When President Obama lifts restrictions on funding for human embryonic stem cell research today, he will also issue a presidential memorandum aimed at insulating scientific decisions across the federal government from political influence, officials said yesterday.
...Although officials would not go into details, the memorandum will order the Office of Science and Technology Policy to "assure a number of effective standards and practices that will help our society feel that we have the highest-quality individuals carrying out scientific jobs and that information is shared with the public," said Harold Varmus, who co-chairs Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
The Obama administration blocked efforts by government scientists to tell the public just how bad the Gulf oil spill could become and committed other missteps that raised questions about its competence and candor during the crisis, according to a commission appointed by the president to investigate the disaster.
In documents released Wednesday, the national oil spill commission's staff describes "not an incidental public relations problem" by the White House in the wake of the April 20 accident.
Among other things, the report says, the administration made erroneous early estimates of the spill's size, and President Barack Obama's senior energy adviser went on national TV and mischaracterized a government analysis by saying it showed most of the oil was "gone." The analysis actually said it could still be there.
"By initially underestimating the amount of oil flow and then, at the end of the summer, appearing to underestimate the amount of oil remaining in the Gulf, the federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem," the report says.
...For the first time, the documents — which are preliminary findings by the panel's staff — show that the White House was directly involved in controlling the message as it struggled to convey that it, not BP, was in charge of responding to what eventually became the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Citing interviews with government officials, the report reveals that in late April or early May, the White House budget office denied a request from NOAA to make public its worst-case estimate of how much oil could spew from the blown-out well. The Unified Command — the government team in charge of the spill response — also was discussing the possibility of making the numbers public, the report says.
The report shows "the political process was in charge and science really does not have the role that was touted," said Christopher D'Elia, dean of environmental studies at Louisiana State University.
Well, Obama supporters, how does it feel to be let down once again?
You bought what Obama was selling, the hope and change crap.
Bill Maher was Jay Leno's guest on the Tonight Show on Monday.
Not again!
I guess it has been quite a few months but that's too soon for me.
Leno said that in the past when Maher was on the show, they used to get complaints. But now, the reaction to Maher's appearances is positive. People agree with him and realize that he's right.
Oh, good grief.
I doubt that Americans have come around to share Maher's views. I think Leno has just lost a good portion of his audience that's repulsed by Maher.
Leno has really chucked his middle of the road persona. He's out of the closet as a dyed-in-the-wool liberal.
Maher was on the show to hawk his new DVD, a comedy special, and Real Time on HBO returning this Friday. But of course Maher really was wallowing in having a forum on network TV to spew his opinions which are supposed to pass for entertainment.
After Maher mentioned that he gets high before the show, and before getting into his offensive material, Leno mentioned that Maher is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday.
I suppose that's fitting, given the sorry state of Hollywood.
As usual, Leno fed Maher prearranged topics and allowed him to be as demeaning as he wanted to be.
First, Leno brought up the Ground Zero mosque, what Leno called "this Islamic center near Ground Zero." (Does Leno work for AP?)
Video.
Bill Maher
Bill Maher, continued
Transcript
BILL MAHER: Well, if you want me to talk about this, let me get it all out because I got into trouble talking about this subject before, so I want to get all my points. My first point about that would be I am against a mosque at Ground Zero.
(Audience cheers and applauds)
I said let me get it out! I am also against a mosque anywhere. I'm against a church anywhere or a Hindu temple or a synagogue.
(Only some applause)
See, there are people out there like this who understand. These are houses of worship which mean there are places where people go to retell nonsense stories from a time before men understood what a germ or an atom was or where the sun went at night. They try to telepathically communicate with their imaginary friend. There are places, these are places that fleece people and scare people and they perpetuate mass delusion. We shouldn't build any of them. But...
JAY LENO: That being said...
MAHER: That being said...
LENO: Let me finish...
MAHER: Right, but I'm not wrong. But people are going to still build houses of worship so they should be able to build them anywhere. There's a thing in this country called the First Amendment. And if somebody ever read it to Sarah Palin she would understand that you're supposed to be allowed to worship whatever fairy tale you want to wherever you want to. That's why we have churches and mosques and synagogues in Utah. And any religion should be able to do that, just because there are some people in the religion who are violent, anti-Semitic, and hate women -- Mel Gibson is allowed to build a church so should Islam.
LENO: Right, right.
MAHER: But one more point-
LENO: I just love the fact that you questioned my intro before, and now they're all going, 'Oh, I see what Jay was talking about.'
MAHER: But let me also say this, 'cause I was watching MSNBC, the liberal network, a few weeks ago. And they were all going nuts. Everybody on there -- and I like the people on their station -- they were all going nuts about the fact that there was a poll that said Republicans think that Islam is more likely to lead to violence. Yeah, I'm with that. They are. OK? That's the truth, too. They have nuts and we have nuts. Their nuts are a lot more numerous and a lot more violent. That mouthbreather down in Florida who was gonna burn a Quran -- what would have happened? Nothing. To retaliate, you know, they could have burned our most sacred book, Eat Pray Love. They could have burned the Bible and nothing would have happened.
LENO: Right.
MAHER: OK? So, I mean, you have to recognize that difference, too. They keep their women in beekeeper suits.
Sarah Palin is an evil dingbat who thinks God opens doors. She never tried to kill anybody for eloping which is what they did in Afghanistan a few weeks ago, 'cause in her family everybody elopes.
Why such hate for religion? Why such anger? Maher is still on his anti-God crusade.
Why such hate for Sarah Palin? The Left's obsession with her is so weird.
