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Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas on Monday advised the Obama administration to stand down and avoid fighting with Fox News and its correspondents. In an interview with MSNBC, the columnist -- who is promoting her new book on presidents and their campaigns -- also stressed the White House ought to "stay out of these fights." "They can only take you down. You can't kill the messenger," said Thomas, who has covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. Whether the White House takes her advice, however, is another story. Just this weekend, Senior Adviser David Axelrod charged...

Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas on Monday advised the Obama administration to stand down and avoid fighting with Fox News and its correspondents. In an interview with MSNBC, the columnist -- who is promoting her new book on presidents and their campaigns -- also stressed the White House ought to "stay out of these fights." "They can only take you down. You can't kill the messenger," said Thomas, who has covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. Whether the White House takes her advice, however, is another story. Just this weekend, Senior Adviser David Axelrod charged...

The White House’s effort to target a news organization like Fox is vaguely Nixonian. The case put forward by the pro-Mao political theorist Anita Dunn is filled with errors and erroneous statements. (See Chris Wallace’s comments during this segment.) And the willingness of liberal commentators like Jacob Weisberg to act as an attack poodle on behalf of the Obama White House is both predictable and discrediting. Frankly, we’re seeing “progressives” explode in outrage at Fox not only because their previous media monopoly has ended but also because Fox is so enormously popular (it’s home to the top-10-rated cable-news programs in...

Discerning television viewers may notice a recurrent theme on their favorite shows this week. The doctors on ABC's "Private Practice" give homeless teenagers free check-ups. On NBC's "30 Rock," page Kenneth Parcell tries to adopt all the dogs at an animal shelter. And two characters on CBS' "Numb3rs" talk about joining Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The outpouring of volunteerism is no coincidence. The storylines were developed for iParticipate, an industry-wide initiative aimed at urging viewers to give back to their communities. Spearheaded by the Entertainment Industry Foundation, one of Hollywood's major charitable organizations and the force behind last year's Stand Up...

The White House escalated its offensive against Fox News on Sunday by urging other news organizations to stop "following Fox" and instead join the administration's attempt to marginalize the channel. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN that President Obama does not want "the CNNs and the others in the world [to] basically be led in following Fox." Obama senior adviser David Axelrod went further by calling on media outlets to join the administration in declaring that Fox is "not a news organization." "Other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way," Axelrod counseled ABC's...

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Friday that White House criticism of commentators on his Fox News television channel had served to "tremendously" increase their ratings. "There were some strong remarks coming out of the White House about one or two of the commentators on Fox News," Murdoch told the annual meeting of News Corp. shareholders here. "And all I can tell you is that it's tremendously increased their ratings," he said. Murdoch's remarks came after White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told The New York Times earlier this week that Fox News was "undertaking a war against Barack...

Part of the problem with the president’s agenda is that it is predicated on a number of radical ideas that are asserted, rather than proven. His experts and the elites assure us of a reality that most people in their own more mundane lives have not found to be true. In short, they may find Obama personally engaging, but they no longer believe what he says. Take cap-and-trade legislation. We are asked to endanger an already-weak U.S. economy with a series of incentives and punishments to discourage the use of carbon-based fuels, with which — whether shale, natural gas, coal,...

About the only thing more comical than Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize was the reaction of those who deemed the award "premature," as if the brilliance of Obama's foreign policy is so self-evident and its success so assured that if only the Norway Five had waited a few years, his Nobel worthiness would have been universally acknowledged. To believe this, you have to be a dreamy adolescent (preferably Scandinavian and a member of the Socialist International) or an indiscriminate imbiber of White House talking points. After all, this was precisely the spin on the President's various apology tours through Europe...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 31% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-even percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -6 (see trends). Support for the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and Congressional Democrats is up to 46% this week. That’s a five point gain from a week ago. Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters nationwide say guaranteeing that no one is forced to change their health insurance coverage is a higher priority than giving...

A libertarian non-profit organization in Washington today announced it was filing suit against the Obama administration for failing to adequately disclose global warming documents. As we reported two weeks ago the Competitive Enterprise Institute deemed inadequate the Treasury Department's response to a Freedom of Information Act request for documents on cap-and-trade. Months after the FOIA request, Treasury responded by giving CEI five documents and emails, when the group had expected 50. "Your response fails any reasonable test for compliance with FOIA and constitutes an effective denial of our request," CEI's Christopher Horner stated in the notice of appeal filed with...

