MSNBC's Programming Double Down - Up With Chris Hayes, Weekends

UP with Chris Hayes - ctrl-click image here to see a 9 minute and 14 second opinion piece conducted by Chris on Solyndra entitled - Why the Solyndra failure isn’t a “scandal”. Image Credit: thepoliticalcarnival.net



Here, at MAXINE, we are prone to fall asleep with the TV on. It is a habit groomed from a life with frequent travel and a desire to keep up with information that might be developing during the night ... if we happen to wake up. In the early ninties we had live reports from Gulf War I on CNN. The growth of Cable TV and Gulf War II just cemented this habit not to mention that once this process was embraced, every hotel room around the world was comfortable with the same type of background noise as a home bedroom no matter the outside ambient difference.

This morning, however, was a little different - Oh, to be rudely woken up to the sound of the voice of new TV opinion show host, Chris Hayes - a self-described Communitarian & Egalitarian ... read this as 60's radical socialist, as he puts forward his unchallenged logic followed by a cast of talking-heads that would make an echo chamber shatter was too much for a half-awake, personal-freedom focused 4:30am PT brain could take.

This penchant for some Cable TV "News" stations to construct a monolith of liberal talk shows with hosts who have a progressive agenda (examples - CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and Fareed Zakaria GPS - Global Public Square and author of "The Post-American World", MSNBC's Morning Joe ... that's pretty much it for this outlet) is not new, but most, at least try to bring a shadow of an alternative balance of opinion with the dais that joins the host in a discussion ... even if it is to only give another point of view the grace of being mentioned. Do not expect this on "UP, with Chris Hayes".

This excerpted and edited from The Huffington Post -

Chris Hayes, the Washington editor for "The Nation" and a longtime contributor to MSNBC, is getting a weekend morning show. Hayes made the news official on Twitter on Monday, and MSNBC released its official announcement shortly after.

The show starts on September 17. It will air on Saturdays from 7-9 AM and on Sundays from 8-10 AM. Alex Witt, MSNBC's regular weekend anchor, will see her show pushed back on both days. The launch of the show marks another attempt by MSNBC to successfully program weekends—something it has not been known for in the past.
[Reference Here]

The round table of talking-heads included:

Reihan Salam, Columnist - The Daily.com / National Review Online - Salam is an unorthodox conservative. He has written that he intends to "pump ideas into the bloodstream" of American conservatism." ... read this as a person who has very little problem with a big, bigger, biggest government approach and will consider looking into, and discussing changes in the Constitution. He advocates policies that strengthen traditional family structure but has supported gay marriage for years.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Princeton University International Affaires Professor - Former Director of Policy Planning for the United States Department of State in the Obama Administration from 2009-2011 (more on her POV below having to do with the petition by the Palestine Authority to become a recognized state by the United Nations).

Liliana Segura, Columnist - The Nation - this, from the About on her blog - I'm an independent journalist and editor with a focus on social justice, prisons & harsh sentencing.

Ezra Klien, Columinst - The Washington Post - In February 2007 Klein created a Google Groups forum called "JournoList" for discussing politics and the news media. The forum's membership was controlled by Klein and limited to "several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics."Posts within JournoList were intended only to be made and read by its members. Klein defended the forum saying that it "[ensures] that folks feel safe giving off-the-cuff analysis and instant reactions". JournoList member, and Time magazine columnist, Joe Klein added that the off-the-record nature of the forum was necessary because “candor is essential and can only be guaranteed by keeping these conversations private”.

Topics Covered:

Topic - The Politics Of Tax Raises - about 3 segments - Not one comment about the possibility that the size and scope of Federal Government ... ANY government ... might be too large and out of control on how it manages its charter and the spending of tax monies collected.

Topic - Killed By The State - at least 2 segments - A pure anti-death penalty discussion that surrounded the execution of Troy Davis. They lamented that this execution may not be a game-changer for the death penalty but they wanted it to become part of a growing conversation about ensuring that innocent people aren't killed or die in prison. A good question is - Why have a justice system with 12 jurors and several automatic judicial reviews and retrials before a sentence is carried out if there is no final justice ... the justice of a sentence carried out?

Topic - GOP 2012 - 1 segment focused on Perry's statement on immigration and heart. Actual citizenship of the United States did not seem to have any weight in this conversation at all. Further, it was stated and the view was shared by all sitting around the table that they were surprised that some in the audience of Conservatives would actually BOO soldiers in the military when some in the crowd gave a less than accepting response to a YouTube question about upholding the elimination of Don't Ask Don't Tell if they became President. None of these folks ever came to the conclusion that the Conservatives in the audience were booing the policy ... not the solider.

Topic - The State Of Palestine - Change in contributors - Anne-Marie Slaughter plus via remote, Diana Buttu The Dubai Initiative, Harvard University. Highlight - the former Obama State Department official, Slaughter, stated that the Palestine leadership had every right to ask the UN for a ruling on a declaration of Statehood / the Obama Administration has not been able to bring the parties to the table - the UN should not take the petition for a vote but use it to get the parties back to the negotiation table. - 1 segment

Topic - Israel & The GOP ... Word Cloud which had Israel as the largest word - derided as identity politics and as the only international relations topic covered in the debate, Reihan brings on the historic point of the previous Republican debates on the Panama Canal during the end of the Carter era ... Slaughter smiles with glee at the comparison and dilution of the topic through the linkage. - 1 segment

Topic - Update (a short segment on corrections in statements made on a previous show - this probably could at least be an hour of a show in itself if they actually understood what the definition of counterpoint was).

