Today, in 1973, Egypt and Syria launched attacks against Israel in what would become known as the Yom Kippur War. It didn’t end well for Egypt or Syria.

The fringe crazies at Westboro Church are going to protest Steve Jobs’ funeral for…well, for reasons I can’t possibly explain. As best I can tell, they believe this titan of capitalism should have done more to support their particular religious views. I don’t know. But, their tweet is delicious…

Well.

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Cross-Posted: TobyToons (Conservative Political Cartoons)

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) – Steve Jobs, the Apple founder and former CEO who invented and masterfully marketed ever-sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone, has died. He was 56.

Apple announced his death without giving a specific cause.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” the company said in a brief statement.

“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve”

Jobs had battled cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems. He took another leave of absence in January—his third since his health problems began—before resigning as CEO six weeks ago. Jobs became Apple’s chairman and handed the CEO job over to his hand-picked successor, Tim Cook.

The news Apple fans and shareholders had been dreading came the day after Apple unveiled its latest version of the iPhone, just one in a procession of devices that shaped technology and society while Jobs was running the company. (more…)

From The New York Times:

greenjobs_gw_03

A $500 million green jobs program at the Department of Labor has so far provided only 15 percent of current participants with jobs, leading the agency’s inspector general to recommend that the bulk of the money be returned to the Treasury.

The program, which was funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aims to find employment for almost 80,000 people by providing grants for labor exchange and job training projects. With those grants expiring over the next 15 months, IG officials concluded that the program would fail to come close to that target.

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Just months after receiving the first “Green Jobs” stimulus money from the Obama Administration, the Department of Energy was poised to funnel another $469 million to Solyndra, the failed solar energy start-up at the center of a growing scandal within the Obama Administration.

E-mails released today show that White House staffers in the Dept. of Office and Management had grave concerns over the proposed “Phase II” funding which would have brought the total amount of tax payer money delivered to Solyndra to just under $1 billion.

The Energy Department was actively pushing to provide the second loan guarantee to the troubled solar-panel manufacturer in April and May 2010, when Solyndra’s auditors warned the company was in danger of closing due to its rapidly mounting debts and expenses, according to complete e-mails just released by a House committee investigating the original loan.

Most damning to the Obama Administration is the responses shown in the e-mails by career staffers at OMB.  Clearly not buying the value in throwing good money after bad at a company that was supposed to be part of President Obama’s “Winning the Future” plan for America, unnamed staffers resorted to gallows humor when contemplating the second proposed loan.

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Sarah Palin told Mark Levin on his radio show today that she will not be seeking the Republican Presidential Nomination in 2012.

Palin released the following update to supporters:

October 5, 2011
Wasilla, Alaska

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

My decision is based upon a review of what common sense Conservatives and Independents have accomplished, especially over the last year. I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office – from the nation’s governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency. We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the “fundamental transformation” of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law. (more…)

Last night, President Obama visited St.Louis for a $25,000 plate fundraiser courtesy of Russ Carnahan and his family. Across the street from the fundraiser, on Lindell Drive near Forest Park, members of the St. Louis Tea Party stopped by to welcome him with jeers and boos, displaying signs showing their extreme dissatisfaction of his policies over the past two years. I had the opportunity to capture some images of the event of both the members of the St.Louis Tea Party as well as the handful of Obama supporters.

Adam Sharp of SharpElbows.net and Jim Hoft (Gateway Pundit) among others.

Predictably, a pro-Obama counter-protest assembled, but the show of support for President Obama during his last visit in 2010 was much larger — a far cry from the amount of supporters that turned out for him this time around, shown by my photos from the event in 2010. (more…)

The Obama administration has responded in court regarding Judicial Watch’s pursuit of the CIA’s bin Laden death photos.  Given the administration’s open hostility to government transparency, it probably does not come as a surprise that the CIA is fighting tooth-and-nail to keep these photos secret.

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Obama Department of Defense (DOD) seeking the following records: “[A]ll photographs and/or video recordings of Osama (Usama) bin Laden taken during and/or after the U.S. Military operation in Pakistan on or about May 1, 2011.” (We filed an identical request with the CIA.) When the government stonewalled, we sued.  Now we’re in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia trying to force the release of the photos.

The DOD says it came up empty in response to our request, though I have good reason to believe that the Pentagon didn’t look hard enough.  But the CIA admitted it found 52 responsive records (photos and video).  Here’s a description of what they found according to the government’s most recent court filing:

These records contain images of Osama bin Laden’s body after he was killed.  Many are graphic and gruesome, as they depict the fatal bullet wound to bin Laden’s head.  Some of the images were taken inside the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden was killed.  Other images were taken as bin Laden’s body was transported from the Abbottabad compound to the location where he was buried at sea.  Several images depict the preparation of Osama bin Laden’s body for the burial as well as the burial itself.

So they have the photos and videos we’re after for sure.  But the agency refuses to release them to the public.  Why?

