Group News

 Rhetoric. smoking mirrors, campaign-speak, or the truth....

This was an event staged to make the President look good to the American people...Does anyone else find something wrong with that in these times?  It goes way past a photo op...

 

 

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer Charles Babington, Associated Press Writer – 18 mins ago

 

LOS ANGELES – Facing largely adoring crowds far from Washington, President Barack Obama on Thursday asked Americans to back his far-reaching economic and health policies, but warned them not to expect too much from him or the federal government. With many Republicans and even some Democrats in Congress resisting his budget plans, Obama went into full campaign mode in California, using television, friendly audiences and his massive e-mail list to counter his critics.

Without naming names, he mocked Republican officials who call his plan too costly even though they presided over huge deficits while they controlled Congress and the White House.

"Where have you been?" he said to several hundred people at a raucous town-hall meeting in Los Angeles. "What have you been doing?"

In his second California town hall in as many days, Obama mixed cockiness with humility.

He told Americans not to expect "something for nothing" from their government. Improvements to the economy and health care will take time and require unusually large deficits for a while, he said.

"Nothing is free," he said. Responding to a woman's complaint about cuts in jobs and salaries for teachers in California, Obama urged people not to ask the federal and state governments to cut taxes and improve services at the same time.

"At some point you've got to make some choices," he told the crowd, which loudly cheered him repeatedly.

Obama also asked the country for patience and forbearance.

"We are not always going to be right," he said. "And I don't want everybody disappointed if we make a mistake."

The important question, he said, is "are we moving in the right direction" and is he keeping his main campaign promises.

Obama also announced fresh aid to struggling homeowners in California.

He said California was receiving $145 million to help communities hardest hit by the home foreclosure crisis. He said the money would be used to buy up and rehabilitate vacant homes, and provide loans to poorer and middle-income families to help with home assistance.

He announced a new Web site to help people around the nation:http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama

 

 

 

The new spending bill....Obama has pledged to sign it....

WASHINGTON – The Senate voted overwhelmingly to preserve thousands of earmarks in a $410 billion spending bill on Tuesday, brushing aside Sen. John McCain's claim that President Barack Obama and Congress are merely conducting business as usual in a time of economic hardship.

McCain's attempt to strip out an estimated 8,500 earmarks failed on a vote of 63-32. The Arizona senator's proposal also would have cut roughly $32 billion from the measure and kept spending at last year's levels in several federal agencies.

Last year's Republican presidential candidate said both he and Obama pledged during the campaign to **** "stop business as usual in Washington," and he quoted the president as having said he would go line by line to make sure money was spent wisely.****

The White House has said that ***Obama intends to sign the legislation, casting it as leftover business from 2008.*** ****Spokesman Robert Gibbs pledged on Monday the White House will issue new guidelines covering earmarks for future bills.***

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/2009030...

one more broken campaign promise...

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – A notorious 83-year-old Hungarian thief with a criminal record dating back six decades, was caught by police Thursday at the scene of a break-in.

Kosztor Sandorne, dubbed "Flying Gizi" by Hungarian media, was arrested after she entered a house in Komarom, a town in the northwest.

Sandorne, who earned her nickname because she liked to flee her crime scenes by taking commercial flights, said she was in the house because she was trying to save money.

"At her hearing she said she wanted to find a cheaper lodging than in Budapest, where it is too expensive," a police spokeswoman told Reuters.

"Flying Gizi" has been convicted more than 20 times and first came to the attention of the police in the 1950s.

Her preferred method of travel is now rail rather than air, since train travel is free for pensioners in Hungary.

She was already under investigation for an alleged theft in Szentendre, a town near Budapest, before her latest detention.

The owner of the house in Komarom has not yet decided whether to press charges.

(Reporting by Sandor Peto; Editing by Nick Vinocur)

 

 http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090213/od_nm/us_thief_odd

 

 If she can still break into houses at 83, the police should give her a pension and a place to live:):):)