Goldman’s White House connections raise eyebrows

April 22, 2010 By 1 Comment

By Greg Gordon, McClatchy Newspapers

While Goldman Sachs’ lawyers negotiated with the Securities and Exchange Commission over potentially explosive civil fraud charges, Goldman’s chief executive visited the White House at least four times.

White House logs show that Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein traveled to Washington for at least two events with President Barack Obama, whose 2008 presidential campaign received $994,795 in donations from Goldman’s political action committee, its employees and their relatives. He also met twice with Obama’s top economic adviser, Larry Summers.

No evidence has surfaced to suggest that Blankfein or any other Goldman executive raised the SEC case with the president or his aides. SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro said in a statement Wednesday that the SEC doesn’t coordinate enforcement actions with the White House or other political bodies.

Meanwhile, however, Goldman is retaining former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig as a member of its legal team. In addition, when he worked as an investment banker in Chicago a decade ago, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel advised one client who also retained Goldman as an adviser on the same $8.2 billion deal.

Read More

Filed Under: Floyd Reports Tagged With: , ,

White House Quietly Courts Muslims in U.S.

April 19, 2010 By 10 Comments

By Andrea Elliot, NYT

When President Obama took the stage in Cairo last June, promising a new relationship with the Islamic world, Muslims in America wondered only half-jokingly whether the overture included them. After all, Mr. Obama had kept his distance during the campaign, never visiting an American mosque and describing the false claim that he was Muslim as a “smear” on his Web site.

Nearly a year later, Mr. Obama has yet to set foot in an American mosque. And he still has not met with Muslim and Arab-American leaders. But less publicly, his administration has reached out to this politically isolated constituency in a sustained and widening effort that has left even skeptics surprised.

Muslim and Arab-American advocates have participated in policy discussions and received briefings from top White House aides and other officials on health care legislation, foreign policy, the economy, immigration and national security. They have met privately with a senior White House adviser, Valerie Jarrett, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to discuss civil liberties concerns and counterterrorism strategy.

The impact of this continuing dialogue is difficult to measure, but White House officials cited several recent government actions that were influenced, in part, by the discussions. The meeting with Ms. Napolitano was among many factors that contributed to the government’s decision this month to end a policy subjecting passengers from 14 countries, most of them Muslim, to additional scrutiny at airports, the officials said.

Read More

Filed Under: Floyd Reports Tagged With: , ,

Obama’s Healthcare Summit Scam

February 16, 2010 By 14 Comments

"The proposal to televise a February 25 health-care summit with Republicans grew out of a conclusion by top White House advisers that Obama had bested House GOP leaders during a 90-minute televised discussion in Baltimore last month,” according to the Washington Post.

We thought ObamaCare was pronounced dead with the election of Scott Brown, so why are Republicans even discussing it? The American people had won the victory against this key plank in the Obama socialist agenda. Now weak and unprincipled Republicans, as they have so many times before, may rush in to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Only after it had become abundantly clear that ObamaCare would never pass, after it was pronounced dead by the Massachusetts voters, Barack Obama asked for a do-over, a mulligan, in the form of this supposedly “bi-partisan” televised health care summit.

Bi-partisan? Poppycock. It does not require a MENSA IQ to figure out that Barack Obama did not call this meeting to listen to Republican ideas. As Rush Limbaugh said, it’s a "trap,” an attempt to paint Republicans as the "Party of No" and lay the groundwork to bring ObamaCare back from the dead.

That’s why the obvious response to Obama’s request for a televised health care summit should have received an immediate and firm "no," but it’s apparently not so obvious to some of our Republicans legislators because, they’re falling for the trap.

Someone needs to save these Republicans from themselves. The New York Times called this televised health care summit, "a high-profile gambit that will allow Americans to watch as Democrats and Republicans try to break their political impasse."

Political impasse? Give me a break. There is no impasse. The American people don’t want government-run health care and Barack Obama and the Democrats don’t have the votes to pass it. It should be dead.

So why are we going to continue the debate? And why are Republicans allowing it, enabling it. There is absolutely nothing Republicans can gain from this meeting.

Obama will use the occasion, with a little help from his spin-doctors at CBS, MSNBC, ABC and CNN, to make Republicans look bad and/or Republicans he will actually offer concessions and put ObamaCare back on the table. Both of those outcomes are losing propositions for the American people.

Here’s what Republicans should say: With all due respect Mr. President, the American people have already rendered their verdict on ObamaCare. Further discussion would be pointless, fruitless and an insult to the people who elected all of us to public office.