After the break, the topic was Obama and his religion.
Interesting that Maher doesn't mock Obama for his Christian faith. Obama clings to his Bible. Well, actually, I think he clings to his Blackberry as his source of spiritual reading.
LENO: Now President Obama's the president for a year and a half yet something like one out of every five Americans still think he's a Muslim.
MAHER: No, no, Jay. You got it wrong. Not 'still think.' That number is increasing. That's what's scary about it, a year ago, and before he was president, a less number. You'd think the more he was president the more people would get the truth. It's very sad how in the information age, you cannot get information into people's heads. As long as you write something on the Internet and do not add 'lol,' it is true.
LENO: Right.
MAHER: I'm not sure he's a Christian. I'm not sure he's a mammal, Jay. He could be a werewolf. No but, I mean, you have to understand that there is now two subsets of crazy conservatives. There's the 'birthers' - Any birthers here? - people who don't think he was born in America because they don't know Hawaii is a state. And now the people, I call them 'churchers.' These are the people who don't think he is a Christian even though he continually professes it, even though two years ago - remember when they were screaming about his Christian minister, Rev. Wright? Right, he was too much of a Christian two years ago. Now they're saying he was actually a secret Muslim. That is one undercover brother, Jay. I have to say, I mean, wow.
Could Maher be more screwed up about Obama and the Rev. Wright controversy? It wasn't about being "too much of a Christian."
Then it was on to the Tea Party and immigration.
LENO: How do you think this Tea Party will affect the midterm elections?
MAHER: Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns.
You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns.
You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco. And there's not a monster under your bed. That's the Ab Lounger you ordered and never used.
So, but yeah, mosques, guns... Did you see that the governor of Arizona was talking about the fact that illegals are conducting beheadings?
LENO: Yeah, there was no... Yeah, that was nothing. Yeah.
MAHER: It's just, they're just afraid of everything. Beheadings? John McCain said illegals are purposely causing car accidents. Lou Dobbs used to say they're bringing in leprosy. I've had a gardener for 25 years in LA, I never saw one time his arm fall off.
That's right. Don't mess with Tea Party participants' fishing poles and chewing tobacco. The Tea Party patriots are just a bunch of uneducated hicks.
Next topic: The BP oil spill.
LENO: Something I love are these commercials for BP where the guy goes, 'We're out every day looking for the oil,' like they're detectives, like they can't find it. It's not right there.
MAHER: I love the way as soon as they capped the well, immediately the oil just disappeared. It was like Jesus from the tomb. It's gone. It's a miracle. It's just magic. The oil has gone. Sorry, Jay. I know it's a tough night for the Baptists. But um, I apologize, but I mean, it is ridiculous that this oil has just disappeared. It hasn't disappeared.
Well that's an ugly load.
What's troubling to me is not Maher's greasy shtick. There are lots of people seriously on the same page as Maher. They don't see it as comedy. He's expressing their views. They hate people of faith. They hate conservatives. They consider them buffoons, racists, and enemies of their America.
Where's the tolerance, oh enlightened and brilliant Bill Maher?
Obama greeted each View lady with a kiss before taking his seat on the set. All that kissing was like Richard Dawson on Family Feud. Very strange.
Obama began by delivering an obviously rehearsed line: "I was trying to find a show that Michelle actually watched, and so I thought that this is it, right here. All those new shows, she's like, 'eh, let me get the clicker.'"
The "clicker"?
Like, is that really what Michelle does and says?
Here's another video snippet, a typical Barbara Walters question:
Every rose has its thorn.
In an exclusive preview clip that aired on "World News" tonight, Barbara Walters asked the president what the recent high and low points of his time in office had been.
"In the last month what has been the rose and what has been the thorn?" she asked, referring to an Obama family tradition of taking stock of their lives.
"In the last month the rose has to be a couple of days we took in Maine with Michelle, Sasha and Malia," he said. "They're full of opinions and ideas and observations and it's just a great age ... Malia just turned 12 and Sasha 9. Couldn't been a better couple of days."
Asked what the "thorn" had been, the president answered with his own question.
"Where do I begin?" he asked, getting a laugh from the audience.
"Obviously the country has gone through a tough stretch. Since I took office when I was sworn in ... the last 20 months have been a nonstop effort to restart the economy, to stabilize the financial system, to make sure we are creating jobs and not losing them."
Obama also cited the BP oil spill and battling the H1N1 swine flu "pandemic" as recent thorns.
H1N1?
What an odd thing for Obama to bring up, especially since the government bungled that so badly! Anyway, that was hardly a recent "thorn."
It's one thing for a candidate to go on The View, but a sitting U.S. President?
Embarrassing.
_____________________
More video.
Critics comment on Obama's appearance on The View.
Last Thursday and Friday, MMSD dumped 506 million gallons of untreated sewage into Lake Michigan and nearby waterways.
For some perspective on the enormity of that amount of crap being directed into the lake, consider how much oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico following the accident on the Deepwater Horizon rig. One estimate puts the gallons of oil spilled so far at 92,340,117.
Since April 20, over 92 million gallons of oil have fouled the Gulf.
Last Thursday and Friday, MMSD dumped 506 millions of filth into the lake.
The third, and largest, combined sanitary and storm sewer overflow of 2010 spilled an estimated 506 million gallons of untreated wastewater into local rivers and Lake Michigan on Thursday and Friday, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District officials said Monday.
The overflow volume is nearly equal to the total 521 million gallons of storage available in the district's main deep tunnel and northwest side tunnel.
