Lying Liz Warren gets slammed by Senator Scott Brown in debate

It's about time Senator Scott Brown puts this pathetic liar and tool of the Libs away.

Fauxcahontas found out last night her lies will not carry her into office. Take a look at the picture from last night. Prof. " Blame America First" Warren who doesn't wear an American Flag on her lapel, just like her boss/mentor President Doofus.

Scott Brown charges out of gate, slams Liz Warren on ‘truthfulness’ By Hillary Chabot and Joe Battenfeld Friday, September 21, 2012 - Boston Herald

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown turned aggressor in his first debate clash with rival Elizabeth Warren, questioning her character for claiming to be Native American and scolding her for “scaring women” to win votes.

“She checked the box claiming she was a Native American, and clearly she’s not,” Brown said in the opening minute of the debate, referring to law school directories where Warren listed herself as a Native American minority.

“When you are a United States senator, you have to pass a test, and that’s one of character and honesty and truthfulness,” Brown said. “And I believe and others believe that she’s failed that test.”

Read the whole thing -

http://bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1061161946&position=1

DNC uses Russian ships at DNC Convention tribute to US Veterans

Clueless - Utterly Clueless - What we have come to expect from a Democratic Party that hasn't got a clue - Lead by the Clueless President.

Russian ships displayed at DNC tribute to vets By Sam Fellman - Staff writer - Navy Times Posted: Tuesday Sep 11, 2012 17:16:10 EDT

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

But there was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America’s best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

These were the very Soviet-era combatants that Nathman and Cold Warriors like him had once squared off against.

“The ships are definitely Russian,” said noted naval author Norman Polmar after reviewing hi-resolution photos from the event. “There’s no question of that in my mind.”

Naval experts concluded the background was a photo composite of Russian ships that were overflown by what appear to be U.S. trainer jets. It remains unclear how or why the Democratic Party used what’s believed to be images of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at their convention.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee was not able to immediately comment Tuesday, saying he had to track down personnel to find out what had happened.

The veteran who spotted the error and notified Navy Times said he was immediately taken aback.

“I was kind of in shock,” said Rob Barker, 38, a former electronics warfare technician who left the Navy in 2006. Having learned to visually identify foreign ships by their radars, Barker recognized the closest ship as the Kara-class cruiser Kerch.

“An immediate apology [from the committee] would be very nice,” Barker said. “Maybe acknowledge the fact that yes, they screwed up.”

The background — featured in the carefully choreographed hour leading up to the president’s Sept. 6 speech accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination — showed four ships with radar designs not used in the U.S. fleet.

For example, the ship in the foreground, on the far right, has a square radar antenna at the top of its masthead. That is the MR-700 Podberezovik 3-D early warning radar, commonly identified as “Flat Screen” for its appearance, a three-dimensional early warning radar mounted on the Kerch, said Eric Wertheim, editor of “Combat Fleets of the World.” But the fact they are Russian ships is not in doubt. In addition to the ship’s radar arrays and hulls, which are dissimilar from U.S. warships, the photo features one more give-away: a large white flag with a blue ‘X’ at the ships’ sterns.

Polmar, who authored “The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy,” recognized the blue ‘X’-mark: “The X is the Cross of St. Andrew’s, which is a Russian Navy symbol,” Polmar said. (An anchored U.S. warship, by contrast, flies the American flag on its stern.)

Based on this specific group of these ship types, one naval expert concluded that this was most likely a photo of the Black Sea Fleet.

"The house is burning down, and the Democratic constituencies want free ice cream."

Jennifer Rubin from the WAPO puts it succinctly - The DEMS haven't got a clue and we need ADULT LEADERSHIP, not a President who acts like a petulant teenager on a spending spree with our national credit card.

Whistling past the graveyard at the Democratic convention By Jennifer Rubin - Washington Post

If you had been dropped from outer space into the Democratic National Convention, you would have thought that we enjoyed full employment, reduced poverty and stared down Iran, leaving us with deeply important issues like paying for birth control for grown women. You would have thought that a large majority of Americans weren’t sympathetic to Israel and weren’t religious. You’d have thought that the federal government had money to burn and no looming debt crisis. You would never have thought that Obama had signed a “historic” health-care bill. And you’d have thought that the political heavyweight in the Obama household was Michelle. (Well, you might have been right about the last one.)

