22 July 2011, Fri, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president
9:30 am The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:00 am The President participates in a Town Hall on the on-going efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction
College Park—Ritchie Coliseum, University of Maryland
Open Press

1:35 pm The President meets with Prime Minister Key of New Zealand
Oval Office
Closed Press

2:20 pm The President and Prime Minister Key deliver statements to the press
Oval Office
Pooled Press

2:45 pm The President meets with Secretary of Defense Panetta and Admiral Mullen
Oval Office
Closed Press

3:30 pm The President meets with Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and Mrs. Eikenberry
Oval Office
Closed Press


http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
9:30 am The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:00 am The Vice President administers the oath of office at a ceremonial swearing-in for Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta
The Pentagon
Pooled TV, Open to Correspondents

21 July 2011, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president
9:30 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:00 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

12:30 pm The President and the Vice President meet for lunch
Private Dining Room
Closed Press

1:45 pm The President meets with General Cartwright
Oval Office
Closed Press

2:05 pm The President meets with Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League (NUL), and Ben Jealous, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Oval Office
Closed Press

2:30 pm The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of Treasury Geithner
Oval Office
Closed Press

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
9:30 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:00 am The Vice President meets with Ambassador Karl Eikenberry to thank him for his service in Afghanistan and throughout his career
Closed Press

12:30 pm The President and the Vice President meet for lunch
Private Dining Room
Closed Press

2:00 pm The Vice President meets with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip of Estonia
Roosevelt Room
Pool Spray at the Top

2:30 pm The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of Treasury Geithner
Oval Office
Closed Press

6:30 pm The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden host a barbecue for members of the Cabinet
Naval Observatory
Closed Press

Rush continues to harp on debt ceiling

The debt ceiling has been raised over 11 times since it's been put in place.

President Obama was all for spending cuts as well as raising taxes on the wealthy, but Rush only ever mentions that he wants to raise taxes but not cut spending.

That's called spin!

And of course he's at it again today.

Today it was revealed that Ronald Reagan *also* agreed to raise the debt ceiling. Ronald Reagan, whom Limbaugh calls prententiously, "Renaldus Magnus".

There was no need to cut this debt ceiling rise so close to the deadline. Raise it, and cut spending afterwards. Instead they've sent panic throughout the world, as the 50% of foreign folk, including China, who own half our debt, weren't very happy...

20 July 2011, Wed, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete

(VP Biden has no other public schedule except those with President Obama)

9:30 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:00 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:00 am The President participates in regional interviews on the economy and the importance of finding a balanced approach to deficit reduction
Diplomatic Room
Closed Press

1:00 pm The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of Defense Panetta
Oval Office
Closed Press

Drudge Headline Focuses On Minor Obama Rather Than Major Republicans in Pakistani Arrest

There's a cliche about "Caesar's Wife." The wife of Caeser must be "above suspicion."

The same is true with sites like Michael Savage, Drudge Report, Rush Limbaugh, etc. These are sites in which Republicans and Conservatives would like to trust, and which Democrats should be able to come to to find out the truth about their elected officials.

So what did we get today?

On the Drudge report, there is a link to an article about a Pakistani "agent" who was a contributor to Obama, arrested.

But guess what. CLick on the link, go to the article at Politico, and this guy gave 500 whole dollars to Obama's campaign. He gave $5,000 to the Republican party!

Nor is he a spy. He's just an unregistered campaign contributor. Yet the headline composed - either by Drudge or a Drudge minion, tries to make it seem like he was a spy.

And I'm thinking to myself, does Drudge not think that poeople will click on that link, go to the original article, and read it? Does he not think that they're not intelligent enough to comprehend what they read and realize that they were a victim of the old "bait and switch"? This guy who was arrested gave thousands of dollars to the Republicans, and a few measly hundred to the Democrats.

An honest, unbiased headline would have pointed out - Republican Donor Arrested as Pakistani Agent. For Drudge to give any other headline is really disengenuous.

But this is not the first time it's happened. It's more egregious on the Michael Savage site, where headlines are inevitably rewritten in a pejorative way, and at least a third of the time, the article doesn't correspond to the headline at all.

But if someone doesn't have time to read the sites, but depends on the headlines to get their news of the day, how many of them are going to be swayed by those bogus headlines to believe the exact opposite of the truth?

19 July 2011, Tues, Pres and VP SChedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete

9:30 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:00 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

Rush golfing until Wednesday

Mark Steyn will be his guest host.

I'll share news articles for the next two days.