Combined sewer overflows began early Thursday as the district's main tunnel quickly filled during intense rain storms, the district says in a report to the state Department of Natural Resources. A gauge in the 3600 block of W. Fond du Lac Ave. measured 5.6 inches of rain Thursday, exceeding the threshold for a storm that has only a 1% chance of occurring in any year.
Overflows began after gates connecting combined sewers in central Milwaukee and eastern Shorewood to the main tunnel were ordered closed at 1:20 a.m. Thursday, the report says.
The emergency step was taken to reserve space in the tunnel for wastewater flows from communities served by separate sanitary sewers. Overflows reduce the risk of sewage backups into basements.
A June 15 rain storm resulted in combined sewer overflows of 23.6 million gallons. A brief combined sewer overflow on July 7 discharged 1.65 million gallons of a sewage and storm water mix to waterways.
The main deep tunnel filled nearly to capacity by 9 a.m. Thursday so gates connecting separate sanitary sewers to the tunnel were closed, resulting in sanitary sewer overflows.
The 5.6 inches of rain cited in the Journal Sentinel story is a bit misleading. I don't question the accuracy of that total being recorded at that particular gauge, but that amount of rainfall doesn't represent the amounts recorded throughout the area.
Without a doubt, that's a lot of rain, but it's not as if the 5-inch plus rain totals were the norm.
The massive 506 million gallon dump event is amazing.
On Thursday and Friday alone, the amount of untreated wastewater, SEWAGE, intentionally poured into Lake Michigan was 5 times the amount of oil that has spilled into the Gulf since April 20.
It's sickening that Russ Feingold and Tom Barrett are running campaign commercials, posturing as the protectors of the Great Lakes and standing up to the oil companies, while they turn a blind eye to the 506 million gallon dump.
Is anyone else as horrified by this sewage spill as I am?
This was no accident. This, supposedly, is the Deep Tunnel working as it should be.
Is this just business as usual for southeastern Wisconsin?
Three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and MMSD dumping sewage into Lake Michigan.
Tom Barrett has been the mayor of Milwaukee since 2004. I wonder what the grand total is of the gallons of sewage dumped into the lake and local waterways on Barrett's watch.
Did you know that Barrett is an environmentalist?
He won an award for his Green Fleet, although he does use a car for campaigning that has a suspended registration because it hasn't passed a required emissions test.
Overflows of untreated sewage from sanitary sewers to local streams and rivers throughout the Milwaukee metropolitan area began shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday as the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's deep tunnels filled nearly to capacity, officials said.
The main tunnels filled to 98.6% of their 432 million gallon capacity by 9 a.m. Thursday, after overnight thunderstorms dropped more than 4 inches of rain throughout the metropolitan area, records show.
At 9:05 a.m., MMSD Executive Director Kevin Shafer ordered the closing of all gates connecting separate sanitary sewers throughout the district's service area to the tunnel. The closings cause sanitary sewer overflows in an attempt to prevent sewer backups into basements, Shafer said.
During overflows, most of the wastewater in the pipes continues to flow to the district's Jones Island and South Shore treatment plants.
The northwest side deep tunnel, which receives flows only from outlying suburban communities, had filled to nearly 60% of its 89 million gallon capacity shortly before 9 a.m. and was continuing to accept wastewater.
The district serves 28 communities in a 411-square-mile service area.
At 1:20 a.m., Shafer closed gates connecting combined sanitary and storm sewers to the tunnel, resulting in combined sewer overflows in central Milwaukee and eastern Shorewood to local rivers and Lake Michigan. The combined sewer overflows were ordered in an attempt to reserve space in the tunnels for wastewater flows from communities with separate sanitary sewers.
Barrett should take a dip in the lake at South Shore, go for a nice swim.
He's so concerned about protecting the Great Lakes from the evil oil industry. Surely, Barrett wouldn't stand by while millions of gallons of sewage pour into this priceless natural resource.
Russ Feingold, too. He should join Barrett for a day at the beach. He's running a TV ad claiming that he'll protect the lake from the oil companies, the environmental rapists. (Russ, of course, is wearing one of his trademark plaid shirts in the ad.) Feingold makes the absurd claim that his opponent Ron Johnson is "willing to hand over the Great Lakes to the oil companies, threatening Wisconsin's economy and a way of life for generations of Wisconsin families."
That, of course, is an oily lie, flat-out false.
What's Feingold doing to keep Lake Michigan from being used as sewer? At the very least, he could post a "NO DUMPING" sign.
Obviously, Dems are hoping to exploit the public's anger at BP. What else can they run on?
Less than four months after President Barack Obama took office, his new administration received a forceful warning about the dangers of offshore oil drilling.
The alarm was rung by a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., which found that the government was unprepared for a major spill at sea, relying on an "irrational" environmental analysis of the risks of offshore drilling.
The April 2009 ruling stunned both the administration and the oil industry, and threatened to delay or cancel dozens of offshore projects in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite its pro-environment pledges, the Obama administration urged the court to revisit the decision. Politically, it needed to push ahead with conventional oil production while it expanded support for renewable energy.
Another reason: money. In its arguments to the court, the government said that the loss of royalties on the oil, estimated at almost $10 billion, "may have significant financial consequences for the federal government."
The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed its decision and allowed drilling in the Gulf to proceed—including on BP PLC's now-infamous Macondo well, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.
The Obama administration's actions in the court case exemplify the dilemma the White House faced in developing its energy policy. In his presidential campaign, President Obama criticized the Bush administration for being too soft on the oil industry and vowed to support greener energy forms.
