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As Noel Sheppard reported earlier, in the show-opening feature of its coverage of the final round of the US Open golf championship today, NBC--twice--edited out the words "under God" from its clip of school children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Clearly many Americans were offended and let NBC know about it. Because later in the broadcast, one of the announcers issued an apology. But the network simply compounded one omission with another. The apology spoke of "a portion of the Pledge" being edited out--but never mentioned that the omitted words were "under God." View video here.

Listen to the pledge of allegiance that runs alongside the patriotic images, and later to the one that overlays video of previous U.S. Open winners: (VIDEO)

With data showing that the housing market has gone into reverse, another of Obama’s blue ribbon panels is about to report to the president on ways to get the U.S. economy going. Heading up the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness is corporate welfare queen GE’s Jeffery Immelt.Expect, then, Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness headed by Immelt to recommend more of the top-down central planning where Big Business, Big Labor and Big Government connive to divide up the jobs pie at the expense of the rest of us, the little guys. The program will kind of be like Obamacare,...

Subprime Scandal: Turns out the true cost of bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is double what the White House claims. Yet reforming the failed mortgage giants remains in limbo. In a new report delivered to the House Budget Committee, the Congressional Budget Office puts the bailout figure at $317 billion — not the $130 billion claimed by the Obama administration, which has vowed to "reform" Fannie and Freddie. And CBO says costs to taxpayers will continue to rise as the housing market weakens. Why low-ball the bleeding from these quasi-governmental agencies? Because the White House doesn't really want...

When the federal government stepped in to prevent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapsing in 2008, it stuck the taxpayers with a hefty bill. Since 2008, the federal government has sunk $162.4 billion into these government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) without any form of taxpayer protection. But the true magnitude of the cost this bailout has foisted upon the taxpayer is actually far greater, according to a report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last week. By putting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship, the federal government effectively became the owner of both entities. Yet the government’s accounting...

Democrats, watch out. The Republican Party and especially its Tea Party wing have just acquired a new weapon of mass destruction — and it has nothing to do with any of Congressman Wiener’s rogue body parts. If they deploy this weapon effectively in the next election cycle — a big if — then they have the biggest opportunity to move the country rightward since Ronald Reagan took the oath of office back in 1981. The Tea Party WMD stockpile is currently stored in book form: Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon. By Gretchen Morgenson,...

Fanniegate: Gamechanger For The GOP? Walter Russell Mead Democrats, watch out.The Republican Party and especially its Tea Party wing have just acquired a new weapon of mass destruction — and it has nothing to do with any of Congressman Wiener’s rogue body parts. If they deploy this weapon effectively in the next election cycle — a big if — then they have the biggest opportunity to move the country rightward since Ronald Reagan took the oath of office back in 1981.The Tea Party WMD stockpile is currently stored in book form: Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led...

Yesterday, this column jibed Joe Scarborough & Co. for blacking out, during Morning Joe's first half-hour, coverage of Anthony Weiner's epic news conference of the day before. Today, a defiant Scarborough dismissed the criticism the show received, boasting "we'll talk about what we feel like talking about." When the show opened today, it at first seemed that Scarborough was about to make amends for yesterday's poor news judgment. But Joe's mock contrition was just a set-up for a joke. View video here.

(CNSNews.com) – The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the real cost of the federal government guaranteeing the business of failed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is $317 billion -- not the $130 billion normally claimed by the Obama administration. In a report delivered to the House Budget Committee on June 2, the CBO said a “fair value” accounting of guaranteeing the two defunct mortgage companies – known as Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) – was more than twice as high as the Office of Management and Budget had accounted for. “Specifically, CBO treats the mortgages guaranteed each year by...

EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DEBT COLLECTOR WHO FOUND OBAMA ALIAS HARRISON J BOUNELL WHO IS RELATED TO MICHELLE OBAMA Barack Obama / Barry Sotero / Harrison J Bounel Blatant Real Estate / Tax Fraud? LONG LEGGED MAC DADDY has even more names. Harrison J Bounell J Harrison Bounell 5046 South Greenwood Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60615 This address where real estate fraud has been committed is owned by Judge Jane L Stuart. Obamanation’s book keeper Esquire Harvey Weinberg cooked the books on this fraudulent Real Estate deal for Obamanation at the tune of about 1.23 million dollars. SS#042-68-4425 Real Estate and Tax...