But knowing that the America of 2012 is so very different than the convention portrait, it’s worth asking how the Democrats’ convention became so divorced from reality.

We saw a party in which the inability to tackle the monumental problems of our time ( entitlement reform, fiscal crisis, endemic high unemployment, a nuclear-armed Iran) has left a large gaping hole where its core should be. As our problems have gotten bigger, the party has gotten smaller, angrier and less grown-up. The house is burning down, and the Democratic constituencies want free ice cream.

So, how does it happen that days are spent on abortion on demand (which we essentially have anyway until the Supreme Court decides differently) and contraception, while big-ticket items are ignored?

The answer is twofold, I think. The current state of the Democratic Party is both the natural consequences of a longtime trend and the reflection of a president who is tragically unequipped to do his job.

Constituent politics is nothing new to the Democratic Party, of course. Ever since FDR strung together an alliance of urban blacks, Southern whites, labor and immigrants, the Democratic Party has been collecting interest groups like a girl collects charms for her bracelet. The groups have multiplied (gays, Native Americans, public employees), but the concept has been the same for 70 years. In exchange for votes the Democratic Party will give you lots of “free” stuff. To get free stuff you have to pay a lot of taxes and idealize government as the font of good deeds, so that citizens won’t mind an increasingly intrusive and expensive government. The point is not to solve problems or even measure success; the point is to keep the swapping (votes for free stuff) going strong.

A lot of the big-ticket items have already been doled out. So now we’re down to the really small beans ( free contraception!). Whether the giveaways are small or large (e.g., unlimited health care for all, free college education) the idea is propounded that the measure of a decent, successful society is how much free stuff you give away.

This phenomenon has been amply documented (most recently by Jay Cost in in his new book, Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic). But usually the itty-bitty items and the atomized nature of a party strung together only by the common desire to get free stuff are not so obvious. Usually, there is an overarching purpose that takes center stage, while the interest group plate-spinners carry on along the sidelines. What was so startling at this year’s Democratic convention was that there is nothing else but the interest group beg-a-thon.

And this brings us to the current president. In 2008 Barack Obama had big themes and big ambitions that gave the party coherence. Having failed to do the big things (curb the debt, stop Iran, jump-start the economy), he chose to ignore the biggest issues of our time. My colleague Michael Gerson aptly put it: “Obama made almost no mention of the continuing jobs crisis. He offered nothing new or creative on a fiscal and debt crisis that undermines economic confidence. Much of Obama’s agenda — lowering tuition costs, recruiting math and science teachers, ‘long-lasting batteries’ — sounded like a seventh-year State of the Union address, a collection of policy leavings and leftovers.”

So then it wasn’t merely that Obama let loose the rent-seekers (and birth control-seekers and free-education-seekers). No, he needed them to fill up the space and the airwaves, to promise that no matter what (fiscal crisis, recession) he will still be there to cater to the whims and demands of the constituent groups. Sure the economy is bad, but who’s going to give you free college tuition?

It’s ludicrous, of course. If the economy doesn’t improve and we don’t avoid the fiscal cliff, we’ll be taking away, not handing out stuff. This is the “austerity” against which the liberals inveigh. In fact, they are driving us ever closer to the point where we will will have to quickly and severely cut out the handouts.

It is, as conservatives have said for so long, the Western European syndrome. As we spend and cater to the demanding crowd, we push ourselves closer and closer to the point where both the excessive demands and actual needs will go unmet.

It is interesting that on Friday major financial institutions sounded the alarm about the state of the economy. James Pethokoukis quoted JPMorgan’s economist Michael Feroli:

Labor market activity was disappointing again in Aug . . . The more comprehensive employment-to-population ratio ticked down to 58.3%; this measure is a mere 0.1% above its cycle trough, indicating that once one takes account of population growth there has been essentially no progress in repairing the labor market after the recent downturn. In fact, if you go through the details it’s hard to find any redeeming aspects to this jobs report. In terms of the broader economy, today’s numbers should check any enthusiasm that the economy was gaining momentum toward the end of the summer. Instead, the economy appears to remain stuck in the mud.