But, once in office, President Obama ended up backing offshore drilling, bowing to political and fiscal realties, even as his administration's own scientists and Democratic lawmakers warned about its risks.
After the Macondo well blew out, sinking the Deepwater Horizon rig and causing a catastrophic spill, Mr. Obama said his administration should have been more vigilant in handling the oil industry. "More needed to be done, and more needs to be done" to tighten oversight, he told reporters recently.
Still, the administration defends its intervention in the court case, and says the ruling made it look more cautiously at whether to open new areas to offshore drilling. It pins blame on the Bush administration for pursuing a policy for deep-offshore drilling "that was driven by one principle: open everything," said White House spokesman Ben LaBolt.
...On March 31, Mr. Salazar joined President Obama in a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to announce their new offshore policy. Standing before an F-18 "Green Hornet" fighter jet designed to run partly on bio-fuel, Mr. Obama told the audience that "we'll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration...And we'll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence."
The plan was designed in part to allay the federal court's concerns. To satisfy the court's demand for better "balance," it included a broader environmental analysis, examining the impact of spilled oil on marine life and not just on shorelines.
It also ranked prospective drilling areas in terms of their environmental sensitivity. The Central Gulf of Mexico, where BP's Macondo well was based, topped the "most sensitive" column. It also scrapped a handful of planned lease sales in Alaska.
But the proposal kept much of the Bush plan intact, and even added for the first time new lease sales off the coast of Virginia.
It also relied extensively on environmental impact analyses carried out in April 2007 that the court had found wanting.
The 2007 document said "large oil spills associated with [outer continental shelf] activities are low-probability events." The "most likely size" of a serious spill, that report concluded, would total 4,600 barrels—a fraction of what the Deepwater Horizon continues to allow into the water every day.
Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, which brought the original lawsuit, said their court victory wound up changing little. "Salazar, and by extension Obama, have pursued the same offshore program as the Bush administration, even while playing a smoke-and-mirrors game," he said.
Two weeks before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, President Obama offered a plug for wider offshore exploration. "Oil rigs today generally don't cause spills," he told a gathering in Charlotte, N.C. "They are technologically very advanced."
Bottom line: It's Day 78 and the oil keeps gushing.
Although Obama wants to blame Bush for the catastrophe, he can't.
The oil is on his hands.
Obama should be spending more time on tar balls and less on golf balls. _____________________________
If only a leader like Bobby Jindal were in the White House instead of Obama.
Jindal is dramatically more presidential. He's an executive who knows what he's doing and knows what needs to be done. He's about action, not reaction.
Obama, on the other hand, reacts to polls. He dispenses talking points to the hacks in the lib media. He sends out Rahm Emanuel to demonize BP and provide cover for the White House.
Worse, Obama has delayed and blocked Jindal's efforts to address the catastrophe in the Gulf. The Obama administration's idea of responding to the disaster and being "fully engaged" is lame conference calls.
Bottom line: Jindal has had to fight the Obama government. There's something terribly wrong with that picture.
This was buried, ten paragraphs down, in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about Wednesday's heavy rain:
And the heavy rain prompted Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District officials to take the emergency step of blending treated wastewater from the Jones Island plant with a mix of sewage and storm water from the deep tunnel that had been disinfected only.
The blended flows are being discharged into Lake Michigan.
Blending is being done to increase the volume of wastewater pumped out of the tunnel and free up additional storage space in advance of Wednesday afternoon rain, district Executive Director Kevin Shafer said.
The district is authorized to blend up to 60 million gallons a day of untreated wastewater during a storm. Blending began at Jones Island at 5:15 a.m.
The emergency measure enabled the district to avoid overflows of combined sanitary and storm sewers in central Milwaukee and eastern Shorewood Wednesday morning, Shafer said.
As of 7:30 a.m., the tunnels were filled to 55% of capacity and Jones Island was treating at a rate of 348 million gallons a day. The plant can fully treat up to 300 million gallons a day and the additional volume included the amount of wastewater being disinfected only.
"We're still taking flow from the combined sewer area into the tunnels," Shafer said Wednesday morning. "But more storms are forecast this afternoon and evening."
"We're not going to be able to take much more flow from the combined sewers later today," he said.
Gates connecting combined sewers to the deep tunnel might be closed later Wednesday if tunnel space is needed to store rain-swollen flows from communities with separate sanitary sewers and prevent basement backups. Closing the gates would cause combined sewer overflows to local rivers and Lake Michigan.
As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, MMSD rain gauges had measured rainfall totals of 2.1 inches at Hales Corners, 1.88 inches at Mitchell International Airport, 1.76 inches at the 300 block of S. 84th St. in Milwaukee near Wauwatosa, and 1.69 inches at the 5300 block of N. Teutonia Ave. in Milwaukee near Glendale.
So if you go to Summerfest and you find a shady spot along the lake to eat your fried eggplant, look out at the beautiful lake and know that it contains sewage. It's a dumping ground.
Try not to lose your appetite.
If you go to a beach in Milwaukee, check to see if the water is safe before you swim.
Thank God BP isn't drilling in Lake Michigan. We wouldn't want to harm our "pristine shoreline."
According to the White House, Obama's golfing is good for me.
That's what Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton says. All the time that Obama takes for himself, for his personal pleasure, is actually doing "us all good as American citizens."
Am I supposed to consider watching Obama at play my civic duty?
Q Some Republicans are equating the President’s weekend golf games with Tony Hayward’s yacht. I wonder first, is that fair? And if it’s not fair, is it really fair to take off after Tony Hayward’s yachting?