U.S. and international intelligence officials say that improved recruitment of spies inside the al-Qaeda network, along with increased use of targeted airstrikes and enhanced assistance from cooperative governments, has significantly reduced the terrorist organization's effectiveness. A U.S. counterterrorism official said that the combined advances have led to the deaths of more than a dozen senior figures in al-Qaeda and allied groups in Pakistan and elsewhere over the past year, most of them in 2009. Officials described Osama bin Laden and his main lieutenants as isolated and unable to coordinate high-profile attacks. Recent claims of significant success against al-Qaeda have become...

Last night, ACORN founder Wade Rathke spoke at Busboys and Poets, a Washington coffeehouse and well-known lefty hangout. Rathke was promoting his new book, Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families. Given the controversy over ACORN, you'd think the media would have been interested in Rathke's making a public appearence and taking questions. But you'd be wrong. Besides NRO, only three media outlets showed up to cover the event: BigGovernment.com, The Nation, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune (Rathke's hometown paper). That was it. While Rathke's primary purpose was to discuss and promote his book, he did take a...

U.S. President Barack Obama announced a plan on Wednesday to spend $5 billion to create new jobs for medical and scientific research, medical supplies and improved laboratory capacity. The funds, to come from the $787 billion economic stimulus package, will pay for "cutting-edge medical research in every state across America," the White House said in a statement.

Employee misconduct investigations, often involving workers accessing pornography from their government computers, grew sixfold last year inside the taxpayer-funded foundation that doles out billions of dollars of scientific research grants, according to budget documents and other records obtained by The Washington Times. The problems at the National Science Foundation (NSF) were so pervasive they swamped the agency's inspector general and forced the internal watchdog to cut back on its primary mission of investigating grant fraud and recovering misspent tax dollars. (snip) For instance, one senior executive spent at least 331 days looking at pornography on his government computer and chatting...

There are all kinds of corruption. Some are pretty easy to identify. You can’t miss it when a congressman sells the public’s vote for money, say, or a husband sets his personal promises at nothing in order to score some extracurricular sex. But the slow rot that enters the soul of individuals when the tendrils of the state overcreep the life of a society—that’s a little tougher to define. It may just be the toadying deference that steals into your behavior with the guard who searches you at the airport. Or it could be the baksheesh you pay the safety...

Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood is out today with new details on the National Endowment for the Arts scandal, including a full transcript and audio recording, as well as a CliffsNotes summary by John Nolte, of the notorious Aug. 10 conference call in which administration officials urged artists to help promote President Obama's legislative agenda. Formally, the call was led by Michael Skolnik, who is not a government employee. But Skolnik declares at the start of the call that he is acting on behalf of the administration:I have been asked by folks in the White House and folks in the NEA about...

President Obama doesn’t want to run the auto industry, but he had to, temporarily of course, to save the economy. And Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson doesn’t want to regulate carbon dioxide, but the EPA seems intent on moving forward regardless. Fortunately, Congress could shorten the EPA’s long, regulatory leash by amending the Interior-Environment appropriations spending bill early next week.The Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed endangerment finding in April, saying that global warming and climate change pose a serious threat to public health and safety and thus almost anything that emits carbon dioxide and other greenhouse...

Conservatives are coming for the Democrats on their blind side — the left. The evidence is everywhere. At tea parties and town halls, conservative demonstrators oppose health care reform with signs bearing the abortion-rights slogan “Keep your laws off my body” or the line “Obama lies, Grandma dies” — an echo of the “Bush lied, they died” T-shirts worn to protest the Iraq war. Conservative activists are yelling “Nazi!” and “Big Brother!” where they used to shout, “Nanny state!” and “Big Government!” And the 1971 agitator’s handbook “Rules for Radicals” — written by Saul Alinsky, the Chicago community organizer who...

Our centrist President is in trouble. Not so much for his policies or attempts at turning the Titanic called our healthcare system around but because he is Black. In essence, he must first slog through our country’s collective unnamable even unknowable fear of change that he represents as well as the thinly veiled racism that is at the heart of the recent normalization of fringe element characterizations such as “socialist president.” Jimmy Carter sees through the veil and made a public statement about racism and this presidency, but he has been met with the typical response of “how dare you...

