watch, a taxpayer watchdog group.

The use of Air Force aircraft alone for the June 21-27 trip cost $424,142, said the group, and that doesn't include the food, lodging, and ground transportation for the 21 family and staff members.

[See photos of the Obamas abroad.]

Judicial Watch said it based the jet costs on the Pentagon's hourly rates for the C-32A aircraft used for the trip. The documents don't give exact cost calculations, which is typical for presidential and first family trips.

The White House this afternoon disputed the costs calculated by Judicial Watch. "The number stated is misconstrued and out of context. The hourly rate is not the marginal cost of operation the plane - it is an accounting figure that prices in a number of fixed costs from maintaining the Air Force fleet for this kind of plane over a year," said an official. "For example, it includes estimated replacement parts, depreciation, repairs, and costs that would have been incurred regardless of this flight. Also, for security reasons Mrs. Obama must fly on military aircraft." Also, during her good-will mission, the first lady attended five to seven official events daily.

Obama is like many first ladies, spending summers traveling on good-will missions, sometimes with family and friends. On the June trip, during which she was accompanied by her daughters and mother, the first lady urged young people to engage with their governments and she pushed her education and wellness agenda. They also took a safari in South Africa, well known for its beautiful Lion King-like settings.

The costs of the trips have often won media scorn, as did her trip to Spain the previous summer.

[See photos of Michelle Obama.]

But presidential experts say that the value of first lady visits is priceless, especially in cases like Obama's to Africa where the first family has special ties and where the president has been pursuing a personal agenda, especially in Kenya, the home of his father.

Here is a link to the Judicial Watch files and their release:

Charges for the Aircraft and Crew Alone Amount to $424,142

Contact Information:

Washington, DC -- October 4, 2011

Judicial Watch, the organization that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained mission expense records and passenger manifests from the United States Air Force related to the June 21-27, 2011, trip taken by First Lady Michelle Obama, her family and her staff to South Africa and Botswana. Judicial Watch obtained the documents pursuant to an August 19, 2011, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Air Force (No. 11-1496)). Judicial Watch is investigating the purpose and itinerary of the trip as well as a breakdown of the costs to taxpayers.

On June 28, 2011, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA request seeking the mission taskings, transportation records, and passenger manifests for Michelle Obama's Africa trip. Documents were only provided after Judicial Watch filed suit:

• According to U.S. Department of Defense's published hourly rates for the C-32A aircraft used for the trip, Judicial Watch calculated the total cost to American taxpayers was $424,142 for use of the aircraft (34.8 flight hours x $12,188 per hour). (The C-32 is a specially configured military version of the Boeing 757.) Other expenses - meals (off the plane), transportation, security, various services, etc. - have yet to be disclosed.

• The passenger manifests confirm the presence of Obama's daughter's, Malia and Sasha on the trip. The two girls are listed as "Senior Staff." The manifests also list Mrs. Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, and niece and nephew, Leslie and Avery Robinson, as well Mrs. Obama's makeup and hairstylist (Carl Ray and Johnny Wright).

• The expense records also show $928.44 was spent for "bulk food" purchases on flight. Overall, during the trip, 192 meals were served for the 21 passengers on board.

The professed purpose of Michelle Obama's trip to South Africa and Botswana was to encourage young people living in the two growing democracies to become involved in national affairs; and during her scheduled stops in Pretoria and Cape Town, South Africa and in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, the First Lady used the opportunity to speak on education, health and wellness issues.

The trip also included such tourist events as visits to historical landmarks and museums, plus a nonworking chance to send time with Nelson Mandela, a meeting that Mrs. Obama described as "surreal." The trip ended with a private family safari at a South African game reserve before the group returned to Washington on June 27.

"This trip was as much an opportunity for the Obama family to go on a safari as it was a trip to conduct government business," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "This junket wasted tax dollars and the resources of our overextended military. No wonder we had to sue to pry loose this information."

Previously, Judicial Watch uncovered that the First Couple's 2009 "date night" trip to New York for dinner and a Broadway show cost taxpayers over $11,000 in Secret Service costs alone.

Expensive massages, top shelf vodka and five-star hotels: First Lady accused of spending $10m in public money on her vacations

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Created 3:33 PM on 24th August 2011

• Comments (199)
• Share

The Obamas' summer break on Martha's Vineyard has already been branded a PR disaster after the couple arrived four hours apart on separate government jets.

But according to new reports, this is the least of their extravagances.

White House sources today claimed that the First Lady has spent $10million of U.S. taxpayers' money on vacations alone in the past year.

Expensive taste: Michelle Obama, pictured yesterday in Massachusetts, has been accused of spending $10m of public money on vacations

Branding her 'disgusting' and 'a vacation junkie', they say the 47-year-old mother-of-two has been indulging in five-star hotels, where she splashes out on expensive massages and alcohol.

 

More...

