|
For more recent news headlines than August 2009 below, refer to the
News Highlights page.
An explanation of this news
archive feature follows at the end of the page. |
| The
reverse chronological headlines below link to August 2009 news
reports,
mostly from the AP as published on
www.Breitbart.com , with our own comments and some links to related
pages for more details. Many global stories are also sorted by
country or topic under Global Issues. |
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|
News Archives: Headlines, Links, and Comments
for August 2009 |
|
August 30, 2009 -
Cheney says politics behind CIA probe at Justice - Comment:
This will harm our intelligence capabilities for a very long time, as
Carter's brief tenure and the
Church committee did. Those who live in personal danger under
ruthless tyrants and would help us to defeat them will be more reluctant
to trust the CIA. They will fear fatal exposure by Congress or
appointees like Holder for political advantage. They aren't going
to risk their lives against ruthless tyrants for partisan US politicians
who seem to be in denial again about the threat. The problem isn't
that more CIA officers will retire or go into CYA mode to protect their
own careers for a few years until this latest witch-hunt has passed.
The problem is that the friends we need in very dangerous places around
the world will go into CYA mode, and more Americans will die because we
won't have the intelligence we need to thwart our enemies.
Justice Dept. again fielding charges of politics - No, they're a
myopic threat to human intelligence
because they are looking backwards as lawyers looking for something
actionable to prosecute, without any accountability for the future harm
to national security to which their reckless actions may contribute.
They can't be prosecuted when more Americans die. Obama just risks
losing his job, and that's pretty likely to happen in 2012 anyway.
Maybe this will help to change Congress in 2010. |
|
August 30, 2009 -
Blackwater tapped foreigners on secret CIA program - Comment:
What purpose is served by disclosing that we don't have death squads out
hunting down al-Qaeda leaders? Lest we forget, the terrorists have
clandestine cells of fanatics who want to kill our leaders or any other
Americans. At least we were trying to focus on the real enemy.
Isn't that what Obama promised to do? |
|
August 29, 2009 -
Top officer says US bungling Muslim outreach - Comment: The
failure starts at the top, in a White House which is pushing a radical
agenda rather than listening to Americans or Muslims. The
bureaucracy is just carrying out orders with the usual lack of
sensitivity about what actually works. Has the global
apology tour by Obama helped to advance the mission? See our
review of his Ghana and
Cairo speeches, or our February 1,
2009 critique of his new counterinsurgency
strategy in Afghanistan. |
|
August 29, 2009 -
GOP senator signals fading hopes on health care - Comment:
Listening, finally. |
|
August 27, 2009 -
NM governor's future brighter as fed probe ends - Comment:
Let off the hook? |
|
August 27, 2009 -
Elderly have their own worries on health overhaul - Comment:
The elderly aren't stupid. They know that the plans include
alleged budget savings from Medicare at the same time as more boomers
will be going onto the program, and that a high percentage of health
care costs occur in the final months of life. They know that top
advisors like
Ezekiel Emanuel are on record as discounting the value to society of
healthcare for the elderly, and want to ration such care for the greater
good. Seniors get it!
Try a Google search for: Europe euthanasia - or look
up "bioethicists"
like
Peter Singer or
Ezekiel Emanuel on sources like Wikipedia. Try
Eugenics.
Should bureaucrats determine the value of your life to society according
to how much the government has invested in you, or how much your care
now costs? When did we become subjects of the state, with rulers
deciding our worth? This is statist tyranny, plain and simple.
There may not be explicit language in the bills which
proposes to kill them off, but you don't have to look at many
government-run health programs in other countries to see what sort of
nightmare faces them. They already paid a lifetime of taxes into
Medicare and Social Security, and don't trust these changes. They
may have been promised more by liberal politicians in the past than the
government can actually deliver to them now, but don't denigrate them
for being very suspicious and distrusting the current politicians.
They may have liked Obama's campaign rhetoric, but
that doesn't mean they're ready to die for him now. They are
right to be very, very scared. This is probably the biggest government
threat to their lives since World War II. They thought the
communists, fascists, and socialists lost long ago. Instead,
they're back. |
|
August 27, 2009 -
Key Democrat suggests party moderates 'brain dead' - Comment:
Maybe he would like to launch the Stark
Raving Mad Loony Party in US politics as a new far-left option for
California voters. |
|
August 27, 2009 -
Napolitano: Politics didn't push stimulus projects - Comment:
Porcine aviation alert in Dallas. Politics in pork?
Shocking. Napolitano denies what the AP story below identified,
but without refuting the facts. I guess she had to give priority
to defending against the risk of
right-wing extremists from Canada invading Montana, such as to
escape their national health care system if Obamacare fails to pass.