“Awful,” “dreary,” weak” and “dismaying.” He sounds like the town crier straining to wake up the town. But in Charlotte the Democrats had their fingers in their ears, as if blocking out the noise would make it go away, or at least muffle others’ hearing. What’s that? The economy is near a recession? Hmm. Did I mention we’ll give you free birth control?

I like to say that the first side in a campaign to raise social issues is losing on everything else. In this case, the campaign spending three days on wedge issues and statist trinkets is getting clobbered on everything else.

Maybe the Obama cynicism is right and the public is willing to be coddled and distracted. But somehow I think not. At some point voters want to fix the big things; they might even be willing to forgo a lot of free stuff

Dennis Miller nails PELOSI

Pelosi... man. How'd you like to go through life looking like you were perpetually witnessing the docking of the Hindenburg?

— Dennis Miller Show (@DennisDMZ) August 28, 2012

Follow Dennis Miller on Twitter - He is a riot

OBAMA MUCKS IT UP - Calls US NAVY SEAL ADM. McRAVEN " General McRaven"

What a clueless chump - Time to GO Mr. Obama - We've had enough of your stupidity.

From http://riehlworldview.com/2012/08/barack-obama-botches-rank-of-top-navy-seal-william-mcraven.html

Barack Obama botches rank of top Navy SEAL William McRaven August 23, 2012

Obama: ‘I’d advise that you talk to General McRaven, who’s in charge of our Special Ops. I think he has a point of view in terms of how deeply I care about what these folks do each and every day to protect our freedom.’

Oops: “The difficulty with this is that William McRaven is and admiral not a general. As a SEAL, he is member of the US Navy, not US Army or US Marines.” More via Barack Obama botches rank of top Navy SEAL William McRaven | Mail Online. Obama has made mistakes with military terminology before.

In February 2010, he mispronounced ‘corpsman’ – as ‘corpse-man’ instead of ‘core-man’ several times. Last year, he mixed up two Medal of Honor recipients, saying that ‘Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honour to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously’.

The $50 Lesson

Recently, while I was working in the flower beds in the front yard, my neighbors stopped to chat as they returned home fromwalking their dog. During our friendly conversation, I asked their little girl what she wanted to be when she grew up.

 

She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, Liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, "If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?"

 

She replied... "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people."

 

Her parents beamed with pride!

 

"Wow...what a worthy goal!" I said. "But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that!" I told her.

 

"What do you mean?" she replied.

 

So I told her, "You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and I'll pay you $50. Then you can go over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house."

 She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked,

"Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?"

I said, " Welcome to the Republican Party. "

Her parents aren't speaking to me anymore.

PRESIDENT DEADBEAT - Obama's campaign will not pay for police security at a fundraiser in Newport Beach, CA

You can't make this SHITE up.....


President Dead-Beat.

What a joke....Time to Go Mr. President....you are an embarrassment.

He likes to spend our tax dollars BUT stiffs cities & towns for a campaign event -

OMG - Obama Must Go.
latimes.com

Secret Service won't pay Newport Beach for police at Obama event

Newport Beach billed President Obama's campaign for police security at a fundraiser. The Secret Service says that security is its job, not the campaign's, but that it can't reimburse the city.

By Mike Reicher, Los Angeles Times
 July 30, 2012

A Secret Service official said Newport Beach city administrators are asking the wrong people to pay for police protection at presidential campaign events.

It's the service that is responsible for the candidates' security, not the campaigns, said Max Milien, an agency spokesman. Any cost concerns should be directed to the agency.

Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff billed the campaigns of President Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney for police security at their separate fundraisers this year in the city.

Now that the Romney campaign paid its bill, the city is left in the awkward position of trying to collect from Obama.

"We cannot reimburse any agencies," Milien said. "We make that clear from Day 1."

