Saturday, June 16, 2012

Happy Father's Day



What’s New Today

Story #1 is my take on what’s going on with Obama and his latest Unconstitutional move on immigration.  The answer to the question “is Obama trying to get Impeached?” is probably yes.  #2 gives us another example of Obama evolving.  He’s said he can’t do what he did this week just a few months ago.  #3 is a new ad by Karl Rove that owes a debt to Charlie Brown.  #4 is more bad economic news for the Democrats.  #5 looks at what happens if Greece drops out of the Euro Zone. #6 is a story from the past.   

Today’s Thoughts

What’s wrong with the public schools?  Ask Michelle Apperson, a teacher at the Sutterville Elementary School in Sacramento who was named “teacher of the year” by the school district, and was subsequently fired because she was outranked in seniority.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg: “I have spoken on more than one occasion about the utility of dissenting opinions, noting in particular that they can reach audiences outside the court and can propel legislative or executive change,"  This is ominous if you are a supporter of Obamacare. 


1.  Is Obama trying to get Impeached?

With Obama’s executive order to halt deportations of young Mexican immigrants, we have Obama following a line of extralegal actions he has taken in violation of the Constitution.   Obama admitted that he didn’t have the power to do this since the law was the law, but it appears as the time has gotten closer to the election, he needs to pander to whoever he can.  Besides that Marco Rubio was working on a Dream Act of his own getting bi-partisan backing for this.  But Mr. Obama cannot afford bi-partisan action and certainly didn’t want a Republican who could possibly be a VP candidate to get credit for a legal solution.

But isn’t he afraid of being impeached?  He probably should be.  He violated the law with the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, refused to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, his administration ignored a court order to allow drilling in the Gulf, and he flagrantly violated the War Powers Act by deploying US forces in a war against Libya without Congressional authorization.  He is legally in jeopardy, but politically it isn’t likely to happen.

Impeachment would rile up the Democratic base and even garner sympathy with the moderate voters.  And impeaching him for allowing illegal children to stay here in violation of the law would give him a huge boost with the Hispanic voter.  It would open the Republicans up to the charge that they are doing this to a black president and wasting the taxpayers’ money and not working on jobs. 
So Obama probably wants the right to impeach him and the right would be fools to do so.  



2.  Obama Changes his mind on Immigration (or is that evolve?)

With his announcement that he will, in effect, unilaterally enact a key feature of long-debated immigration reform, President Obama is doing something he has always wished to do: Get around a Congress that doesn't see the issue his way.

In a speech to La Raza last July, Obama said that on the question of immigration reform, "some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own."  Obama said he found the idea "very tempting" but had to reject it because "that's not how our system works."

The president was in a somewhat more combative mood last September, when he addressed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.  "As I mentioned when I was at La Raza a few weeks back, I wish I had a magic wand and could make this all happen on my own," Obama told the group. "There are times where -- until Nancy Pelosi is speaker again -- I'd like to work my way around Congress."

Instead of rejecting the idea out of hand, though, Obama told the lawmakers that he had the power, as president, to aggressively enforce, or not aggressively enforce, laws Congress has passed.  "We've got laws on the books that have to be upheld," Obama said.  But "you know as well as anyone that…how we enforce those laws is also important."

At the time, Obama conceded only that really big changes require the approval of Congress. "We live in a democracy, and at the end of the day, I can't do this all by myself under our democratic system," he said. "If we're going to do big things -- whether it’s passing this jobs bill, or the DREAM Act, or comprehensive immigration reform -- we're going to have to get Congress to act."…


Obama has shown that he cannot govern, but he is doing his best to “rule.”  That is unacceptable for a president of the USA.  We got rid of King George III with our revolution.  We will get rid of King Barack I with our election in November.


3.  Good Grief, Barack Obama


A new ad by Karl Rove not so subtly evoking Charlie Brown and Obama’s tired old excuses. 

4.  More Bad News for the Democrats

Factory output contracted in May for the second time in three months, the Federal Reserve said on Friday, and families took a dimmer view of their economic prospects in early June, signs that the economy’s recovery is on shaky ground.

The new data was the latest in a series of reports portraying a weak economy that have led analysts to cut growth forecasts while raising expectations that the Federal Reserve will offer new stimulus measures.
Until recently, manufacturing had been a buttress for the nation’s economy, helping it resist headwinds from Europe’s snowballing debt crisis.  

But in May, factory output shrank 0.4 percent, with plants producing fewer cars and less machinery, Federal Reserve data showed. 

“It’s more convincing evidence that the economy is stuck in low gear,” said Joe Manimbo, a market analyst at Travelex Global Business Payments….


Here’s why you want to pay attention.  The Obama administration is running out of time for something to turn around and mean anything.  We only have 5 more reports of economic activity before the election and you need about three months to  make a case that the momentum is there. 

5. What happens if Greece Leaves the Euro Zone?

They think the path of a full-blown crisis would start in Greece, quickly move to the rest of Europe and then hit the U.S. Stocks and oil would plunge, the euro would sink against the U.S. dollar, and big banks would suffer losses on complex trades.

ACT I
What would Greece's exit look like? In the worst case, it starts off messy.

The government resurrects the drachma, the currency Greece used before the euro, and says each drachma equals one euro. But currency markets would treat it differently. Banks' foreign-exchange experts expect the drachma would plunge to half the value of the euro soon after its debut.

For Greeks, that would likely mean surging inflation _ 35 percent in the first year, according to some estimates. The country is a net importer and would have to pay more for oil, medical equipment and anything else it imports.

Greece's government and banks currently survive on international loans, and if it dropped the euro, the country would probably be locked out of lending markets, says Athanasios Vamvakidis, foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in London. So the Greek central bank would need to print more drachmas to make up for what it could no longer borrow from abroad.

That's one reason analysts say the switch to a drachma would lead the country to default on its government debt, possibly triggering losses for the European Central Bank and other international lenders.

Most assume foreign banks would have to write off loans to Greek businesses, too. Why would Greeks pay off foreign debts that effectively double when the drachma drops by half?

Say a small shop owner in Athens has a (EURO)50,000 business loan from a French bank. She also has (EURO)50,000 in savings in a Greek bank. The Greek government turns her savings into 50,000 drachma.
If the new currency fell by 50 percent to the euro as expected, her savings would suddenly be worth (EURO)25,000. But she would still owe (EURO)50,000 to the French bank.

European banks would take a direct blow. They've managed to shed much of their Greek debt but still held $65 billion, mainly in loans to Greek corporations, at the end of last year, according to an analysis by Nomura, a financial services company. French banks have the most to lose….


Keep reading because this is a big deal. 

6.  Is Obama being treated more disrespectfully by Reporters that white Presidents?




Apparently, not really.

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