Texas seems to have dropped as a priority, while Arizona got priority.
Is this intended to help steer more Mexicans to Texas, where at least
the economy is doing better, even if Texans want border enforcement? |
|
August 26, 2009 -
AP IMPACT: Secret process benefits pet projects - Comment: How
the stimulus is being used to fund pet projects instead of previously
established homeland security priorities on US borders. |
|
August 26, 2009 -
Mass. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy dies at age 77 - Comment:
Mind your manners, folks. You may disagree passionately with many
of the policies he espoused, but he fought hard to advance the liberal
causes in which he so fervently believed, and represented Massachusetts
well as a public servant in that regard. He had a very different
vision for America than conservatives, but it was still about America,
not himself or advancing his own political career and power by any
available means. He stood firmly for his beliefs. We should
respect that, even though we disagreed and opposed him with equally firm
convictions.
|
|
August 26, 2009 -
Bernanke draws fire from US Senate critics - Comment: Dodd
may be a case of the pot calling the kettle black for the sake of
political expediency as he tries to save his own political career, but
there's good reason to question how the Fed is monetizing the debt in
cooperation with Treasury. |
|
August 25, 2009 -
Most red ink ever: $9 trillion over next decade - Comment:
It's official now - as reported late Friday. The reappointment of
Ben Bernanke provided some cover for this news, but he should face tough
questions about how the Fed is monetizing the debt in secondary Treasury
market transactions. That poses serious inflation and currency
risks as federal spending continues to spiral out of control. Keep
in mind that this forecast still assumes a robust economic recovery
yielding more tax revenue in 2010-2012. If that doesn't happen,
then this forecast is still way too optimistic - especially as more
spending is added. |
|
August 25, 2009 -
Interrogation probe steams those on right and left - Comment:
Fire Holder now. If Obama doesn't, he bears full responsibility
for the future national security consequences of this outrage. |
|
August 25, 2009 -
Cheney blasts Obama over CIA probe - Comment: He's right
to do so. |
|
August 24, 2009 -
Remember me? Wall Street repackages toxic debt - Comment:
Interesting story. Where's the Congressional or Obama oversight on
this? Meanwhile, Bernanke gets to keep his job. |
|
August 24, 2009 -
Young Obama backers AWOL from health care fight - Comment:
Maybe young people aren't so gullible after all. Maybe they're no
longer buying the Obama myth. After all, they may be healthy now,
but they still can figure out who will spend a lifetime paying the taxes
for all this spending. |
|
August 24, 2009 -
Young Guantanamo prisoner back in Afghanistan - Comment: Not to
be outdone by the Scots and their Lockerbie terrorist release, this
resembles the European catch and
release policy. |
|
August 24, 2009 -
Obama spokesman announces interrogation unit - Comment: It
is a mistake, as in the Carter and Clinton years, to treat foreign
terrorism as a law enforcement problem to be led by the FBI. The
focus needs to be on prevention rather than prosecution. It's not
the same as interrogating criminals. |
|
August 24, 2009 -
Official: DOJ unit wants CIA abuse cases reopened - Comment:
Meanwhile, Obama wants all future interrogations to be led by a special
FBI group reporting to the White House. This should afford all
foreign terrorists the full legal protections which apply to American
citizens. This is the same sort of twisted logic as was just used
in Scotland to rationalize the release of the Lockerbie terrorist.
