Michelle Obama: “Whitey” Tape Found. Watch It Here…

Regretfully I have to report that the missing ”racial epithet” tape has been found.  I blame Michelle’s “misspeak” on her slight lisp.  She said the bad word 9 times!  To “keep it real” I had to post the video.

 

Paulette

$162 Billion War-Spending Bill: Biggest Blank Check Ever!

In a 268-155 vote, the House approved the largest war-spending bill to date, bending to President Bush’s call for $162 billion in war funding with no strings attached, giving the next President enough money to wage the wars for 6 months into the new Presidency.  But the bill did not include any timetables for withdrawing US troops from Iraq. Bush opposes any such deadlines.

A second vote on the domestic money passed 416-12. In exchange for approving the war-spending bill, Democrats won ‘Bush’s blessing’ for several of their domestic priorities, including a 13-week extension of jobless benefits for workers who have exhausted theirs, and a new GI bill benefit allowing veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to attend a state college tuition-free.

The deal, negotiated between the White House and allies of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, takes the issue of the war off Congress’ plate for the rest of this election year. Lawmakers also intended to give the next president some time to set a new Iraq policy before having to return to Congress for more money.

But anti-war activists called it a betrayal by Democrats, who had pledged to end the war. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, dubbed it “the biggest blank check ever.” Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, said the vote was a “profound disappointment to the millions of Americans who put Democrats into power hoping we could force a change in Iraq.”

The House vote is likely to end almost two years of clashes between Democrats and the White House over the Iraq war, which Bush and Republicans have largely won.

House Democrats this spring once against approved a nonbinding measure calling for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops by June 2009. But the Senate, unable to get the 60 votes needed to pass it, stripped it from the spending bill. The war bill ping-ponged between the House and Senate for weeks until Pelosi and other top Democrats decided to cut a deal.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where Democratic leaders say it’s likely to be passed.

The deal required major concessions from both sides. Democrats were able to get the 13-week extension of jobless benefits, but had to drop their push for an additional 13 weeks of benefits for workers in high-unemployment states. Republicans also insisted that individuals must have worked for at least 20 weeks to qualify for the benefits.

The extended benefits will apply to all those who exhaust their aid between November 2006 and March 2009, an estimated 3.8 million workers nationwide.