Labor Nominee's Hearing Off as Husband's Tax Liens Surface

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 6, 2009; Page A04

A Senate committee yesterday abruptly called off a session to consider President Obama's nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) to be labor secretary after learning that her husband had paid about $6,400 to settle tax liens, some on file as long as 16 years.

Solis's confirmation vote before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee had already been delayed for weeks by questions over her role as unpaid treasurer of a pro-labor organization and her support of a hotly contested measure that would make it easier for workers to organize unions.

Obama's Audacity

AP to the Obama’s poster maker: Pay up, you pirates.

The other day, I mentioned that President Obama had so many lawyers on his taxpayer-paid staff that they had nothing better to do than go after people who use his image for commercial purposes.

A White House spokesbot told Bloomberg News: “Our lawyers are working on developing a policy that will protect the presidential image while being careful not to squelch the overwhelming enthusiasm that the public has for the president.”

The irony being that Obama swiped his slogan – “Yes we can” — from a children’s show.

A British children’s show.

Well, now the Associated Press has something that will really put those lawyers to work.

It charges that the Obama campaign stole a photo that AP owns and used it for his poster.

AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image
Feb 4 06:56 PM US/Eastern
By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

Note to AP: Obama doesn't believe in capitalism. Intellectual property is just bourgeoisie rubbish to be confiscated and used by the proletariat to further party strength and superiority over the rich and undeserving wealthy class. You will not get one dime for you digital images.

Comrade Update

Glenn Beck on Obama's 'Change': Socialism

Just Words

Posted on 02.04.09 by Danny Glover @ 10:58 pm

You can learn a lot about the character of a man by the words he speaks. Let’s take a look at Barack Obama’s words in the opening days of his presidency:

Jan. 23, in a pointed exchange with Republican lawmakers about Obama’s plan to stimulate the economy: “I won.”

Feb. 3, after being repeatedly embarrassed by tax scofflaws he picked to serve in his Cabinet: “I screwed up.”

What inspiring words, what great presidential speech, will Obama deliver next week?

Mark Steyn hosts the Rush show

Two segments in the first hour.

Obama caps exec salaries at $500k, corporations to move offshore

How can anyone take this guy seriously? Trust and confidence? Loss of faith? Timothy Geithner failed to pay some $43,000 in federal self-employment taxes for four separate years – and only coughed up $26,000 of that debt when he was named Obama’s Treasury Secretary-designate in November. Geithner's tax documents



"I will not tolerate it as president." -- Barack Obama, not speaking to terrorists or enemies of the USA, but to the corporate execs he is now dictating salaries to.

Hope He Can Change

February 3rd, 2009 9:07 pm | Pajamas Media

An Obamaplosion
by Victor Davis Hanson

I get loads of quasi-hate mail about questioning Obama’s candidacy and governance. But I am worried, not about Obama, or the politics of governance, but about the nation itself. The media has forsaken us. But after only two weeks we are in a crisis stage of confidence, and the story is spiraling by the hour out of control. I write here not to score points, but to warn readers that this is all very serious. Obama is our President, and we must hope he does something fast to save his administration from general ridicule that will incur real dangers for all of us abroad.

Again, anyone who cares about the US, at home and overseas, must be worried, very worried, about the disastrous last two weeks. Even the fawning media–that is responsible in some way for the crisis, given that they chose to be Pravda-like in encouraging the messianic style that got a haughty Obama in his present mess–will soon start bailing in efforts to restore their last fides. If a Dick Morris figure does not come to the rescue soon, Obama’s soaring rhetoric of hope and change will become the stuff of Leno/Letterman and general laughter. Bush was unfairly demonized, but no one abroad thought he was predictably soft and would be so-so about protecting US interests, or that his words and his deeds would be so often in direct antithesis.

What happened? Count the ways, and then let us see what might be done pronto!

read the ways

If President Obama Blows The Stimulus....

Posted by: Hugh Hewitt at 9:59 AM

A serious slow-down in the crafting of the stimulus package is necessary because increasing attention on it has revealed that it simply won't do what the public expects of it. It is a "stimulate-the-Democratic-Party" bill, not a job creating jump start to a faltering economy that needs to turn over into growth mode.

And voters --especially the young ones who supported the new president so decisively-- know it. There's a story in the WSJ.com today on how the jobless are spending a lot of time online as a diversion from their predicaments, but they are also exchanging information and political opinions. The "stimulus bill" has been debated and dissected for just about 10 days, but its brand is already pork, and sites like ReadTheStimulus.org guarantee that the brand won't improve unless the bill improves.

Tom Daschle Withdraws: Another Ethics Casualty for Obama

"Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter." ---Sen. Tom Daschle on 7 May 1998

More proof that the new president is failing to live up to his sanctimonious campaign rhetoric about "change."

February 3, 2009 - by Jennifer Rubin

How quickly they fall. Tom Daschle, who just yesterday had the full backing of President Barack Obama, has announced he is withdrawing his name from consideration as Health and Human Services secretary. For both Daschle and Obama, it has been a rough ride, calling into question the latter’s judgment and skill as a chief executive.

it's only been two weeks -- Obama's sick of the White House

"We were just tired of being in the White House."

On a tough day, Obama escapes for a while
Feb 3 04:37 PM US/Eastern
By BEN FELLER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - On the rockiest day of his young administration, President Barack Obama did what surely made him happy for a while.

He left.

With little notice, the president and first lady Michelle Obama bolted the gated compound of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in their tank of a limousine on Tuesday. They ended up at a Washington public school, greeted by children who could not care less about the collapse of a Cabinet secretary nomination.

"We were just tired of being in the White House," the president candidly told the gleeful second-graders at Capital City Public Charter School.

"We got out! They let us out!" Mrs. Obama said as the kids and their teachers laughed.

The White House said the Obamas' trip had been planned, just not publicly announced.

The surprise timing, though, gave the feel of two different worlds.

At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs was getting grilled about Tom Daschle's doomed nomination for health and human services secretary.

Meanwhile, the president was getting questions from boys and girls who are the same age as his seven-year-old daughter, Sasha.

One child asked him if he had a favorite superhero. Spiderman and Batman, the president answered.