Milien explained that an advance team works with local law enforcement to plan road closures and other measures before a candidate's visit. If the local agency cannot afford to pay for extra security or overtime, the local officials should inform the Secret Service ahead of time, he said.

In that case, Milien said, the Secret Service would seek help from other law enforcement groups — county or state police, for example, who would not charge for the service.

"There is adequate time if an agency cannot assist us and is strapped for manpower," he said, adding that the Secret Service does not have the budget for that type of expense.

Kiff says the Police Department did raise the issue with the Secret Service before the president's visit.

"At that time, our staff was told that the Secret Service would not reimburse the city," Kiff wrote in an email, "and that we should check with the president's campaign or the DNC."

The Romney campaign paid its bill last week, about a month after the city sent its invoice. The Obama bill, on the other hand, was sent in May and has not been paid.

City spokeswoman Tara Finnigan said the city's billing system would be sending past-due notices.

About three weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee contacted the city and told officials to deal with the Secret Service.

The DNC and the Republican National Committee split their Newport Beach event proceeds with the respective campaigns.

"Any local law enforcement organization contacted by the Secret Service to assist in security should discuss matters related to costs and how to effectively manage those costs with the Secret Service," DNC spokeswoman Melanie Roussell wrote in an email Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Kiff would like the issue to go away.

"I am very tired of this story, but it will have legs again," Kiff wrote in an email to the City Council after the Orange County Register inquired about the Romney campaign's payment.

The city was "honored" to have the president in town, Kiff said, but he viewed the campaign fundraisers as private events.

"Had this been a 'business trip' — if the president came to Newport Beach to talk about one of his policies with our residents — the city would not have sent an invoice," he wrote in an email.

Newport Beach is in strong fiscal shape, with about $98 million in reserves.

The city's Finance Department recently emailed the Obama campaign a reminder about the bill instead of turning to the Secret Service, Finnigan said. City administrators did not return messages asking about their next steps.

Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, a Republican, said, "It's the city's intention to apply its usual policies and send the bill to collections."

Obama spoke at a private home in Corona del Mar in February, and Romney held his May fundraiser at the Balboa Bay Club. The $35,000 bill for Obama was more than three times as much as Romney's. Kiff said the difference was due to the added street closures and additional security requirements for the president.

Costa Mesa police did not bill the Romney campaign for an event this week because it did not require additional police personnel, city spokesman Bill Lobdell said.

mike.reicher@latimes.com

" You didn't build that..."

It is very likely he would have been thrown over the side......sounds like a great idea.

What an idiot.  A failure who has been exposed by his own words....Time to go Mr.Obama.

President Obama preaches to friendly crowd of Union Supporters....both are clueless about what the rest of the country needs....

The President goes to Detroit to speak to Union supporters...One of his core constituencies and those who have the most to win if the feckless fool stays in office. This is the political equivalent of " preaching to the choir." There is a reason why Union membership is down nationwide....because in the end, the average worker loses and only the Union Leaders gain.

The pics from this rally won't mean spit to those who know that the President squandered 2 1/2 years on his clueless social agenda and forcing programs on America that no one wants and no one needed. His request that the " GOP must put their country ahead of party..." is his way of saying, " You have to let me do what I want " for us to accomplish anything. That is a sign of his intolerant immaturity as being the President doesn't mean the other party stands aside no more than it did during the last administration where the DEMS were the party opposing everything President Bush wanted....The fact that he thinks he can stamp his feet and get his way is further evidence of his cluelessness.

The union fools were chanting " four more years " at this rally. NO ONE in America needs four more years of this hapless incompetent in the White House. We need LEADERSHIP, a word which is a total mystery to Barry from Chicago.


Obama says GOP must back US first, create jobs
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE - Associated Press AP – 38 mins ago......

DETROIT (AP) — President Barack Obama said Monday that congressional Republicans must put their country ahead of their party and vote to create new jobs as he used a boisterous Labor Day rally to aim a partisan barb at the GOP.

In a preview of the jobs speech he will deliver on Thursday to Congress, Obama said there are numerous roads and bridges that need rebuilding in the U.S., and over 1 million unemployed construction workers who are available to build them.