Why are we so determined to be nice to those who demonstrably want to
murder many Americans? It sends a message of weakness to embolden
such enemies, and cripples our
intelligence capabilities. |
|
August 24, 2009 -
Analysis: Health overhaul tactics need overhaul - Comment:
No mention in this AP story or others about the many thousands of people
nationwide who turned up for the
Recess Rally
protests over the weekend. Try looking up "Recess Rally" with our
Tea
Party Search or Conservative Search
tools. |
|
August 23, 2009 -
Obama facing hard choices on Afghanistan war plans - Comment:
Leadership? Sounds like a political "don't ask, don't tell" policy
for unpopular force levels. Worse than Lyndon Johnson? |
|
August 23, 2009 - Fox News -
White House reveals identity of firm that sent unsolicited e-mails on
health reform - Comment: Your tax dollars at work - for an
e-mail propaganda spam campaign to lobby Americans to support Obama's
agenda. Isn't this an abuse of power? Shouldn't Axelrod be
fired for this? |
|
August 23, 2009 -
Specter Calls for Hearings on End-of-Life Care Guide for Veterans -
Comment: Stung by criticism about the risk of "death panels"
and potential rationing of care to the elderly in the health care
legislation, it now turns out that the Obama administration had approved
a "Your
Life, Your Choices" guide to end-of-life choices (living wills)
in the Veterans Administration which Bush had rejected. It is now
beating a hasty retreat, with the VA director saying the above document
is back under review again. While a living will
makes sense, having the government encourage veterans to plan ahead for
their death in order to avoid unwanted medical care to sustain their
lives (at high government expense) is outrageous. Why did the VA
invest in producing and distributing this sort of death guide? It
would have been perfectly adequate to just follow existing practices, in
which the government has already imposed rules (thanks to Medicare and
other regulations) that hospitals must inform patients about living
wills, and help them to prepare such documents. Bureaucrats, if
given responsibility over health care, will do more harmful things. |
|
August 23, 2009 -
Millions face shrinking Social Security payments - Comment:
October surprise. Maybe AARP should be talking more about this,
rather than promoting the Obama health care program? |
|
August 22, 2009 -
Competition lacking among private health insurers - Comment:
The dirty little secret is that Medicare has been able to unilaterally
impose lower payments on doctors and hospitals, which functions somewhat
like price controls in a market, thereby pushing up prices for private
plans. This is analogous to the way that black markets emerge in
countries where populist politicians have tried to artificially maintain
low prices for essential consumer items. People with money end up
finding a way to get around the controls to get what they want, while
the poor have to deal with scarcity at the fixed prices.
The same has happened with nationalized health care
elsewhere, unless directly prohibited. It creates a market in
which those who can afford it wind up paying twice - once to cover the
national system which they don't want to use in general, and then
directly to get the better services they want at a higher price in the
private market. Even so, the government may try to use regulatory
authority to block the existence of such private services on the theory
that they draw good doctors away from the public health service, or
other excuses. The result is that those who can afford it
literally travel to other countries, such as America, to get better
health care.
It is also a factor in doctors migrating to this
country, where they don't have to work for the government. They
don't even have to accept Medicare patients, and many don't. A
"public option" will greatly expand the monopolistic power of the
government to distort the health care market for political objectives.
It is mistake to think that this is a good thing for Americans.
It's a potential windfall for the labor unions, however, since
government employees have been one of their largest sources of growth in
membership for many years now.
It's also a great source of power and money for
politicians, as already shown by the millions of dollars in advertising
which Obama has managed to coerce out of businesses which hope to profit
from the changes, or to at least avoid being the target of harmful
policy changes. That's like thinking that Putin has been trying to make
the Russian oil and gas industry more efficient by taking it over. It's
all about power. |
|
August 21, 2009 -
AP sources: $2 trillion higher deficit projected - Comment:
Another Friday night surprise, this time as Obama heads off to vacation
for 10 days. Contrast this to the story below as political cover
yesterday. The point is that even after removing the $250 billion
contingency for a further bailout plan in the current deficit projection
(since they probably couldn't pass it, even though they had obviously
wanted to do so previously), and without yet including the full impact
of other proposed changes like the real cost of health care, cap and
trade, or other new spending ideas, this is becoming an economic
nightmare. |
|
August 20, 2009 -
AP source: White House projects lower deficit - Comment:
If Americans think the deficit is a problem, which might stop his
spending agenda, then why not make up some new numbers? By the
time that facts don't meet the projections, the agenda will have already
been rammed through Congress. Note that removing the contingency
funds from the budget estimate is being portrayed in various media
reports as though there has actually been some sort of budget savings of
$250 billion. No such luck. They just aren't willing to take the heat
for a further bailout contingency which they could no longer ram through
Congress anyway. The bottom line is that the stimulus plan still isn't
working, and they have no other plan to reverse that. |
|
August 20, 2009 -
AP source: CIA hired others to try to hit al-Qaida - Comment:
Still trying to attract attention or readers at the NY Times? Or
is Congress still looking for a
distraction in the face of criticism? |
|
August 20, 2009 -
Democrats prepare to push health care without GOP - Comment:
Obama prays that religious leaders will encourage people to support his
agenda. What ever happened to all the liberal criticism about
religious leaders talking about politics, and even threatening their
tax-exempt status? Where are all the activists who complain about
separation of church and state now? He's praying in vain on this. |
|
August 20, 2009 -
Outgoing IAEA chief has tough choice on Iran - Comment:
Watch for this report to be punted beyond November, as it has been since
last September. How about a Nobel for appeasement? |
|
August 19, 2009 -
Firms with Obama ties profit from health push - Comment:
Follow the money trail. |
|
August 19, 2009 -
'Special interests' on both sides in health fight - Comment:
Remember all those distant promises during the election campaign, when
Obama railed against lobbyists for special interests? |
|
August 19, 2009 -
AP FACT CHECK: Health overhaul myths taking root - Comment:
NBC and the AP are trying to refute what the public has figured out
despite all the spin and vague attempts to deceive them. |
|
August 19, 2009 -
GOP unmoved as Obama renews health care push - Comment:
Note that Organizing for America
only got 60,000 volunteers to send messages of support. That's way
down from March, when they claimed 642,000 messages of support, even
though it turned out that they were counting messages to 2 Senators and
1 Representative each, for only 214,000 actual supporters. Thus,
it's unclear from this report whether there were really 60,000
volunteers now, or 60,000 messages by fewer supporters. In any
case, the spam from Axelrod and the DNC exhortations to supporters seem
to be coming up short. |
|
August 19, 2009 -
House Dems seek info from health insurers - Comment:
Intimidation tactics? |
|
August 19, 2009 -
Afghans vote for president amid fears of attacks - Comment:
Meanwhile, the US news media shows remarkably less interest in growing
US casualties now that Obama is leading the war. |
|
August 19, 2009 -
Iraq: Wave of Baghdad blasts kills at least 95 - Comment:
Testing the Iraqi security forces and trying to stir up violence again.
