Free Republic

Why are they still misleading everyone with these bogus numbers?

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- President Obama is taking his message to Wall Street on Monday, and while he is sure to have a captive audience, many of the regulatory reform proposals he will advocate are being fought tooth and nail by the locals. The president will appear at Federal Hall, nearly a year after regulators, some of whom remain in his administration, allowed Lehman Brothers to fail. Obama is likely to use the anniversary as an opportunity to push his agenda of hands-on regulation. He is pushing tighter oversight of several factors that helped push Lehman under ground.

SAN FRANCISCO — Wah Cheong, a lifelong Republican and the soon-to-be divorced father of two teenage boys, sometimes surprises his co-workers and neighbors in a relatively conservative community outside San Francisco when he says he supports same-sex marriage. "Here is my situation," the 47-year-old chemical engineer tells them when the hot-button topic comes up. "If gays and lesbians were more accepted, I wouldn't have married a closeted lesbian."

The normally apolitical NEA found itself in a political flap. From the Politico The communications director for the National Endowment for the Arts is no longer in his job amid a flap over suggestions he suggested artists work to further President Obama's legislative agenda.

ACORN's relentless death march continued last week as undercover sting videos surfaced in which the group's employees counseled reporters posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to set up a house of ill repute using tax dollars. The sensational undercover video showed ACORN Housing employees in the group's Baltimore office trying to help the two journalists set up a brothel. The pair told ACORN employees that underage girls from El Salvador were ready to enter the U.S. and start working as child prostitutes.

President Obama's National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers sent a mixed message on Friday when he told reporters that the economy is getting better but that unemploment will remian high for years. From the Politico The president’s chief economic adviser warned Friday that the nation’s unemployment rate could stay “unacceptably high” for years to come — a situation that would seriously complicate Barack Obama’s ability to convince Americans that he’s beating back the recession

In Fredericksburg, VA a member of the Crips was sentenced to two years in prison for having "sex with a 13-year-old girl as part of a gang initiation": William Thomas Ellis III, 20, pleaded guilty to sexual battery, gang participation and gang recruitment of a juvenile in Spotsylvania Circuit Court. * * * According to the evidence presented by prosecutor Brian Boyle and prior testimony, Ellis was visiting the girl's home in Spotsylvania Oct. 6, when he talked to her and a 12-year-old girl about joining his gang, the Crips. Ellis informed the 13-year-old that in order to join, she...

Newsweek execs think the way to profitablity is to increase the subscription rate by a significant amount. From the Washington Post Money-losing Newsweek hopes to break even by 2011 and plans to as much as double its subscription rate over the next two years, the magazine's top executive said Friday. Ann McDaniel, managing director of Newsweek, which is owned by The Washington Post Co., said the magazine will aim for a "smaller base of very committed subscribers and get more money from each of them," while speaking at The Post Co.'s annual shareholders meeting at the company's D.C. headquarters.

Here's some things to keep in mind. New York city ACORN is controlled by Steve and John Kest. Despite what Glenn Beck says, all ACORN insiders say that the real power base in ACORN is currently derived from these two brothers. ACORN's current CEO, Bertha Lewis, used to head up the New York branch.

Here is video from The O'Reilly Factor where O'Reilly showed video of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid being confronted by "Factor" Producer, Dan Bank. Bank tried to question Reid about his falling poll numbers in Nevada, but Reid would not respond, and someone with Reid actually grabbed the arm of the producer to try and keep him from following Reid. O'Reilly said Reid has never agreed to come on the Factor, and urged him once again to come on and discuss the issues. O'Reilly showed the video of Reid as a "Reality Check." . . . . (VIDEO)

The demonstrators were mostly against Big Government, but many banners and signs on display during the 9-12 march and rally in Washington, D.C. expressed disgust with liberal media bias. One of the harshest was, "Mainstream media: communists or puppets?" Another said, "Why are the watchdogs White House lapdogs?" One of the most direct, equating liberal news outlets to state-run media, was "AP, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC=Pravda." Still another said simply, "Shame on Mainstream Media!" On the other hand, television and radio talk-show host Glenn Beck was a hero, as the "Glenn Beck for President" sign illustrated. Several signs declared "Thank...

In general, statists like Obama have been trying for decades to impose government run healthcare so that they can control everyone’s lives. No matter how limited the reach of any initial, enabling legislation, they will never stop trying to reach their basic goals – through future amendments, executive directives, and interpretations and decisions of regulators, and their goals are to put everyone under government care and include illegals and abortion. 1. Despite assurances from Obama on covering illegals and abortion, Democrats have put forth deceptive language in their bills that appear to prevent this coverage, but they have soundly defeated...

So, Glenn Beck, by himself, has managed to cover two big news stories, Van Jones and ACORN's underage prostituion scandal, and both resulted in losses for Obama. The other networks completely missed them. Glenn Beck: 2, Obama Administration: 0 84rules September 14, 2009

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 34% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -3. That’s a five point improvement...

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...

“The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys,” a new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, embargoed for release at 11 PM EDT Sunday night, discovered. The survey, of 1,506 adults conducted in late July, found “nearly three-quarters (74%) say news organizations tend to favor one side in dealing with political and social issues,” up 21 points from 53 percent 24 years ago, “while just 18% say they deal fairly with all sides.” The percent who perceive...

The US economy faces a difficult time ahead as consumers stop spending and the fallout escalates from the collapse of the commercial real estate market, economist Nouriel Roubini told CNBC. Repeating his prediction that the economy faces a threat of a "double-dip" recession and at best a slow-growth U-shaped recovery, Roubini said in a live interview that more banks will fail and residential real estate prices have more room to decline. Additionally, non-government bonds will face pressure, the securitization market is all but dead, the credit markets are still frozen and consumers will continue to save more rather than spend...

Equities fell on Friday however all three indices were up for the week. They are looking to open however a bit less than one percent down this morning. According to CNBC, the lower opening reflects a trade dispute between China and the U.S. Stock index futures were pointing to a lower opening for Wall Street as investors worried over a trade dispute between the US and China and reflected on the one-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse.

I took a few hundred pictures this weekend. I decided to turn them into slide-shows because uploading one by one would take forever. I have the video and will also add a pdf or some other easy file for those who want to download pictures. Videos of different parts will be here soon.

Russia has agreed to lend Venezuela over $2 billion to purchase tanks and advanced anti-aircraft missiles in deals that show Moscow's commitment to working closely with Washington-foe President Hugo Chavez. Chavez said Sunday the purchases agreed upon on a trip to Moscow last week included 92 tanks and an S-300 missile system that can shoot down fighter jets and cruise missiles. Two years ago, Russia agreed to sell the same S-300 system to Iran but has dragged its feet over delivering the weapons amid U.S. and Israeli concerns they will be used to defend Iran's nuclear installations. The socialist Chavez,...