Citing massive federal budget deficits, Republicans have expressed opposition to spending vast new sums on jobs programs. But Obama said that with widespread suffering, "the time for Washington games is over" and lawmakers must move quickly to create jobs.

"But we're not going wait for them," he said at an annual event sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO. "We're going to see if we've got some straight shooters in Congress. We're going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party."

Obama's remarks came as he has been under heavy criticism from the GOP for presiding over a persistently weak economy and high unemployment. Last Friday's dismal jobs report showed a net job change of zero in August, and the unemployment rate held steady at 9.1 percent.

Congress returns from its summer recess this week, with the faltering economy and job market promising to be a dominant theme of the session. The economy is all but certain to also be the top issue of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Throughout the speech, the union crowd kept chanting "four more years."

Obama also said lawmakers should extend the temporary reduction in the payroll tax that workers pay, a cut that will otherwise expire on Jan. 1. Many Republicans have opposed renewing the payroll tax cut, saying it would increase federal red ink and do little to create jobs.

"You say you're the party of tax cuts," Obama said of the GOP argument. "Well, then prove you'll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle class families as you do oil companies and the most affluent Americans. Show us what you've got."

In the speech to Congress, Obama is expected to call for a mix of individual and business tax credits and public works spending. He will also press lawmakers for swift action on those proposals.

Underscoring the political dueling on the economy under way, Obama plans to visit Richmond, Va., the day after his address to Congress as the first of several trips he will make to encourage support for his job creation plan. Part of Richmond is represented by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., one of the president's fiercest critics.

The president's broader goal is to make a sweeping appeal for bipartisan action on the economy, speaking not only to the members of Congress who will assemble before him, but to the larger American public. In that sense, the speech will mark a pivot point from a fall and summer spent dealing with long-term deficit reduction to a fall campaign devoted to boosting a foot-dragging recovery.

Aides say Obama will mount a campaign throughout the fall centered on the economy, unveiling different elements of his agenda heading into 2012. If Republicans reject his ideas, the president and his aides want to enlist the public as an ally, essentially using the megaphone of his presidency to pressure Congress and make the case for his re-election.

"People will see a president who will be laying very significant proposals throughout the fall leading up this next State of the Union," Gene Sperling, director of Obama's National Economic Council, said in an interview with the Associated Press..

While Obama has said any short term spending proposal will be paid for over the long-term, aides say the speech will not offer details on what deficit reduction measures would be used to offset immediate spending measures. The speech also is not expected to include a detailed plan for resolving the nation's housing crisis, a central cause behind the weak economy that White House aides and administration officials have been struggling to resolve.

"A lot of what will be discussed in greater detail in this economic proposal that he will be making on Thursday night will focus on many things that will have a more immediate, positive effect on getting the recovery to take hold, getting stronger growth , spurring job creation, spurring the private sector to invest more," Sperling said.

Asked specifically about housing, he said: You will also see him throughout the fall talking about other issues that are also at very much the heart of this economic agenda."

Last week's disappointing jobs report sparked new fears of a second recession and injected fresh urgency into efforts by Obama to help get millions of unemployed people back into the labor market — and help improve his re-election chances.

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce on Monday surfaced its own jobs plan. In an open letter to Congress and the White House, the Chamber called for measures designed to immediately increase employment, including stepped-up road and bridge construction, more oil drilling and temporary corporate tax breaks.

Polls show the economy and jobs are the public's top concerns. Public approval of Obama's handling of the economy hit a new low of 26 percent in a recent Gallup survey.

The unemployment report also gave Obama's Republican critics, including those who want to challenge him in next year's presidential election, fresh ammunition to pound him with.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney called the report disappointing, unacceptable and "further proof that President Obama has failed." Romney is scheduled to outline his own job-creation plan in a speech Tuesday in the battleground state of Nevada.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Monday that both political parties should get behind Obama's efforts to improve the hiring picture.

"We do need everyone to be on board," she said on NBC's "Today" show.

Solis said Obama "is very mindful of what the needs and concerns are of those individuals who have been out of work for so long." But she also said the jobless have a responsibility to seek training in new skills, if necessary, to better prepare themselves for the kinds of jobs available in today's economy.

