AP – President Barack Obama was joined by former President Bill Clinton on the golf course Saturday, in a friendly contest of first duffers who’ve known the pressures of office and the joys of relieving them on the links.
View post:
Presidential putting pals: Obama, Clinton golf
(AP)
Remember when Warren Buffett — a staunch Obama supporter — said that rich people like him would be willing to pay more taxes to help out? If you do, it will probably shock you that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, has back taxes dating back to 2002. The New York Post explains : 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. That’s a big revelation. And given the gravity of it, the New York Post lets Buffett have it: 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. Mogulite piles on : Ironic, isn’t it? When Warren Buffett penned that op-ed demanding he be taxed more , we assumed that meant he had actually paid his taxes. Not quite the case. Buffett’s famed company, Berkshire Hathaway, owes taxes that are nearly a decade old. They promise they’ll work it out with the IRS within the next year . Can’t Buffett just take a little out of his piggybank and pay up? For a man who so actively preaches honesty and integrity, we’re a little baffled as to why Berkshire won’t just fork over what it owes. Earlier this month, Buffett penned a New York Times op-ed calling for increased taxes on the wealthy and even titled it “Stop codling the super-rich:” While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors. And as The Blaze pointed out when that op-ed was published, this has long been a rallying cry for Buffett. Consider this 2007 interview he gave to Tom Brokaw: So maybe it’s no wonder that the Post concludes Buffet and others such as Obama are “disingenuous.” “That’s clear from their individual behavior: Obama, Buffett and Democrats like Bill Clinton keep saying they want to pay more taxes,” the article says. “Fine. They can always write checks.”
See the original post here:
Obama Suporter Warren Buffett’s Co. Hasn’t Paid Some Taxes Since 2002
This really bothers me, at NYT , ” Somalis Waste Away as Insurgents Block Escape From Famine .” The picture here was on the cover of today’s hard copy edition. Readers know I’ve expressed reservations against humanitarian intervention, especially since Libya really wasn’t. But I’m not reflexively opposed to the use of military power to guarantee food shipments. Almost twenty years ago President George H.W. Bush sent U.S. forces to Somalia to protect delivery of humanitarian aid. We all know how that turned out, but we didn’t go in right in the first place, didn’t have enough men and heavy armor on the ground, and President Bill Clinton got cold feet after we sustained casualties. If we were ever to do something like that again, we’d be best to go in without the U.N. or our NATO allies. Leave it to American forces, who’ve been engaged in two decades of counterinsurgency warfare since the early 1990s. The experience is cumulative. We could do a better and more effective job of relief today, and frankly, it could do some good. The Horn of Africa is right next to Pakistan and Yemen as the top location of festering Islamist war against the West. Every morning, emaciated parents with emaciated children stagger into Banadir Hospital, a shell of a building with floors that stink of diesel fuel because that is all the nurses have to fight off the flies. Babies are dying because of the lack of equipment and medicine. Some get hooked up to adult-size intravenous drips — pediatric versions are hard to find — and their compromised bodies cannot handle the volume of fluid. Most parents do not have money for medicine, so entire families sit on old-fashioned cholera beds, with basketball-size holes cut out of the middle, taking turns going to the bathroom as diarrhea streams out of them. “This is worse than 1992,” said Dr. Lul Mohamed, Banadir’s head of pediatrics, referring to Somalia’s last famine. “Back then, at least we had some help.” In any case, more at New York Times , ” Off Media Radar, Famine Garners Few Donations ,” and ” How to Help Victims of the East Africa Famine .”
Read more here:
Somalis Starve as Shabab Islamists Bar Escape From Famine
There is something strange in the air when former President Bill Clinton compliments tea party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Excerpt from:
Why Bill Clinton Likes Michele Bachmann
Nothing Michele Bachmann said was factually wrong. The controversy hinges on whether John Quincy Adams was part of the Founding generation. He was. President George Washington appointed John Quincy Adams Minister to the Netherlands in 1794. The Bill of Rights to the Constitution was ratified in 1791 during the same presidential administration. And John Quincy Adams traveled to Paris with his father John Adams, when the latter served as America’s Ambassador to France from 1778 until 1779. Hence, Congresswoman Bachmann’s statements aren’t all that off the mark. John Quincy Adams was not a signer of the Declaration of Independence or Constitution, but certainly was serving importantly as a member of the era, as Bachmann states after George Stephanopoulos tries to elicit a misstatement: John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved. I try to like Stephanopoulos, despite the fact that he was a top adviser to President Bill Clinton. See, ” John Quincy Adams a Founding Father? Michele Bachmann Says Yes ” (via Memeorandum ). Was John Quincy Adams a Founder as in a signer of our founding documents? No? Was he a member of the Founding generation who would have a substantial impact on the course of American history? Absolutely. Yes. Wouldn’t it be nice if folks like Stephanopoulos went after Democrats just an aggressively? ADDED: I’ve got some progressive idiots visiting from Instaputz’s stinkhole, and one of these idiots writes: That 57 states gaffe said THREE YEARS AGO is still giving you wingers serious mileage isn’t it? The number of gaffes Obama has made compared to the number of gaffes Bush made… anyone? … Well, folks can check out how many gaffes Bush made, but he never made one like this: I wrote on this last week, but Michael Barone points out today the wicked media double standards when it comes to political misstatements, ” Mainstream media covers up horrifying Obama mistake ” (at Memeorandum ): It’s interesting that mainstream media journalists who are so eager to zing Michele Bachmann for getting John Wayne’s birthplace wrong, have not been interested in asking whether this was a mistake Obama made in ad libbing or whether the White House speechwriters and fact-checkers fell down on the job. You might think that their chief motive is to make Obama look good and to suppress facts that make him look bad. Well, yeah, you might think. Idiots.