http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=535_1302939222 Items in channel 'Potatoes' Thu, 23 May 2013 05:25:15 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=535_1302939222 Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:44:44 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=98c_1253302970 Potatoes By Dana Milbank Friday, September 18, 2009 Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale. What to do? Here's how Michelle Obama handled this very predicament Thursday afternoon: The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. They swept the area, in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs, with bomb-sniffing dogs and installed magnetometers in the middle of the street, put up barricades to keep pedestrians out, and took positions with binoculars atop trucks. Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens. Then, and only then, could Obama purchase her leafy greens. "Now it's time to buy some food," she told several hundred people who came to watch. "Let's shop!" Cowbells were rung. Somebody put a lei of marigolds around Obama's neck. The first lady picked up a straw basket and headed for the "Farm at Sunnyside" tent, where she loaded up with organic Asian pears, cherry tomatoes, multicolored potatoes, free-range eggs and, yes, two bunches of Tuscan kale. She left the produce with an aide, who paid the cashier as Obama made her way back to the limousine. There's nothing like the simple pleasures of a farm stand to return us to our agrarian roots. The first lady had encouraged Freshfarm Markets, the group that runs popular farmers markets in Dupont Circle and elsewhere, to set up near the White House, and she helped get the approvals to shut down Vermont Avenue during rush hour on Thursdays. But the result was quite the opposite of a quaint farmers market. Considering all the logistics, each tomato she purchased had a carbon footprint of several tons. The promotion of organic and locally grown food, though an admirable cause, is a risky one for the Obamas, because there's a fine line between promoting healthful eating and sounding like a snob. The president, when he was a candidate in 2007, got in trouble in Iowa when he asked a crowd, "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?" Iowans didn't have a Whole Foods. For that reason, it's probably just as well that the first lady didn't stop by the Endless Summer Harvest tent yesterday. The Virginia farm had a sign offering "tender baby arugula" -- hydroponically grown, pesticide free -- and $5 for four ounces, which is $20 a pound. Obama, in her brief speech to the vendors and patrons, handled the affordability issue by pointing out that people who pay with food stamps would get double the coupon value at the market. Even then, though, it's hard to imagine somebody using food stamps to buy what the market offered: $19 bison steak from Gunpowder Bison, organic dandelion greens for $12 per pound from Blueberry Hill Vegetables, the Piedmont Reserve cheese from Everson Dairy at $29 a pound. Rounding out the potential shopping cart: $4 for a piece of "walnut dacquoise" from the Praline Bakery, $9 for a jumbo crab cake at Chris's Marketplace, $8 for a loaf of cranberry-walnut bread and $32 for a bolt of yarn. The first lady said the market would particularly appeal to federal employees in nearby buildings to "pick up some good stuff for dinner." Yet even they might think twice about spending $3 for a pint of potatoes when potatoes are on sale for 40 cents a pound at Giant. They could get nearly five dozen eggs at Giant for the $5 Obama spent for her dozen. But whatever the socioeconomics, there can be no doubt that Obama brought some serious attention to her cause. Hundreds of people crowded the market entrance on I Street as police directed pedestrians to alternative subway entrances. Hundreds braved a light rain and gave a hearty cheer when Obama and her entourage took the stage. "I can't imagine there's been a day in the history of our country when people have been more excited about farmers markets," Mayor Adrian Fenty, Obama's warm-up act, told the crowd. The first lady, in gray slacks and blue sweater, marveled that the people were "so pumped up" despite the rain. "I have never seen so many people so excited about fruits and vegetables!" she said. (Must be the tender baby arugula.) She spoke of the global reach of her cause: "The first thing world leaders, prime ministers, kings, queens ask me about is the White House garden. And then they ask about Bo." She spoke of the fuel fed to the world's most powerful man: "I've learned that when my family eats fresh food, healthy food, that it really affects how we feel, how we get through the day . . . whether there's a Cabinet meeting or whether we're just walking the dog." And she spoke of her own culinary efforts: "There are times when putting together a healthy meal is harder than you might imagine." Particularly when it involves a soundstage, an interpreter for the deaf, three TV satellite trucks and the closing of part of downtown Washington http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=98c_1253302970 Potatoes Hi-Ho, the Derry-O Michelle,Obama,goes,shopping Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:14:04 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a0b_1252426328 Potatoes By Mike Soraghan and Michael M. Gleeson - 09/08/09 06:18 AM ET At least 23 House Democrats already have told constituents or hometown media that they oppose the massive healthcare overhaul touted by President Barack Obama. If Republicans offer the blanket opposition they've promised, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) can afford to lose only 38 members of her 256-member caucus and still pass the bill. Most Democrats opposed to healthcare reform argue it costs too much, imposes a new tax and fines businesses that don't provide insurance to employees. Some fear that the bill would subsidize abortion. Many other Democratic members, including those berated by protesters at raucous town hall meetings in August, are still undecided. A lot could change before the vote, expected late this month. Voting against a president from your own party is starkly different from defying a Speaker or a committee chairman, and Obama is stepping up his involvement, starting with a speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night. The Pelosi camp, for its part, sees no reason to be discouraged. "The Congress will pass and the president will sign this year health insurance reform that will lower costs, retain choice, improve quality and expand coverage," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami. Pelosi has vowed to include in the bill a government-run insurance plan, commonly called a "public option," to compete with private insurers. Many centrist opponents of the bill don't like the public option, or don't want to vote on such a controversial plan when it's unlikely to become law. There's a chance the House bill won't include it. Obama has shifted from saying it must be in the bill to saying he wants it in the bill. House leaders have said they want to see a bill from the Senate Finance Committee before the vote, and that bill is unlikely to include a public option. But deleting the public option won't make life easier for Pelosi. At least 60 liberal Democrats have pledged to vote against a healthcare bill with no public option, which they view as watered-down reform. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has said dropping the public option completely would lose 100 Democratic votes. Even Pelosi's critics and skeptics have to concede that she has almost never lost in the House since becoming Speaker. The main exception is the first vote on the $700 billion bailout package requested by the Bush administration, which later passed. She twisted arms one by one in July to pass a climate change bill despite deep skepticism among centrists and Democrats from manufacturing states. But some of the public backlash from that has frightened and angered centrist and vulnerable members. Democratic critics have different reasons for opposing the bill, and their opposition varies in its vehemence. Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) a supporter of a "single-payer" system, opposes it because the public option isn't strong enough. Other "single-payer" supporters in the party's left wing could balk as well. Some are definitive. There's Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), a Blue Dog who is one of the most conservative members of the Democratic Caucus. He told a town hall meeting last month, "I would hope by now that everyone in this room knows that I am not going to vote for the healthcare plan." Rep. John Adler (D-N.J.), a vulnerable Democrat, was equally blunt. He told a group of constituents last month, "The bill that's coming through the House, with or without the public option, isn't good for America." Others, such as Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), say they can't support the bill "in its current form." The bill is widely expected to change before it goes to the House floor, but if Pelosi keeps the public option in the bill, many centrists will see it as a left-leaning bill. Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), who unseated an incumbent in 2008 by a scant 745 votes, said at a town hall meeting , "I am a 'no' now, but I really want to get to a 'yes.' " And plenty of others aren't ready to take a position. "I'll do the best I can, but I don't know what's the right thing to do yet," Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) told the Los Angeles Times after a town hall meeting. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't even know what we're going to be voting on." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following Democratic lawmakers have indicated opposition to the healthcare plan moving through the House. John Adler (N.J.) Jason Altmire (Pa.) John Barrow (Ga.) Dan Boren (Okla.) Rick Boucher (Va.) Allen Boyd (Fla.) Bobby Bright (Ala.) Travis Childers (Miss.) Jim Costa (Calif.) Henry Cuellar (Texas) Parker Griffith (Ala.) Frank Kratovil (Md.) Betsy Markey (Colo.) Eric Massa (N.Y.) Jim Matheson (Utah) Charlie Melancon (La.) Walt Minnick (Idaho) Tom Perriello (Va.) Earl Pomeroy (N.D.) Heath Shuler (N.C.) Bart Stupak (Mich.) John Tanner (Tenn.) Gene Taylor (Miss.) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a0b_1252426328 Potatoes Already, 23 Dems have said they will vote 'no' on healthcare reform democrats,voting,no,healthcare Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:00:58 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2e4_1252425353 Potatoes By: Byron York Chief Political Correspondent 09/08/09 7:11 AM EDT The controversy over President Obama's speech to the nation's schoolchildren will likely be over shortly after Obama speaks today at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. But when President George H.W. Bush delivered a similar speech on October 1, 1991, from Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington DC, the controversy was just beginning. Democrats, then the majority party in Congress, not only denounced Bush's speech -- they also ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate its production and later summoned top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill for an extensive hearing on the issue. Unlike the Obama speech, in 1991 most of the controversy came after, not before, the president's school appearance. The day after Bush spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president's political benefit. "The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," the Post reported. With the Post article in hand, Democrats pounced. "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," said Richard Gephardt, then the House Majority Leader. "And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.'" Democrats did not stop with words. Rep. William Ford, then chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate the cost and legality of Bush's appearance. On October 17, 1991, Ford summoned then-Education Secretary Lamar Alexander and other top Bush administration officials to testify at a hearing devoted to the speech. "The hearing this morning is to really examine the expenditure of $26,750 of the Department of Education funds to produce and televise an appearance by President Bush at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, DC," Ford began. "As the chairman of the committee charged with the authorization and implementation of education programs, I am very much interested in the justification, rationale for giving the White House scarce education funds to produce a media event." Unfortunately for Ford, the General Accounting Office concluded that the Bush administration had not acted improperly. "The speech itself and the use of the department's funds to support it, including the cost of the production contract, appear to be legal," the GAO wrote in a letter to Chairman Ford. "The speech also does not appear to have violated the restrictions on the use of appropriations for publicity and propaganda." That didn't stop Democratic allies from taking their own shots at Bush. The National Education Association denounced the speech, saying it "cannot endorse a president who spends $26,000 of taxpayers' money on a staged media event at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, D.C. -- while cutting school lunch funds for our neediest youngsters." Lost in all the denouncing and investigating was the fact that Bush's speech itself, like Obama's today, was entirely unremarkable. "Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart," the president told students. "If someone goofs off today, are they cool? Are they still cool years from now, when they're stuck in a dead end job. Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2e4_1252425353 Potatoes When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings school,speech,bush,investigation,democrats Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:24:58 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=625_1251811074 Potatoes Considering the late senator's complete record requires digging into the USSR's archives. Picking his way through the Soviet archives that Boris Yeltsin had just thrown open, in 1991 Tim Sebastian, a reporter for the London Times, came across an arresting memorandum. Composed in 1983 by Victor Chebrikov, the top man at the KGB, the memorandum was addressed to Yuri Andropov, the top man in the entire USSR. The subject: Sen. Edward Kennedy. "On 9-10 May of this year," the May 14 memorandum explained, "Sen. Edward Kennedy's close friend and trusted confidant Tunney was in Moscow." (Tunney was Kennedy's law school roommate and a former Democratic senator from California.) "The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov." Kennedy's message was simple. He proposed an unabashed quid pro quo. Kennedy would lend Andropov a hand in dealing with President Reagan. In return, the Soviet leader would lend the Democratic Party a hand in challenging Reagan in the 1984 presidential election. "The only real potential threats to Reagan are problems of war and peace and Soviet-American relations," the memorandum stated. "These issues, according to the senator, will without a doubt become the most important of the election campaign." Kennedy made Andropov a couple of specific offers. First he offered to visit Moscow. "The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA." Kennedy would help the Soviets deal with Reagan by telling them how to brush up their propaganda. Then he offered to make it possible for Andropov to sit down for a few interviews on American television. "A direct appeal ... to the American people will, without a doubt, attract a great deal of attention and interest in the country. ... If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y.V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interviews. ... The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side." Kennedy would make certain the networks gave Andropov air time--and that they rigged the arrangement to look like honest journalism. Kennedy's motives? "Like other rational people," the memorandum explained, " is very troubled by the current state of Soviet-American relations." But that high-minded concern represented only one of Kennedy's motives. "Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988," the memorandum continued. "Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic Party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president." Kennedy proved eager to deal with Andropov--the leader of the Soviet Union, a former director of the KGB and a principal mover in both the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the suppression of the 1968 Prague Spring--at least in part to advance his own political prospects. In 1992, Tim Sebastian published a story about the memorandum in the London Times. Here in the U.S., Sebastian's story received no attention. In his 2006 book, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, historian Paul Kengor reprinted the memorandum in full. "The media," Kengor says, "ignored the revelation." "The document," Kengor continues, "has stood the test of time. I scrutinized it more carefully than anything I've ever dealt with as a scholar. I showed the document to numerous authorities who deal with Soviet archival material. No one has debunked the memorandum or shown it to be a forgery. Kennedy's office did not deny it." Why bring all this up now? No evidence exists that Andropov ever acted on the memorandum--within eight months, the Soviet leader would be dead--and now that Kennedy himself has died even many of the former senator's opponents find themselves grieving. Yet precisely because Kennedy represented such a commanding figure--perhaps the most compelling liberal of our day--we need to consider his record in full. Doing so, it turns out, requires pondering a document in the archives of the politburo. When President Reagan chose to confront the Soviet Union, calling it the evil empire that it was, Sen. Edward Kennedy chose to offer aid and comfort to General Secretary Andropov. On the Cold War, the greatest issue of his lifetime, Kennedy got it wrong. Peter Robinson, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a former White House speechwriter, writes a weekly column for Forbes. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=625_1251811074 Potatoes Ted Kennedy's Soviet Gambit Kennedy,cold,war,transgressions Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:58:51 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c9b_1250790999 Potatoes Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) said on Wednesday that providing healthcare to uninsured Americans is "not what this healthcare reform debate is about." In making his comments, Ross, who is the centrist Blue Dogs' health reform point man, questioned one of the primary healthcare goals of the White House and Democratic leaders. "That is a side benefit to healthcare reform and an important one," Ross told the Arkansas Educational Television Network. Instead, the fifth-term congressman said the bill should focus on "cost containment." The Energy and Commerce Committee member reiterated that he wants to pass a health reform bill by the end of this year, a desire that may irk some Republicans who supported his effort to slow the bill before August recess. "The extreme right had a two-week love affair with me," Ross said. "The extreme right, simply, they do not want healthcare reform. And so, they saw me as killing healthcare reform because I put the brakes on healthcare reform." The influential fifth-term Democrat identified several provisions that would prevent him from voting for the bill. On the public option, Ross said he would not vote for a plan that would "force government-run healthcare on anyone. Period." But he also said that the House bill contained a public plan that is "strictly...an option." Providing government subsides for abortions, coverage for illegal immigrants, rationing of care, and deficit increases comprised Ross' deal-breakers. "I've got the extreme right and the extreme left angry with me so I must be doing something right," he said. Ross said the bill should reduce costs by allowing the Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies and by dropping co-pays for preventitive doctors' visits. In the end, Ross acknowledged that the House version may not make up the bulk of the final bill. He estimated that 90 percent of the conference committee bill would come from the Senate Finance Committee's version. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c9b_1250790999 Potatoes Leading Blue Dog: Covering uninsured not top priority of health reform health,care,reform,uninsured,not,priority Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:32:38 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=95a_1250098197 Potatoes News outlets that are focusing on the incendiary rhetoric of conservatives outside President Obama's town hall meeting Tuesday ignored the incendiary rhetoric -- and even violence -- of liberals outside an appearance by former President George W. Bush in 2002. When Bush visited Portland, Ore., for a fundraiser, protesters stalked his motorcade, assailed his limousine and stoned a car containing his advisers. Chanting "Bush is a terrorist!", the demonstrators bullied passers-by, including gay softball players and a wheelchair-bound grandfather with multiple sclerosis. One protester even brandished a sign that seemed to advocate Bush's assassination. The man held a large photo of Bush that had been doctored to show a gun barrel pressed against his temple. "BUSH: WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE," read the placard, which had an X over the word "ALIVE." Another poster showed Bush's face with the words: "F--- YOU, MOTHERF---ER!" A third sign urged motorists to "HONK IF YOU HATE BUSH." A fourth declared: "CHRISTIAN FASCISM," with a swastika in place of the letter S in each word. Although reporters from numerous national news organizations were traveling with Bush and witnessed the protest, none reported that protesters were shrieking at Republican donors epithets like "Slut!" "Whore!" and "Fascists!" Frank Dulcich, president and CEO of Pacific Seafood Group, had a cup of liquid thrown into his face, and then was surrounded by a group of menacing protesters, including several who wore masks. Donald Tykeson, 75, who had multiple sclerosis and was confined to a wheelchair, was blocked by a thug who threatened him. Protesters slashed the tires of several state patrol cruisers and leapt onto an occupied police car, slamming the hood and blocking the windshield with placards. A female police officer was knocked to the street by advancing protesters, badly injuring her wrist. The angry protest grew so violent that the Secret Service was forced to take the highly unusual step of using a backup route for Bush's motorcade because the primary route had been compromised by protesters, one of whom pounded his fist on the president's moving limousine. All the while, angry demonstrators brandished signs with incendiary rhetoric, such as "9/11 - YOU LET IT HAPPEN, SHRUB," and "BUSH: BASTARD CHILD OF THE SUPREME COURT." One sign read: "IMPEACH THE COURT-APPOINTED JUNTA AND THE FASCIST, EGOMANIACAL, BLOOD-SWILLING BEAST!" Yet none of these signs were cited in the national media's coverage of the event. By contrast, the press focused extensively on over-the-top signs held by Obama critics at the president's town hall event held Tuesday in New Hampshire. The lead story in Wednesday's Washington Post, for example, is headlined: "Obama Faces 'Scare Tactics' Head-On." "As the president spoke, demonstrators outside held posters declaring him a socialist and dubbing him 'Obamahdinejad,' in reference to Iran's president," the Post reported. "People screamed into bullhorns to protest a bigger government role in health care. 'Nobama Deathcare!' one sign read. A young girl held up a sign that said: 'Obama Lies, Grandma Dies.' Images of a protester wearing what appeared to be a gun were shown on television." On Sunday, The New York Times reported that a Democratic congressman discovered that "an opponent of health care reform hanged him in effigy" and was confronted by "200 angry conservatives." The article lamented "increasingly ugly scenes of partisan screaming matches, scuffles, threats and even arrests." No such coverage was given to the Portland protest of Bush by The New York Times or the Washington Post, which witnessed the protest. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=95a_1250098197 Potatoes Analysis: Press Largely Ignored Incendiary Rhetoric at Bush Protest press,ingnored,protests,bush Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:07:52 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4ed_1250085868 Potatoes A $200 back-to-school giveaway for needy kids sparked a mad rush for money on the streets of New York on Tuesday. "It's free money!" said Alecia Rumph, 26, who waited in a Morris Park, Bronx, line 300 people deep for the cash to buy uniforms and book bags for her two kids. "Thank God for Obama. He's looking out for us." Thousands of people lined up at banks and check-cashing shops to withdraw the cash that magically appeared on their electronic benefit cards. Some rushed out because of rumors the money would vanish by the end of the day. "Rumors, there's always rumors," said Teresa Medina, who waited four hours at a Pay-O-Matic in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, to get $600 for her three teenagers - just in case they were true. The no-strings-attached money went to families receiving food stamps or welfare. Every child between 3 and 17 was eligible for $200, which worked out to 813,845 kids across the state - including 498,866 in the city. "Times are really tough right now. The situation is bad with money. So it's easy to want to use the money for other things," said Ana Barcos, 31, of Corona, Queens, where 200 people waited outside a check-cashing business. "But if the money's supposed to be for my kids, then I will use it for my kids." Billionaire philanthropist George Soros gave $35 million toward the program, with $140 million in federal stimulus funds routed through state government making up the rest. "It's a help," said Tania Gomez of Chelsea, who withdrew $600 for her kids. "Every penny counts nowadays. It's really something that was unexpected." Storekeepers were glad to hear about the program, too - and the notebooks, clothes and backpacks it would buy. "It's good for everyone," said Aziz Boughroum, 31, who works at Stevdan Pen & Stationers in the West Village. Gov. Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg joined Soros to announce the payments at Public School 208 in Harlem, where the billionaire reminisced that as a penniless student in London, he survived because of a handout he got from Quakers. "This gift has a special personal meaning to me, because I was once also a recipient of charity," Soros said in a choking voice. "I'm very pleased that I'm able to repay what they gave me." Paterson's Republican critics blasted the giveaway, saying he should spend the money to reduce property taxes. "It is a plan that is ripe for fraud and abuse," said Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos. "This is a totally irresponsible use of federal stimulus money." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4ed_1250085868 Potatoes Back to school spree: Billionaire, feds give out $175M to aid neediest students around the state free,money,stimulus,george,soros Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:52:11 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c0f_1249678183 Potatoes The White House strategy of turning supporters into snitches when they see "fishy" information about the health care debate may run afoul of the law, legal experts say. "The White House is in bit of a conundrum because of this privacy statute that prohibits the White House from collecting data and storing it on people who disagree with it," Judge Andrew Napolitano, a FOX News analyst, said Friday. "There's also a statute that requires the White House to retain all communications that it receives. It can't try to rewrite history by pretending it didn't receive anything," he said. "If the White House deletes anything, it violates one statute. If the White House collects data on the free speech, it violates another statute." Napolitano was referring to the Privacy Act of 1974, which was passed after the Nixon administration used federal agencies to illegally investigate individuals for political purposes. Enacted after Richard Nixon's resignation in the Watergate scandal, the statute generally prohibits any federal agency from maintaining records on individuals exercising their right to free speech. The White House has been under fire since it posted a blog on Tuesday that asked supporters to e-mail any "fishy" information seen on the Web or received electronically to flag@whitehouse.gov. "There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there," the blog said, adding that "since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help." The blog was posted partly in response to a video posted on the Web that claimed to show Obama explaining how his health care reform plans eventually will eliminate private insurance. The video, featured on the Drudge Report, strung together selected Obama statements that the White House said were taken out of context. The White House said it wanted to be made aware of "fishy" comments about its health care plan because it wants to set the record straight. But critics called White House move an Orwellian tactic designed to control the health care debate. "This is a very troubling attempt to stifle the free speech of Americans who have the constitutional right to express their opinion and concerns about health care," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. He called on Obama to repudiate his blog. "This move is an attempt to intimidate those who have legitimate concerns about the health care plan," Sekulow said. "And, worse, it turns the White House into some sort of self-appointed 'speech police.' This new White House reporting program strikes at the heart of the First Amendment and has no place in this important debate about health care." Sekulow said he imagines that opponents of mandatory abortion coverage are engaging in what the White House considers "fishy" speech and should be reported. "What the White House is touting is absurd," he said. But Napolitano said the White House probably cannot be sued because of sovereign immunity, unless someone was harmed by what the government did with the records. But that's unlikely, he said, because the person would probably be unaware of the harm. "That's a silent violation of your right to privacy," he said. The White House Thursday denied that it was playing "Big Brother." "Nobody is collecting names," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "We have seen, and as I've discussed from this podium, a lot of misinformation around health care reform, a lot of it spread, I think, purposefully." Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who has called on Obama to end the program, rejected the White House explanation. "Of course the White House is collecting names," he said, arguing that anyone with access to the e-mail account has access to private information. "The question is not what the White House is doing, but how and why," he said. "How are they purging names and e-mail addresses from this account to protect privacy? Why do they need the forwarded e-mails, names, and 'casual conversations' sent to them instead of just the arguments that they want to rebut? Asked by FOX News whether the White House was using the blog post as a way to expand the e-mail list for the administration and Obama's political arm, Organizing for America, Gibbs said the two are "not in any way connected" and repeated that the White House is not collecting names. Pressed about the program's goal, Gibbs said it was to clarify for everybody what the misinformation is, adding that's not a new tactic. "When you make a mistake in your report, sometimes I e-mail you," Gibbs said to FOX News' Major Garrett. "Occasionally, I call. Sometimes I just throw something against the wall. Occasionally, it's all three." Garrett asked why it's necessary to ask so many people to e-mail the White House. "All we're asking people to do is, if they're confused about what health care reform is going to mean to them, we're happy to help clear that up for them. Nobody's keeping anybody's names. I do have your e-mail. ...Maybe that's because I assume future mistakes. But I'm not going to say that," Gibbs said, drawing laughter. "But nobody's collecting information," he added. "Everybody is trying to give people only the facts around what we all understand is a very complicated issue." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c0f_1249678183 Potatoes White House Move to Collect 'Fishy' Info May Be Illegal, Critics Say whitehouse,fishy,big,brother Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:47:16 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=437_1249677884 Potatoes By Christopher Martin and Mario Parker Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama's push for wind and solar energy to wean the U.S. from foreign oil carries a hidden cost: overburdening the nation's electrical grid and increasing the threat of blackouts. The funding Obama devoted to get high-voltage lines ready for handling the additional load of alternative supplies is less than 5 percent of the $130 billion that power users, producers and the U.S. Energy Department say is needed. Without more investment, cities can't tap much of the renewable energy from remote areas, said Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He serves as the administration's top official on grid issues and recognizes the dilemma it faces. "As we add more and more wind power, the grid will get more stressed, and there's going to be a point where the grid can't handle any more," Wellinghoff said at an energy conference in Chicago. "The first thing we need is to build out transmission." The country's electricity network sprawls over 211,000 miles (340,000 kilometers) of high-voltage power lines, a patchwork connecting substations and transformers owned by utilities and federal agencies. Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan to end the deepest U.S. recession since the 1940s dedicates $6 billion in the next two years to expand the country's transmission system for renewable energy. By contrast, China is spending 23 percent of its 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) in stimulus to make its grid ready for alternative sources, using advanced electrical technologies from Zurich-based ABB Ltd. and American Superconductor Corp. Grid Gets Less "China's our fastest-growing market," said Jason Fredette, investor relations manager at Devens, Massachusetts- based American Superconductor, which has outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 Index by 93 percentage points this year. "We're not counting on U.S. stimulus money." The Energy Department's latest round of loan guarantees, announced July 29, underscored the government's emphasis on alternative energy over the transmission system itself. The department said it will provide as much as $30 billion for renewable projects, compared with $750 million to increase the reliability of the nation's power network. The administration is counting on private utilities and transmission developers to complement its investment, according to Wellinghoff. Yet a full refit of the U.S. grid would cost $13 billion annually over 10 years, compared with the $5 billion a year averaged over the last decade, said Rich Lordan of the Electric Power Research Institute, an industry-funded energy research organization in Palo Alto, California. Consumer Backlash The amount utilities will spend is limited by how much consumers are willing to pay for transmission work and alternative energy, said Keith Martin, a lawyer at New York- based Chadbourne & Parke LLP who represents developers of renewable projects. A new solar-power facility costs three times as much as a coal-fired plant of the same size, the Energy Department estimates. "Five years from now, we could experience ratepayer backlash," Martin said. Encouraging alternative sources without preparing the grid heightens the risk of shortages, said Will Gabrielski, an analyst with Broadpoint AmTech Inc. in San Francisco. He ranked first in a Bloomberg analyst survey based on the 12-month accuracy of his calls on Houston-based Quanta Services Inc., the largest U.S. builder of power lines. Texas Misstep The consequences of failing to improve the grid played out last year in Texas, the biggest U.S. generator of wind power with 7,907 megawatts, enough to supply about 6.3 million homes. When winds died in February 2008, utilities had to cut power to factories and offices as output dropped 82 percent. Texas's transmission network is mostly independent of the nation's. Without added power lines, operators were unable to draw enough replacement electricity to keep businesses supplied. "The rule of thumb is by 2011 we need to see significant upgrades" to avoid such shortages caused by the intermittent, unreliable nature of renewable-energy sources, Gabrielski said. The outdated network led to the nation's worst blackout six years ago this month. It cut power to 50 million people in eight states and the Canadian province of Ontario, causing about $10 billion in damages. Obama targets 25 percent renewables by 2025, more than five times the current amount, excluding hydroelectric, the Energy Department says. That would add about 272,000 megawatts to the grid's capacity of 830,000, further straining a transmission system largely built more than five decades ago. Oil-Import Decline As drivers shift to hybrid and electric cars, oil imports will decline from 58 percent of supplies to 40 percent by 2025, according to Energy Department data. Alternatives such as wind demand more power lines and substations than coal-fired plants, which provide a steady stream of electricity. If the wind is blowing hardest in North Dakota, yet needed in Chicago, lines must transport the power. That's not an issue with nuclear and coal plants, which tend to be built closer to where the electricity is used. "We need a national policy commitment to develop the transmission infrastructure necessary to bring renewable energy from remote areas, where it is produced most efficiently, into our large metropolitan areas, where most of the power is consumed," Wellinghoff said at a July 20 conference in Seattle. Disrupting Service Regulators don't know when additional wind and solar power would disrupt service. FERC has commissioned a study to answer that question by the first quarter of 2010, Wellinghoff said in a July 31 Bloomberg Television interview. He was first named to the commission by President George W. Bush in 2006. Wellinghoff, 60, an energy-law specialist, previously represented federal agencies, renewable developers and clean-energy advocates. Obama designated him chairman of the commission in March. His challenge is persuading utilities and developers to expand transmission fast enough to support Obama's renewable- energy plans without inciting fears that it could cause shortages, said Katie Renshaw, a lawyer with Earthjustice, an environmental group based in Washington. "It's not an easy task," said Renshaw, whose group filed a complaint in a San Francisco federal court on July 7 accusing U.S. agencies of planning 6,000 miles of rights-of-way for new power lines and pipelines, yet leaving areas with renewable energy resources "stranded or underserved." "We're concerned the Obama administration isn't moving fast enough," Renshaw said in an interview. 'Hard Work' Ahead The North American Electric Reliability Corp., a nonprofit group based in Princeton, New Jersey that oversees power systems serving 334 million people, said in an April report that grid monitoring must be improved to add wind and solar power without harming reliability. "It's absolutely a concern, but not something that we think is impossible," said Kelly Ziegler, a NERC spokeswoman. "It will require a lot of hard work." One obstacle is the lack of federal authority to choose locations for new lines. Investor T. Boone Pickens, who met with Obama in Reno, Nevada, last August, is helping lead the push to address that. "I told Obama that it has to be like Eisenhower did in 1956 with the national highway," Pickens said in a July 7 interview, referring to President Dwight Eisenhower's expansion of the interstate highway system for economic development and national security. "You could solve this within 10 years. All we need is federal siting authority." Pickens's Wind Farm The lack of lines forced Pickens to shelve a $10 billion Texas wind farm last month. He is searching for a