BILL BURTON, DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: Well, for starters, I welcomed his yacht to the Gulf. So I don't know if that's taking off on it. But secondly, I don't think that there’s a person in this country that doesn’t think that their President ought to have a little time to clear his mind. And so after a week where the President was taking on the oil spill, got an historic agreement with BP to put aside $20 billion to pay claims; after a day on Friday when he strengthened lobbying ethics rules in the White House; after going to Ohio to talk about the economy and see the progress that's being made in some of those stimulus projects that are happening around the country -- all the different issues that the President is dealing with, I think that a little bit of time to himself on Father’s Day weekend probably does us all good as American citizens that our President is taking that time.
That's right.
Whether it's vacations, romping in the Hawaiian surf, eating shaved ice, going on "date nights," enjoying star-studded gatherings at the White House, attending sporting events, or spending all those hours on the golf course, Obama is a better president for it.
Burton says, Americans believe he "ought to have a little time to clear his mind."
I guess that depends on what the meaning of "a little time" is.
As a taxpayer, I'm frustrated with bankrolling Obama's extensive mind-clearing time.
Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC co-host of Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough, admits that she works with the White House, using their talking points.
As she flips through her papers, reading and reciting information supporting the Obama administration on the Gulf oil spill, Brzezinski doesn't hesitate to expose the source of her "research."
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Do you want to know why I have a file that I've been working on with the White House? And I'll be very transparent about that, because of your friend Rudy Giuliani, who came here last week spewing out a whole bunch of nothing.
Good Lord!
Can you imagine the outcry there would be if Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or another conservative commentator readily admitted working directly with Republican leaders and reciting their talking points, literally reading from their script? Did the Bush administration directly supply them with talking points to counter Democrats' criticism?
Note: ABC isn't too careful about its transcripts. "Rahn" Emanuel?
JAKE TAPPER, HOST: Hello, and happy Father's Day. Joining me this morning, the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.
Mr. Emanuel, happy Father's Day.
RAHN [sic] EMANUEL, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Thanks, Jake.
TAPPER: Before we start the questions, I'm interested in your reactions to photographs from Saturday's BP CEO Tony Hayward at a yacht race off the Isle of Wight in the clean waters off southern England. What goes through your mind when you see those pictures?
EMANUEL: Well, to quote Tony Hayward, he has got his life back, he would say. And I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting. This has just been part of a long line of PR gaffes and mistakes.
But beyond that photo is really the substance here that matters. That's clearly a PR mistake and he has made a number of those mistakes. What's important is, are we capping the well? Are we capturing the oil? Are we containing the clean-up? Are we filing the claims? Are we also cleaning up the mess? That's what's important.
Now this is a mistake and it's a big mistake, like others he has done in the sense when he said himself, he has got his life back. Well, that's what's more important is, do the people down there in that area have their life back? Do they have their livelihood back?
So this is just another PR mistake in a long line of PR mistakes. What I think you've got to really measure is, what are we doing to deal with this problem? What is BP being forced to do to deal with this problem, both contain the well, even getting the $20 billion for the escrow account.
That's the measure here. This will be fodder, as you would obviously ask this question. People will chew over this.
So Emanuel is out there trying to stoke the anger for Tony Hayward and BP, diverting attention away from the blame and anger people are directing at Obama.
Explaining Obama's visit after the April 20 oil platform explosion, [Robert] Gibbs said, "He's here today to make sure that we are continuing to do all that is humanly possible."
That was, quite simply, an outright lie. It was a lie when Gibbs said it over a month and a half ago and it's still a lie today.
From the first days of the disaster, everything humanly possible was most definitely not done to lessen the damage and prevent the oil from fouling the Gulf Coast.
The U.S. Government has apparently reconsidered a Dutch offer to supply 4 oil skimmers. These are large arms that are attached to oil tankers that pump oil and water from the surface of the ocean into the tanker. Water pumped into the tanker will settle to the bottom of the tanker and is then pumped back into the ocean to make room for more oil. Each system will collect 5,000 tons of oil each day.
One ton of oil is about 7.3 barrels. 5,000 tons per day is 36,500 barrels per day. 4 skimmers have a capacity of 146,000 barrels per day. That is much greater than the high end estimate of the leak. The skimmers work best in calm water, which is the usual condition this time of year in the gulf.
...The Dutch offered to fly their skimmer arm systems to the Gulf 3 days after the oil spill started. The offer was apparently turned down because EPA regulations do not allow water with oil to be pumped back into the ocean. If all the oily water was retained in the tanker, the capacity of the system would be greatly diminished because most of what is pumped into the tanker is sea water.
As of June 8th, BP reported that they have collected 64,650 barrels of oil in the Gulf. That is only a fraction of the amount of oil spilled from the well. That is less than one day’s rated capacity of the Dutch oil skimmers.
Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor's wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.
"It's the most frustrating thing," the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. "Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges."
Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP's oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.
"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal.
So why stop now?
"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"
A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.
"We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.
But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.
The governor said he didn't have the authority to overrule the Coast Guard's decision, though he said he tried to reach the White House to raise his concerns.
"They promised us they were going to get it done as quickly as possible," he said. But "every time you talk to someone different at the Coast Guard, you get a different answer."
According to Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer, "We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil."
Oil isn't the only enemy. It's clear that Jindal has been battling the Obama administration.
The frustration must be overwhelming, knowing that everything humanly possible is not being done in a timely fashion.
Federal red tape should not be hindering the clean-up. That's inexcusable.
BOBBY JINDAL: I got on a White House phone call yesterday morning at 8:30; talked to the White House, talked to the admiral, saying we need to do everything we can to get these barges back deployed, back out there taking this oil out of the water.
