Obama's Weekly Lowlights (6/23/11)

The Economy – Obama gave a speech in North Carolina this past week where he says he stabilized the economy and added 2 million jobs, but he is still not satisfied. I hope not, unemployment is over 9% and the true rate is probably closer to 15%. In even more disturbing news, Obama held his first briefing with his economic team in over 50 days.

FEMA – Homes destroyed by the Alabama tornados have been deemed safe to live in by FEMA.

Puerto Rico – Obama visited the U.S. territory as yet another political stunt to attract Latino voters. Obama should be worried about the economy and not campaigning. After all, turning around the economy is the only acceptable way to win over voters.

Ethanol – The Senate voted to cut an ethanol subsidy credit.

United Nations – A U.N. report suggests that internet access is a human right.

Libya – House Speaker, John Boehner, has warned the president that he is in violation of the War Powers Resolution if he does not let Congress vote on our military involvement. In fact, 10 house members have a filed a suit against the President for violating the Constitution by going to war without congressional consent. The Obama White House has responded with a letter outlining why they feel they did not violate the War Powers Resolution.

Wisconsin – The state’s Supreme Court has upheld the new state law limiting the collective bargaining power of unions. This ruling reverses a decision made by a lower court that stopped the implementation of the state law.

Housing Market – The current decline in housing prices has reached 33% over the past 5 years. This decline is greater than the 31% decline of the Great Depression.

Operation Fast and Furious – This Obama White House operation is being investigated by the Congressional Oversight committee for the illegal trafficking of thousands of weapons to Mexico, which were used to kill hundreds of people. So far, all of the witnesses are denying who authorized this deadly program.

ATM Machines – Obama used ATM machines as an example of how technology is replacing jobs in the economy as to why the unemployment rate is so high. I agree that technology can replace workers, this has been going on since the industrial revolution, but this has to the worst example to make his point.

Bundlers – Bundlers are people who contribute 50 thousand or more dollars to political campaigns. As it turns out, over 50% of those that contributed 50 thousand dollars or more to Obama’s campaign received jobs in his administration. This is about 4 times higher than the Bush administration.

Google – They are denying giving the Obama campaign special favors such as access to new advertisement programs.

Greece – The country will need a second bailout and as the government is forced to cut social programs citizens are back on the streets protesting.

Extreme Islam – This past week, Lance Corporal Marine reservist Yonathan Melaku was arrested at the Pentagon for a suspicious vehicle left at the site. Melaku had a notebook filled with al-Qaida and Taliban references.