place with transmission capacity for the 667 turbines his Mesa Power LLP ordered from General Electric Co. Upgrades face opposition from state officials who want to retain control. Southern California Edison, based in Rosemead, canceled a plan to import solar power from Arizona in May after state regulators there criticized the project as a "230-mile extension cord" that wouldn't benefit their residents. On June 17, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 15-8 for a bill that would give FERC the ability to overrule state objections to the siting of interstate power lines. The panel's chairman, Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, sponsored the legislation. Without addressing such issues, only so much solar, wind and other new-energy sources can be loaded onto the grid, said Tucker Twitmyer, who helps manage $380 million in energy technology funds for EnerTech Capital in Wayne, Pennsylvania. "Reliability remains the top priority for utilities," Twitmyer said. "That's a natural boundary in terms of what can be done with renewables." To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net ; Mario Parker in Chicago at mparker22@bloomberg.net . http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=437_1249677884 Potatoes Wind Promises Blackouts as Obama Strains Grid With Renewables renewable,energy,strain Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:53:17 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7fb_1249580946 Potatoes WASHINGTON - For the first time, more than 34 million Americans received food stamps, which help poor people buy groceries, government figures said on Thursday, a sign of the longest and one of the deepest recessions since the Great Depression Enrollment surged by 2 percent to reach a record 34.4 million people, or one in nine Americans, in May, the latest month for which figures are available. It was the sixth month in a row that enrollment set a record. Every state recorded a gain in participation from April. Florida had the largest increase at 4.2 percent. Food stamp enrollment is highest during times of economic stress. The U.S. unemployment rate of 9.5 percent is the highest in 26 years. Average benefit was $133.65 in May per person. The economic stimulus package enacted earlier this year included a temporary increase in food stamp benefits of $80 a month for a family of four. Month Total May 34.409 million April 33.758 million March 33.157 million February 32.556 million January 32.205 million December 2008 31.784 million November 2008 31.097 million October 2008 31.050 million September 2008 31.586 million (Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7fb_1249580946 Potatoes US food stamp list tops 34 million for first time foos, stamps, highest, ever Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:41:39 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8bc_1249483170 Potatoes Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington, D.C., by private jet to attend a hearing about a possible bailout of their companies. But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel: At the end of July, the House approved nearly $200 million for the Air Force to buy three elite Gulfstream jets for ferrying top government officials and Members of Congress. The Air Force had asked for one Gulfstream 550 jet (price tag: about $65 million) as part of an ongoing upgrade of its passenger air service. But the House Appropriations Committee, at its own initiative, added to the 2010 Defense appropriations bill another $132 million for two more airplanes and specified that they be assigned to the D.C.-area units that carry Members of Congress, military brass and top government officials. Because the Appropriations Committee viewed the additional aircraft as an expansion of an existing Defense Department program, it did not treat the money for two more planes as an earmark, and the legislation does not disclose which Member had requested the additional money. An Appropriations Committee staffer said the military was already planning to replace its passenger fleet, and the committee "looked at the request and decided they should speed up the replacement." The Gulfstream G550 is a luxury business jet, which the company advertises as featuring long-range flight capacity that "easily links Washington, D.C., with Dubai, London with Singapore and Tokyo with Paris." The company's promotional materials say, "The cabin aboard the G550 combines productivity with exceptional comfort. It features up to four distinct living areas, three temperature zones, a choice of 12 floor plan configurations with seating for up to 18 passengers." The version Gulfstream sells to the military is reconfigured for the government with modest accommodations, not the luxury version sold to private customers, said a source familiar with the planes. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) had submitted a request to the Appropriations Committee for a $70 million earmark for one airplane on behalf of Georgia-based Gulfstream, and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) lists the airplane as one of the earmarks that he was asked to request, though his office said he never made the request to the Appropriations Committee. "The committee saw fit to fund it at that level" without Kingston's involvement, his spokesman said. Bishop's office did not return several calls requesting comment for this story. Air Force spokesman Vincent King told Roll Call: "This line item provides funding to purchase C-37 aircraft. The C-37 is the military variant of the commercial Gulfstream 550 executive jet. C-37s provide executive airlift for senior U.S. government officials including Congress and combatant commanders." The language of the appropriations bill specifies that of the three aircraft, the Air Force will provide "one aircraft each for the 201st Airlift Squadron and the 89th Airlift Wing." Both are based out of Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. The 89th Airlift Wing provides "global Special Air Mission (SAM) airlift, logistics, aerial port and communications for the President, Vice President, Combat Commanders, senior leaders and the global mobility system," according to the Andrews Web site. King told Roll Call, "the 201st Airlift Squadron provides short-notice worldwide transportation for the executive branch, Congressional Members, Department of Defense officials and high-ranking U.S. and foreign dignitaries." An Armed Forces Press Service news story from 2004 said that the 201st counted "U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and John Warner among its frequent flyers." Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said if Congress wants to buy new jets for the comfort of top government officials, "I think that all needs to be justified on the merits. ... Certainly, lawmakers can fly - and many do fly - coach and business class." While there may be reasons for flying on top-notch private jets, "it shouldn't just be squeezed into the bill." Ellis said the airplanes are also part of a larger trend for the Appropriations Committee to simply decide that big-ticket items are program increases, not earmarks, so they require less public disclosure. "The more that you push for transparency, the more of this stuff goes underneath the carpet," Ellis said. While Congress has established new rules requiring greater transparency for earmarks, the Appropriations Committee is "the judge, jury and executioner over what is an earmark and what isn't and how much information we get." But military analysts said the private jets, despite the high price tag, may be worth the money because of the security and efficiency they provide to high-ranking public officials. Loren Thompson, defense analyst at the conservative Lexington Institute, said, "In the case of the VIP transport for the executive branch, you can easily explain the cost in terms of the risk of somebody being taken hostage or having their time wasted when a critical decision is pending." Thompson pointed out that the cost of the plane would be peanuts compared to the cost to the nation if a top official were taken hostage or harmed taking a commercial flight to a dangerous region of the world. But Thompson also said that logic "applies to the top members of the executive branch more than it applies to the Member from the 13th district of Illinois." John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense information Web site, said military officials "need a long-range airplane - and better to fly them on a small one than a big one." Pike said it is unreasonable to expect a three-star general and a staff of five people to attend meetings around the world with several stops in far-flung locales while traveling on commercial airlines. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8bc_1249483170 Potatoes House Orders Up Three Elite Jets House,spending,jets Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:52:09 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8b9_1247582942 Potatoes ANALYSIS/OPINION: We've never had an Official U.S. Senate Pornographer before, though pornographic behavior is frequently the entertainment provided to the public by the world's oldest deliberative body. So Al Franken, the answer to Harry Reid's prayer, should fit right in. Some of the Democrats can't wait to see what mischief they can do. "With the Minnesota recount complete," Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said after the Minnesota robbery was completed, "it is now clear that Al Franken won the election." Actually, it wasn't clear at all, but clarity is never valued among thieves. The Democrats in the Senate were eager to get Al seated quickly, both for crucial Senate votes coming up and because once seated among his equals, a bum is difficult to throw out. There's honor among the members of our only native criminal class, similar to the honor among robbers, burglars and other servants of the night. The difference, and it's only a slight one, is that robbers, burglars and thieves often hold themselves to higher standards than members of Congress. Given their handsome majority in the Senate, the Democrats shouldn't have trouble confirming Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, regardless of whether the senorita is "wiser" than white folks, as she assures us she is, or not quite ready for prime time, as her record on the appeals court suggests. The first day of hearings on her nomination was the expected partisan patty-cake, full of the hot air and empty bravado that makes July in Washington such a treat. Democratic senators spoke of her as the incarnation of John Marshall and Learned Hand, or at least the equal of David Souter. Republican senators weren't so sure, but made it clear they have no stomach for making the hearings "a teaching moment." The Constitution is such a bore for so many of our congressional worthies. Patty-cake or not, it's nice to have the pornographer's 60th vote at the ready. Harry Reid will need Sen. Franken's vote first for the global-warming legislation, only narrowly passed by the House. The 20-vote margin is nice but cannot necessarily prevent a Republican filibuster, provided the Republicans in the Senate could even find the grit and gumption to mount one. As many as 15 Democrats are thought to be wary of voting for the cap-and-trade tax, fearing retribution from constituents who are waking up to a monumental scam. They're not at all eager to say "yes, ma'am" and fall in line just because Barbara Boxer of California warns that if the Senate doesn't pass the bill "there will be dire results: droughts, floods, fires, loss of species, damage to agriculture, worsening air pollution and more." It's difficult to imagine what "more" there could be after all those droughts, floods, fires and such. More lady senators like Mzz Boxer, perhaps. After that, if any of us are still alive, there's the health care legislation to consider. The White House wants a vote in September, and you can understand the hurry. Like the global-warming legislation, the health care plan, whatever its dire details turn out to be, will evaporate under the glare of close examination. The theft of Norman Coleman's Senate seat was remarkably brazen for the way it was done in broad daylight. The techniques of such thievery are peculiar to the various states. Mary Landrieu stole her seat in Louisiana, but authentic fraud shock is rare in Louisiana, and Huey Long didn't bother to roll to either right or left in his grave. Lyndon Johnson got to the Senate on the strength of a single ballot box in remote Jim Wells County, where he kept going back for more votes until he had the 87 ballots he needed to steal the election from Gov. Coke Stevenson. But Minnesota imagines itself to be more high minded than Louisiana or Texas, even if the rest of us don't. One member of the Minnesota canvassing board, a state Supreme Court justice, conceded that some ballots were probably counted twice, but he said there was not much anybody could do about it. In more than 25 precincts, officials counted more ballots than actual voters; this was put down to well-meant enthusiasm. If everyone has a duty to vote, who could scold a voter for going above and beyond the call of duty? Al Franken's vote is not likely to be the margin of victory for any of the schemes now being dreamed up by the Democrats, but the way he got to Washington, and the easy acceptance of fraud, will be remembered as typical of the times, an era when avarice reigned, and the clever swindle was a joke to be played by a clown. o Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8b9_1247582942 Potatoes PRUDEN: Franken, a clown for all seasons, arrives in time Franken,clown