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) admitted during a press conference Monday afternoon that he did send a lewd photo of himself to a woman via Twitter. He also admitted he engaged in inappropriate conversations with several women over three years via online mediums and phone calls. Some of those conversations, he said, took place since he’s been married. (Click here for a transcript of Weiner’s remarks.) According to Weiner, who apologized, he lied to the media as well as others about the photos and nature of his relationships. He previously stated he was “hacked” when then photo came out May 27. In addition to lying to the media, he said his staff was just fully made aware of the situation this afternoon. At the late-afternoon news conference in New York, Weiner called the initial underpants photo a joke and a “hugely regrettable mistake.” “I haven’t told the truth and have done things I deeply regret,” he said. “I brought pain to people I care about.” He later said: “This was a very dumb thing to do.” While he did admit to the photos and interactions — most of which started via Facebook — he said he never met any of the women in person. The admission comes as more pictures emerged today of a shirtless man resembling weiner — pictures sent to a woman via a Yahoo! mail account. Those pictures, Weiner now says, were of him. During the course of the press conference, the normally-cocky Weiner was contrite and emotional. His voice cracked numerous times and he appeared to cry. The photo showing Weiner shirtless was reminiscent of a photo of former Rep. Chris Lee, a New York Republican who resigned from office earlier this year after a shirtless photo he sent a woman on Craig’s List became public. Weiner, 46, married Hillary Rodham Clinton aide Huma Abedin last July, with former President Bill Clinton officiating. Before that, Weiner had been known as one of New York’s most eligible bachelors. Despite apologizing, Weiner said he will not resign since his actions did not violate House rules. He added that he and his wife have no plans on splitting up. Watch the full 27-minute press conference below: This is a breaking story. Updates will be added. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read the rest here:
Rep. Weiner Admits He Sent Lewd Twitter Photo, Engaged in Explicit Conversations
AP – A federal appeals court in Atlanta says it will allow high-profile arguments over the Obama administration’s health care overhaul law to be recorded so they can be sold to the public.
See original here:
Court to sell recordings of health care arguments
(AP)
It’s another “bad boys” edition of the Morning Jolt , looking at John Edwards, Ed Schultz, and Bill Clinton. Is the former president bored, mischief-making, unable to repress a desire to complicate life for Obama, or genuinely wanting to put the country’s interest first? Bill Clinton Goes Rogue Oh, he’s been dormant for a long time. But the wild, unpredictable, Obama-whacking Bill Clinton of early 2008 might just be back. ABC News’ Jonathan Karl : “ABC News was behind the scenes with the Wisconsin Congressman and GOP Budget Committee Chairman when he got some words of encouragement none other than former President Bill Clinton. “‘So anyway, I told them before you got here, I said I’m glad we won this race in New York,’ Clinton told Ryan, when the two met backstage at a forum on the national debt held by the Pete Peterson Foundation. But he added, ‘I hope Democrats don’t use this as an excuse to do nothing.’ Ryan told Clinton he fears that now nothing will get done in Washington. ‘My guess is it’s going to sink into paralysis is what’s going to happen. And you know the math. It’s just, I mean, we knew we were putting ourselves out there. You gotta start this. You gotta get out there. You gotta get this thing moving,’ Ryan said. Clinton told Ryan that if he ever wanted to talk about it, he should ‘give me a call.’ Ryan said he would.” I’m just glad Clinton didn’t begin the conversation, “What are you wearing right now?” At Hot Air , Allahpundit hunts for the motive: “The last thing Obama, Reid, and Schumer want before the election is one of their own elder statesmen — one who’s personally popular and famous for budget-balancing, no less — pressuring them to inch out on the Medicare limb that’s cracking under Ryan. So . . . why would he do it? Could be that he’s earnestly concerned about the Medicare time bomb and appreciates Ryan’s leadership on it. Remember, before Erskine Bowles was co-chair of the Deficit Commission, he was Clinton’s White House chief of staff. Or it could be that Clinton’s worried about Democrats being perceived as debt do-nothings even though the public, for the moment at least, is with them on the specific issue of Medicare. As we saw earlier today , the more the GOP can drive home to voters that preserving the program as-is necessarily means raising the debt ceiling again and again, the more potentially vulnerable Democrats are. Or maybe Clinton doesn’t much care what the White House thinks or what it might do for the Democrats’ electoral prospects. Being an ex-president means never having to say you’re sorry. Why not let it rip? Whatever the answer, I think ’ We’ve got to deal with these things. You cannot have health care devour the economy’ will make a dynamite little soundbite for attack ads next year. Get cracking on it, RNC.” Bill Clinton gives the Republicans the perfect attack ad soundbite on the Ryan plan, just as Newt Gingrich gave Democrats their perfect one a week earlier. The two men are more psychologically similar to each other than either would like to admit.
Continued here:
Bill Clinton, Paul Ryan’s Most Unlikely Rescuer