18 July 2011: Mon, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president
9:30 am The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:00 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:35 am The President meets with members of the Giving Pledge including co-founders Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, and others who have taken the Giving Pledge
State Dining Room
Closed Press

1:05 pm The President makes a personnel announcement
Rose Garden
Open Press

1:35 pm The President hosts an education roundtable with business leaders, Secretary Duncan, Melody Barnes, and America’s Promise Alliance Chair Alma Powell and Founding Chair General Colin Powell
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Closed Press

2:15 pm The President and senior administration officials meet with heads of financial regulatory agencies to receive an update on implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Roosevelt Room
Closed Press

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
No public schedule

A mind is a terrible thing to waste...

Twice now... sometime yesterday and earlier today, I thought of a topic I'd wanted to post here...and each time it has faded away - so that now I don't remember what it was about!

I've got to start carrying a small notebook and pen with me, so I can jot these things down when I'm on the road.

It was something that someone else had said - Glenn Beck I think, not Limbaugh... it's tantalizingly close but it just won't come to me!

Anyway, Limbaugh is on vacation today and Monday and Tuesday, so there won't be much re-butting going on here. But I'll be sharing some other stuff.

15 July 2011, Fri, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete
10:00 am The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:00 am The President holds a news conference on the status of efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction
James S. Brady Briefing Room
Open Press

12:29 pm The President calls the crews of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station
Oval Office
Closed Press

1:30 pm The President meets with Ruby Bridges and representatives of the Norman Rockwell Museum and views Rockwell’s "The Problem We All Live With"
Oval Office
Closed Press

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
No public schedule.

14 July 2011, Thu, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president
10:00 am The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:30 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

2:00 pm The President participates in regional interviews on the economy and the importance of finding a balanced approach to deficit reduction
Map Room
Closed Press

3:05 pm The President and The Vice President meet with Secretary of the Treasury Geithner
Oval Office
Closed Press

4:15 pm The President and The Vice President meet with Congressional Leadership
Cabinet Room
Pool Spray

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
10:00 am The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

12:00 pm The Vice President hosts a lunch meeting with President of the Council on Foreign Relations Dr. Richard Haass
Closed Press

3:05 pm The President and The Vice President meet with Secretary of the Treasury Geithner
Oval Office

Closed Press
4:15 pm The President and The Vice President meet with Congressional Leadership
Cabinet Room
Pool Spray

It Takes a Big Man to Admit He's Wrong

Rush was wrong, but of course, he can spin it so that he's right.

RUSH: Let me tell you about Tip O'Neill. You know, all this is revisionist history. Tip O'Neill called Ronald Reagan "the most ignorant man who had ever occupied the White House." O'Neill, I think, is the author of the phrase "amiable dunce" in describing Reagan. O'Neill also said that Reagan was "Herbert Hoover with a smile, a cheerleader for selfishness." He said that Reagan's policies "meant that his presidency was one big Christmas party for the rich." Tip O'Neill was a leading opponent of the Reagan administration's policies, domestic and foreign; defense, what have you. Following the 1980 election, Republicans won the Senate along with the White House. O'Neill became the leader of the congressional opposition. He called Reagan, "The most ignorant man who had ever occupied the White House."

Now, all this talk about how these guys are good friends and they went out and drank beer after work every day? It's a bunch of poppycock. It's just another pack of lies. Gloria Borger, we were discussing in the break. I don't know how old this woman is, but it seems like she's been around as long as I have. I mean, ever since I have been paying attention to stuff in Washington, she's been there, and most of that time at Newsweek. So I know that in 1980 during the Reagan administration she was in Washington covering the events. If she doesn't know what TEFRA is, if she doesn't know that Reagan took $3 of spending cuts for every new dollar of tax increase -- and that he did it one time; when it was discovered he was lied to, he never, ever did it again. These guys want to act like Reagan was making those deals all the time with Tip O'Neill, but I'm saying... (sigh) What? She was is there for crying out loud! Does she not remember or is she just purposely obtuse (and that's being polite)? Okay, Gloria Borger was born in 1952, so that means that she's 59. Here's Paul. We're gonna go to the phones here. Somebody has to bail me out here 'cause I'm getting steamed. My patience wearing very thin.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I always get this wrong. It was Clark Clifford that called Reagan an "amiable dunce." Clark Clifford. But, you know, I don't care. Clark Clifford, Tip O'Neill, Averell Harriman, Lyndon Johnson, it doesn't matter. They're all the same. They're interchangeable. Any one of them would have call Reagan "amiable dunce" or worse so I'm really not wrong.