Furthermore Mr. President, we need not remind you that members of your party literally shut Republicans out of the process, wrote the House and Senate versions of ObamaCare during closed-door meetings with liberal special interests, and, in opposition to the will of the American people, pulled every legislative shenanigan in the book to shove ObamaCare down our throats. As such, your offer of bi-partisanship, after having lost, is laughable.

We will not be puppets for your little political theater. If you’re really serious about reforming the health care system, meet with members of your own party and tell them to start advancing some ideas that will actually make health care more affordable and more available to the American people such as tort reform and allowing companies to sell health insurance across state lines. We’ll support those measures.

If members of your party are unwilling to go down that road, you can still work with us to advance real health care reform. We’ll simply agree to wait until November, when Republicans have recaptured the majority, and place real health care reform legislation on your desk.

That’s what they should say. Will they have the courage? All indications look bad.

Greta Van Susteren of FoxNews asked House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) whether or not he was going to attend the Obama health care summit. Boehner tap-danced. He never answered the question.

And yet, he did acknowledge the idiocy of the entire exercise. At one point he acknowledged posing the question; "Why are we going to talk about a bill that can’t pass." He also expressed reservations that he might "walk into some trap."

Indeed, Congressman Boehner, this televised health care summit is a "trap" and a scam designed to make you and the rest of the Republicans look bad. Since you’re going into this trap to "talk about a bill that can’t pass,” why go?

Moreover, why take the risk that your efforts might actually give new life to ObamaCare and give Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid the opportunity to start the whole sordid process over again, the secret meetings, the back-room deals, the legislative shenanigans, the repeated attempts to shove ObamaCare down the throats of the American people.

Haven’t we all had enough?

Filed Under: Floyd Reports Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Obama’s Second Stimulus: A Looming Disaster

January 18, 2010 By 49 Comments

The one-year anniversary of the inauguration of Barack Obama is upon us. After only 12 months he is struggling for political survival. The cause is his economic policies. The anniversary is a bitter pill for many unemployed workers to swallow.  The jobs he promised, and many voted for, have proved to be a fleeting fantasy. The reality is that Obama’s uncontrolled spending and reckless borrowing have plunged us deeper into the worst recession since the Great Depression. The dire economic situation has only been exacerbated by Obama policy. The situation is only going to get worse if his new, expanded stimulus plan goes into effect. 73509_600[1]

Obama loves to blame former President Bush, claiming he inherited this horrendous recession.  However, the facts show this just isn’t true. While the housing bubble burst in 2008, and a slight recession began in the Bush administration’s last year, it was nothing compared to the past year.

Since Obama took office, the nation is distressed watching more people lose their jobs. This spiraling recession has gone from mild downturn to disaster. Obama cavalierly declared during the early days of his term, that if Congress failed to pass his economic stimulus plan, the unemployment rate would climb above 8 percent. Congress believed him, giving him all the new spending he demanded by passing the $787 billion pork-laden stimulus bill. Yet the unemployment rate then promptly climbed to over 10 percent.

In December 2008, Bush’s last full month in office, unemployment stood at 7.4 percent. Actually, the picture under Obama is even bleaker than it appears. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the real unemployment rate is 17.3 percent when you take into account those discouraged and disheartened folks who have giving up on looking for work. And if unemployment figures were still calculated as they were in 1981, the first year of the Reagan term, unemployment now would be 21 percent.

To counteract his rapidly declining job-approval ratings, Obama has frantically started pushing a second spending package. This time he won’t call the bill a stimulus package or say where the spending will go. Obama and his press secretary are now selling it as a package of "targeted ideas that will have a positive effect on private hiring." Americans know big government spending plans don’t work. Obama is in a sticky predicament, and rather than openly running on his unpopular ideas, he is attempting to deceive the American people with new names for failed policies.

One of the unreported results of the original stimulus package is that it has wreaked havoc on state government budgets. It earmarked $200 billion in bailout cash to help balance state budgets. This policy is akin to giving an alcoholic a year’s supply of beer money. Yet, here we are a year later, and the combined deficit for states has reached a staggering $260 billion. Rather than using federal dollars to repair their balance sheets, states used the money to fund temporary fixes.  Now these states are hooked like a drug addict and begging for another quick fix from Obama. If Obama bails these states out again, he will prolong the waste and forestall necessary reforms.

Obama is so preoccupied lobbying for his health care bill; he is neglecting to focus on job creation. Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, who has supported Obama’s healthcare bill to the scorn of his constituents, has even expressed, “I think it was a mistake to take health care on as opposed to continuing to spend the time on the economy.”