DNC Web Ad: Dancing With The Czars

A federal judge has a hand in putting the finishing touches on plans by three groups to protest during next week's Group of 20 economic summit. The judge was expected to rule Thursday in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on the plans. He must determine what route one protest group can take for a march and rally, and whether two groups can use parks for their protests. The Thomas Merton Center, an anti-war and social justice group, wants to march from near the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University to the city-county building and then near the David...

A left-leaning community organizing group says it has no contracts with Minnesota that would be impaired by Gov. Tim Pawlenty's directive to cut off state money. Pawlenty on Wednesday ordered a review and suspension of public contracts with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN. The potential 2012 presidential candidate says no state money would go to ACORN unless legally obligated. ACORN is under fire after a hidden-camera story alleging illegal activities by some of its workers. ACORN deputy political director Kevin Whelan says there are no present contracts that would be affected in Minnesota. Whelan...

After taking steps towards healing the longstanding rift between the U.S. and Cuban governments, President Barack Obama recently renewed the economic embargo against the island nation. Under the Trading With the Enemy Act, established after World War I, U.S. companies are banned from trading with what are determined to be hostile nations. In a Sept. 11 memo written to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury chief Timothy Geithner, Obama said, "I hereby determine that the continuation for one year of the exercise of those authorities with respect to Cuba is in the national interest of the United States,"...

(The Nation) Robert Scheer, a contributing editor to The Nation, is editor of Truthdig.com and author of The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America and Playing President. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are not happy sentences to write for one who is still on the e-mail list of campaign supporters urged to back the president in the face of attacks that are stupidly small-minded. But to remain silent about his errors, just because most of his critics are so vile, is hardly an example of constructive concern for him or the country. Yes, Obama was presented with a...

If you thought the New Left was dead in America, think again. Walk through just about any of the nation’s inner cities, and you’re likely to find an office of ACORN, bustling with young people working 12-hour days to “organize the poor” and bring about “social change.” The largest radical group in the country, ACORN has 120,000 dues-paying members, chapters in 700 poor neighborhoods in 50 cities, and 30 years’ experience. It boasts two radio stations, a housing corporation, a law office, and affiliate relationships with a host of trade-union locals. Not only big, it is effective, with some remarkable...

The liberal activist group ACORN rakes in millions of dollars in federal taxpayer dollars a year - at least $53 million since 1994 for its housing programs alone - but that largess is in jeopardy after a hidden-camera video showed one of its workers advising a supposed prostitute how to cheat on taxes and mortgage applications. House Republicans on Tuesday introduced the Defund ACORN Act that would sever all ties between the government and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a day after the Senate voted overwhelmingly to prohibit funding the group in the 2010 housing appropriations...

Rep. Joe Wilson said Wednesday that former President Jimmy Carter's accusations of racism are a distraction from the issues. At a town hall at his presidential center in Atlanta on Tuesday, Mr. Carter said Mr. Wilson's outburst during President Obama's speech last week was rooted in racism. "I think it's based on racism," he said. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president." The former president and Democratic members of Congress are playing politics, Mr. Wilson told The Washington Times' America's Morning News radio show. He was formally reprimanded by the...

Facing a near-daily barrage of attacks from conservative opponents, White House officials are engaged in an internal debate over how hard to hit back, even as they have grown increasingly aggressive in countering allegations they deem to be absurd. (snip) But at a tactical level, administration officials are taking seriously the potential for damage and are attempting to respond forcefully. In early August, officials stepped up their efforts to link the "birther" movement -- with its contention that Obama was not born in the United States and is thus not a legitimate president -- to Republican leaders. Later in the...

For months during last year’s presidential race, conservatives sought to tar the Obama campaign with accusations of voter fraud and other transgressions by the national community organizing group Acorn, which had done some work for the campaign. But it took amateur actors, posing as a prostitute and a pimp and recorded on hidden cameras in visits to Acorn offices, to send government officials scrambling in recent days to sever ties with the organization. Conservative advocates and broadcasters were gleeful about the success of the tactics in exposing Acorn workers, who appeared to blithely encourage prostitution and tax evasion. It was,...

SAN BERNARDINO - The head organizer for California ACORN says a new video that appears to show a staffer at the organization's San Bernardino office is fake journalism. The video, which was posted shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday on a Web site called Big Government.com, shows a female ACORN employee talking to a man who claims to be a pimp interested in establishing a brothel where underage immigrant prostitutes would turn tricks in order to raise money for political activity. The woman, identified on the video as Tresa Kaelke, appears on posted footage to be interested in cooperating the plan....