13 July 2011, Wed, Pres and VP schedule

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president
9:45 am The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:30 am The President meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:00 am The President meets with members of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
Roosevelt Room
Closed Press

12:05 pm The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

12:30 pm The President and The Vice President meet for lunch
Private Dining Room
Closed Press

4:00 pm The President and The Vice President meet with Congressional Leadership
Cabinet Room
Pool Spray at the Top

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
9:45 am The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:15 am Vice President hosts a Cabinet-level meeting to discuss the Administration's ongoing efforts to address sexual assault and dating violence
Closed Press

12:30 pm The President and The Vice President meet for lunch
Private Dining Room
Closed Press

2:30 pm The Vice President meets with General President of the International Association of Fire Fighters Harold Schaitberger
Closed Press

4:00 pm The President and The Vice President meet with Congressional Leadership
Cabinet Room
Pool Spray at the Top

12 July 2011, Tues, Rush Limbaugh headlines

--Media Attempts to Psych-Out GOP, As Bam Aims for Collapse, Default
Republicans should pull out of these meetings with him.
Parody: Our Microphones at Debt Meeting

--Jeffrey Immelt Tells Businesses to Hire Even as He Cuts Jobs at GE
Obama & Immelt: Like two radical Imams urging suicide.

--McConnell Says It: We'll Have No Solution with Obama in Oval Office
A Limbaugh Echo from the floor of the US Senate.

--Algore '92 Flashback: "Everything That Should be Down is Up..."
Caller recalls a classic piece of Democrat demagoguery.

--El Rushbo Talks to Senator Rubio
He's hell-bent for leather. We need more like him.

--Pat Caddell: I've Seen This Before
Says Prez sounds like Carter; could launch a Perot.
Perot Parody: They're Coming to Take Me Away

--Dutch Drivers Commit Insecticide
Reuters says they're killing "valuable" bugs over there.

--Economic Terrorism: President Lies About Social Security Checks
Two If By Tea: Three Great Weeks

--The great feedback continues on this patriotic product.
• Visit the Website, Taste the Tea: TwoIfByTea.com

12 July 2011, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete

(Both the President and VP acting in concert today, so I share only the one schedule)

10:00 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:30 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

2:15 pm The President awards Sergeant First Class Leroy Arthur Petry, U.S. Army, the Medal of Honor; The Vice President also attends
East Room
Open Press

3:15 pm The President and the Vice President meet with Congressional Leadership
Cabinet Room
Closed Press

What is so bad about raising taxes on the rich *slightly*

The Republicans are standing fast against Obama. They want spending cuts - but no raised taxes.

That's because the taxes in question are on the super rich, and all Obama wants is to raise them a little bit!

Limbaugh says raising taxes will generate only 1% of extra income. I find that difficult to believe for a start, but the point is, someone making $100,000 a year probably spends $10,000 a year on coffee or other crap. You telling me they couldn't afford to give that money in taxes?

Donald Trump probably spends $10,000 a year on his hair. Is it going to bankrupt him to have to pay an extra $100,000 in taxes? That's a drop in the bucket to men in his income bracket.

11 July 2011, Monday, Rush Limbaugh Headlines

--The Republicans Don't Need to Do Anything; Obama Has to Learn to Prioritize Spending to Avoid Default
Just go in the room and play Obama's own statements.
Obama in December, 2010: Raising taxes "could cost our economy well over a million jobs."
Obama in August, 2009: "[T]he last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession..."

--Want Revenues? Tax Unions, GE, "Lucky Sperm Club" Rockefellers
Republicans should propose these ideas to Obama.

--The Tea Party Won 'Cause Obama Put Entitlements on the Table? No!
F. Chuck Todd with a stupefying comment on Sunday.

--The Left's 14th Amendment Lie
Did Bush try this when Dems wouldn't raise the ceiling?
Boehner Should Tell Obama: "Call When You're Ready to Talk Cutting Spending, Not Raising the Ceiling"

--Go golfing, Mr. Speaker. It's hard to say no, but do it.
Obama's Only Hope of Reelection is Forcing John Boehner to Cave

--It'll destroy the Republican Party, and Obama knows it.
James Pethokoukis at Reuters: Like Reagan with Gorby at Reykjavik, Boehner Passes on a Bad Deal

--They Have NOT "Tried Everything"
Geithner and Obama sob that they're out of ideas.

--Unlike Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan Pays for His Own Liquor and Wine
An arrogant liberal is now a laughingstock over this.