Reminiscent of Iranian terror tactics in Lebanon in the 1980s. Who
stands to gain from attacks on the Finance and Foreign Ministries?
Does al-Qaida really have much interest in trying to "undermine public
trust in the Shiite-led Iraqi government". This seems more like
brutal intimidation by Iran's hard-line regime to the Iraqi politicians
who haven't been willing to follow their lead. |
|
August 19, 2009 -
Hungary remembers picnic that cracked Iron Curtain - Comment:
How many people here remember what happened, including the policies
which led up to it over the Reagan years? At the time, Reagan was
reviled by many Europeans who bought into the leftist rhetoric that he
was crazy and on the wrong side of history by standing up for liberty.
West Europeans had largely accepted that the East would continue to live
under tyranny, and many on both sides were fearful of the reunification
of Germany. |
|
August 19, 2009 -
Latin leftists fear a Honduras coup domino effect - Comment:
Not to mention American leftists, who are starting to fear that they
will be voted out of power at the next election since they don't have
the luxury of being able to change the U.S. Constitution so easily to
perpetuate their rule. |
|
August 18, 2009 -
Huckabee says 2 states in Holy Land 'unrealistic' - Comment:
Interesting move to challenge the prevailing narrative, despite the
political risks of being ridiculed for it. |
|
August 18, 2009 -
AP THE INFLUENCE GAME: Stand-ins hold lobbyist spots - Comment:
Get in line early, or hire somebody else to do it for you, if you want
to influence members of Congress. |
|
August 18, 2009 -
AP INSIDE WASHINGTON: Election regulators strained - Comment:
The Federal Election Commission and the Supreme Court are getting ready
for the 2010 election. |
|
August 18, 2009 -
AP FACT CHECK: White House ignores health concession - Comment:
In denial under criticism. How will they spin this to pretend that
they have listened to the public? |
|
August 18, 2009 -
Cantor: Stimulus not working as well as advertised - Comment:
No kidding. The power of politicians to make a bad situation worse
should not be underestimated. |
|
August 17, 2009 -
White House says it did send unwanted e-mails - Comment: Spammer
in chief. What ever happened to the anti-spam regulations?