So, what is frustrating is that you've got men working on these barges that live here in Louisiana, that have gone fishing out in Barataria Bay for years. And literally, for the last 24 hours, 8 barges were deployed, they literally watched that oil instead of being able to pick it up. They had the equipment to pick it up and they weren't allowed to do so.
Way to go, Obama! Way to go!
Prevent the workers from picking up the oil. Good job!
Steamy summer temperatures are on their way for the weekend, a good time to head to the beach.
But don't go in the water! Check to make sure that it's safe and not hazardous to your health.
People at Bradford Beach today are warned to stay away from the water. Same goes for McKinley Beach and South Shore Beach and South Shore Rocky Beach and Watercraft Beach.
TOM BARRETT: Our Great Lakes are home to thousands of miles of pristine shoreline and fragile ecosystems that also provide good-paying jobs to tens of thousands of Americans. Fisheries and outdoor recreation alone account for over $40 billion in economic activity annually for states in the region.
That is why I have always stood strong against attempts to drill for oil and gas in the Great Lakes. In 2001, I supported a federal ban on Great Lakes drilling, and in 2007 I stood up to BP when they were caught dumping tons of toxic sludge into Lake Michigan.
Someone needs to inform Barrett that the pristine shoreline isn't so pristine these days.
BP has agreed to finance a $20 billion escrow fund to pay claims to people who lost income in the Gulf Coast oil spill, an administration source tells POLITICO.
Lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who was in charge of payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, will oversee the fund.
The news came as President Barack Obama finally had his showdown with top executives of BP on Wednesday.
...Obama was scheduled to spend 20 minutes in the meeting. He entered the room with an entourage: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her coordinator for claims oversight, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Commerce Secrertary Gary Locke, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.
The White House gave the executives a bit of cover, allowing them to arrive on the side of the West Wing and walk at a distance from reporters, rather than forcing them to come through the main entrance for visitors, which would have made it impossible for them to ignore the news media.
Whose bright idea was it to schedule Obama for only 20 minutes with the BP executives?
20 MINUTES??
The White House and their hacks in the Leftist media have hyped this meeting to death.
20 MINUTES???
What could Obama "learn" in such a brief period of time?
What sort of solutions could he discuss with appropriate depth?
There is no way that "20 minutes" can be considered "fully engaged."
Obama spends 4 or 5 hours "fully engaged" on the golf course.
To have been scheduled present for just 20 minutes with the BP execs is a disgrace. ______________________
UPDATE:
WASHINGTON -- “This is about accountability. At the end of the day, that’s what every American wants and expects,” Obama said after a meeting that stretched more than four hours, with Obama darting in and out of the room.
Why was Obama darting in and out? Was he being coached? Did he need a smoke? Did he have trouble concentrating and sitting still?
How can one be "fully engaged" darting around during an important meeting? Were BP execs darting around?
Nonetheless, Obama claims he "is fully engaged."
I guess that depends on what the meaning of 'is' is.
JAY LENO: Well, President Obama said today he's going to use the Gulf disaster to immediately push a new energy bill through Congress. I've got an idea -- How about first using the Gulf disaster to FIX THE GULF DISASTER?
In assuring Americans on Tuesday that BP won't control the compensation fund for Gulf oil spill recovery, President Barack Obama failed to mention that the government won't control it, either.
That means it's anyone's guess whether the government can, in fact, make BP pay all costs related to the spill.
Obama aimed high in his prime-time Oval Office address — perhaps higher than the facts support and history teaches — as he vowed to restore livelihoods and nature from the still-unfolding calamity in the Gulf of Mexico.
A look at some of his statements and how they compare with those facts:
OBAMA: "We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused and we will do whatever's necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy. ... Tomorrow, I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness. And this fund will not be controlled by BP. In order to ensure that all legitimate claims are paid out in a fair and timely manner, the account must and will be administered by an independent, third party."
THE FACTS: An independent arbiter is no more bound to the government's wishes than an oil company's. In that sense, there is no certainty BP will be forced to make the Gulf economy whole again or that taxpayers are completely off the hook for any of the myriad costs associated with the spill or cleanup. The government can certainly press for that, using legislative and legal tools. But there are no guarantees.
It took 20 years to sort through liability after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and in the end, punitive damages were slashed by the courts to about $500 million from $2.5 billion. Many people who had lost their livelihoods in the spill died without seeing a check.
___
OBAMA: "In the coming days and weeks, these efforts should capture up to 90 percent of the oil leaking out of the well."
THE FACTS: BP and the administration contend that if all goes as planned, they should be able to contain nearly 90 percent of the worst-case oil flow. But that's a big "if." So far, little has gone as planned in the various remedies attempted to shut off or contain the flow. Possibly as many as 60,000 barrels a day are escaping. BP would need to nearly triple its recovery rate to reach the target.
___
OBAMA: Temporary measures will capture leaking oil "until the company finishes drilling a relief well later in the summer that is expected to stop the leak completely."
THE FACTS: That's the hope, but experts say the relief well runs the same risks that caused the original well to blow out. It potentially could create a worse spill if engineers were to accidentally damage the existing well or tear a hole in the undersea oil reservoir.
___
OBAMA: "From the very beginning of this crisis, the federal government has been in charge of the largest environmental cleanup effort in our nation's history."
THE FACTS: Early on, the government established a command center and put Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen in charge of coordinating the overall spill response. But officials also repeatedly have emphasized that BP was "responsible" and they have relied heavily on BP in making decisions from hiring cleanup workers to what oil dispersing chemicals to use. Local officials in the Gulf region have complained that often they don't know who's in charge — the government or BP.