President Obama's News Conference Today

He is placing all the blame to come to a budget agreement on the Republicans, and really, who can blame him?

This article appeared before his news conference this morning:
Before negotiations resume, Obama says ‘now is the time’ for major deal on debt

President Obama, facing a bitter partisan stalemate over how to raise the federal borrowing limit, summoned congressional leaders to a new round of White House talks Monday and warned that he would not accept a temporary, stopgap measure.

“That is not an acceptable approach,” he told a news conference. “So we might as well do it now. Pull off the bandaid. Eat our peas. Now is the time to do it. If not now, when?”

Negotiations on Sunday failed to forge agreement, leaving the talks deadlocked, a historic default looming and a fragile economy increasingly vulnerable to the consequences of Washington’s entrenched partisanship and ideological divide over taxes and entitlements.

With three weeks remaining before the administration says the country will begin to default, Obama told the group to expect to meet daily until a deal is reached, said a Democratic official familiar with the talks.

Obama spoke Monday ahead of a scheduled 2 p.m. meeting with congressional leaders to continue negotiations that appeared to founder Sunday. He said he was prepared to hold meetings every day until the issue is resolved.

Participants in the Monday session included four Republican lawmakers and four Democrats, the White House said. The GOP attendees on the list were House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.). The Democrats were Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) and House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (Md.).

On Sunday, the White House meeting adjourned after roughly 75 minutes without agreement over how far the parties should go in cutting the deficit over the next decade or whether tax cuts and entitlement reductions should be a part of any deal.

Boehner jolted the negotiations Saturday when he announced that his party would not support the larger deficit-cutting plan Obama has proposed because it includes tax increases, complicating the meeting’s agenda.

According to the Democratic official, Obama asked Republican leaders, “If not now, when?”

The enduring disagreement, drawn sharply along partisan lines as an election year approaches, brought warnings from the administration and congressional Democrats that, unless a deal is reached within two weeks — to give Congress time to approve it — the United States would default on its fiscal obligations for the first time.

Asked whether the parties could reach a deal in the next 10 days, Obama, flanked by congressional leaders in the Cabinet Room before the meeting, said simply, “We need to.”

The Democratic official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Obama began Sunday’s negotiating session by recounting the nature of the compromise that had been under discussion before Boehner’s announcement. He pushed for the larger plan throughout the meeting.

The president reminded Boehner that the speaker had admitted that a smaller deal could be just as difficult to push through Congress as a large one, and he challenged Republicans to return to the White House on Monday with a plan to secure the 218 votes needed for a measure to pass the House.

“The president pushed to do something real and not just kick the can down the road,” said a senior administration official. “He said he was ready, willing and able to make the hard choices and hoped they would join him.”

Republican leaders, meanwhile, suggested that a “contingency plan” is in the works to raise the debt ceiling if the gulf between the parties could not be bridged. Obama has dismissed incremental steps, saying that now is the moment to address the underlying causes of fiscal imbalance.

After weeks of debate, Obama may have a tenuous hold on the political high ground as he takes on a more visible role, urging party leaders to set aside ideology to trim an estimated $4 trillion from the deficit over the next decade.

Obama’s political strategy since his party lost the midterm elections has been to portray himself as a reasonable man in partisan Washington, at times angering Republicans and Democrats in doing so.

His proposal, which he has said would bring certainty to an economy constrained by anxiety over the nation’s fiscal condition, would involve spending cuts to agency budgets, including the Pentagon’s; ending the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans; and changing entitlement programs in ways his party has traditionally opposed.

Obama’s political advantage may fade quickly, though, if a deal cannot be reached before Aug. 2, the date the administration says the nation will begin to default on its obligations unless the borrowing limit is raised. Polls show that most Americans believe he has managed the economy poorly, and the unemployment rate’s jump to 9.2 percent in June has raised alarms within a White House looking toward reelection in 2012.

Lawmakers in both parties have refused to lift the $14.3 trillion debt limit unless the measure is accompanied by a strategy to sharply curtail borrowing.

The budget request Obama submitted to Congress in February would have required about $9.5 trillion in fresh borrowing by 2021. Under his current proposal, the debt would continue to rise, by roughly $5 trillion over the next 10 years. It would stabilize, however, as a share of the overall economy and eventually begin to fall by that measure.

“If they don’t act, then we face catastrophic damage to the American economy. And the leadership, to their credit, and I mean Republicans and Democrats, fully understand that,” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Boehner had been an enthusiastic partner in drafting such a deal.