As Obama considers this new spending package, which increases the debt burden, he is ignoring the advice of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Remember, this year Bush’s growth-promoting tax cuts are set to expire. The Chamber says if Obama allows the tax cuts to expire, then he will be setting up the stage for a double-dip recession. Obama is already stressing a weak economy.

If Obama wants to create jobs and improve the economy, he needs to create a stable and secure environment for companies. If Obama doesn’t realize the folly of his policies soon, his party will rightly deserve a strong rebuke from the American people in this November’s elections.

Filed Under: Floyd Reports Tagged With: , , , , ,

Questions about Impeaching Obama

January 5, 2010 By 216 Comments

We receive hundreds of questions a day here at impeachobamacampaign.com. Between me and the dedicated and talented Inga O’Connor, we try to answer them all. Because these questions are often times similar, I would like use today’s blog posting to answer some of these questions.

Cindy S writes:

“I would like to make a video to post on YouTube in order to let people know what to do to get Obama impeached if they so desire.  My question is:  Will you give me permission to use some of your written material in my video?  I believe this would be very successful in getting this accomplished.”

Dear Cindy,

You are always welcome to use any material you find on any of the websites I publish. I publish for the purpose of informing people, and by forwarding, quoting and otherwise spreading the message, you are helping the cause. The other websites that I publish are Westernjournalism.com, exposeobama.com, exposeharry.com, richguysclub.com, soundmoneyinstitute.com, thewhitehousewatch.com and floydbrown.com. I also post lots of photos at my flckr.com photo stream that you can use.

I would only request that you attribute the material to the original source. Some of the material I publish is owned by others and I always attribute the material to the original source and would appreciate you doing likewise.

Cajun writes:

So how many signatures are needed to impeach this sucker?  There doesn’t seem to be any type of register showing the number of signatures already in place. What about impeaching Pelosi & Reid and whoever else isn’t for Americans?

Dear Cajun,

Presidents are not impeached by signatures. The purpose of gathering the signatures is to demonstrate public support so we can make the case to Members of Congress to introduce Articles of Impeachment. I am currently working hard to find a Congressman or woman who will have the courage to file the articles that have been drafted by our legal team. None have agreed to do it yet.

Also, a successful campaign for impeachment will take at least a year because the makeup of Congress must change if we are going to have the necessary votes to impeach. Right now, we are building toward impeachment in 2011 after we elect a pro-impeachment majority in Congress.

As for the number of signatures collected, currently we have collected 150,000 validated signatures. We collect signatures both online and directly through the mail. 105,000 petitions have been collected online and 45,000 have been directly signed.

As for Pelosi and Reid, if we change Congress, they will be of greatly diminished importance. A bigger problem is Joseph Biden. He will become President if he is not impeached along with Barack Hussein Obama. But if we have commanding majorities in both houses of Congress, we can impeach them both and appoint a caretaker President like Gerald Ford was, until the next general elections.

Ruth M writes

“I have to say that “Warm Regards”, is certainly a strange concluding salutation for some of the frightening information you have recently emailed to us. I thank you immensely for all your work, but we are getting very scared. Something needs to be done. Very Soon. If you want it done by us, let us know what to do. Some will start going off the deep end very soon, I fear.”

Dear Ruth,

My salutation is not a reflection of my feeling about the material I present; it is a reflection of how I feel about the Patriots who have stood with us, calling for impeachment. I believe the people that I communicate with are the most informed, dedicated and American loving people on earth. I deeply respect and appreciate everyone who takes the time to sign our petition, pass a petition on to others, or even listens to our arguments in favor of impeachment.

We are making progress. I am very pleased that we are ahead of all the goals we set for the collection of petitions. I am traveling to Washington DC this month to meet with Members of Congress to request their support in person. We also have the impeachment truck preparing to tour the country.

With almost every passing day we have new reasons to remove this inexperienced, bumbling, leftist radical from the presidency. Barack Hussein Obama has become a collective embarrassment and the best way to handle this problem is using the tool given to us by the Founding Fathers. That tool is impeachment.

Let me leave you with a quote from America’s first president, George Washington:

The Power under the Constitution will always be in the People. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period , to representatives of their own chusing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their Interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their Servants can, and undoubtedly will be recalled. (To Bushrod Washington, November 10, 1787)

————————————————————————————————————

If you liked this article, sign up for my RSS Feed, updated with every new post.

Filed Under: Floyd Reports Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »