Harvard study-$7 gallon gas needed for Obama cap and trade 'energy' bill

• ***6/18, NY Post: "President Obama has a solution to the Gulf oil spill: $7-a-gallon gas.

That's a Harvard University study's estimate of the per-gallon price of the

• president's global-warming agenda.
  

And Obama made clear this week that

• this agenda is a part of his plan for addressing the Gulf mess.

• So what does global-warming legislation have
  
• to do with the oil spill?

Good question, because such measures wouldn't do a thing to clean up the oil or fix the problems that led to the leak."...

• "$7 a gallon gas?" NY Post, B. Lieberman, via Tom Nelson
  

In Chicago, Alan Dershowitz endorses a Republican for the first time in his life

• ***6/18, American Thinker: "Alan Dershowitz, the long time Professor of Law at Harvard University, and a self-avowed liberal Democrat, took his time before he found a Republican he considered worth supporting

--just under 72 years to be exact. But on Wednesday in Chicago, Dershowitz endorsed his former law student, Joel Pollak, the Republican candidate for Congress in Illinois' 9^th district.

Dershowitz, who has taught U.S. Senators, Governors, and Congressmen,

• described Pollak as the single most promising political talent he has ever met.

• Dershowitz has for many years, been a passionate and dedicated supporter of Israel, and he has fought the growing sentiment among many liberal Jews and academics that Israel is the guilty party in the Middle East conflict. Dershowitz's endorsement of Pollak was
  
• facilitated by the actions and positions of the incumbent Congresswoman whom Pollak is challenging.

Pollak is running against Jan Schakowsky, who has been closely connected to the Chicago and Illinois Democratic machine for her entire political career , whose voting record makes her one of the most left wing members of Congress, and who has willingly served as the queen bee of J-Street, the new group formed to give political cover to Barack Obama among liberal Jews as he pounds away at Israel. J-Street is a group that professes to be pro-Israel, and pro-peace,

• but a close look at its public pronouncements during its brief two year history makes clear that its modus operandi has been to regularly attack the policies of the Israeli government, and back any and all pressure directed at Israel by the Obama administration.

Dershowitz was a supporter of Barack Obama in 2008, but he made clear in his remarks that Obama's policies with regard to Israel, and to the projection of American power abroad, were worrying him. He attacked the President's attachment to international organizations that are virulently anti-Israel, and often anti-Semitic. He cautioned that there was no substitute in the West for American leadership, and argued that America should stand with Israel, as it has for decades.

• Dershowitz's biggest concern about Obama centered on Iran's nuclear program, and his fear that the US would stand aside, and allow Iran to become a nuclear power. He argued that a containment strategy designed to deter Iran after it became a nuclear power, would not work -- that a regime such as Iran's was fundamentally different from those the United States confronted in the Cold War, opponents who behaved rationally, and wanted to avoid a nuclear war.

Dershowitz said the Iran issue was the single most important issue for which Obama will be judged. If Iran succeeded in becoming a nuclear power, then Obama would be a colossal failure, regardless of any other achievements. Dershowitz hinted that in the future, he would be more open to supporting Republicans, particularly in races, where the Democratic nominees were so far out in left field that they were unable to understand or appreciate any of the strategic realities he had discussed.

• Pollak spoke after Dershowitz, and rallied the sellout crowd in attendance by providing his own political biography, describing how he had made the journey from left to right, and why he was proud today to be running as a strong supporter of free markets and economic opportunity, of lower taxes and reduced government spending, and as an ardent backer of a strong US Israel relationship.

Jan Schakowsky's husband, felon Robert Creamer, served time in prison for writing bad checks while running a charity. While behind bars, he created the game plan for the "selling" of a health care reform bill, which of course Schakowsky championed. Pollak told the audience that he made the decision to run for Congress after

• he overheard paid organizers for the group Health Care for America Now, operating in cahoots with Schakowsky, conspiring outside a Schakowsky town hall meeting about their plan to silence critics of the proposed health care reform bill at the event.

Voters in the 9^th district will have a real choice this year, between the thuggish politics of Jan Schakowsky and the hard left, and a talented new comer -- Joel Pollak."...by Richard Baehr,

• "Alan Dershowitz finally endorses a Republican"

Obama to sue state of Arizona over law--Hillary Clinton interview

• ***6/17: Hillary Clinton interview on Ecuadorean tv in which she says Obama will sue Arizona over immigration law (which mirrors existing federal law).