But he is facing strong pressure not to accept any tax increase from a class of recalcitrant Republican House freshmen, as well as from some GOP presidential candidates, including Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), who has vowed not to vote for any increase in the debt limit.

Republicans found themselves on the defensive Sunday after Boehner pulled the plug on talks with the White House, citing his conservative rank and file’s opposition to the tax increases Obama is demanding in exchange for significant changes to federal entitlement programs.

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” McConnell called the White House proposal “a terrible idea” and “a job killer” at a time when the unemployment rate is rising.

After the meeting, Don Stewart, McConnell’s deputy chief of staff for communications, said in a statement, “It’s baffling that the president and his party continue to insist on massive tax hikes in the middle of a jobs crisis while refusing to take significant action on spending reductions at a time of record deficits.”

The Republican position sent negotiators back to the drawing board. Boehner, for one, has suggested reexamining the smaller measure that had been under discussion in bipartisan talks led by Vice President Biden. The approach aimed to reduce borrowing by about $2.4 trillion over the next decade.

Boehner, Cantor and Kyl pushed during the Sunday meeting for an agreement of roughly that size, according to the Democratic official.

“The speaker told the group that he believes a package based on the work of the Biden group is the most viable option at this time for moving forward,’’ said a Boehner aide. “The speaker restated the fundamental principles that must be met for any increase in the debt limit: spending cuts and reforms that are greater than the amount of the increase, restraints on future spending, and no tax hikes.’’

The Biden approach has problems as well, and aides in both parties questioned whether it offers a realistic path to compromise. Negotiators were still struggling to meet the $2.4 trillion goal when the talks broke up over taxes. Aides in both parties said a consensus had formed around only about $1.5 trillion in savings.

Of that, a little more than $1 trillion came from agency budgets.

The rest of the savings were split about evenly between health programs — primarily Medicare and Medicaid — and other direct-payment programs. Negotiators were also considering changes to Social Security, such as using a different measure of inflation that would have the effect of reducing payouts.

But absent GOP agreement on a Democratic request for as much as $400 billion in tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations, Democrats were reluctant to put the popular entitlement program on the table.

Without Social Security changes and tax increases, aides in both parties said, it had proved virtually impossible to push savings up to the Biden goal. Returning now to that framework may present not only problems of mathematics but political problems as well, said Ed Lorenzen, a budget analyst for the Obama fiscal commission who now works with the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

For example, Lorenzen said, farm state lawmakers may have been willing to absorb a big hit in a package that aims to solve the nation’s budget problems. But, he said, “it will be harder to sell deep ag cuts if the perception is that farm subsidies make up a disproportionate share of the smaller deal.”

Although his party and the White House appear far from an agreement, McConnell pledged Sunday to raise the federal debt limit in time to avert a default.

“Nobody is talking about not raising the debt ceiling. I haven’t heard that discussed by anybody,” McConnell said, adding that he would describe a “contingency plan” later this week if a deal isn’t reached.

Republican aides declined to discuss that plan, but McConnell has in recent weeks suggested that even the Biden framework is too ambitious and that lawmakers may need an alternative that cuts spending by a modest amount in exchange for a much shorter increase in the debt ceiling.

White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley and Geithner said on the Sunday talk shows that Obama remains committed to achieving the large deal he has outlined.

“He’s not someone to walk away from a tough fight. This is a very tough political fight, no question about it,” Daley said on ABC’s “This Week.” “But he didn’t come to this town to do little things. He came to do big things.”

Daley called Boehner’s abandonment of a broad deal “unfortunate,” adding that “everyone agrees that a number around $4 trillion is the number that will . . . make a serious dent on our deficit.”

11 July 2011, Mon, Pres and VP Schedule today

Very light day for both the President and the Vice President today.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete
11:00 am The President holds a news conference on the status of efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction
Brady Press Briefing Room
Open Press

12:00 pm The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

2:00 pm The President and the Vice President meet with Congressional Leadership
Cabinet Room | Show Details
Expected attendees include:

Speaker John Boehner
Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican Leader
Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader
Representative Eric Cantor, Majority Leader
Senator Dick Durbin, Majority Whip
Senator Jon Kyl, Republican Whip
Representative Steny Hoyer, Democratic Whip
Pool Spray at the Top

NASA Going Toward Civilian Space Companies

Yesterday, a real rocket scientist called Rush and told him that the private sector could do the job of space exploration more easily and efficiently than the federal government.