___
OBAMA: "We have approved the construction of new barrier islands in Louisiana to try and stop the oil before it reaches the shore."
THE FACTS: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and local officials pleaded for weeks with the Army Corps of Engineers and the spill response command for permission to build about 40 miles of sand berms along the barrier islands.
State officials applied for an emergency permit to build the berms May 11, but as days went by Jindal became increasingly angry at federal inaction. The White House finally agreed to a portion of the berm plan on June 2. BP then agreed to pay for the project.
The corps was worried that in some cases such a move would alter tides and drive oil into new areas and produce more harm than good.
When Obama touted the fact that his administration has approved the construction of barrier islands, I could almost hear Gov. Jindal and the people of Louisiana scream out in disgust.
Obama failed to mention to the American people how he blocked that plan for weeks.
Obama doesn't do himself any good by playing fast and loose with the facts. It just makes him look sleazy.
And why inflate expectations about the clean-up? Why make more promises that are likely to be broken?
"And my job is to shut other white people down when they want to interrupt."
"We have to, at the DNC, provide training. We have to teach them how to communicate, how to be sensitive, and how to shut their mouths if they're white."
"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."
"When I would deny that there was a significant racist component in some of the politics on our side, it was because the people I hung out with were certainly not. When suddenly, this rock is turned over, there is this—'Oh shit, did I not see that?'"
----------------------------
"In any other scenario, Hillary Clinton's lying about her emails, and her pay-for-play relationship with the Clinton Foundation would be disqualifying issues. The only reason they're not disqualifying is because Donald Trump is a fundamentally more repellent, dishonest figure."
"I made a mistake in recalling the events of twelve years ago... I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."
"I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done."
"The death of Andrew Breitbart disproves the adage that only the good die young."
--JULIAN BOND
"The National Institute of Health has said that it is a danger to women's health and safety of their families that for 30 years to be exposed to the prospects of pregnancy."
"Why did- Couldn't the President have said at that moment, way back in December of last year, 'no game playing. No hostage-taking. No terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling. I'm not going to negotiate with you guys. You can't play it that way.' Could he have done that?"
"I remember distinctly an image of--we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at [Obama's] pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I'm thinking, a) he's going to be president and b) he'll be a very good president."
--DAVID BROOKS
"I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."
"[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant."
--DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ
"This is probably one of the worst times we've seen because the numbers of people elected to Congress. I went through this as co-chair of the arts caucus. In '94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now they’re here to kill women."
"The protesters have proven today that they‘re not going away. It was a pretty rough night last night. You can imagine if people said, well, we just can‘t fight the power. Instead, this morning, they came by tens, by hundreds, by thousands. By midday today, it was easily more than 10,000, perhaps as many as 15,000 people on the square here in Madison. Not organized by anyone, just grassroots citizens who came out just like the Minutemen in 1776."
--JOHN NICHOLS
"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it. I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates."
"Why don't we just raise the taxes and let these folks have their collective bargaining, have their union representation and go back to their jobs? Raise the taxes on the wealthy."
"So I would urge my Republican colleagues, no matter how strongly they feel -- you know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a president. And all three of us are going to have to come together and give some, but it is playing with fire to risk the shutting down of the government."
"I'm Rebecca Kleefisch. I performed fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorsed me and that's how I became lieutenant governor."
"[Military leaders] tell us that childhood obesity isn’t just a public health issue; they tell us that it is not just an economic threat -- it is a national security threat as well."
"[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs."
--DAN RATHER
"And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons.
"Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy."
"I gotta wonder when people are gonna start wearing uniforms. I mean they've got an army out there in Alaska of militia people. You've got these guys going around acting like street thugs. I mean it isn't far from what we saw in the thirties, where all of a sudden, political parties started showing up in uniform."
"[Sharron Angle] is a moron on top of being evil...
I'd like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch. Come to New York and do it. I'm not praying for her. She's going to hell. She's going to hell, this bitch."
"So people have been hurting and I understand that. And it doesn't give them comfort or solace for me to tell them, you know, but for me, we'd be in a worldwide depression."
"And to play Dick Cheney, all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always say to kids, inside you is Hitler and Jesus. And you got to find the appropriate person and bring them out."
"Because I live in the District of Columbia which is so predominantly Democratic, I am a registered Democrat. But I am an avowed neutral. And to put that into practice, I take my young daughter into the voting booth and she votes for me. She's now 14. We've been doing this since she was about age 4. She's now quite informed."
"Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."
"The Democrats may have moved into the center, but the Republicans have moved into a mental institution."
--AARON SORKIN
"Perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends."
"Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns. You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns.
You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco."
"That's a trade-off society is making because of very, very high medical costs, and a lack of willingness to say, you know, is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient, would it be better not to lay off those ten teachers and to make that trade-off in medical costs. But that;s called the 'Death Panel' and you're not supposed to have that discussion."
"[If Rush Limbaugh suffered a heart attack in my presence, I would] laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out. I never knew I had this much hate in me. But he deserves it."
--SARAH SPITZ
"You want freedom, you going to have to kill some crackers. You going to have to kill some of their babies."
"If this was Texas, which is the state that, that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this, saying that they had a major issue with, you know, with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would say I would have to look twice at this.
"But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border. And, um, it just, it doesn't make sense to me that when you google this subject, if you put in 'Arizona S.B. 1070,' that you see a picture of the governor of Arizona meeting with President Obama in May of 2010. If you have direct linkage to the president, there are already National Guard troops on the border in Arizona."
