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COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama has suffered the second embarrassment over oil imports within the space of a week. Brazil, whose offshore deposits of oil were sought by the Obama administration, has signed contracts with China for the product. According to the Washington Times, Brazilian offshore crude may number about 38 billion barrels. Obama went to Brazil last month to put in a bid for the oil, offering loans and other support to develop the oil in an "environmentally responsible matter," The Hill reported at the time. Republicans criticized that initiative, pointing out Obama has placed roadblocks in the way...

In a desperate plea attempt, the Georgia Democratic Party Chairman Mike Berlon has made a video requesting contributions to counter the Georgia access ballot challenge to President Obama. In the video he deems the lawsuit frivolous and demands the voters 'Force' republicans to debate the issues that affects Georgia's economic problems all while ignoring the Constitutional natural born citizen eligibility problem that faces Barack Obama.

Dems propose 'Reasonable Profits Board' to regulate oil company profits By Pete Kasperowicz - 01/19/12 10:20 AM ET Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits. The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit. The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would...

Attorney General Eric Holder used Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy on the anniversary of the civil rights leader’s birthday Monday to emphasize the Obama administration’s dedication to protecting the American people from discriminatory voting practices,” Politico reports. The remarks followed a December move by Holder's agents at the Department of Justice to block “South Carolina's new voter ID law from taking effect, claiming that the measure will put an unfair burden on minority voters,” according to an earlier Politico piece. Naturally, the move is endorsed by Ben Jealous and the NAAPoC (I mean really, “CP” in this day and age?)...

Voters are deeply divided on President Obama's accomplishments in office — with a majority reporting that the president has accomplished "not much" or "little or nothing." A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that 52 percent of voters have a negative assessment of the president's track record. The survey finds that 12 percent of voters believe he has accomplished a "great deal," while 35 percent describe his accomplishments as a "good amount." Among those who believe the president has not accomplished much, 56 percent blame Obama for that state of affairs, while 18 percent blame Republicans in Congress. And 19...

The Treasury on Tuesday started dipping into federal pension funds in order to give the Obama administration more credit to pay government bills. "I will be unable to invest fully" the federal employees retirement system fund beginning Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a letter to Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Wednesday on the Obama administration's request to raise the country's legal debt limit to $16.394 trillion.

Beware of bubbles of false hope. Right now there is a lot of talk about how the U.S. economy is improving, but it is all a lie. The mainstream media can be very seductive. When you sit down to watch television your brain tends to go into a very relaxed mode. In such a state, it becomes easy to slip thoughts and ideas past your defenses. Sometimes when I am watching television I realize what the media is trying to do and yet I can still feel it happening to me. In this day and age, it is absolutely...

Has the economy improved over the last three quarters?  Not for Barack Obama and the DNC.  The last quarter of fundraising in 2011 brought in a combined total of $68 million, the lowest of the three reporting quarters last year for both: President Obama’s reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised a combined $68 million in the last quarter of 2011, campaign manager Jim Messina said in a video e-mailed to supporters on Thursday morning.The Obama campaign raised $42 million, while the DNC raised the remaining $24 million. Those numbers track closely to third-quarter hauls of $43 million and $27 million,...

When President Barack Obama offers his Jan. 24 State of the Union address, it will mark exactly 1,000 days since the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate has passed a budget. The Senate has not bothered to pass a budget since April 29, 2009. “The Republican-led House of Representatives passed the Paul Ryan budget that reduced Obama’s spending levels by six trillion dollars over the next decade. The Democrat-controlled Senate has not passed a budget in three years," said Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist. "When President Obama tries to blame a ‘do nothing’ congress for his problems….he is half right. The...

<p>President Obama is putting plans in motion to give the Commerce Department authority to create an Internet ID for all Americans, a White House official told CNET.com.</p> <p>White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt told the website it is "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) — The most detailed data yet on emissions of heat-trapping gases show that U.S. power plants are responsible for the bulk of the pollution blamed for global warming. Power plants released 72 percent of the greenhouse gases reported to the Environmental Protection Agency for 2010, according to information released Wednesday that was the first catalog of global warming pollution by facility. The data include more than 6,700 of the largest industrial sources of greenhouse gases, or about 80 percent of total U.S. emissions. According to an Associated Press analysis of the data, 20 mostly coal-fired power plants in...