Today, of course, Rush is once again harping on the fact that the Space shuttles are shutting down and that we, the USA, have nothing to replace them with.

Well, that's "yet." Soon, we will, as private companies get it going. (And no doubt with goverment money!)

RUSH: Well, I really don't know if it's on purpose. I really don't know if it's on purpose or we just elected the biggest accident in the history of mankind, but whatever, Barack Obama is having lots of success destroying things. How about the jobs numbers? How about this pathetic press conference today, this pathetic positioning that they're trying to convince everybody on this debt ceiling. I mean champagne corks must have been popping in the White House. You got the last shuttle mission, we shut that down. So the Russians now have the only human access to space. Can you believe that? Yeah. We have to believe it, folks, 'cause it's el truebo.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The Iranians are sending monkeys up, so soon we'll be able to hitch a ride with the Iranians. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe on one of their ICBMs

8 July 2011, Fri, Rush Limbaugh Headlines

--Fear: GOP Will Cave on Sunday, Agree to Hike Taxes with Fake Cuts
Boehner says it's "Kristol clear" they won't hike taxes.

--Don't Buy Talk of SocSecurity Cuts
Pelsoi postures, but she'll fall in line to blame the GOP.

--O's Unemployment is a Disaster
This joblessness is unlike any we've seen in a century.
Plouffe: Unemployment Won't Matter in 2012

--Open Line Friday: Who's More Dangerous, a Liberal or a RINO?
A sly caller who might fool other hosts, but not yours.

--The Establishment, Not the Base, is Pressuring Republicans and Lying to Us With Threats of a Dire Default
This crisis comes from overspending, not too little debt.
Pat Buchanan: An Establishment in Panic

--Rick Santelli: No Compromise!
Democrats say, "Let's compromise...and keep doing things our way," when there won't be a default anyway!
Boehner: No, GOP Won't "Cave" in Talks

--A Tea Party Third Party Candidate Will Guarantee Obama's Reelection
This terrifying prospect is what Republicans should fear.

--In Front of Uncle Rush Revere's Poster Outside the Smithsonian
Courtney, Caitliyn, Will, Scott and Christen in DC.
• TwoIfByTea: Could It Stiffen House GOP Spines?

--The Shuttle Program Ends an Era
Obama surrenders space to Russia (and Iran's monkey).
• NASA.gov: Real-Time Space Shuttle in Google Earth

--Stimulus Funded Scheme to Give Drug Lords "Fast & Furious" Guns
We can follow the money right back to the White House.
HE: Project Gunrunner Got Stimulus Cash

8 July 2011, Fri, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete
10:00 am The President meets with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:35 am The President delivers a statement on the monthly jobs report
Rose Garden
Open Press

11:30 am The President participates in regional interviews on the economy and the importance of finding a balanced approach to deficit reduction
Map Room
Closed Press

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
No public schedule.

The debt ceiling

The government is desperate to increase the debt ceiling so that they will be able to make their obligations, payment wise, to various people.

Rush says, "Obama, raise the debt limit so I can keep being irresponsible."

What he doesn't say is of course that president after president has raised this debt ceiling, Obama's not the first one to [try to] do it. It's been raised eight times, I think, in the last ten years.

The time to stop is now, but if its raised one more time...what's the big deal?

7 July 2011, Thu, Rush Limbaugh Headlines

--GOP Must Not Accept the Premise That Congress Has to Hike Taxes
Stop talking "revenue." Focus on Barry's crazy spending.

--Rubio: Which One of Your Taxes Will Create Jobs, Mr. President?
We need more taxpayers, which means people working.

--Explanation: The Debt and Deficit
This isn't a default issue at all. That's a scare tactic.

--Obama: Raise the Debt Limit So I Can Keep Being Irresponsible
Why do we even have a debt ceiling, America?

--Furious: The Obama Regime Gave 2,500 Guns to Mexican Drug Lords
The object was clearly to attack the 2nd Amendment.

--Where's the Civility, Democrats?
From Obama on down: Republicans are terrorists, hostage-takers holding guns to America's head.

--NAALCP Criticizes CNN Lineup, Ignores Atlanta Cheating Scandal
African-American kids were robbed of an education.

Stack of Stuff Quick Hits Page
» Arizona's Tobacco Tax Revenue Goes Up in Smoke
» Wide-Faced Men More Likely to Cheat, Succeed
» No New Jet Tax. It was Just Fox Sensationalism
» Tom Hanks Falls to Obama Curse, Movie Bombs
» Halperin Still Suspended for Quip About Dick Obama

--Casey Anthony & Her Obama Ears to Spend Another Six Days in Jail
The media got it wrong again: No instant release.