~ EXCERPT ~ WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mortgage buyer Fannie Mae reported a loss of $8.7 billion for the January-March quarter, and asked for an additional $8.5 billion in federal aid. The new request is more than three times the $2.6 billion in government aid it sought in the final three months of last year. The loss was caused by declining home prices around the country, Fannie Mae said. It said prices declined on average 1.8 percent, leading more homeowners to default on loans that the mortgage giant had guaranteed. The government rescued Fannie Mae and sibling company Freddie Mac in...

The problem with winding down Fannie and Freddie is the GSEs buy about 70% of all mortgages originated in the U.S. and there just isn't enough capital or risk appetite in the private sector to fill the void. "You can't pull that much liquidity out of the mortgage market without crashing it," Muolo says. "If you crash it, home prices will fall by 50% and we'll be in a worse situation than we were three years ago." Given that and the political calendar, Muolo predicts there will be a lot of talk but very little action on Fannie and Freddie...

Mind you, Fannie and Freddie have cost the taxpayers $160 billion in direct subsidies since they were taken over in August 2008. The country would be better off if they shut down today. Housing finance is incredibly simple to get right: Require 20 percent down payments and make sure the borrowers have income of at least 2½ times their monthly nut, and guess what happens? Nothing -- no defaults; no bubble. That's how housing markets work when the government stays out of them, and it's how ours worked for the half century before the feds started twisting the arms of...

There is no pretense of partiality with Meet the Press David Gregory. On last Sunday’s show Gregory attacked Americans with some of the same Orwellian language as Uber-partisan Nancy Pelosi used when she infamously labeled Americans who protested Obamacare by calling them Astro Turf. But Gregory doesn’t directly attack. No he cowardly assaults Americans by proxy through the people’s elected representative House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Gregory’s strategy? Gregory believes if he can badger Rep. Cantor into calling Americans who want the same proof of Barry Hussein Soetoro’s eligibility that 2008 presidential candidate Sen. John McCain showed, a long form...

It's common for companies to indemnify their officers and directors against lawsuits. But what happens when the company gets taken over by the government? Oh, you know.... Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending the mortgage finance companies and their former top executives in civil lawsuits accusing them of fraud. The cost was a closely guarded secret until last week, when the companies and their regulator produced an accounting at the request of Congress. This would be amusing if it wasn't so outrageous. Remember, most of these allegations date...

The Obama administration gave corporate giant General Electric—the parent company of NBC--$24.9 million in grants from the $787-billion economic “stimulus” law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009, according to records posted by the administration at Recovery.gov. Despite getting $24.9 million from U.S. taxpayers, GE decreased its U.S.-based employees by 18,000 in 2009, according to the company’s 2009 annual report. According to Standard & Poor's, GE took in $156 billion in revenue in 2009. GE was the primary recipient of 14 stimulus grants, a spokeswoman for Recovery.gov confirmed to CNSNews.com. These 14 grants provided GE with $24.9 million in tax...

CNN's John King on Wednesday mocked Barack Obama for calling Fox News a "destructive" force in our society while at practically the same time a White House spokesman was saying MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow provide "an invaluable service" to the country. JOHN KING, HOST: "Sometimes you feel sad to be left out of a big debate. This is not one of those sometimes. In an interview with "Rolling Stone," President Obama voiced the opinion that Fox News is a "destructive" force in our society. On the other hand, the left hand in this case, Obama spokesman Bill Burton...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration called for "fundamental change" at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but a long, politically explosive debate lies ahead on the future of the bailed-out mortgage finance giants and U.S. housing policy. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday raised basic questions with housing industry leaders about the U.S. government's long-standing role in subsidizing and supporting the $10.7 trillion housing market. "It is not tenable to leave in place the system we have today," Geithner said at a conference hosted by the Treasury Department almost two years after the government seized Fannie Mae and Freddie...

Talk of shrinking the government's involvement in the mortgage market is growing. Just don't expect action any time soon. A conference Tuesday at the Treasury Department is the first of many steps toward restructuring the nearly $11 trillion mortgage market. So far, rescuing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has cost the government more than $148 billion. That number is expected to grow. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will address the conference but is not expected to offer an exit strategy Tuesday. The administration has said it won't offer its plan until next year. Officials are pledging dramatic changes to...