Guest: Stephen Diamond, a law professor and political scientist on the faculty of Santa Clara University School of Law in Santa Clara, California.
“Steve” Diamond is on the cutting edge of research into Barack Obama’s extensive, longterm ties to William Ayers, and the two men’s ties to an influential non-profit board, the Woods Fund, and Chicago’s Annenberg Education Challenge, an expensive, failed program intended ostensibly to improve Chicago’s school system. Read Steve Diamond’s articles posted at No Quarter.
Tune in toNo Quarter Radio (NQR) live on Friday, July 25, 11:00 a.m.-noon ET as Larry Johnson interviews Steve Diamond. Our guest will be answering listener questions, and the call-in number is (347) 677-0792.
More information on Professor Diamond: He is a law professor and political scientist on the faculty of Santa Clara University School of Law in Santa Clara, California, which is in the heart of Silicon Valley. He teaches courses on the global capital markets, the international economy, corporate governance and international labor and human rights. Prior to joining the faculty, he was in private legal practice in New York and in Palo Alto. He also has an extensive background in the labor movement and advise a wide range of unions, workers and institutional investors on financial and legal issues.
Barack cancelled his visit to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center because, his spokesman said, he decided it would be “inappropriate” to do so during a campaign trip. Wait. I thought this was a mission with fellow senators, touring the embattled countries of Iraq and Afghanistan where these soldiers were wounded. Then there’s that today he told Berliners that he wasn’t in Berlin as a candidate but as a “citizen.” I’m confused. Well, thankfully, there are good people who visit these soldiers stuck in Germany far from family and friends:
Caption: “Wounded American soldier Ryan Newberry gives a big hug to Eddie, a black lab from the American Red Cross Pet Visitation program. Newberry is recovering at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and said he really enjoyed the visit.”
Bless Eddie. Bless Ryan. Then there’s Barack. Here’s what Jake Tapper reports:
… The German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting online that Obama has “cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl U.S. military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday.”
“Barack Obama will not be coming to us,” a spokesperson for the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl told Der Spiegel. “I don’t know why.”
In the realm of better late than never, to be fair Paul Krugman spend months reviewing the health care plans of all the candidates, the New York Times has now taken the time to scrutinize Obama’s health care proposals. Read the rest
DID any of the rest of you notice that the “million people” expected in Berlin turned into a paltry 200,000 — one-fifth the estimated crowd, many there surely to hear the rock concert?
This groundbreaking moment? Which reminds us of what Republican consultant Doug Heye said on FNC over the weekend: “We don’t want President Hasselhoff.”
I was just catching FOX News and it appears Obama demanded to know how it is that FOX got hookups in all those military bases where he performed his shameless photo opportunities? It seems paranoid Narcissist Obama believed it was by Presidential Executive Order that his reverie and comfort with his Worship Trip was interrupted by the potential that somebody might actually capture and report something that isn’t set up as a photo op a not-so-Kodak moment about the Great One.
As it turns out, the troops get to request which news outlets they prefer and FOX is always included. Yes, Barack, sometimes you just can’t control everything around your own self-absorbed world. Sometimes, people get choices. I know this is hard for you to believe, since your entire candidacy has been an Axelrod production.
FOX just happens to be very popular over there in the war zones. You see, Barack, the men and women over there are tired and weary, and their lives are in danger daily. Read the rest
Obama continues his Master of the Universe tour,today landing in Germany. He has a big ol’ speech planned to wow them in Germany, and to get their votes. Oh, wait - they can’t vote for him! No matter, he is bound and determined that he will get massive support there. He even went so far as to come up with a handy little poster for them all in German and everything! Of course, that is because his campaign BANNED any other posters. Yes, he did. He is trying to act like JFK, but I think he might remind the Germans of some other leader instead with his stringent requirements and grandiose expectations. But that’s just me.
Meanwhile, back in the United States, the US Senate is actually in session!! I bet you didn’t realize that since Obama is on his World Tour! But Obama not being in the Senate does not stop him from claiming credit, falsely, for one of the big committees in the Senate, the Banking Committee. He flat out said - with hand on his chest to make the point - that the Banking Committee is HIS committee! Here’s the kicker - he ISN’T EVEN ON IT!!! Wowie zowie - with all of the lies this man has told about his experience, especially his legislative experience, it is sure a good thing that his supporters have finally woken up and realized what a lying, conniving, scheming, Chicago-style politician he is!!! Oh, wait - that hasn’t happened yet. But we can hope that SOMEDAY they will realize they have been had. Of course, it would help if the media actually did their job to facilitate that awakening. This is me NOT holding my breath. Read the rest
Tonight I have the honor of interviewing Bob Shrum. His book, No Excuses, is just out in paperback and it’s candy for the political junkie. If you love politics, you’ll love this book. I’ll be asking him about his political war stories. I also want to get his thoughts on this recent primary campaign and the concerns expressed by Hillary’s supporters. We’ll take some calls. I hope you’ll tune in to hear this very special guest. The show begins at 9 p.m. EST.
Jake Tapper’s story today is Obama On Tonight’s Berlin Speech: “A Crapshoot”. Last week, the razor-sharp Tapper zeroed in on a story that we’ve covered here at No Quarter many times. Joe Wilson, Larry Johnson and I, as well as other writers, have all noted that Obama has failed to DO HIS JOB as Chair of the Subcommittee on European Affairs (including NATO) — holding no hearings and making no trips to Europe during his tenure as chair because, as he admitted in a primary debate, he’s been too busy running for president:
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del., had previously told Meet the Press that "the reason Obama didn’t hold a hearing on NATO, I chair the committee. Every one of those committee hearings are held at full committee."
But today [July 17, 2008] Biden decided to take his defense of Obama one step further, writing to DeMint that there have been plenty of hearings on European Affairs, they’ve just been held at the "full committee level."
"On the particular issue of NATO’s mission in Afghanistan," Biden wrote, "We have held three Full Committee hearings in the last 22 months: one under Senator Lugar’s chairmanship (September 21, 2006: “From Coalition to ISAF Command in Afghanistan: The Purpose and Impact of the Transition”), and two undermine (March 8, 2007: “Afghanistan: Time for a New Strategy?” and January 21, 2008: “Afghanistan: A Plan to Turn the Tide?”). At all three of these hearings, we were fortunate enough to have the expert testimony—in addition to other witnesses, both in and out of government— of former NATO commander and Supreme Allied Commander-Europe, Gen. James R. Jones (USMC, ret.)."
But Biden’s letter brought attention to the fact that Obama did not attend two of those three hearings — and for the third, on March 8, 2007, Obama only asked one question, one unrelated to Afghanistan. …
Don’t miss how Jake Tapper knows that Obama asked only one question, irrelevant to Afghanistan: Read the rest
Republican John McCain has quickly closed the gap between himself and Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama in several key battleground states even as the Arizona senator struggles to break through the wall-to-wall coverage of Obama’s trip to Europe and the Middle East this week.
McCain and Obama are in a statistical dead heat in Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota while the Illinois senator has a more comfortable double-digit edge in Wisconsin. …
While Barack Obama has touted his travel to the Middle East and Europe this week as a “fact-finding” trip, 63% of Americans do not believe it makes the Democratic candidate any more qualified to be president.
A new Rasmussen Reports national survey, taken Monday night, also finds that less than a third (32%) think Obama will learn from his trip to Iraq. Forty percent (40%) say his mind is already made up about policies to deal with the war there. The Democrat has been accused by liberals in his party of softening his long-standing opposition to the war in Iraq in an effort to appeal to more moderate voters. …
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