--13 Year Old: How Do I Persuade?
Rush gives a special little girl the gift of Two if By Tea.

• TwoIfByTea.com: Meeting on the New Flavor This Week

7 Jul 2011, Thu, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete
9:30 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:00 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:00 am The President and the Vice President meet with Congressional Leadership
Cabinet Room
Pool Spray at the Top

3:35 pm The President participates in an Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony
Oval Office

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
9:30 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:00 am The President and the Vice President meet with Congressional Leadership
Cabinet Room
Pool Spray at the Top

6 July 2011, Wed, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president
10:45 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:15 am The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of the Treasury Geithner
Oval Office
Closed Press

12:30 pm The President and the Vice President meet for lunch
Private Dining Room
Closed Press
2:00 pm The President hosts a Twitter Town Hall
East Room
Open Press

4:30 pm The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of State Clinton
Oval Office
Closed Press

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
10:15 am The President and The Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:15 am The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of the Treasury Geithner
Oval Office
Closed Press

12:30 pm The President and the Vice President meet for lunch
Private Dining Room
Closed Press

4:30 pm The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of State Clinton
Oval Office
Closed Press

Stimuls Cost $278 Per Job???

According to the Weekly Standard:

When the Obama administration releases a report on the Friday before a long weekend, it’s clearly not trying to draw attention to the report’s contents. Sure enough, the “Seventh Quarterly Report” on the economic impact of the “stimulus,” released on Friday, July 1, provides further evidence that President Obama’s economic “stimulus” did very little, if anything, to stimulate the economy, and a whole lot to stimulate the debt.

The report was written by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, a group of three economists who were all handpicked by Obama, and it chronicles the alleged success of the “stimulus” in adding or saving jobs. The council reports that, using “mainstream estimates of economic multipliers for the effects of fiscal stimulus” (which it describes as a “natural way to estimate the effects of” the legislation), the “stimulus” has added or saved just under 2.4 million jobs — whether private or public — at a cost (to date) of $666 billion. That’s a cost to taxpayers of $278,000 per job.

In other words, the government could simply have cut a $100,000 check to everyone whose employment was allegedly made possible by the “stimulus,” and taxpayers would have come out $427 billion ahead.

and

The actual employment numbers from the administration’s own Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the unemployment rate was 7.3 percent when the “stimulus” was being debated. It has since risen to 9.1 percent. Meanwhile, the national debt at the end of 2008, when Obama was poised to take office, was $9.986 trillion (see Table S-9). It’s now $14.467 trillion — and counting.

All sides agree on these incriminating numbers — and now they also appear to agree on this important point: The economy would now be generating job growth at a faster rate if the Democrats hadn’t passed the “stimulus.”

and from the Los Angeles Times:
No recession for Obama's 454 White House aides: They'll make $37,121,463 this year

In his numerous fund-raising and policy speeches around the country these days, President Obama often bemoans the difficult economic times and uncertainties afflicting millions of Americans, including the nearly 14 million still seeking work unsuccessfully.

The Democrat argues that his administration needs more time to straighten out the economic mess left by somebody else, who's been gone almost 900 days now.

But good news this morning: The challenging Obama era and 9.1% national unemployment rate do not include the 454 people now helping President Obama do presidential things.

This crowd is being paid a total of $37,121,463 this year. That's up seven staff members and nearly $4 million from 2008, the last year of George W. Bush's presidency.

Fully 141 Obama aides -- or nearly one-in-three -- earn more than $100,000 a year. That's also up from the 130 with that scale salary in Bush's last year.

Twenty-one Obama aides earn the top-dollar $172,200.

The staff names and salaries report, required annually by Congress, was released on Friday by the White House. The timing, however, was probably an accident because last Friday most Americans were not watching the news closely and were thinking of not working for a three-day holiday weekend.

Because Americans would no doubt be pleased to know of the Obama staff's economic success amid the bleak national scene for so many others, we saved the information for today, when most Americans who are still employed are back at their own jobs and can share the joy.

The 2011 White House salary report does not include mention of the 41 unidentified Obama staff members who owe the Internal Revenue Service $831,000 in back taxes. That report came out last fall

The report comes as Republicans and Democrats, led from behind by Obama, appear stalemated in closed-door negotiations over a package deal to raise the national debt limit by Aug. 2 and begin spending cuts to tame the $14.2-trillion national debt, up 35% since Obama's inauguration. Obama maintains a deal must include new revenues to cover the rising costs of government.

