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Chamber of Commerce Attacks Obama

newsvideoclip — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:04:51 +0000

The US Chamber of Commerce launched a political broadside against Democrats and the Obama administration Wednesday, accusing the administration of harming the economy through its health care reform and financial reform agendas.

“Instead of continuing their partnership with the business community and embracing proven ideas for job creation, they vilified industries while embarking on an ill-advised course of government expansion, major tax increases, massive deficits, and job-destroying regulations,” the Chamber said in an open letter (PDF) to the president.

In a surprisingly confrontational interview, Betty Liu of Bloomberg TV grilled Chamber President Tom Donohue over the increasingly bitter, partisan tone of his chamber’s communiques.

“Is this [jobs] summit just to air what you think has gone wrong, or is there really going to be anything solid coming out of this?” Liu asked.

“We’re not airing any grievances with the White House,” Donohue said, arguing that his chamber wants to bring attention to job-creation policies.

“Did you invite White House officials to speak at this summit?” Liu asked.

“No, we didn’t,” Donohue replied. “We regularly invite White House officials to participate in our activities, often they don’t come. The cabinet secretaries come. Although the president was over the other day when the the president of Russia was here….”

Pressed again by Liu to explain why the Chamber wouldn’t want White House officials at their jobs summit, Donohue said the Chamber has “a very full agenda” and needs to concentrate on activities like “giving awards to job creators throughout the country.”

(Source: RawStory.com)

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School Bans “Sounds” of Drug Highs

newsvideoclip — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:04:23 +0000

An Oklahoma City school is trying ban teens from “I-dosing,” listening to sounds that supposedly “simulate” the feeling of getting high on illegal drugs. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is warning parents about I-dosing, some are suggesting these sounds should be outlawed as actual drugs are.

(Source: YouTube.com)

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GOP: Obama Keeping People From God

newsvideoclip — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:48:35 +0000

In an interview on the Gina Loudon radio program, Missouri Republican candidate Ed Martin said that President Barack Obama and Rep. Russ Carnahan were keeping people from finding the Lord.

“We’re great because we created a place and space where people can be free,” said Martin. “And they can choose Christ, they can choose to be faithful. They can worship, and they find their way to the Lord.”

“And that’s one of the things that’s most destructive about the growth of government. It’s this taking away that freedom. The freedom — the ultimate freedom, to find your salvation, to get your salvation,” he continued.

“And I think that’s one of the things that we have to be very, very aware of that the Obama Administration and Congressman Carnahan are doing to us,” he said.

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Palin Ad: Moms Oppose Health Care

newsvideoclip — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:05:53 +0000

Sarah Palin’s political action committee, Sarah PAC, released its first campaign video of the year. Titled “Mama Grizzlies,” the ad portrays Sarah Palin as a fiercely independent mom joined by other moms who oppose health care for all Americans per federal law and falsely believe President Obama has raised their taxes.

(Source: YouTube.com)

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Gulf Has 27,000 Abandoned Oil Wells

newsvideoclip — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:16:57 +0000

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one — not industry, not government — is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The oldest of these wells were abandoned in the late 1940s, raising the prospect that many deteriorating sealing jobs are already failing.

The AP investigation uncovered particular concern with 3,500 of the neglected wells — those characterized in federal government records as “temporarily abandoned.”

Regulations for temporarily abandoned wells require oil companies to present plans to reuse or permanently plug such wells within a year, but the AP found that the rule is routinely circumvented, and that more than 1,000 wells have lingered in that unfinished condition for more than a decade. About three-quarters of temporarily abandoned wells have been left in that status for more than a year, and many since the 1950s and 1960s — eveb though sealing procedures for temporary abandonment are not as stringent as those for permanent closures.

As a forceful reminder of the potential harm, the well beneath BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig was being sealed with cement for temporary abandonment when it blew April 20, leading to one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation’s history. BP alone has abandoned about 600 wells in the Gulf, according to government data.

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Reporters Banned From Oil Cleanup

newsvideoclip — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:32:24 +0000

In a move that resembled the Bush administration trying to bar reporters from the Hurricane Katrina damage, the Obama administration’s Coast Guard will now fine and jail journalists who come too close to BP oil spill clean-up efforts without permission. Journalists could find themselves facing a $40,000 fine and one to five years in prison.

It’s a move that outraged observers have decried as an attack on First Amendment rights. And CNN’s Anderson Cooper describes the new rules as making it “very easy to hide incompetence or failure.”

The Coast Guard order states that “vessels must not come within 20 meters [65 feet] of booming operations, boom, or oil spill response operations under penalty of law.”