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The White House has denied pressuring Ford to pull its ad that criticizes competitors that took and have yet to repay taxpayer dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. However, the Obama administration can’t deny a new gift it showers on General Motors and Chrysler in its package of tax hikes to pay for its so-called American Jobs Act.

For all the talk about fairness and equity with the so-called Buffett Rule, there is one sneaky loophole in the Obama revenue proposal that has largely escaped notice. In doublespeak that would make even George Orwell do a doubletake, President Obama’s “financial crisis responsibility fee” would tax banks, insurance companies and brokerage houses that have paid back their bailout money — and even some firms that never took a bailout — to pay the tab of irresponsible firms, namely the auto companies that still owe the government billions.

“We also ask the largest financial firms — companies saved by tax dollars during the financial crisis — to repay the American people for every dime that we spent,” President Obama proclaimed in the Rose Garden two weeks ago. But the details of this “responsibility fee” in the 80-page plan the president submitted to the Joint Committee on Taxation makes it clear that this fee will only be on firms that have already repaid the TARP funds and likely on some firms who never took a dime of taxpayer money.

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At the National Press Club in Washington DC in September 2011, Ridgely Muhammad, Minister of Agriculture for the Nation of Islam, was a featured speaker on a panel discussing the Pigford black farmer settlement.
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An example of the high level of debate occurring in New York during the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations.  And the man claims to be a union member.  As always, name that h8ful h8er if you can.

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From Accuracy in Media’s Benjamin Johnson:

Bad economic policies have consequences. Senator Dick Durbin thought the big, greedy banks were making too much money and regulated their profits.  Our President, eager to jump on the ‘Government Knows Best’ bandwagon offered his support and signature to the Dodd-Frank Bill. Accuracy in Media teamed up with Let Freedom Ring to find out what happens when banks are forced to comply with government price controls. Just as predicted, the customer gets a shake down.

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Folks, I just checked my email inbox and found an ATF slide presentation on the Fast and Furious operation that journalist Paul Thacker somehow got his hands on.

The most important thing about it – It appears to have been compiled by the ATF for use in briefing the DOJ on Fast and Furious in March 2010.

Here’s the opening slide:

Notice that the fourth item on the agenda of the first slide is listed as: “Phoenix Case – Update on a significant firearms trafficking case”

It’s important to note that Acting Deputy Attorney General at the time the briefing occurred was Gary G. Grindler, who is now Eric Holder’s Chief of Staff.

Let me ask you a serious question: If Grindler knew about Fast and Furious in March 2010, do you think there’s any way Holder didn’t also know?

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Pejman Yousefzadeh and Kevin Holtsberry are joined by Michael Bowen to discuss how the split between Thomas Dewey and Robert Taft led to the transformation of the Republican party as a party of conservatives, which began with Barry Goldwater’s nomination in 1964.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

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The Wall Street Journal informs, NJ Gov Chris Christie’s overly grand exit (despite never having actually been “in” anything save some YouTube clips), has shifted focus to Mitt Romney.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to sit out the presidential race removes one of the last big unknowns from the 2012 Republican nomination fight and opens the path for Mitt Romney, the GOP front-runner for most of the year.

Well, at least we know what their focus is, anyway. Team Romney claims to have picked up approximately 20 new funders from a group of about 300 they contacted. Perhaps the remaining 280 are focused elsewhere?

Herman Cain has moved into a tie with Mitt Romney atop the field of Republican presidential candidates, according to a new CBS News poll, while Rick Perry has fallen 11 percentage points in just two weeks.

Meanwhile, word comes that a law firm affiliated with Sarah Palin has been making inquiries as to state filing deadlines. As with most things, focus is relative, perhaps?

Rick Perry is raising money faster than a Texas wildfire. The campaign reports raising $17 million in just 49 days. More importantly, as Politico points out, he has $15 million cash-on-hand, which means he’s running a very fiscally conservative campaign.

Rick Perry isn’t the first GOP nominee to be viewed as “soft” on immigration. Just few cycles ago, another GOP candidate ran for the nomination and spelled out in a debate that he opposed a border fence with Mexico and supporting free public schools for the children of illegal immigrants. That candidate, Ronald Reagan, was surely never heard from again.

Senate Democrats last night blocked a vote on Obama’s jobs bill. You know, the one Obama said weeks ago that Congress had to pass immediately. Seems the Dems aren’t so keen on Obama’s plan and are rewriting large parts of it.

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From The Hill:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) on Tuesday further distanced his Democratic Conference from President Obama by nixing a major component of the White House’s jobs plan.

Reid said he would revise parts of the proposal that some Senate Democrats have found unpalatable. The Nevada Democrat announced his new strategy on the same day he blocked a Republican effort to force a vote on Obama’s jobs bill.

The GOP-led maneuver, and Reid’s counterattack, shows that Republicans are more united against Obama’s plan than Democrats are for it.

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What lovely people.
Barack Obama’s supporters harassed and swore at the St. Louis Tea Party members Tuesday night in Forest Park.

His supporters chanted,
“F**k what y’all talkin about… F**k what y’all talkin about… F**k all y’all!… F**k all y’all!”
This comes from GeoJG:

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