Having Chicago connections appears to be useful for obtaining the maximum $172,200 salary from the Illinois ex-state senator Obama, who is paid $400,000 a year, almost twice the amount paid to Joe Biden for doing whatever he does. But he's only from Delaware.

The top paychecks include:

Chief of Staff William Daley, who is the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who just retired and left the top Democratic-machine job there to Rahm Emanuel, who was Obama's chief of staff and before that held the Chicago House seat of Rod Blagojevich, who had given it up to become governor of Illinois, which he no longer is due to impeachment and, now, conviction on 17 counts of fraud.

The Daleys' father, Richard J. Daley, was also a longtime Chicago mayor whose operatives provided Illinois' crucial electoral votes to elect John F. Kennedy president back in 1960 before Obama was born.

Valerie Jarrett has a White House title as long as Chicago's winters (senior advisor and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement). Before this, she was a chief of staff for the most recent Mayor Daley and hired an assistant named Michelle Robinson, who went on, of course, to become Mrs. Barack Obama, whose chief of staff also earns the top $172G paycheck.

This year, the one before Obama's attempted reelection, he reduced his staff by 15 people and $1.7 million.

Some White House aides have already returned to Chicago as campaign employees, including political strategist David Axelrod, who helped elect the most recent Mayor Daley, as well as, briefly, Sen. Obama and then President Obama. Axelrod also made the top salary when he had to live in Washington.

Rush Glosses Over Reason For His A-Political Speech

On Friday, Rush said he was going to Joplin Missouri to help give away his Two if by Tea tea and also to make a speech. He said his speech was going to help energize the Republican party.

Well, if you read the local news announcements of this, the Mayor of Joplin said he (or one of his underlings) had asked Rush to make it non-political. It was just to be about the 4th of July. And Rush agreed to do that, and did do that.

So today, when he's telling about the speech, he says he just knew "instinctively" that it should be an a-political speech - nothing about being requested to do it that way.

So a little gloss over there!

5 July 2011, Tues, Rush Limbaugh Headlines

--Rush's Two if By Tea Refreshes Joplin for Independence Day Bash
It was pure, 100% Americana without any politics.

KRMG on Rush Departing on EIB One:
"He flew over the crowd and tipped the wings, saying good-bye and as a tribute to the city and its people."
VDH: We Stand Alone Due To Trust In Citizens

--Why I Went Nonpolitical in Joplin
People will listen to this speech and be angered.

--Obama Regime Document Dump: Stimulus Cost $278,000 Per Job!
They admit it the Friday before a three-day weekend.
WS: "Stimulus" Jobs Clock in Near 300 Grand

--The Obama Effect Hits Businesses
If he wants to visit your company, say, "No thanks!"

--What the Media Obsession About Dominique Strauss-Khan Tells Us
Why'd Ruling Class members turn on their own?
WSJ: How Did We Miss Clues on DSK?

--Rush JIPs Casey Anthony Verdict
Geraldo's presence led us to expect a guilty verdict.

5 July 2011, Tues, President and VP Schedules

Neither the President nor the Vice President have a Public Schedule today.

You just know Limbaugh is going to make a joke about Obama ordering the Congress to stay and work on the budget deal over this week, while he continues his vacation!

But why should Congress get to take a week off after July 4 anyway??? Let us not forget we are paying their salaries, and we sure dont' get to do that!

Tasteless

I'm a woman, and I admit I was naive once, up until I got into my late 20s, I suppose (30 years ago!). It honestly never occurred to me that women would lie about being raped or abused. But the more you meet people, the longer you live, the more newspapers you read, the more crap tv shows like... is it Maury Povitz? some of those that you see commercials for (but believe me never watch!) you realize that some women do lie.

And those women deserve to go to jail for a long, long time, because they only make it that much harder for women who are legitimitely raped and abused to get justice.

But this is what Rush had to say about it.

Story #2: Chicago Conspiracy? Was DSK Set Up by the Maid?

RUSH: [...] The new IMF woman replacing this guy happens to be from Chicago. Anybody want to start talking conspiracies here? This is delectable. This is going to be fun

Fun? This guy's career has been ruined. This guy's life has been ruined. Similar to what happened to the Lacrosse guys at Duke. And Rush says it's going to be fun to see if he was actually set up?

1 July 2011, Fri, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete
10:15 am The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:45 am The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

4:30 pm The President departs the South Lawn en route Camp David
South Lawn
Open Press

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
No public schedule.