Obama spent part of the holiday weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland "putting the finishing touches" on the proposals and the speech, said spokesman Jay Carney.

Obama won Michigan in the 2008 presidential election and the economically challenged state is crucial to his re-election prospects. The state unemployment rate was 10.9 percent in July, above the national average for that month. The Detroit-area jobless rate was even higher, at 14.1 percent in July

Obama team moves fund-raiser after BOSTON GLOBE shines light on a MAJOR conflict of interest

TYPICAL Horse-shite from the White House and the feckless politicians who are his support....They schedule a fundraiser at the Pfizer world headquarters - The fact that Pfizer operates in an industry regulated by the FEDS is a MAJOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST and then to see the White House change the location once the issue comes to light.....

On top of the fact that Pfizer pleaded guilty to the illegal marketing of four of its drugs in which became the largest case of health care fraud in US history. It also received the largest criminal penalty - $1.2 billion - ever levied.

Like cockroaches, the minute you shine light on them, they scurry off to hide.

If this kind of CRAP doesn't make you wonder why ANYONE with a lick of sense would vote for these shallow blowhards, I question your common sense.

There's a phrase that has never been used in conjunction with the feckless "empty suit" sitting in the White House - "Common Sense" is not a word that exists in the President's vocabulary.

Obama team moves fund-raiser after Globe query
July 14, 2011 4:42 PM

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

President Obama’s campaign committee is moving a fund-raiser featuring Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel from the Pfizer world headquarters to another location in New York City after The Boston Globe inquired about the propriety of a major pharmaceutical company hosting an event that could benefit the administration regulating it.

“This is a general fund-raising event for the campaign that has nothing to do with a specific company and the attendees will not be from any one company or sector,” Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said this afternoon in a statement.

A Pfizer spokesman did not address the change in locale but defended the company’s initial decision to host the fund-raiser.

“Pfizer is proud to participate in the political process and encourages its colleagues to do so as well,” said the spokesman, Raul Damas. “All activities are undertaken in strict compliance with campaign finance law.”

Political fund-raisers are often held in private homes or commercial hotel and convention space to accommodate crowds and avoid conflict-of-interest charges. While they are sometimes held in corporate settings, management will often insist that they be linked to individual employees rather than the broader firm itself.

Emanuel, who formerly served as White House chief of staff, is slated to attend a series of fund-raising events for Obama next Thursday in New York. In one of them, he will serve as keynote speaker for the launch of a “Tri-State Speaker Series” aimed at raising money in the cash-rich region of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Attendees are being asked to donate $1,000 for lunch with Emanuel or $5,000 to attend each of what will be monthly events during the next year, according to an invitation obtained by the Globe.

The money will go to the Obama Victory Fund 2012, which splits its proceeds between the president’s campaign committee, Obama for America, and the Democratic National Committee, which the president controls but is charged with electing other Democratic candidates across the country.

On Wednesday, Obama for America announced it had raised $47 million during the past three months, more than double the $18.2 million raised by the president’s nearest Republican re-election challenger, Mitt Romney.

The DNC also reported raising $38 million, and the invitation showed the two entities’ expanded push for even more money.

It said the Emanuel event was being held at “The Offices of Pfizer.” It included an address, 235 East 42nd St. in New York, that is for the company’s headquarters.

Pfizer bills itself as “the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company.”

It ranks first in world pharmaceutical sales and produces such prominent products as Lipitor, Viagra, and Celebrex.

Its activities are regulated by, among others, federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration.

In September 2009, Pfizer pleaded guilty to the illegal marketing of four of its drugs in which became the largest case of health care fraud in US history. It also received the largest criminal penalty - $1.2 billion - ever levied.

The settlement was the fourth by the company with the US Department of Justice during the prior decade.

The fund-raiser is now being held at the University Club in New York.

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @glo

Wisconsin follows NJ's lead in bringing the public sector back in line with the private sector & stopping the greedy hacks

Wisconsin Gov. Walker has hit on the issue that needed to be brought forward and has shown true political leadership by bringing the costs for state employees lifetime benefits under control in Wisconsin.