• Revealed: How Obama goes hobnobbing with friends and donors while on Martha's Vineyard family holiday
• Michelle Obama shows up her husband in tiny purple bike shorts as the President lags behind in jeans
• Nothing like a world of porn kings and gangsters to take your mind off things... Obama gets stuck into his holiday reading amidst global turmoil
• Get Mrs Obama's sense of style with MailLife.co.uk
• 
  

The 'top source' told the National Enquirer: 'It's disgusting. Michelle is taking advantage of her privileged position while the most hardworking Americans can barely afford a week or two off work.

'When it's all added up, she's spent more than $10million in taxpayers' money on her vacations.'

His and her jets: The President and his wife, who are spending nine days on Martha's Vineyard, have come under fire for travelling on separate planes

The First Lady is believed to have taken 42 days of holiday in the past year, including a $375,000 break in Spain and a four-day ski trip to Vail, Colorado, where she spent $2,000 a night on a suite at the Sebastian hotel.

And the first family's nine-day stay in Martha's Vineyard is also proving costly, with rental of the Blue Heron Farm property alone costing an estimated $50,000 a week.

The source continued: 'Michelle also enjoys drinking expensive booze during her trips. She favours martinis with top-shelf vodka and has a taste for rich sparking wines.

'The vacations are totally Michelle's idea. She's like a junkie. She can't schedule enough getaways, and she lives from one to the next - all the while sticking it to hardworking Americans.'

Travelling in style: Mrs Obama during her $375,000 trip to Spain last year

 

High security: Bodyguards surround the First Lady and youngest daughter Sasha as they take a stroll on the Costa del Sol

While the President and his wife do pay for some of their personal expenses from their own pocket, the website whitehousedossier.com says that the amount paid by the couple is 'dwarfed by the overall cost to the public'.

The magazine also reported that Mrs Obama, whose fashion choices are widely followed, had been going on 'wild shopping sprees', much to the distress of her husband, who, its sources reveal, is 'absolutely furious' at his wife's 'out-of-control spending'.

The President has already come under fire this week over his decision to take a family vacation while millions of Americans are out of work and countless more are financially strapped.

Luxury break: The President and his family, pictured in December, splashed out more than $1.5million on a Christmas holiday in Hawaii

'Winter White House': The property in Kailua cost $38,000 to rent

But the situation sparked further anger after he and his wife elected to fly separately to the Massachusetts retreat - despite travelling on the same day.

Mr Obama left the White House aboard Marine One on his way to Andrews Air Force base to hitch a lift aboard Air Force One - along with First Dog Bo.

After landing at Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station, he then took a final helicopter to his holiday destination to complete the remarkable 500-mile journey.

His wife and daughters, who arrived just four hours earlier, were also travelling from Washington, but took a specially designed military aircraft.

They would also have had their own motorcade from the airport to the vacation residence.

FIRST LADY OF LUXURY TRAVEL: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE OBAMAS' LAVISH GETAWAYS OVER THE PAST 12 MONTHS

GIRLS' TRIP TO SPAIN: AUGUST 2010

The exact cost is unclear as Mrs Obama and her 40 friends footed many personal expenses, such as hotels and meals themselves.

But the U.S. taxpayer would have paid for the First Lady's 68-strong security detail, personal staff, and use of presidential jet Air Force Two.

Per diems for the secret service team runs at around $281 each - nearly $98,000 for the length of the summer break.

Use of Air Force Two, the Air Force version of a 757, comes in at $149,900 for the round trip. This does not include time on the ground.

Mrs Obama's personal staff, of which there are an unknown amount and might cost considerably more per day, should also be taken into account.

CHRISTMAS BREAK IN HAWAII: DECEMBER 2010

According to the Hawaii Reporter, the bill for the $1.5m trip included:

• $63,000 on an early flight bringing Mrs Obama and the children to Hawaii ahead of the President.
• $1,000,000 on Mr Obama’s return trip from Washington on Air Force One.
• $38,000 for the ‘Winter White House’ beach property rental.
• $16,000 to rent nearby homes for Secret Service and Navy Seals.
• $134,000 for 24 White House staff to stay at the Moana Hotel.
• $251,000 in police overtime.
• $10,000 for an ambulance to be on hand at all times 

SKI TRIP TO VAIL: FEBRUARY 2011

Mrs Obama and her daughters stayed at the Sebastian hotel on Vail Mountain, where rooms cost more than $2,400 for multi-bedroom suites.

The family appear to have flown there on Air Force Two.

They were escorted to the resort by a motorcade of about a dozen vehicles, including 15 state and local law enforcement officers

SUMMER HOLIDAY ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD: AUGUST 2011

The Blue Heron Farm estate, where the Obama family are currently staying, rents for about $50,000 a week.

According to U.S. News and World Report, the Coast Guard is required to keep ships floating near the property, the presidential helicopter and jet remain at the ready and security agents will be on 24-hour duty.

 

Share this article:

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2029615/Michelle-Obama-accused-spending-10m-public-money-vacations.html#ixzz1kefIazYd