According to the watchdog organization Media Matters, Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger who posted the video clip that got USDA official Shirley Sherrod fired, says he feels sorry for her. Breitbart said Tuesday that he “felt sympathy for her plight,” but stopped short of accepting responsibility for the episode, saying that the clip got “misconstrued.”
By Philip Bunnell
By Brandon Kosters - Talk Radio News Service
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, believes that the Wall Street Reform bill signed by President Obama this morning will serve the public by giving regulators more power to respond to firms in danger of collapsing. Bernanke said that the bill, coupled with other regulatory standards for the bank capital, will “place our financial system on a sounder foundation and minimize the risk of a repitition of the devastating effects of the past three years.”
By Rob Sanna - Talk Radio News Service
Attorney Ken Feinberg, who was recently appointed to monitor the Gulf Coast Claim Facility, told the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday he plans to overhaul the way compensation is being conducted in the Gulf. Feinberg said he plans to tackle the situation by implementing changes that would make compensation faster, more accurate, and more transparent to eligible people affected by the spill.
“Yes the process has to be much quicker, we will accelerate it. It must be more transparent,” he said.
“The data…is inadequate, does not provide proficient sunshine on how BP has been processing claims, we will do a much better job.”
Pledging his independence from the federal government and BP, Feinberg said he plans to establish a centralized claim center, beef up a staff of adjusters and be a constant, visible figure for Gulf Coast residents.
“This is an independent, private program,” he said. “I’m not beholden to the Obama administration. I’m not beholden to BP. I’m an independent administrator calling the shots as I see them.”
Feinberg said the administration will take fraud very seriously and plans to work with the Department of Justice to ensure the legal integrity of the program is not compromised.
Feinberg also said he would make sure claims involving injuries incurred during the cleanup, as well as the the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, will be claimable within the program and that injuries that develop further down the road because of exposure to oil could be claimed at that time as well.
“My agreement I have between the administration and BP, at least at the present, I am dealing only with individual and private business claims, no government,” he said. “That might change, but right now that’s the limit of my jurisdiction”
By Linn Grubbstrom - Talk Radio News Service
According to a new national conducted by Quinnipiac University, President Barack Obama’s job approval rating has dropped to 44 percent, his worst net score since he took office.
“New presidents have a honeymoon and that’s to be expected. For instance, a year ago President Obama was getting a fair-able job approval rating from 24 precent of Republicans. Now it’s 12. That’s not unexpected,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute at a press conference Wednesday.
Brown said there are several reasons for the low numbers. The economy, fallout from the oil spill and the administration’s public spat with Arizona over its new illegal immigration law have all contributed to negative marks for Mr. Obama. However, said Brown, public dissaproval with the President doesn’t necessarily indicate that Americans believe that Republicans are doing a good job.
“It’s not that the Republicans are doing better, it’s that President Obama is doing worse. And that always leaves a possibility in the end, if voters aren’t happy with their alternative they might not vote or they might stay with what they have,” he said.
The survey was conducted with more than 2,000 voters. 48 percent said they don’t believe Mr. Obama deserves re-election in 2012, and 37 percent responded by saying they would vote for a Republican candidate in two years.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 3:39PM
Bernanke: Unemployment Stunting Economic Growth
By Brandon Kosters - Talk Radio News Service
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered his Semi-annual Monetary Policy Report to Congress today. Bernanke predicted an unemployment rate between 7-7.5 % by the end of 2012, and a GDP increase of 3-3.5% by the end of this year, with marginal increases over the course of the next two years.
He said that inflation is currently less than 1%, and does not expect it to increase signifigantly over the course of the next two years.
Bernanke expressed concern over the nation’s current high unemployment rate of 9.5%, and the degree to which it has limited household spending.
Bernanke added that in addition to its immediate adverse effects, short-term unemployment can easily lead to long-term unemployment, as workers’ skills “erode,” and certain skill-sets become economically obsolete.