Last night, at about midnight, the state's joint finance committee passed the bill, which set it up for a vote today by a session of the joint assembly. Republican Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald said that Wisconsin is leading the country "in bringing the public sector back in line with the private sector." He added, "There are no easy solutions to the problems our state is facing."

This is what was needed for too long as the state & municipal employees in all states have rigged the system to their own benefit for far too long and to the detriment of all other citizens.

Now OBAMA has tried to weigh in to a State issue and has tried to defend the Labor Unions ( Ever heard of "States Rights' Mr. President??)

Now, with the Gov. Scott Walker taking on unions in Wisconsin, it was only a matter of time before Obama gave his two cents. He has taken the side of the state government unions against Walker’s plan that would force state workers to cover half of their pension contributions and 13 percent of their own health insurance cuts. The plan would also strip government workers of the power to collectively bargain for higher wages unless the public approved it through a vote.

When asked about the public employee benefits cuts in Wisconsin and the resulting union protests President Obama said he saw the cuts as an “assault on unions”.

We have seen how the Democrats in Wisconsin deal with "change"....They have walked out and are in hiding......Typical of a group of feckless fools who know they are on losing side of the issue.

Run you cowards......you've shown your true colors.


Wisconsin budget fight escalates as Dems flee Madison to avoid vote
By Mary Katharine Ham - The Daily Caller Published: 1:31 PM 02/17/2011

A three-day-long stand-off at the Wisconsin state capitol between union supporters and those backing the Republican governor’s budget cuts just went to another level Thursday as Democratic senators apparently fled the state to prevent a vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill, which would cut public employee union collective bargaining rights and require them to contribute to pensions and health care.

Law enforcement has been sent to find missing Democratic lawmakers, according to a Madison, Wis. ABC affiliate. State Sen. leader Scott Fitzgerald said only one Democrat is needed for quorum to vote on the controversial bill, which is expected to pass a Republican-majority Senate. The “Sergeant of Arms is going door to door to find Democratic senators.”

The budget-repair bill passed a finance committee 12-4 late last night, its last hurdle before a Senate vote, on party lines convincing Senate Democrats that moderate Republicans would not deliver them an upset victory over the Gov. Scott Walker.

Sources tell the Madison NBC affiliate that Democratic lawmakers may have left the state to avoid a vote, possibly fleeing to the Illinois border, about an hour drive from Madison. The move is a repeat of a 2003 stunt by Texas Democrats who fled to a hotel room in neighboring Oklahoma to avoid a redistricting vote.

Public employees, largely teachers and many of their students, have been protesting in Madison for three days, flooding the Capitol building with people and signage. Many Wisconsin schools have had to close due to sick-outs by large percentages of the state’s teachers.

The fight in Wisconsin has become a flash point for a national debate over budget deficits and how to solve them, with both sides recognizing the high-stakes battle will become a template for other states, no matter who comes out on top. A large defeat for unions in the battleground state of Wisconsin—the birthplace of AFSCME— would have public policy repercussions.

The Democratic Party’s Organizing for America, the leftover campaign apparatus from the Obama campaign, has entered the fray, filling buses and running phone banks for unions in Wisconsin. President Obama offered his opinion, declaring Walker’s measures an “assault on unions” despite admitting he hadn’t looked into the details.

The vote procedure is fluid in Madison now, depending on who shows up the the Senate. Assembly Democrats are reportedly still at the Capitol.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/17/wisconsin-budget-fight-escalates-as-dems-flee-madison-to-avoid-vote/#ixzz1EFDz3x6s

Politics as usual in Massachusetts - Governor "Spend-it-all Deval" Patrick is packing his bags...for out of state travel....right after re-election

Massachusetts is home to POTUS' best buddy, Gov. Deval " Spend-it-all" Patrick (Governor bought himself a new Cadillac upon getting elected with TAXPAYERS funds, earning himself the nickname of "Cadillac Deval" ).....These old buddies who have very similar out look on things....They both pander to the Unions, both use issues of race when it suits them politically, feel that your tax money is theirs to squander on their political hack buddies and (wait for it...) like to write books about their favorite subject - THEMSELVES.