Emboldened by the ouster of presidential adviser Van Jones, conservative and business groups are launching fresh challenges aimed at derailing President Obama's nominees. The latest of these targets is David Michaels, Mr. Obama's pick to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), who as an academic published a book attacking corporate executives for the tactics they used to fight class-action lawsuits. Republican critics said they considered Mr. Michaels to be too close to trial lawyers because of his aggressive advocacy on their behalf. "We are definitely troubled by Michaels' nomination," said Keith Smith, the director of employment and labor...

Ho, no! A tag team pair of undercover activists, posing as a pimp and prostitute, has exposed the Brooklyn office of the left-leaning organization ACORN as the latest branch of the embattled group to be caught up in a housing scandal, the New York Post reported. "Honesty is not going to get you the house," a loan counselor at the officers told the conservative activists turned faux flesh-peddlers who were posing as a couple seeking a mortgage, according to the Post. The Brooklyn office was the latest branch of the organization exposed in a hidden-camera operation. Four ACORN employees have...

A new version of a computer intrusion detection system being developed by the United States Department of Homeland Security has raised concerns from advocacy groups over privacy and the involvement of the National Security Agency (NSA) in the development of the software. The new system, known as Einstein 3, can reportedly read email as well as its original function, to detect malicious software. Civil rights group Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) called on the Obama administration to release information about the legal implications of Einstein 3, which will be rolled out across all government agencies. “While its predecessor merely...

President Obama intends to address schoolchildren across the nation next week about the importance of taking responsibility for success in their studies. But in these polarized times, the first-ever talk has quickly prompted accusations that the White House is using taxpayer money to politically indoctrinate children. Obama will travel to Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. on Sept. 8 and deliver an address that will be aired on C-Span and the White House web site, whitehouse.gov. The White House says the message is intended to stimulate a discussion about persisting and succeeding in school. In a recent letter to school...

President Obama, after taking care of some business yesterday, dives back into vacation mode today as he heads to Camp David. He’ll remain there through Sunday. When he returns, his September schedule is quite busy. Next wee includes his first 9/11 anniversary; later this month he’ll address the AFL-CIO, attend the UN General Assembly meeting, and host the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh. Reports indicate today that somewhere at the front end, he may make a major speech to reframe the health care debate as well. Congress returns from August recess next week, and two vacancies remain -- NY-23 (Rep. John...

t sounds like the plot for the latest summer horror movie. Imagine, for a moment, that George W Bush had been allowed a third term as president, had run and had won or stolen it, and that we were all now living (and dying) through it. With the Democrats in control of Congress but Bush still in the Oval Office, the media would certainly be talking endlessly about a mandate for bipartisanship and the importance of taking into account the concerns of Republicans. Can't you just picture it? (snip) Now, here's the funny part. This dark fantasy of a third...

The Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and other big agencies are already soliciting comment from the public in new online venues. Now the President is about to enter a virtual “Troop Town Hall." As Obama explains in a video posted at townhall.militaryonesource.com, troops can submit questions online and then vote on them. Questions will be answered later by Obama or Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “And I promise not to give all the hard ones to Gates,” Obama said on the video Gates and U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen announced in August they would virtually interact with troops and...

The U.S. Energy and Treasury Departments on Tuesday announced $503 million in government cash grants to companies developing renewable energy projects. The funding will help meet the Obama administration's goal of doubling U.S. renewable energy production over the next three years, creating jobs and providing financing on easier terms than many companies can obtain in the private sector. This the first round of some $3 billion in direct payments to companies in lieu of tax credits to eventually support an estimated 5,000 biomass, solar, wind and other renewable energy production facilities. "These grants will help America's businesses launch clean energy...

President Barack Obama is fast approaching a crunch point on whether to significantly boost troop numbers, after his top military commander in Afghanistan handed a review of the war to the Pentagon. Mr Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, yesterday responded to questions about the worsening situation in the US-led fight against the Taliban by blaming George W. Bush for past neglect while the focus remained on Iraq.

President Barack Obama plans to observe the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks with a visit to the Pentagon ... ... White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday. But Obama has no plans to visit New York City on the eighth year since the World Trade Center was destroyed. "I believe he will go to the Pentagon that day, and go to the memorial there and speak after that," Gibbs said in his morning gaggle. "But we have not announced more details than that." Asked after the gaggle if the president has any plans to visit New...