Privacy law? "Quasi-apology". |
|
August 17, 2009 -
Obama criticizes a Cold War approach to defense - Comment:
Apparently the only spending he is determined to cut. He wants
more multilingual, empathetic soldiers. |
|
August 17, 2009 -
Liberals complain over Obama concession - Comment: Is it
even a real concession, or just a temporary retreat to distract and
deflect criticism? |
|
August 17, 2009 -
House Republican wants answers on WH messages - Comment:
The lines were already blurred when his campaign morphed into
Organizing for America within the
DNC. |
|
August 16, 2009 -
With Obama in office, Fox News finds its stride - Comment:
The other networks remain free to embrace change to their biased
coverage. Bring back honest journalism. |
|
August 16, 2009 -
GOP senator: People have lost confidence in gov't - Comment:
Not to mention the media, including the AP. Note the absurd Hitler
reference. This is journalism? |
|
August 16, 2009 -
White House appears ready to drop 'public option' |
|
August 16, 2009 -
Go West, Mr. President, to America's wilderness - Comment:
Even the fish aren't biting on what he is offering these days. See
what really happened in Bozeman, MT |
|
August 16, 2009 -
Specter: town hall ire not reflect public opinion - Comment:
Hatch finally seems to be listening. Specter still looks like a
deer in the headlights in Pennsylvania. |
|
August 16, 2009 -
Obama confident health care overhaul coming soon - Comment: 80%
support in Congress? Repeating the alleged AARP support, as well
as AMA and ANA. |
|
August 16, 2009 -
Congressman says Obama able to keep tax pledge - Comment:
Is Rangel the only person who still believes this? After all,
various taxes have already been raised. |
|
August 8, 2009 -
Obama: Health overhaul key to economic recovery - Comment:
Further evidence that Obama is completely clueless about how to actually
achieve economic recovery, and is just pushing his agenda regardless of
consequences. Perhaps the recent stock market gains reflect rising
optimism that both the health care and cap and trade legislation will
fail to pass so that the likely damage to the economy may turn out to be
less severe than previously anticipated. |
|
August 8, 2009 -
Palin says Obama's health care plan is 'evil' - Comment:
You betcha! Most of the AP article, however, is disputing her
position rather than reporting on it. Typical. See her
note on Facebook for her actual comments. |
|
August 8, 2009 -
AP Analysis: To-do list largely undone - Comment: The most
remarkable accomplishment of Obama's first six months is sparking public
opposition to his radical agenda. |
|
August 8, 2009 -
Chamber at odds with Obama - Comment: Unfortunately, it
took a while for business leaders to wake up to the serious threat posed
by Obama's policies, as opposed to trying to gain some advantage by
currying favor during his campaign or soon after his election. |
|
August 8, 2009 -
Demonstrators disrupt health care forums - Comment: The AP
is buying the DNC party line that the justifiably angry protesters or
phone calls by frustrated voters to hold their members of Congress
accountable are a dangerous threat, while largely ignoring the union
thugs and activists who were encouraged to intimidate protesters in St.
Louis, Tampa, and elsewhere. |
|
August 8, 2009 -
NY's Gillibrand gets clearer path to 2010 election - Comment: Democrats
have cut deals to avoid any real primary choice for voters. What
Republican will challenge her? |
|
August 8, 2009 -
Afghan jail conditions hamper Gitmo prosecutions - Comment:
Incorrect. Obama policy changes hamper prosecutions by treating
enemy combatants like American criminals. |
|
August 7, 2009 -
Unemployment wild card: the 577,000 who gave up job hunts - Comment:
The 9.4% touted by the White House as a sign of economic recovery
(through fewer new job losses than in recent months) doesn't reflect the
many who gave up their search for work. It also ignores
underemployment - such as taking any available job as a temporary
survival tactic. There are also indicators which show that more
job cuts are planned by employers, rather than new jobs. The only
good news is that it could be much worse, but Congress is still working
on that. |
|
August 7, 2009 -
White House advises Dems on health care protests - Comment:
Still trying to spread the idea that the public outrage is just a staged
"Astroturf" campaign by Republican sore losers, rather than grassroots
opposition to the radical transformation of our health care system. |
|
August 7, 2009 - AP-
The Influence Game: Insurers fighting back quietly - Comment:
An AP opinion piece about the lobbying efforts of the health insurance
industry as the White House tries to shift the health care debate to
demonize the health insurance companies. |
| |
| |
|
News Headlines, Links, and Comments
for April 2009 - see News
Archives |
| Prior
news headlines, links, and comments have been
archived to an April 2009 news page |
|
News Headlines, Links, and Comments
for March 2009 - see News
Archives |
| Prior
news headlines, links, and comments have been
archived to a March 2009 news page |
|
News Headlines, Links, and Comments
for February 2009 - see News
Archives |
| Prior
news headlines, links, and comments have been
archived to a February 2009 page. |
|
Explanation
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| Note
that at www.Breitbart.com you can
see reader comments about the articles by following the "Show Comments"
link which is found at the bottom of each article. Since most
articles no longer show up for visitors there within 24 hours, many
articles have few comments unless they were very hot topics that day.
The AP often releases multiple versions of the same story, even with
very minor revisions, in which case a new page is created for each
version. That causes reader comments to be scattered across
multiple versions of the story. We do not attempt to link to every
version of the story. |
| At
some point links may no longer work because the other websites involved
will purge their content, but a Google search for the same headline may
still find them through other sources for reference. |
| This
tool was created to make it easier for conservative voters to go back
and find relevant political stories long after they have disappeared
from the current headlines. In some cases these stories were
hardly even mentioned at the time in the liberal news media, or quickly
disappeared from the news, so many voters may be completely unaware of
them. Some of the stories display obvious bias by the reporters,
but readers can be the judge of that. The comments reflect our own
editorial opinion on these stories. |
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