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., speaking in New Hampshire this morning, reminded her audience of the tragic Tucson shooting last year -- and also insinuated that the Tea Party, which she said regards political opponents as "the enemy," has enhanced divisiveness in Congress and had something to do with the shooting, at least indirectly. "We need to make sure that we tone things down, particularly in light of the Tucson tragedy from a year ago, where my very good friend, Gabby Giffords -- who is doing really well, by the way, -- [was shot]," Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee...

To All My Valued Employees, There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. Of course, as your employer, I am forbidden to tell you whom to vote for - it is against the law to discriminate based on political affiliation, race, creed, religion, etc. Please vote...

President Obama's surrogates, not giving up hope that the themes of the "occupy movement" will help his reelection and push Congress to back Democratic jobs ideas, are looking to the birthday and federally-sanctioned holiday of what Obama activist Van Jones calls the "original Occupier," Martin Luther King Jr., to spark action on the streets of America. Jones, part of a group called "Rebuild the Dream,"- which sees itself as a liberal version of the Tea Party movement- said the gatherings will kick off what he sees as a "turbulent, exciting" year, led by civil rights leaders pushing a new agenda...

The Mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, John DeStefano, a Democrat, wants to let non-citizens vote in city elections. One might ask the good mayor if he also thinks it OK for non-citizens to run for city offices, too -- like for mayor. According to a news story in New Haven Register, Pat O'Neill, spokesman for the state GOP House Republicans, asked when told of DeStefano's proposal: "When are they going to extend voting rights to the dead?" One inconvenient little snag for Mr. DeStefano's expansion of the franchise is the Constitution of the State of Connecticut, which stipulates in Article...

In a short piece in the “Culture Monster” section of the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Knight decries a satirical depiction of the First Lady based on a 1775 portrait of famed French lover of luxury, Marie Antoinette. The image replaces Marie’s face with Mrs. Obama’s, and the young queen’s puffy-sleeved left arm with a bare muscular black arm – clearly a poke at Mrs. Obama’s penchant for going sleeveless to show off her buffed guns. Her right hand points to a spot on a world globe, and the image caption reads “Choosing the next vacation.” Obviously a pointed commentary on...

WASHINGTON — When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law. But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist. In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, which is made from wood chips or the inedible parts of plants like corncobs. Refiners were required...

As the Republican presidential candidates duked it out on Meet The Press Sunday morning, our dear friend -- DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz -- stepped onto the Fox News Sunday set, opposite RNC chief Reince Priebus.  As we were reminded very recently, DWS typically prefers to cut and run from uncomfortable questions.  Luckily for FNS viewer, scurrying off a television set during live programming wasn't really an option for her.  Host Chris Wallace shelled her with tough, fair questions in an attempt to drag her off of her carefully rehearsed talking points.  First up, a series of challenges about President...

House liberals cheer proposed Obama administration immigration reformBy Mike Lillis - 01/08/12 05:40 PM ET Several senior House liberals are cheering President Obama this week after his administration proposed new rules making it easier for some illegal immigrants to remain in the country while they apply for citizenship. "The President deserves credit for setting in place another essential building block through administrative action – moving us closer to a common sense immigration policy – that puts America, its families and its economy first," Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Friday in a statement. The...

Obama recently signed a mysterious new law that proclaims all American soil is a "battleground," thereby allowing the president to indefinitely detain any American citizen without charges. Critics fear Obama will use his fun new unconstitutional powers to make his political enemies disappear, but that may not be necessary. The way things are going, most patriotic Americans will soon be six feet under, felled by apoplectic strokes brought on by reading the latest outrage committed by our "Commander in Chief." He may not have a limit to what he'll inflict; but our collective blood pressure may have a limit to...