But since “oil spill response operations” apparently covers much of the clean-up effort on the beaches, CNN’s Anderson Cooper describes the rule as banning reporters from “anywhere we need to be.”

(Source: RawStory.com and CNN)

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AZ Gov: Immigration = Beheadings

newsvideoclip — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 08:13:58 +0000

In an interview with Fox News, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said, “We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings.”

“Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded,” she added.

The Arizona Guardian followed up on Brewer’s remarks, finding them completely false.

A spokesman for Gov. Brewer told the paper in response, “I’m not aware of any statements where the governor specifies where any crimes were committed,” saying he thinks that Brewer was speaking about beheadings that have occurred in Mexico which could spread to Arizona.

(Source: RawStory.com)

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GOP Opposes Tax on Tanning Salons

newsvideoclip — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:20:59 +0000

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee said that “no amount of sunscreen or Aloe will relieve the pain of the Democrats’ impending 10 percent tax on indoor tanning beds” (which have been medically proven to cause skin cancer). The Heritage Foundation blasted the tax as well, while Fox News reported live from a tanning salon, declaring the tax to be “unfair,” “confusing,” and even “discriminatory.” No mention was made of the cancer danger that tanning beds pose.

(Source: Fox News and ThinkProgress.org)

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Is BP Intentionally Sinking the Oil?

newsvideoclip — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:37:30 +0000

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Allegiance Capitol Corporation V.P. Fred McCallister said that BP is deliberately sinking oil with the toxic chemical dispersant Corexit, to hide the size of the oil spill. By sinking the oil before it can be collected, BP won’t have to pay fines on it.

McCallister said, “Everybody in Europe, where the standard practice is to raise the oil and collect it, is scratching their heads, and quite honestly laughing at what’s happening in the Gulf.” He added, “Everyone is looking at us and wondering why we’re allowing this to happen.”

McCallister is set to appear before a Senate investigative panel and testify that BP’s only interests regarding the Deepwater Horizon spill is protecting their own financial interests. His statements explained why BP has been refusing offers of help from additional foreign skimmers.

BP’s fear is that independent skimmers would be able to count the number of gallons collected, and thus provide the US government with data to assess spill rate financial penalties against BP, according to McCallister.

“BP is in control of this situation and they are doing what’s in the best interests of BP and their shareholders,” McCallister said.

(Source: CNN and Examiner.com)

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Condoms Available To 1st Graders

newsvideoclip — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:04:19 +0000

Sex education starts early, especially if you go to elementary school in Provincetown, Mass.

That’s because the school committee has unanimously adopted a condom distribution policy beginning as early as first grade.

According to the Provincetown Banner, the program requires that students speak to a school nurse or trained counselor before receiving condoms.

The committee also directed school leaders not to honor demands from parents who object to their kids receiving protection.

Some members on the committee were wary because the program requires that students speak to school officials first.

But Beth Singer, the school’s superintendent, said she wanted to guarantee younger students get information on how to use condoms because there is no age limit.

“We’re talking about younger kids,” said Singer. “They have questions they need answered on how to use them, when to use them.”

(Source: NYDailyNews.com)

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Proposed Muslim Centre Protested

newsvideoclip — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:52:42 +0000

A controversial proposal to build an Islamic Centre near Ground Zero, where the twin towers of the World Trade Centre once stood in New York City, was met with loud opposition from the “Stop Islamisation of America Movement” (led by “birther” Pamela Geller), who say the centre has no business being near Ground Zero.

Local authorities, including New York’s mayor, Republican Michael Bloomberg, as well as residents in the neighborhood, have welcomed the centre.

Two hijacked airliners were flown into the towers on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people, an event blamed on, and claimed by, al-Qaeda.

The Cordoba Initiative group says it aims to improve Muslim-West relations by building the community centre near the site to help spread the message of tolerance. The proposed centre would include a “prayer room” inside, which protesters are calling a “mosque.”

(Source: YouTube.com)

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Gov: Drilling Ban Worse Than Oil Spill

newsvideoclip — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:40:11 +0000

Mississippi’s Republican governor Haley Barbour said in an interview that President Barack Obama’s moratorium on deepwater drilling is worse than BP’s massive oil spill for his state.

“Governor, what’s worse, the moratorium or the effects of this spill on the region?” “Meet the Press” host David Gregory asked the governor.

“Well, the moratorium,” Barbour replied. “The spill’s a terrible thing, but the moratorium is a terrible thing that’s not only bad for the region, it’s bad for America.”

(Source: RawStory.com and NBC-TV)

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