the things you believe you're seeing...

For now anyway ...until The One steps in; Mortgage Bill Fails in Senate By JESSICA HOLZER WASHINGTON -- A measure to allow bankruptcy judges to rework the mortgages of strapped homeowners failed in the Senate on Thursday, clouding its chances of becoming law. The defeat is a setback for the administration of President Barack Obama , which had championed the measure as a central plank of its plan to repair the housing market. The measure, which was offered as an amendment to broader banking legislation, sank on a 51-to-45 vote due to opposition from Republicans and moderate Democrats. The measure would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce the principal amount of mortgage loans for struggling borrowers -- a process dubbed "cramdown." Currently, mortgages on vacation properties, but not primary residences, can be reworked by bankruptcy judges

No Republicans votes and 17 Democrats voted against it... The House of Representatives passed a $3.44 trillion budget resolution for fiscal year 2010 Wednesday, approving most of President Obama’s key spending priorities and setting the federal government in a new direction with major increases for energy, education and health care programs. The resolution, which was approved by a vote of 233 to 193, passed in a virtual party-line vote. All but 17 House Democrats supported it, and no House Republicans voted in favor… … “Today, for the first time in many, many years, we have a president’s budget … that is a statement of our national values ,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said during the final debate on the House floor. “What is important to us as a nation is reflected in this budget. It’s a very happy day for our country.” What values might that be? Bankrupt the country as quickly as possible?

Come on! Candy Crowley — a tough, well-informed and underrated interviewer — kicked it off by asking the Speaker about about a column by former CIA director and ex-House intel chairman Porter Goss accusing Democrats of collective “amnesia” for urging investigations of waterboarding after remaining relatively mute during those first classified briefings. PELOSI: Well, first of all, let me say that perhaps we do live in an alternate universe, Porter and I. Porter’s orientation is that he was a member of the CIA before he came to Congress and he speaks now as a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. CROWLEY: Is he wrong? PELOSI: Perhaps he is seeing it from his perspective. If they say we have a legal opinion, it means we’re going to use it. That’s not how I heard it. They said they had a legal opinion. They said they weren’t going to use and when they did they would come back to Congress to report to us on that. But that’s how I heard that.

But they didn't care and threatened sanctions if anyone breathed a word of it...Chuckie Schumer is actually making sense for a change; "To say that it should not be made public knowing that it might scare people it's just confounding," Sen. Charles Schumer said. "It's what gives Washington and government a bad name. It's sheer stupidity."

The arrogance is stunning...

He should be furious since the order came out of the White House...imagine the outrage if Bush had ok'd this?

So Barney, your position on housing was what again?

Announcing that we plan to bug-out of Iraq looks to not have been such a smart thing to do... Two large suicide bombings Thursday renewed fears among Iraqis that Sunni insurgents are regaining strength and lethality as the U.S. military has started disassembling its massive wartime architecture... . The violent campaign coincides with plans for a U.S. pullback . The first deadline in a phased American withdrawal agreed upon by Iraq and the United States comes this summer, when combat troops are supposed to move out of urban areas. Top U.S. commanders have recently said the Iraqi government may ask them to keep American forces in cities in northern Iraq -- where the insurgency remains entrenched -- beyond the summer deadline. In Baghdad, the military has closed some inner-city bases and small outposts, but appears intent on keeping American soldiers at urban facilities shared with Iraqi troops well beyond the summer.

From TV Guide : White House officials have requested up to an hour of airtime for Wednesday, April 29, according to TV Week. The press conference, which falls on the 100th day of Obama’s presidency, will probably air in the 8 o’clock hour and address questions of the president’s performance. Broadcast networks have not yet announced their response, but a source said that they will most likely agree to the administration’s request . Ya think? Like they would dare refuse the Dear Leader's airtime request.

Congressman Pete Hoekstra in the WSJ today ; “It was not necessary to release details of the enhanced interrogation techniques, because members of Congress from both parties have been fully aware of them since the program began in 2002. We believed it was something that had to be done in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to keep our nation safe. After many long and contentious debates, Congress repeatedly approved and funded this program on a bipartisan basis in both Republican and Democratic Congresses. . . . I have asked Mr. Blair to provide me with a list of the dates, locations and names of all members of Congress who attended briefings on enhanced interrogation techniques.”

The Attack of the Free Thinkers at UNC Chapel Hill , for the second time in one week... Goode spoke to a Frank Porter Graham Student Union audience of about 150 people and took questions from audience members for about 90 minutes. Some audience members jeered and heckled when the speech started. One small group walked out shortly after it began. Some set off personal body alarms that had to be located and turned off by police. Two others unfurled a banner with a profane statement. Goode continued speaking throughout

During her interview with Obama, Katie Couric gushed: "You're so confident, Mr. President, and so focused. Is your confidence ever shaken? Do you ever wake up and say, Damn, this is hard. Damn, I'm not going to get the things done I want to get done and its just too politicized to really get accomplished the big things I want to accomplish? Damn I'm so good looking I can't take my eyes off of myself in the mirror?" Ok...well I made that last part up, but sadly the rest is accurate. See Newsbusters for more .

From the NY Times ; Democrats are tempted to use their political muscle to speed passage of health care legislation with minimal concessions to the Republican minority.

Well you know they are the smartest people on the planet; Can someone please tell us how U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job? She appears to be about as knowledgeable about border issues as a late-night radio call-in yahoo. In an interview broadcast Monday on the CBC, Ms. Napolitano attempted to justify her call for stricter border security on the premise that "suspected or known terrorists" have entered the U. S. across the Canadian border, including the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack. All the 9/11 terrorists, of course, entered the United States directly from overseas.

According to Rasmussen's latest polling data ... Overall, 54% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance so far. Forty-six percent (46%) disapprove. For more Presidential barometers, see Obama By the Numbers. And the latest Congressional generic ballot , would you vote Democrat or Republican, the poll shows its all tied at 39%. That cannot comfort the Dems.

Yeah...that's right.  Pretty comical if I do say so... If Prejean’s views are “ugly,” than she’s not alone on the public stage:  During the last presidential campaign President Obama answered the same question by declaring: “I’m a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.” Elton John has also weighed in, saying: “If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership… The word ‘marriage,’ I think, puts a lot of people off. You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships.”

But wait...I thought these procedures did not work? But, as first reported by the New York Times' Peter Baker Tuesday night , President Obama's own Director of National Intelligence, former Admiral Dennis Blair, wrote a memo to his staff last week in which he said the methods, some of which are said to be torture by legal and human rights groups, were effective. “High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa’ida organization that was attacking this country," Blair wrote. Added Blair: “I like to think I would not have approved those methods in the past, but I do not fault those who made the decisions at that time, and I will absolutely defend those who carried out the interrogations within the orders they were given.” Some interesting info left out of the NY Times article which was produced from a letter Blair sent to his colleagues; "From 2002 through 2006 when the use of these techniq...

No its not a joke ...