Topic - "Now We Know", subtitle - What We Do Know Now We Didn't Know A Week Ago - Highlights snark points about anything non-liberal like the Koch Brothers new increased ranking in the list of America's richest people ... right, no mention of the fact that George Soros also had an increase in ranking and broke into the top 10 for the first time since he has been on this list. Coming in at No. 7, Soros had a fortune of $22 billion after adding $7.8 billion to his net worth thanks to investments in gold and related securities as well as equities. Soros switched to cash in the spring, allowing him to preserve his gains and miss market turmoil caused by the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

END ... thank, God.

One more note in fairness - Fox News has a round table hour that replaced Glenn Beck called "The Five". This show has at least one committed Democrat liberal on the dais at all times.

Also - do not confuse political opinion shows that are headed by a single personality like Glenn Beck (who now has moved on from Fox News to internet subscription streaming with GBTV.com), Chris Matthews, Rachael Maddow, Bill O'Reilley, Sean Hannity, Larry O'Donnell, and the like because these are pure personality driven, subject exploration shows with some of these programs making it a point to interview people from all different points of view regardless of the POV of the personality.

Question: Why was the bedroom TV on MSNBC (BSLSD - self-explanatory) at all?

Answer: Must have rolled over on the remote and reset the channel.


(Article first published as MSNBC's Doubling Down - Up With Chris Hayes, Weekends at Technorati)

"Restoring Courage" - Glenn Beck Launches A Week Of Rally Events From Israel

Glenn Beck Launches "Restoring Courage" Week Of Rally Events From Israel - These photos are from the first night of events on Sunday 8-21-2011 [ctrl-click image above to see videos of event]. Image Credit: The Blaze


"Restoring Courage" - Glenn Beck Launches A Week Of Rally Events From Israel

Last year before the 2010 elections, those who were paying attention to movements in our American Culture were treated to an exhibition of the power of like-minded people gathering just to recognize and affirm that this American concept of self-rule was still alive.

Glenn Beck held a rally entitled "Restoring Honor" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, situated at one end of an area in Washington D.C. known as The Mall. On August 28, 2010, people came from all over the country to stand and listen to Glenn Beck and others talk about Restoring Honor and raise money for scholarships to be applied to the children left behind by their fathers who had died defending our country.

Glenn Beck Launches "Restoring Courage" Week Of Rally Events From Israel - These photos are from the first night of events on Sunday 8-21-2011. Image Credit: The Blaze

What was one of the most amazing elements of this Restoring Honor (honor equals TRUTH) rally is that it was estimated, through aerial photography of The Mall, that this crowd of like-minded people gathered around the Reflecting Pool and the adjacent open field was at least 500,000 people strong.

This year, Glenn Beck has taken his awareness show on the road, as it were, to Israel in the form of a week of themed presentation/rallies entitled "Restoring Courage". Glenn announced this effort soon after he split with Fox News and it is suspected that this world outreach effort may have been the main point of the split between the news channel and the one hour daily program they aired featuring Glenn Beck. Roger Ailes, the General Manager and one of the architects of Fox News, stated at the time that they wanted to broadcast ... personalities that wanted to deliver a daily hour show on a weekly basis.

Glenn Beck Launches "Restoring Courage" Week Of Rally Events From Israel - These photos are from the first night of events on Sunday 8-21-2011. Image Credit: The Blaze

The event, “Restoring Courage,” serves as a step forward from last summer’s “Restoring Honor” rally held on 8/28 in Washington, D.C.

Said Glenn Beck at the time of the announcement -

“I believe I’ve been asked to stand — in Jerusalem,” Beck told his audience recounting a list of times in history when people and nations failed to stand with the Jewish people. Beck explained, as he has often in the last year, how the life and thinking of the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer has influenced him: “He asked people to stand for the Jewish people.” He told of Bonhoeffer’s call for pastors to stand with him. Only six did.

Glenn Beck Launches "Restoring Courage" Week Of Rally Events From Israel - These photos are from the first night of events on Sunday 8-21-2011. Image Credit: The Blaze

Beck detailed current challenges facing the nation — “Things in Israel are going to get bad…it’s only a matter of time.”

“They are going to attack the center of our faith, our common faith, and that is Jerusalem. And it won’t be with bullets or bombs. It will be with a two-state solution that cuts off Jerusalem, the old city, to the rest of the world.”

“It is time to return inside the walls that surround Jerusalem and stand with people of all faiths all around the world.”

Glenn Beck Launches "Restoring Courage" Week Of Rally Events From Israel - These photos are from the first night of events on Sunday 8-21-2011. Image Credit: The Blaze

The "Restoring Courage" week of presentations and gatherings will be broadcast on GBTV, a subscription internet television service. Last night, as the sun eased it’s way into the Mediterranean horizon, Glenn Beck greeted an enthusiastic crowd of over 3,000 at the Caesarea Amphitheater: “Welcome to the land of milk and honey!”

Beck’s week of “Restoring Courage” events began Sunday with a religiously themed evening entitled “The Courage to Love.”

Read More Here



[Article first published as "Restoring Courage" - Glenn Beck Launches A Week Of Rally Events From Israel on Technorati]

Senna - Dirty Champion?, You Decide!

Three-time world Formula One driving champion Ayrton Senna, as he sits in his Williams F1 racing machine. Image Credit: Working Title Productions

Senna - Dirty Champion?, You Decide!

Senna, the documentary-style movie, is a beautiful work of taking existing film footage and piecing together a seamless reflection of the passionate pursuit of a talented race car driver. It exposes us to a life pursuit where driving, and winning at the highest pinnacle of a discipline, is the only thing that mattered to a life couched in a strong spiritual connection with GOD. In Ayrton Senna's case, rightfully so.

This excerpted and edited from the producer's release notes -

For producer Eric Fellner, co-chairman of Working Title, SENNA proved a true labor of love and added a new dimension to the company by being the first documentary it would make.

"I used to be a fan like a lot of people and then lapsed, but from this period in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, I was absolutely fascinated and intrigued by Formula One," he says. "I just really wanted to make a film about that world and had met with Bernie Ecclestone to try to find to find a way in and couldn’t. We have never done a documentary before but this seemed the best medium to make a film about Formula One."

When the producers brought director Asif Kapadia on board, they knew they were hiring a talented filmmaker. The director of BAFTA winning feature ‘The Warrior’ and the thriller ‘Far North’, Kapadia is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, and has an eye for exquisite composition. Pandey says, "We interviewed a lot of directors for this. There was a lot of interest to do this project, but Asif got it right away."

Kapadia, while a sports fan, was not an F1 enthusiast and proved to have a completely unbiased approach to the producers’ subject matter. "Before the film, I had never read a book on Senna, never looked at one motor sports web site and never read a book on Formula One," begins the director. "I had never been to a race. So that’s where I came in to it – having a fresh set of eyes on the material."

"I could see that Senna was an amazing driver and had this deep spiritual side, which was really fascinating, and it became all about paring the film down to the bare minimum so that somebody who has never heard of Senna will get the film, understand the character and actually be moved by his story." He smiles. "It’s all about character."

"His story is amazing, and we have this great three-act structure to work with," says Kapadia. "You have his rise, his success, and then the challenges he faces when he gets to the top. There is the ‘bad guy’ Jean-Marie Balestre (France’s head of F1 racing), and the rival with four World Champion titles Alain Prost. Then there’s Senna’s personal side – his family, his girlfriends, the relationship he has with Brazil. There’s tension, drama, tragedy. It is absolutely what films should be, and it is all real."

"If you had written this story as fiction, you would say that it is a clever piece of writing," smiles the director. "One year Prost crashes into Senna at the slowest point of the track, in such a way that his own car was not even damaged. The following year, Senna crashes into Prost at one of the fastest points of the track, saying, ‘I don’t care what happens, I am going for it.’ It is very interesting how you are what you do and Senna and Prost’s characters are revealed by these two accidents."
END

A re-creation of a Senna helmet design sighted at the pre-premiere pizza party put on by MAZDASPEED Motorsports. The helmet was the work of Scott A. Crawford - SAC Design. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

Before going into last night's pre-release screening of Senna at the EDWARDS WESTPARK8 in Irvine (arranged by Dean Case and the folks at MAZDASPEED Motorsports), one conversation that was overheard stated that it was too bad that Ayrton Senna needed to intentionally take out Alain Prost in order to achieve a world championship in the last race of the season at the Japan GP ... it was a dirty move. This was a remarkable statement to overhear going in ... because it expressed the passion of someone who had decided exactly what had happened on the track during the second contact accident the two rivals shared.

The surprise and artful twist in this presentation brings this perception into question - Was Senna a dirty champion, or not?

There is an sage and age old adage in Hollywood that states ... "the camera never lies!" This adage, of course, is based on non-CGI (computer generated images) and relates to the truth that film images can, and will deliver.

Senna is a very wonderful movie and story well told, especially when one considers all of the film images that were gleaned from archives (the on-board shots were gold) in order to make this 104 minute PG-13 movie. Go see Senna for yourself and at the end, after seeing the film images, development, and exposure of the three time Formula One world champion, ask yourself ... Was Ayrton Senna a dirty champion? ... then decide!

You will never regret the experience.

Set for release in specific theaters on the following schedule:

August 12 - Los Angeles, CA - The Landmark

August 12 - New York, NY - Landmark Sunshine Cinema

August 19 - Austin, TX - Violet Crown Cinema

August 19 - Berkeley, CA - Landmark Shattuck Cinemas

August 19 - Cambridge, MA - Landmark Kendall Square Cinema

August 19 - Chicago, IL - Landmark Century Centre Cinema

August 19 - Detroit, MI - Landmark Main Art Theater

August 19 - Irvine, CA - Edwards Westpark 8

August 19 - Miami, FL - AMC Sunset Place 24

August 19 - Nashville, TN - Belcourt Theater

August 19 - Philadelphia, PA - Landmark Ritz at the Bourse

August 19 - San Francisco, CA - Landmark Embarcadero CTR

August 19 - San Rafael, CA - Rafael Film Center

August 19 - Washington, DC - Landmark E Street Cinema

August 26 - Atlanta, GA - Landmark Midtown Art Cinema

August 26 - Dallas, TX - Angelika Film Center

August 26 - Denver, CO - Landmark Chez Artistes

August 26 - Indianapolis, IN - Landmark Keystone Art Cinema

August 26 - Minneapolis, MN - Landmark Uptown Cinema

August 26 - Palm Springs, CA - Cinémas Palme d'Or

August 26 - Palo Alto, CA - Aquarius Theater

August 26 - Portland, OR - Regal Fox Tower Stadium

August 26 - San Diego, CA - Landmark Hillcrest Cinema

August 26 - Scottsdale, AZ - Harkin's Camelview 5

August 26 - Seattle, WA - Landmark Varsity Theater

September 2 - Charlotte, NC - Park Terrace

September 2 - Knoxville, TN - Regal Downtown West Cinema

September 2 - St Louis, MO - Landmark Tivoli Theater

September 16 - Kansas City, MO - Tivoli Theater

September 16 - Las Vegas, NV - Regal Cinemas Village Square

September 16 - Milwaukee, WI - Landmark Downer Theatre

September 23 - Santa Fe, NM UA - DeVargas Mall

For more information, go to - http://sennamovie.com

Universal Pictures and Producers Distribution Agency Present
in association with ESPN Films
a Working Title Production
in association with Midfield Films

SENNA

Directed by Asif Kapadia
Written by Manish Pandey

WINNER
Audience Award World Cinema Documentary
2011 Sundance Film Festival

WINNER
Audience Award for Best International Feature
2011 Los Angeles Film Festival

Trailer: www.youtube.com/sennamovie

... notes from The EDJE


[Article first published as Senna - Dirty Champion? You Decide! on Technorati]

In Iowa, Barack Obama Ups His Game

President Barack Obama talks with patrons during a stop for lunch at Ross’ Restaurant in Bettendorf, June 28, 2011. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

In Iowa, Barack Obama Ups His Game

This week saw the President of the United States travel to Iowa for a fund raiser over the same time period the loyal opposition of the Republican party were campaigning to become the choice of the American people to unseat him.

Barack Obama scheduled this manufacturing plant speech for his run to get re-elected over the same time he is wanting to up the nations debt ceiling so that he, and the Democrat party can saddle the American citizenry with more Government spending and debt.

In the speech he came to Iowa to deliver, he made this statement, "You [Alcoa Davenport Works] had to up your game. And that’s what we’ve got to do as a country as a whole."

Before Barack Obama admonished the people of the United States for not playing hard enough and taking their life situations seriously enough, he showed his commitment to his wife's agenda for all Americans to eat healthier by dropping by for lunch at Ross’ Restaurant in Bettendorf.

My Plate replaces the food pyramid as the symbol of Government guidance on eating. Image Credit: choosemyplate.gov

This excerpted and edited from the Des Moines Register -

Obama makes good on promise to stop at Iowa diner
Des Moines Register - 1:47 PM, Jun 28, 2011
By Ed Tibbetts, Quad-City Times

The president then made good on a 2008 campaign promise today, making a quick stop at Ross’ Restaurant in Bettendorf. The diner is off Interstate-74 on the way to Alcoa, which is in nearby Riverdale.

Three years ago, Obama talked with an owner, Cynthia Freidhof, at a town hall meeting, in August, 2008, and pledged to come here.
----
“You are so awesome,” Cynthia told the president as they hugged.

The president explained what had happened at the town hall, and that he’d been told about the Magic Mountain.
----
The president ordered four Magic Mountains and two Volcanoes. A Magic Mountain has grilled loose meat hamburger on texas toast, covered with french frieds and cheese sauce. Topped with onions, which is called a “snowcap on the mountain.” It becomes a volcanoe by adding chili on the top.

“I think he’s a man of his word, always, and he’s doing the very best job that he can and I just can’t believe he’s here, but it’s real,” Freidhof said.

The president challenged the press with him to eat a Magic Mountain, saying he’d buy it if they ate it. (I’m not sure if anyone took him up on it). The president said the orders he placed were for people on the plane[as if!] .
[Reference Here]

So the President upped his game on eating poorly (or just feeding his staff poorly) in Iowa against the lecturing of his wife's, Michelle, My Plate Campaign upon which the USDA invested over $2,000,000 on the website alone. One has to ask themselves, why did we throw away the food pyramid in favor of a multi-million dollar USDA eat healthy campaign just to have it officially ignored by the people who choose to shove this agenda down our throats? ... all the while being admonished and told to "UP OUR GAME".

Two words:

Up Yours!

Oh! ... and stop (EPA up 125% alone since Obama took office in 2009), STOP spending our money.

(Article first published as In Iowa, Barack Obama Ups His Game on Technorati)

Mitt Romney 2012: A Company Man In A Field Of Mortals

For a candidate already having trouble rallying the Republican base, Mitt Romney seems to have no fear of being labeled a RINO. Speaking at a town hall in New Hampshire, the 2012 candidate came clean with the fact that he believes in the unproven concept of man-made global warming. Between this and “Romneycare,” these are shaping out to be some rather rough primaries for the former Massachusetts governor.Image Credit: mittromney.com

Mitt Romney 2012: A Company Man In A Field Of Mortals

Last presidential election cycle, many were taken by the candidate who possessed the best record of success showing executive leadership turning poor leadership around in both the private business sector and public trust situations. But, alas, even though Mitt Romney was the most popular single candidate the Republican party had for the 2008 election cycle, he was done in with the popularity of two candidates, John McCain and Mike Huckabee, who conspired to topple his effort and end with the best the Republican "Ruling Class" had to offer.