POTUS has TWO autobiographies.....Governor Doofus had to write one as he likely felt that he had to try to keep up....So what would a newly re-elected Governor do?? Work on education reform, pension reform? Making state government more responsive to the citizens?? Eliminate wasteful spending??? Noooooooo....he is planning on Globetrotting, pimping his book and doing anything BUT being the Governor that is needed for the state of Massachusetts......pissa.

Well I am NOT surprised as Political Birds-of-a-Feather flock together....and these two idjits are a pair of real Dodo Birds.....Hopefully to soon be politically extinct. Potus first in 2012 and Gov. Doofus in 2014.....

This must be for Deval's version of the " World Apology Tour" just like his buddy the President.

Heaven help us....please.


The taxi’s waitin’
By Brian McGrory
Globe Columnist / January 5, 2011

It was with great relief that I saw the headline on Boston.com yesterday that our excellent governor, Deval Patrick, said he would be getting out of the State House and traveling more in his second term.

Lawrence continues to teeter on the edge. New Bedford, Fall River, and Springfield have unemployment rates of 13 percent or higher. People from Pittsfield to Provincetown are fearful of rising taxes and jettisoned government services. And seeing the governor constantly in their communities, especially this soothing and thoughtful governor, will go a long way toward rallying the citizenry toward better things.

And then — gulp — I kept reading. Ends up, he’s not talking about traveling around the state. He’s talking about traveling out of state, even out of the country, on economic trade missions, presidential campaign trips, and to promote his upcoming book.

In retrospect — and with a nod to Peter, Paul and Mary — maybe Patrick should have made his campaign slogan: “All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go.’’

Even better, picture a rally with the state parole board singing, “There’s so many times I’ve let you down.’’ Then Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray offers: “Hold me like you’ll never let me go.’’

All together now: “I’m a leavin’ on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again. Oh babe, I hate to go.’’

This is degenerating into something far less than we hoped, this reelection, a slippage not born of the inexperience that Patrick had four years ago, but of a seeming arrogance that is profoundly misplaced. Some trusted adviser should call Patrick every morning with a reminder that more than half the electorate voted against him on Election Day.

Already, the governor has spent the bulk of November either on understandable vacations or holiday trips. Before and after, though, his public schedule has been noticeably absent of the kinds of public events that were a staple during his yearlong campaign.

And now, to casually say that you’re going to take to the skies — presumably at the expense of the streets — to help your state, something has gone wrong. Couple this with his refusal to release the names of the people and entities that are funding Thursday’s inaugural celebrations until after it’s over, and those sounds you’re hearing are alarms.

Patrick’s book, “A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life,’’ is going to be no small source of friction (I said friction, not fiction) when it’s published in April. Broadway Books doesn’t pay $1.35 million for a memoir and not expect the author to do a full-out tour and media campaign.

You can already see it, the jobless rates still hovering in the 12 to 13 percent range in the industrial cities, the murder tally in Boston heading for another year over 70, and our governor live from New York with Meredith Vieira on the Today show or signing at a Barnes & Noble in Chicago. Remember us, the voters?

The governor’s advisers do what they often do when anyone dares question him. They act shocked that we can’t understand the critical work he performs by recruiting businesses that will save the Massachusetts economy.

The big problem is, we’ve never needed Patrick more at home. Beacon Hill is an unholy mess. The state budget is facing major shortfalls. Services that have already been slashed will be cut yet again.

Patrick should be wrangling more from public employee unions. He should be reforming the unwieldy human service agencies. He should be further streamlining business regulations. And he should be constantly checking in with the businesses we already have, seeing what it is that they need to prosper and grow.

He wants to take the occasional trip to China or Brazil or a Vegas trade show — sure. But please, governor, not an endless itinerary of book promotions, presidential campaign stops, and trade missions.

The rest of us will be singing, “Already I’m so lonesome I could die.’’

Brian McGrory is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at mcgrory@globe.com.

© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company