The Water Cooler is written by Washington Times staffers.
By Kerry Picket — Published August 30, 2009 Comments
In this video, a town hall attendee ripped into Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), on August 27th, over health care among other issues. (h/t freedom's lighthouse) : "Thank you Congressman. My name is Bonnie Cohen. Im a patriotic, law abiding, tax paying citizen who clings to her religion. We the American people were fed up with Washington so we voted for change. But we did not vote to remake the nation! You may not be aware of it but we love this country! Im an Independent; Ive never been interested in politics. But, let me tell you Congressman that for the first time in my adult lifetime I am afraid for my country. I see Washington bankrupting our future one day at a time! From TARP to Stimulus to 9000 earmarks to auto bailouts to Cap and Trade. And now you guys want to take over health care after you screwed ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 29, 2009 Comments
Kennedy biographer Ed Klein joined WOR radio's Steve Malzberg on Wednesday, and revealed President Obama's relationship with the late Senator Ted Kennedy was not as close as has been depicted in the media (h/t Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters). Mr. Klein seemed disgusted by the notion that Mr Obama is considered to be the "last Kennedy brother" by MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews. : AUDIO STEVE MALZBERG: This relationship between Obama and Ted Kennedy led Chris Matthews, wacko of all wackos in my view, to say that he's now the next, he's the last brother. Obama's the last brother. ED KLEIN: Yeah, I, I heard that. Yeah. MALZBERG: What do you think of that? What was their relationship, and what do you think of that description of it? KLEIN: Makes me want to puke. To tell you the truth. MALZBERG: Why, why, why? KLEIN: Because it's so patently untrue, number one. And number two, ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 29, 2009 Comments
Recent revelations from CNet News , showing a bill revised by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) giving the president emergency control of the internet, exploded on to the Dudge Report yesterday.: (all bolding below is mine) The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license. It is important to look back at some statements President Obama's top enforcer in his administration made back in the days of the Clinton administration. Attorney General Eric Holder was known as Deputy Attorney General Holder in April of 1999, when the Columbine High School massacre shocked the country.(AUDIO ABOVE) Writing on Newsbusters last November, I pointed ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 28, 2009 Comments
At 11 years of age, Jayce Lee Dugard was snatched from her family in 1991 at a school bus stop in South Lake Tahoe, California. Convicted sex offender, Phillip Garrido kept Miss Duggard in a complex of sheds in his backyard for 18 long years. During that time, Mr. Garrido is said to have fathered two daughters, aged 11 and 15 respectively, by Ms. Dugard. He kept all three females hidden within the sheds of his back yard in Antioch, California. Ms. Dugard resurfaced this week, when Mr. Garrido was called into a Concord, California parole office. The Telegraph has posted audio of a jail cell interview with Mr. Garrido (audio below): Earlier, Mr Garrido gave a bizarre and sometimes incoherent phone interview to KCRA-TV from the El Dorado County jail, in which he admitted that his behaviour to his captive had initially been "disgusting", but developed into a "heart-warming ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 28, 2009 Comments
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, the white pastor from Chicago's predominantly black Saint Sabina Catholic Church, made some incendiary statements at Philander Smith College's opening convocation on Thursday, reported the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette. The clergyman first came to the national spotlight, when he gave a sermon at President Obama's own former controversial Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in May 2008 (see video below). Here are some of the charges made by Father Pfleger that were recently reported (subscription only): Pfleger said racial bias is "alive and well" in America and likened discrimination to terrorism. He said terrorism in America did not begin with the Sept. 11,2001, attacks. Instead, he believes American terrorism began with the pilgrims on the Mayflower "who got lost and came upon a land and decided to take the first nation and enslave them." Father Pfleger also said: “Yes, terrorism is old in America. Not only is terrorism old in America, ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 27, 2009 Comments
Once again looking to duplicate the 2008 campaign, the Obama administration is bringing in creative types who were key in helping President Obama win in November. Now in the role of government, Obama's team is using its power to corral the artistic community through the National Endowment for the Arts(NEA). A conference call was hosted by the White House Office of Public Engagement, the NEA, and United We Serve on August 10th. The Washington Times asked the NEA for a copy of the invitation to the conference call, but Communications Director for the NEA Yosi Sergant told us that they were not the ones who sent out the invitations for the conference call. Mr. Sergant directed us to the Corporation for National and Community Service as the body that sent out the invitations. We contacted Sandy Scott in public affairs at this government agency and asked for the invitation this afternoon. As of ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 27, 2009 Comments
***August 28- Updated with Greg Palast Audio Top rated conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh called the Obama agenda today fascist. During a conversation with a caller who was critical of the Obama administration's stance on health care, Mr. Limbaugh responded to the caller's charge that the country will be "worse off under Obama and socialism." Mr. Limbaugh replied: AUDIO "It's not socialism. It's actually fascism, and I think we need to be precise about this. Socialism, technically, is when the government owns the means of production, and they don't yet. They own a couple of car companies, and they're mucking that up, but fascism is where the private sector still owns businesses, but the government runs it. The government in one way another is either in bed with the CEO or the management team or they rule by dictate and fiat. Fascism is a more apt ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 27, 2009 Comments
Congress will be back in session soon, and town hall meetings are beginning to wrap up. Conservatives are not done with their representatives yet. On September 12th, tea party activists will gather in Washington D.C. for the Taxpayer March. Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck, who is heading up the 9-12 project, is also involved with the march on Washington. In the mean time, activists like foundingbloggers.com are producing satirical videos ,like the one below, to call out some of the charges that have been hurled against those who are pushing back against the Democratic plan for health care reform.
by Kerry Picket — Published August 26, 2009 Comments
The Washington Times spoke with LaRouche Pac members at Congressman Jim Moran's (D- Va.) town hall in Reston last night. Refusing to speak with the me at first, a LaRouche Pac member fled. However, I caught up with the rest of the group to continue the chat about their affiliation.
by Kerry Picket — Published August 26, 2009 Comments
The film makers who brought forward the the film "Not Evil Just Wrong," which answered Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth," posted an amazing BBC clip of Gerd Leipold, the outgoing leader of Greenpeace.: Gerd Leipold admits that his organization's recent claim that the Arctic Ice will disappear by 2030 is "a mistake." Greenpeace said in a July 15 press release that there will be an ice-free Arctic by 2030 because of global warming. BBC reporter Stephen Sackur on the "Hardtalk" program pressed Leipold until he admitted the claim was wrong.
by Kerry Picket — Published August 26, 2009 Comments
Congressman Jim Moran's (D-Va.) Reston town hall meeting fell apart at one point last night when Operation Rescue's Randall Terry disrupted the meeting along with others. He was immediately ejected by security.
by Kerry Picket — Published August 25, 2009 Comments
8/26/09: **UPDATE- Audio added and further transcription (more transcription to come) 8/26/09: **UPDATE - The Washington Times contacted the Democratic National Committe press office yesterday about the charge from the OFA representative that tea party protesters are being bussed to town hall meetings. The DNC has not returned our call with a response. Obama supporters gathered in Fairfax, Virgnia last night and met with an Organizing For America (OFA) representative at a local library to talk shop and brainstorm about how to help President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats pass health care reform. If there is any doubt the Obama administration is not in campaign mode, the OFA listening tour puts that notion to rest. In fact, the message seemed more about winning a campaign than anything else. Papers were handed out describing the meeting's agenda and Mr. Obama's health insurance reform guarantees. Canvassing sheets were also part of ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 25, 2009 Comments
It is amusing to see media outlets display shock over the Obama Justice Department's announcement regarding an appointment of a prosecutor to probe CIA interrogation tactics. Back in 2008, I blogged at Newsbusters that Mr. Obama told a radio interviewer in 2007 that his Attorney General would investigate Bush executive orders. Naked Emperor News first uncovered the the KJFK radio interview between then Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and host Christiane Brown. Here's an excerpt(emphasis is mine:) BROWN: And when you are... if you were to be elected president of the United States, Senator Obama, do you feel that we need to look back if the investigations have been done on this administration find out what happened, because there’s a fear there’s a dangerous precedent being set... the CIA interrogation tapes missing, warrant-less wire tapping, all of these are violations of the Constitution, and people can be forgiven for thinking that it seems like we only ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 24, 2009 Comments
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby called on the ailing Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) to resign from the postion as the senior senator from Massachusetts. Mr. Jacoby eloquently points out Mr. Kennedy's attempt to reassign gubernatorial power, which he helped strip away from former Massachusetts GOP governor Mitt Romney in 2004 during Senator John Kerry's (D-Mass.) run for the presidency, to temporariiy fill a Senate vacancy. Today Kennedy is gravely ill with brain cancer, but his political instincts are as sharp as ever. Given his condition, the letter he sent to Massachusetts political leaders last week could not help but generate a fresh wave of sympathy. “I am now writing to you,’’ it reads, “about an issue that concerns me deeply - the continuity of representation for Massachusetts, should a vacancy occur.’’ As a human being, Kennedy is surely grateful for that sympathy. As a canny political navigator, he reckons it ...
by Kerry Picket — Published August 23, 2009 Comments
Senator Arlen Specter's positions continue to dog the the now Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania, as he bobs and weaves his way through some of his past stances prior his party switch. In this video clip, Mr. Specter first explains back in late April of 2009 on MSNBC's Ed Schultz's program , that he was opposed to using reconciliation as a tactic to passing health care reform. SPECTER: I`m opposed to reconciliation to be used for health care or any other substantive legislative issues. I think it would undermine an important institutional prerogative of the Senate to require 60 votes on these complicated matters. I thought that when I -- whether I would be a Republican or a Democrat. However, the Pennsylvania Senator warmed up to using reconciliation as a measure to pass health care legislation since then. He gave Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace a different story : SPECTER:I think ...