Romney gets vanquished, Huckabee drops out, and John McCain looses to Barack Obama in a contest of Progressive versus Progressive Lite because no one likes a half measure of anything ... even disaster.

After 40 or 50 years of an overriding progressive political culture and agenda by the ruling class based in Washington DC, the progressives finally got their non half-measure leader and our country is rupturing.

We all know the statistics ... 9.1% unemployment after assuring the country that if we use over 860 billion dollars in taxpayer debt the unemployment rate would not exceed 8%, we could keep our doctor with ObamaCare, after ObamaCare passed Congress with a single party majority (Democrat) over 2,000 waivers to comply with the law were issued to save those companies who were favorable to this Government the economic pain of implementation, an outright attack on capitalism beginning with the takeover of a large manufacturing segment of our economy (General Motors & Chrysler) in order to restructure a bankruptcy process that placed the legitimate primary investors to the back of the line to give that position to the AFL-CIO Union in partnership with the Government, and ... you get the idea. Business-as-usual in Washington on steroids.

This excerpted and edited from Pajamas Media -

Islam for Pols: a Primer
June 18, 2011 - 8:31 am - by Roger Kimball

The trouble is, business-as-usual in Washington is the problem, not the solution.

Romney would not be the grade A disaster that Barack Obama has been. But he lacks the gumption to challenge the status quo and make fundamental changes to the way government has been deployed recently in the United States. “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Ronald Reagan said those were the scariest nine words in the English language. Government has its place; but it must also be put in its place. Mitt Romney is quintessentially the man from the government incapable of understanding that (in Thoreau’s formula) the government that governs best governs least.

We need more intelligent government, to be sure, but we also need less government: less regulation, fewer programs, fewer bureaucrats, more local, more individual, initiative.

Mitt Romney is a company man at a time when our problem is the company. We can do better. Let’s hope we do.
[Reference Here]

As Roger Kimball so keenly points out, "Company Men" need not apply because it's the "Company" that is our problem.

The company men who are lining up to replace Barack Obama does not end with just Mitt Romney, we need to add to this company man calculation Newt Gingrich. Further, if Jon Huntsman (a Bush family favorite who plans to announce this week) as well as Mike Huckabee jump in, they'd have to be counted as well.

All other candidates - to date, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (MN), former Senator Rick Santorum (PA), Congressman Michelle Bachmann (MN), Congressman Ron Paul (TX), businessman Herman Cain, and if they throw their hats into the ring, Governors Rick Perry (TX) and Chris Christie (NJ) - would have to be classified as "Country Class" (versus "Ruling Class") or outside of Washington DC beltway mortals.

If we are honest with each other, the only way we can arrest or stop this downward spiral in America and American values of personal freedom and entrepreneurial opportunity, is to change the leadership and culture of the "Company"!

[Article first published as Mitt Romney 2012: A Company Man In A Field Of Mortals on Technorati]

The Barack Obama Economy - Greece-ing Our Skids

President Barack Obama delivers remarks during the Official Arrival Ceremony for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on the South Lawn of the White House, June 7, 2011. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

The Barack Obama Economy - Greece-ing Our Skids

Yesterday, the United States stock market dropped about 1.5% on fears of extreme unrest in Greece on the news that the citizens there, who have lived in an entitlement/socialist society for decades, have nearly bankrupted the country and can no longer receive the supports to their lifestyles they were accustomed to.

Greece is struggling with a nearly half a trillion dollar debt load, and is working to avoid having to restructure, or worse, default on its debt. However, the Greek public has protested deep spending cuts and austerity measures to save their economy, and plans to privatize government-held entities have fallen far short of the necessary capital requirements.

Last week, President Barack Obama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and one of the issues they discused was this ongoing problem of the Greecian economy. Greece has already received $161 billion in European bailout assistance, largely orchestrated by Merkel. Now, European finance ministers and international lenders are working on a second round, on the order of an additional $1l7 billion to $146 billion.

After his meeting with Merkel, Obama said the U.S. would participate in the bailout on condition that Germany takes the lead. In a sense, as the largest contributor to the International Monetary Fund, the United States is already participating.

This excerpted and edited from CNBC's moneycontrol.com -

US is in even worse shape financially than Greece: Gross
moneycontrol.com - Published on Tue, Jun 14, 2011

When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco`s Bill Gross told CNBC Monday.

Much of the public focus is on the nation`s public debt, which is USD 14.3 trillion. But that doesn`t include money guaranteed for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which comes to close to USD 50 trillion, according to government figures.

The government also is on the hook for other debts such as the programs related to the bailout of the financial system following the crisis of 2008 and 2009, government figures show.

Taken together, Gross puts the total at "nearly USD 100 trillion," that while perhaps a bit on the high side, places the country in a highly unenviable fiscal position that he said won`t find a solution overnight.
----
Should the debt problem in Greece explode into a full-blown crisis-an International Monetary Fund bailout has prevented a full-scale meltdown so far-Gross predicted that German debt, not that of the US, would be the safe-haven of choice for global investors.
[Reference Here]

We, at MAXINE, are compelled to ask: Why are we bailing out Greece when we should be bailing out ... ourselves?