THE White House on Monday dismissed former vice president Dick Cheney's attacks on a probe into alleged CIA abuses of 'war on terrorism' detainees and sharply questioned his foreign policy judgment. 'This is the same song and dance we've heard since literally the first day of our administration,' spokesman Robert Gibbs said after Mr Cheney blasted the investigation as politically driven and harmful to national security. Mr Gibbs said Mr Cheney 'clearly had his facts on a number of things wrong' and highlighted Republican Senator John McCain's denunciation of CIA use of interrogation techniques widely seen as torture. 'I would...

The most transparent White House in the history of the world still hasn't answered the questions we asked last week. You know, tough questions like: "Why does the president have so many Marxists, socialists, radicals and self-proclaimed communists advising him?" I'm still hopeful there is a simple explanation. Maybe President Obama just wasn't aware of their radical beliefs. After all, he sat in Reverend Wright's pews for 20 years and didn't catch on to the fact that Wright isn't too fond of America. But here's The One Thing: This isn't an accident. Obama's radical advisers are there for a reason:...

Americans for Limited Government (ALG) has mounted a campaign against the nomination of Cass Sunstein to be the White House’s “Regulatory Czar” in order to prevent a “litigation nightmare.” ALG President Bill Wilson sent letters last week to farm organizations urging them to actively oppose the nomination. “What concerns me and I am sure will concern you is Mr. Sunstein’s extreme positions on animal rights,” Wilson wrote in his letter to the agricultural sector. “If put into law or regulation, these radical stands will destroy agriculture and threaten America’s ability to feed itself much less do any exporting of agricultural...

Except for a pause to honour Senator Edward Kennedy, healthcare reform has dominated US news and comment for weeks. It is seen as the make-or-break challenge for Barack Obama’s administration. Yet soon it may look unimportant in comparison with an issue that the US public has barely seemed to notice: the war in Afghanistan. Casualties there are mounting – this has been the deadliest month for US forces since the fighting began in 2001. The losses have attracted less attention in the US than British losses have in Britain, and pressure on the administration to pull out has been mild....

A mini-media controversy has erupted over conservative TV and radio show host Glenn Beck's remarks that he thinks President Obama is racist. A black activist organization called Color of Change has led the charge for a boycott of Beck's highly rated Fox News Channel program. This has led Beck to return fire at Color of Change and its co-founder, Van Jones, who presently serves as the president's green jobs advisor. Beck has dredged up quotes from Jones in which he describes his path to communism and anarchism. This comes just several months after it was revealed that Obama's top energy...

Link only (Gannett Newspaper) per FR posting rules. Link is here

Should we just be turning out workers or good citizens, too? With the start of a new school year, there are plenty of tough issues for our schools to address. We should not get so caught up in the minutia of the pros and cons that we lose sight of the big-picture debate: What, exactly, is the purpose of an education? Some issues seem comfortable and familiar. How can schools and teachers be held accountable for student performance? How can schools be effective given real and growing budget restraints? What is the proper role of public and private education? Some...

Fresh on the heels of rumors that former union hatchet man Ron Bloom may become "czar" of US manufacturing policy, the AFL-CIO is crowing about the appointment of one of their own to run the most powerful regional Federal Reserve bank. Former electricians union boss Denis Hughes, top dog in a state where a forced unionism stanglehold has crushed the economy and employee freedom, has just been named chairman of New York's powerful financial oversight board: Denis Hughes, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, was named chairman of the powerful Federal Reserve Bank of New York today. -- Hughes,...

President Obama on Tuesday morning will nominate Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as the head of the world's most powerful central bank, a White House aide said. The president will make a statement at 9 a.m. in Martha's Vineyard, where his family is on vacation, announcing his decision to keep Mr. Bernanke, whose term expires in January. A Republican who was chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, Mr. Bernanke was first appointed to the job by Mr. Bush in 2006. (snip) The move is perhaps the most significant display of bipartisanship...

Is it Crawford-by-the-Sea? Sounds like it. Peace activist Cindy Sheehan arrives in Obama Vacationland on Tuesday and will remain for the duration. "My purpose for going to Martha's Vineyard is to bring awareness to the country, the international community, the media and President Obama that there are still people in this nation who care about the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and our soldiers who are still dying in wars that have no 'noble cause.' And while the regimes may have changed in D.C., the ruinous foreign policies remain the same," Ms. Sheehan tells Inside the Beltway.