"Tell [the Jews] to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German. It's not Poland. [The Jews] can go home. Poland. Germany."
--HELEN THOMAS
"After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is."
--PAUL McCARTNEY
"By the way, I just want to point out I'm wearing my splash shield because I was told I was going to be in the splash zone (during Harry Smith's colonoscopy on live TV)."
--KATIE COURIC
"And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."
----------------------------
"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolar—you name it, any condition — is job-locking."
--NANCY PELOSI
"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"
--TOM HANKS
"The 'White Right' is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated.... Here are Christians praying for God to kill Barack Obama."
--LOUIS FARRAKHAN
"I refuse to accept the notion that the United States of America is not going to lead the world economically throughout the 20th Century."
--JOE BIDEN
"Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price."
--ROLAND MARTIN
"Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy's term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican."
--CHUCK SCHUMER
"I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are."
--ED SCHULTZ
"We also see how revved up the tea baggers are at the thought of hijacking health care reform and every chance we have at making progress in Washington."
--JOHN KERRY
"A few years ago, this guy (Obama) would have been getting us coffee."
--BILL CLINTON
"I didn't realize I had written a column defending Roman Polanski and minimized his crime - are you sure it was me? I mean, I? There is, apparently, more to this crime than it would seem, and it may sound like a hollow defense, but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old."
--TOM SHALES
"Joe Wilson yelled 'You lie!' at a president who didn't. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!"
--MAUREEN DOWD
"One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game... During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."
--DAVID LETTERMAN
"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life."
--SONIA SOTOMAYOR
"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."
--REMBERT WEAKLAND, Archbishop of Milwaukee 1977- 2002
"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight."
"Rush Limbaugh -- 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail."
----------------------------
"[Obama] told me I did a great job. The first lady said the same thing. I got a 'well done' from the president, I'm on cloud nine."
--WANDA SYKES
"Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."
--COLIN POWELL
"[Tea Party goers are] just a bunch of wimpy, whiny, weasels who don't love their country."
--PAUL BEGALA
"I wouldn't want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."
--BARNEY FRANK
"Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes."
--JIM DOYLE, Liar
"He's a terrorist. Rush Limbaugh is a terrorist."
--JOY BEHAR
"You know, I just want to say to her (Sarah Palin), just very quickly...F--- you."
--JON STEWART
"Should I be worried about being a slave and being returned to slavery?"
--WHOOPI GOLDBERG
"I also believe that America is the greatest sin against God."
--FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER
"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."
--MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD
"We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."
--TED TURNER
"Look, [Mitt] Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'"
--LAWRENCE O'DONNELL
"Mexico does not end at its borders... Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."
--FELIPE CALDERON
"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant."
--AL GORE
"Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."
--ROSIE O'DONNELL
"Is America ready for a black president? Well, I say we just had a retarded one. When did being black become a bigger deterrent than being retarded?"
--CHRIS ROCK
"Shut the f--- up! Shut up if you can't take a joke [about President Bush]!"
--BARBRA STREISAND
"Right, oh, yeah, Happy 9/11! Celebrate the day, right?"
--JAMES BROLIN, Mr. Barbra Streisand
"I think President Bush very well may have signed an authorization for the 9/11 attacks."
--KEVIN BARRETT, UW-MADISON Lecturer
"I said what I said. I am not guilty."
--SADDAM HUSSEIN
"Terri will not be starved to death. Her nutrition and hydration will be taken away."
--MICHAEL SCHIAVO
"On the eve of the election last month my wife Judith and I were driving home late in the afternoon and turned on the radio for the traffic and weather. What we instantly got was a freak show of political pornography: lies, distortions, and half-truths -- half-truths being perhaps the blackest of all lies. "
--BILL MOYERS
"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."
--HOWARD DEAN
"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."
--MICHAEL MOORE
"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."
--HILLARY CLINTON
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."
--BILL CLINTON
"And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."
--MICHELLE OBAMA
"If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor."
"[F]or most of my lifetime, the United States was such a dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now, because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the United States remains the largest economic and the largest market but there’s real competition out there. And that's potentially healthy. It makes -- Michelle was saying earlier I like tough questions because it keeps me on my toes. Well, this will keep America on its toes."
----------------------------
"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna PUNISH OUR ENEMIES and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2."
----------------------------
"We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but THEY GOTTA SIT IN BACK."
----------------------------
"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever... we absorbed it and we are stronger."
"We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick."
----------------------------
"We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or you're providing good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy."
"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."
----------------------------
"But I -- I think that the most important thing for the public to understand is, we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11."
----------------------------
"One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy CORPSE-MAN Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: 'Where do you come from? What country? After my operation,' she said, 'I will pray for that country.' And in Creole, CORPSE-MAN Brossard responded, 'Etazini.' The United States of America."
----------------------------
"I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you."
"I am going to teach [my daughters] first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
----------------------------
"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and INEFFICIENCIES to our health care system."
----------------------------
"Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."
--BARACK OBAMA
NOTEWORTHY QUOTATIONS
"In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good.... [A] democracy without values can lose its very soul."
--POPE BENEDICT XVI
"When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society."
--POPE JOHN PAUL II
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
--MOTHER TERESA
"To promote choice for its own sake is more akin to self-indulgence than self-determination. It is the philosophy of a pre-schooler in a candy shop."
--BRIAN POLLARD, M.D.
"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people."
--MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
"The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology."
--RONALD REAGAN
"Liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid."
--MARK LEVIN
"We are Warriors forever."
--BO ELLIS
"I know how much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich, you know."