This is not the time to approve an increase the debt ceiling as the President insists on having the Congress and the Senate agree with him to do. Our country is already way too much in debt on un-funded liabilities alone.

It's time to hit the spending brakes and stop this skid into Government entitlement oblivion.

One Week Later ... UBL Is Still Dead!

Last known image of UBL just after Seal team #6 visits his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Image Credit Edmund Jenks (2011)

One Week Later ... UBL Is Still Dead!

... but the information he left behind lives on.

Also, the Obama Administration believes it is O.K. to Kill Bin Laden ... just don’t Waterboard him as discovered by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

UBL Brought To Justice Video And Other Disturbing Information

The fortified compound that was built in 2005 to eventually keep safe UBL and his entourage, family, and couriers away from the coalition aligned to capture him and stop him from expanding al Qaeda. [ctrl-click image for additional compound images] Image Credit: The New Yorker

UBL Brought To Justice Video And Other Disturbing Information

Usama bin Laden is depicted being captured and dispatched by elite United States forces under the nose of his Pakistani protectors. This action happened yesterday, under the cloak of darkness and within a 100 yards of the Pakistani Military Academy ... the equivalent of United States' West Point ... much to the embarrassment of many military and government officials in Pakistan.

WARNING: video contains animated violence and disgusting acts featuring ... animals!

This excerpted and edited from The New Yorker -

Notes on the Death of Osama bin Laden
Posted by Steve Coll, New Yorker - May 2, 2011

Abbottabad is essentially a military-cantonment city in Pakistan, in the hills to the north of the capital of Islamabad, in an area where much of the land is controlled or owned by the Pakistani Army and retired Army officers.
----
The city is most notable for housing the Pakistan Military Academy, the Pakistani Army’s premier training college.
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Looking at maps and satellite photos on the Web last night, I saw the wide expanse of the Academy not far from where the million-dollar, heavily secured mansion where bin Laden lived was constructed in 2005. The maps I looked at had sections of land nearby marked off as “restricted areas,” indicating that they were under military control. It stretches credulity to think that a mansion of that scale could have been built and occupied by bin Laden for six years without its coming to the attention of anyone in the Pakistani Army.

The initial circumstantial evidence suggests that the opposite is more likely—that bin Laden was effectively being housed under Pakistani state control. Pakistan will deny this, it seems safe to predict, and perhaps no convincing evidence will ever surface to prove the case.

If I were a prosecutor at the United States Department of Justice, however, I would be tempted to call a grand jury. Who owned the land on which the house was constructed? How was the land acquired, and from whom? Who designed the house, which seems to have been purpose-built to secure bin Laden? Who was the general contractor? Who installed the security systems? Who worked there? Are there witnesses who will now testify as to who visited the house, how often, and for what purpose?

These questions are not relevant only to the full realization of justice for the victims of September 11th. They are also relevant to the victims of terrorist attacks conducted or inspired by bin Laden while he lived in the house, and these include many Pakistanis, as well as Afghans, Indians, Jordanians, and Britons. They are rightly subjects of American criminal law.
[Reference Here]

Other disturbing reflections in all of this come from the "politics" shown by President Barack Obama during his announcement and later, in the description on how careful our military was in disposing of the body of Usama bin Laden.

In his speech last night, the 44th President used the word I in a very distinct way (as he normally does when he is talking about the expanse of bureaucracy in Government) when he talked about the events leading up to the capture and destruction of UBL. He talked about it in a way that was used to exclude any hint of a history that our military had an ongoing special forces presence in the pursuit of UBL before this 44th President ever took office.

This excerpted and edited from Reuters

Text of President Obama's statement to U.S. people
President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the mastermind of the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people has been killed in Pakistan by U.S.-led forces
Reuters - Mon May 2, 2011 2:51am EDT

And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda. Even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle and defeat his network.

Then last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain. And it took many months to run this thread to ground.

I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside Pakistan.

And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.

Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abad Abad [Abbottabad], Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties.

After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.
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Over the years, I've repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we've done.
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These efforts weigh on me every time I, as commander in chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one or look into the eyes of a service member who's been gravely wounded.
[Reference Here]

On the disposal of UBL's dead body in accordance with Muslim tradition and, further, not wanting to bury his body on land (it was buried at sea) for fear of this place becoming a shrine where people could make a pilgrimage to help martyr his efforts and memory.

We, at MAXINE believe, these same people who think this is a good idea to bury UBL at sea are, for the most part, the very same people who do not have a problem with a mosque being established at "Ground Zero" in New York.

Glenn Beck, on this afternoon's broadcast, suggested that we should have brought the body back to Meadowlands Stadium, wrap it in bacon, and bury it on the 50 yard line and beg people to try to turn this into a shrine.

This could be the least we could do for the man who terrorized so many throughout the world ... and this includes the bringing down the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

All victims of Islamic inspired terrorism thank you ... President Barack Obama and the United States military for not giving in and giving up on the resolve to get and destroy UBL.

Trump Gets Results ... Obama Finally Comes Clean

The 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama's birth certificate. Image Credit: The White House via NBC News (2011)

Trump Gets Results ... Obama Finally Comes Clean

President Barack Hussein Obama finally releases his long form birth certificate after over two years of speculation and clamor from Hillary Clinton, some private Democrat and Republican political party voters, and now the relentless and persistent Donald Trump.

The really sad thing about this tale is what it says about a man who has been given the great responsibility to lead a nation. This man played and toyed with this issue for over two years making a spectacle out of something that in the end, is only definitive to the rule-of-law, procedure, and little more.

Donald Trump did what the American press could not ... and would not do, which is to get results as to this point of legal definition. A person is not legitimate to be elected to the position of President of the United States without being a born citizen (versus naturalized) of the United States.

The 44th president of the United states finally places this proof of his citizenship to rest, but why did he wait until now to finally do what any standup person and legitimate contender for the office of the United states would have done when this issue was first raised by Hillary Clinton?

Barack Hussein Obama must be a sado-masochist and/or desperate to have this be an issue so that he would never have to answer the tough questions about his incompetent leadership on energy, the economy, and world affairs.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This excerpted and edited from NBC News -

Trump 'proud' of himself, takes credit for birth-certificate release
From NBC's Shawna Thomas

Donald Trump is "proud" of himself for, as he puts it, "getting the president to release his birth certificate." In the minutes before Trump landed in Portsmouth, NH, to begin a day of stumping, the White House released President Obama's long-form birth certificate, and Trump told the press he heard about it while flying to the airfield.

"Today I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that no one else has been able to accomplish," Trump said, adding, "Our president has finally released a birth certificate."

However, he said he would have to check out the certificate himself and wondered why the president didn't do this "a long time ago."
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Trump and the press moved away from the "birther" issue, allowing him the chance to disagree with the President on how he's handling rising gas prices in the country saying Obama "should be focused on OPEC and getting those prices down." As well as Libya where Trump said he would've handled that situation differently, "The rebels, I hear, are controlled by Iran and Al Qaeda...You could end up with worse than Khaddafy perhaps."
[Reference Here]

Maybe now the president can get back to what seems to be of most importance to him lately like the White House Correspondent's Dinner, being with Oprah, Basketball, WH Wednesday night live musical performance parties, and ... golf.

Mitt Romney Blasts Administration's Response To Economic Peril

Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney announced on April 11 that he is “formally exploring a presidential bid”. Image Credit: conservativesforamerica.com

Mitt Romney Blasts Administration's Response To Economic Peril

In an opinion editorial featured in the little known and non-internet posting New Hampshire Union Leader, Mitt Romney does not believe that President Barack Obama and his administration is not serious about the economic health of the country.

The OP-ED entitled "Obama is not serious about America's financial health", which Romney later posted to his Facebook page, Mitt describes what he believes an executive response to the recent Standard & Poor's signaling of a change of the United States bond rating downward should be.

This excerpted and edited from Mitt Romney's Facebook posting -

Obama is Not Serious About America's Financial Health
by Mitt Romney on Monday, April 25, 2011 at 5:29am - Originally published in the New Hampshire Union Leader

America received a giant wake-up call when Standard & Poor’s, the bond rating agency, announced that it was changing the outlook on its highly prized AAA rating for U.S. Treasuries to “negative” from “stable.” This is the first ratings warning for the United States since S&P began evaluating our creditworthiness in 1941.

S&P’s action is a significant marker of our country’s deteriorating economic position.
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Obama’s top economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, downplayed the event, saying, “I don’t make too much about it.” The President himself went on a weeklong campaign swing highlighted by six fundraisers and sharp partisan attacks against Republicans for their attempts at deficit reduction and entitlement reform.
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Consider that during the Bush years, the U.S. government’s deficit — the gap between what Washington taxes and spends within a year — hovered between 2 percent and 4 percent of GDP. Already that was a problematic level.

But in the first year of the Obama administration, the shortfall in our annual spending exploded to 10 percent of GDP — a shocking number — and has risen even higher, to 11 percent of GDP in 2011.

No less dramatic has been the explosion in our level of debt, the total amount Washington has borrowed to pay for its out-of-control spending. In 2008, our debt was 40 percent of GDP. That was bad enough. But, according to S&P, even under the most optimistic scenario our government’s indebtedness will double to nearly 80 percent of GDP by 2013. Other estimates project that our nation’s debt will equal the entirety of our nation’s economy — 100 percent of GDP — by 2020.
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The main job of any executive — whether a CEO, a governor or a President — should be to avert these dangers, or work to repair them.
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We are not on a sustainable course. The consequences may come in slow-motion, with reduced growth, chronic high unemployment and a lower standard of living. Or they may come suddenly, in the kind of cascading crises that we just witnessed when the housing-price bubble burst. The only way to avert it is to take action that is rooted in the need to reduce spending.
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The overall picture may be dark, but we should not lose sight of what we are capable of as a country. Our economy is astonishingly flexible. It is highly diversified. We have low inflation.
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Even more significant are the clear signs that the American people have had enough of a federal government that is increasing in size and dominance. We are a great republic in which change is possible. The Obama administration may not be serious about addressing the problems that have caused the S&P downgrade, but in less than two years the voters will tell us whether they will issue a decisive downgrade of their own.
[Reference Here]

There may not be enough resolve in the rest of our Government houses (the House of Congress and the Senate) to stem the tide of damage this and the previous Executive Administrations have placed on our country.

Borrowing 4 billion dollars a day (that is $12.00 a day for each and every citizen living here in the United States ... or $4,356.00 each year) to hold on to the status quo will only kill what little freedoms we enjoy here in the once grand United States.

"Light Up" For Earth Hour On Saturday - Earth Hour Is A Fraud

The incandescent light bulb is abused by environmentalists – but the alternative will only raise energy consumption (costs associated with manufacture, etc.). More and more, compact fluorescent lamps are considered to be an interim technology, awaiting the arrival of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs). Image Credit: krisdedecker.typepad.com

"Light Up" For Earth Hour On Saturday - Earth Hour Is A Fraud

Earth Hour, a rolling grassroots movement aimed at tackling Global Warming (read that as the relabeled "climate change") is getting a bunch of press coverage on having governments and individuals turn off their lights to show support for a reduction in greenhouse gasses.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 (as a reaction to Al Gore's over-reaching movie - An Inconvenient Truth) when Earth Hour founder Andy Ridley convinced 2.2 million people to switch off the lights in their homes, offices and businesses for 60 minutes to make a point about electricity consumption and carbon pollution.

Under the Earth Hour initiative, people and Governments are cowed to switch off their lights and electrical appliances from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm on March 26, 2011 in the name of Anthropogenic Global Warming (human caused climate change).

The major problem with this Earth Hour promotion is that it is an awareness program in favor of a world solution to a problem that is proving itself to be based upon fraudulent data, data that had been shaped or worse, cherry-picked and/or destroyed to prove a conclusion.

Climategate has shown that when one follows the money, power and influence exerted through and from the United Nations IPCC, that the Scientific Method and the personal freedom of individuals are victims to the powers of entities who wish to CONTROL the world through a socialist agenda.

Since proof of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) - human caused climate change - had become the coin of the rhelm with political progressives throughout the world upon which to create the justification to enact laws to tax and limit human activity (read that as to CONTROL all humans in their pursuit of rights and happiness), and that the proof of AGW had been held by only four datasets worldwide, leaves the political progressives with only one dataset upon which to promote their agenda.

LED's at Time Warner Center in New York. Image Credit: krisdedecker.typepad.com

This excerpted and edited from the LA Times -

Southern California landmarks to join in “Earth Hour” event
March 26, 2011 6:05 pm

Notable Southern California landmarks such as the glowing pylons at Los Angeles International Airport and the Queen Mary in Long Beach will go dark between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday night in observance of international "Earth Hour."

Millions of people from more than 100 countries and territories are expected to participate in the event by switching off lights and nonessential appliances in order to conserve energy and demonstrate an awareness of environmental conservation.

At LAX, the 100-foot-tall pylons will glow solid green an hour before the event and then go dark, according to airport officials. The color-changing LAX Gateway pylons were installed in August 2000. Five years later, airport workers installed a new system of LED fixtures that consume 75% less electricity than the previous lamps and burn for 75,000 to 100,000 hours, compared to 3,000 hours for the original lights, according to airport officials.

In Long Beach the Queen Mary's exterior lights will be turned off. The event will be accompanied by entertainment, such as the ship's captain answering historical questions and local competitive cyclists producing energy for a light display. Participants will also receive vendor giveaways. Hotel guests will be asked to turn off their nonessential stateroom lights.

In Santa Monica, the famous Pacific Wheel on the city's pier will go dark. The ferris wheel's emergency lights will remain on.

At the Home Depot Center in Carson, in partnership with Chivas USA of Major League Soccer, will turn off all nonessential lighting of the 27,000-seat soccer stadium, including all lighting in the venue's 42 luxury suites, according to AEG, the company that owns and operates the venue. The Chivas will be hosting the Colorado Rapids. Other AEG facilities throughout the state will also participate, including LA Live, the entertainment hub in downtown Los Angeles.

Earth Hour is organized by World Wide Fund, one of the world's largest independent conservation organizations.
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This year, Earth Hour is challenging people to go beyond the hour and think of other ways to make a difference after the lights go on. Reference Here>>

If you are among those who know about this fraud that is being perpetrated on governments of the world and do not want to be among the "millions kept in the dark" ... turn on every light for one hour from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm on March 26 as a revolt against Global Warming alarmists.

Make Earth Hour 2010 shine brightly for freedom of all peoples across the Earth ... for the freedom to pursue their lives with the rights given to them from GOD … not leaders of nations and control-freaks.

Climategate (which came to light in November 2009) has proven that AGW is a fraud so, unfortunately, since Earth Hour was based upon fraudulent data - put forward by the United Nations IPCC, the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit, NOAA, and NASA - Earth Hour 2010, as it is intended, is a fraud (suggestion for Earth Hour 2011 - make the gesture for picking up after one's self, clean potable water, planting a tree near a ravaged rain forest, and the like).

So, we at MAXINE say, light up the sky for Earth Hour 2010 and prove that you know the truth ... AGW is a fraud and that climate change on the planet Earth is a normal function of the Earth and Earth processes (volcano eruptions, fires, deforestation, flatulence, chemical reactions of chemicals found on the surface, etc.) in association with the Sun and surrounding planets.