"Clinton: President Obama has spoken out against the law because he thinks that the federal government should be determining immigration policy. And the Justice Department, under his direction,

• will be bringing a lawsuit against the act."...

more on RealPolitics.

• Text of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's press release in response to this news. via Gateway Pundit
  

6/17, Governor Brewer in response to Obama breaking word about National Guard. interviewed by Greta Van Susteren. via Hot Air Pundit

Sharp increase in new jobless claims, 6/17/10

• Even after the Census Bureau hired 411,000 people. The AP doesn't mention this til the end of the article.
  
• ***6/17, AP: "The number of people filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped last week after three straight declines, another

sign that the pace of layoffs has not slowed.

• Initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the highest level in a month...

First-time jobless claims have hovered near 450,000 since the beginning of the year....

• Economists say they will feel more optimistic that the economy is creating jobs once initial jobless claims fall below 425,000 per week....

The number of people continuing to claim benefits rose by 88,000 to 4.57 million. That doesn't include about 5.2 million people who receive extended benefits paid for by the federal government...

• Adding to worries about the job market, the Labor Department said earlier this month that the economy generated

only 41,000 private-sector jobs in May. That was down from 218,000 in April.

• Temporary hiring by the Census Bureau added another 411,000 jobs.
  
• The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent."

"New claims for jobless benefits rise sharply," AP, Alan Zibel, 6/17/10. via mention on Mark Levin show. I had to go through many articles to find one that did not have editorial images added of someone interviewing for an actual job to soften the message of the news. One article had a huge picture of an odious republican (Boehner) making one of his usual meaningless soundbites. ed.

No separation between media and state

• From The Godfather, 1972: "Michael: 'Where does it say that you can't kill a cop? Tom, wait a minute.

I'm talking about a cop...a crooked cop who got mixed up in the rackets and got what was coming to him. That's a terrific story.

• And we have newspaper people on the payroll, don't we, Tom? And they might like a story like that.

Tom: They might, they just might'..."

• via mention on Michael Savage show, wondering why media today won't question government. Why, for example, were we not allowed to see blown out brains of US citizens murdered by an Islamic Army doctor? And constant news stories about lack of investigation into negligence that allowed this mass murder to happen? Answer: media and government are on the same side against the people.
  

Off-the-record lunch today with Obama media partners-Calderone

***6/17: "Obama held an off-the-record lunch Thursday at the White House with several prominent political writers and pundits: the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson, the Wall Street Journal's Jerry Seib, the New York Times' Gail Collins and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. (Arianna Huffington was also invited, but according to her own White House reporter, she couldn't attend because of a scheduling conflict.)

• Yahoo! News confirmed the journalist guest list and also learned that the meeting was staffed by a trio of top White House officials: David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett."...from Michael Calderone, Yahoo News, via Poynter.org/Romenesko
  

Panel of oil experts says Obama got them to sign phony document

• ***6/17, Wall Street Journal story via Hot Air. This has been known

for over a week, so why have legal charges not been filed against the Obama administration? Why speak about it at all if no action will be taken?

• Reference: 6/9/10, The Times-Picayune, "Advisers cited by Salazar say ban is bad idea," by D. Hammer. via mention on Rush Limbaugh show.
  

British pensioners will suffer most at hands of Obama, BP div. is 1 pound of every 6 they receive-Daily Mail

• 6/17: Another big pile of cash for Obama to hand out will be coming
  
• from low income people

already stretched. People who rely on BP dividends, people all over the world, especially the UK:

• "BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg revealed the payment meant the oil giant would be forced to suspend dividends to its shareholders until at least next year.

The news sent BP shares plunging to a 14-year low of £3.37, and is a major blow for Britain's pension funds, which rely on BP's dividend income

• to provide £1 in every £6 they receive each year."...

"BP oil spill: British pensioners will pick up the bill for BP compensation fund" by David Gardner via Drudge Report

• Thanks again to the GOP for giving us Obama. And they would do it again. Scott Brown apparently is to have a special meeting with him which will no doubt entail cap and trade. A scam against ordinary Americans dreamed up in palaces and back rooms around the world and won't even help the environment. Scott, if you vote for it, your career in the Senate may be very short, just a guess. ed.