Steve Jobs bio reveals he told Obama 'You're headed for one-term presidency'

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / October 20, 2011

STEVE JOBS CRITICAL OF OBAMA'S POLICIES (BIO)

Posted: 10/20/11 06:07 PM ET Updated: 10/20/11 09:26 PM ET 
  

In one of the most hotly-anticipated biographies of the year, "Steve Jobs," author Walter Isaacson reveals that the Apple CEO offered to design political ads for President Obama's 2012 campaign despite being highly critical of the administration's policies and that Jobs refused potentially life-saving surgery on his pancreatic cancer because he felt it was too invasive.

Nine months later, he got the operation but it was too late.

Those are just some of the tidbits about Jobs' life revealed in the upcoming biography, a copy of which was obtained by The Huffington Post.

The publication date of the official biography of the notoriously-secretive Apple co-founder was pushed up after his death in October. "I wanted my kids to know me," Isaacson quoted Jobs as saying in their final interview. "I wasn't always there for them and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did."

Among other details unearthed in the book on the notoriously-secretive Apple co-founder:

Jobs' Meeting With Obama
Jobs, who was known for his prickly, stubborn personality, almost missed meeting President Obama in the fall of 2010 because he insisted that the president personally ask him for a meeting. Though his wife told him that Obama "was really psyched to meet with you," Jobs insisted on the personal invitation, and the standoff lasted for five days.

When he finally relented and they met at the Westin San Francisco Airport, Jobs was characteristically blunt. He seemed to have transformed from a liberal into a conservative.

"You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where "regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult for them.

Jobs also criticized America's education system, saying it was "crippled by union work rules," noted Isaacson. "Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform." Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year.

Aiding Obama's Reelection Campaign
Jobs suggested that Obama meet six or seven other CEOs who could express the needs of innovative businesses -- but when White House aides added more names to the list, Jobs insisted that it was growing too big and that "he had no intention of coming."

In preparation for the dinner, Jobs exhibited his notorious attention to detail, telling venture capitalist John Doerr that the menu of shrimp, cod and lentil salad was "far too fancy" and objecting to a chocolate truffle dessert. But he was overruled by the White House, which cited the president's fondness for cream pie.

Though Jobs was not that impressed by Obama, later telling Isaacson that his focus on the reasons that things can't get done "infuriates" him, they kept in touch and talked by phone a few more times.

Jobs even offered to help create Obama's political ads for the 2012 campaign. "He had made the same offer in 2008, but he'd become annoyed when Obama's strategist David Axelrod wasn't totally deferential," writes Isaacson.

Jobs later told the author that he wanted to do for Obama what the legendary "morning in America" ads did for Ronald Reagan.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/steve-jobs-biography-obama_n_1022786.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing6%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%7C106076

Civitas Poll: Cain leads Obama in North Carolina. (Yay!)

Raleigh, N.C. – A new poll by the Civitas Institute shows Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain leading Democratic incumbent Barack Obama by five percent among North Carolina voters.

Cain is the choice of 46 percent of North Carolina voters if the election for President of the United States was today and the candidates were Herman Cain the Republican, and Barack Obama the Democrat.  Forty-one percent said they would vote for Obama, and 10 percent said they are undecided.

Cain has the support of 81 percent of Republicans along with 50 percent of unaffiliated voters.  Democratic voters would vote for Obama by a 68 percent to 19 percent margin.

“Just as is happening nationally, we are seeing a swell of support for Herman Cain in North Carolina,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.

Voters age 18-25 (52 percent) and 56-65 (50 percent) would vote for Obama if the election was today.  Forty-four percent of those age 26-40 and 55 percent of voters age 41-55 would vote for Cain.

In the key 66+ demographic, the margin narrows to 45 percent Cain - 42 percent Obama.  Regionally, Cain garners the most support in Charlotte and the Piedmont Triad, while voters in the Triangle and Northeast are most likely to vote for Obama.

“To borrow a pun that is going around, this seems to be one HermanCain that Carolinians would not mind blowing into the state,” added De Luca.

The Civitas Poll is the only regular live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina.  For more information on Civitas polling see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.
Full Text of Question:

“If the election for President of the United States was being held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote if the candidates were: Herman Cain the Republican, and Barack Obama the Democrat?”

Total Cain – 46%
Total Obama – 41%
Definitely Cain – 35%
Probably Cain – 7%
Lean Cain – 4%
Undecided – 10%
Lean Obama – 1%
Probably Obama – 4%
Definitely Obama – 37%
Refused – 3%

Pantano joins Congresswoman Michele Bachmann as one of first national conservative leaders to sign Border Fence Pledge.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / October 19, 2011

 

Wilmington, NC: Ilario Pantano, the Conservative Republican candidate for North Carolina's 7th Congressional District joined Congresswoman Michele Bachmann as one of the nation's first Conservative leaders to sign Americans for Securing the Border's pledge "to support the construction of a date certain, secure double fence across the entire US border with Mexico prior to the end of 2013."

“As the son of a legal immigrant, who became a United States citizen in 1976, the immigration issue is near and dear to my heart,” Pantano said upon signing the pledge. 

“I applaud those, who like my father, come to this country legally looking for a better opportunity and hoping to live the American Dream," Pantano continued. "However, illegal immigration is a major national security threat and an economic threat. The Federal government is failing in its primary duty of protecting its citizens. We must secure our borders.  I want to salute Van Hipp, Chairman of Americans for Securing the Border, and his entire organization for leading the fight on this issue.”

According to their website, Americans for Securing the Border is "a national advocacy group dedicated to stopping the flow of illegal immigration and enhancing U.S. security along the US-Mexican border."

Below is a release they put out earlier today praising Pantano for signing their pledge:

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ilario Pantano Republican Candidate for Congress signs pledge to secure the border

Supports the construction of a date-certain, double fence across the entire US border with Mexico prior to the end of 2013

Today, Van Hipp, Chairman Americans for Securing the Border announced that Ilario Pantano republican candidate from the 7th congressional district of NC signed the Pledge to support the construction of a date certain, secure double fence across the entire US border with Mexico prior to the end of 2013.

Chairman Hipp said, "Ilario Pantano knows the value of citizenship as his father emigrated from Italy and became an American citizen in 1976."

Hipp further stated, "llario Pantano has twice stepped up to the plate to serve his country. First in "Desert Storm" and then after Sept 11, he reenlisted in the Marinesto fight for his country.

Hipp continued, "This combat veteran understands that securing our border with Mexico is an economic and national security imperative."

Hipp thanked Pantano for his service to his country and for having the backbone to be the first candidate in 7th congressional distinct to sign "The Pledge."

It is our hope that the other candidates in the race will join with Mr. Pantano and sign our "Pledge."

Chairman Hipp concluded, "Americans for Securing the Border is dedicated to stopping the flow of illegal immigration and enhancing U.S. security along the US-Mexican border. In the coming months we intend to ask all current Congressman and Senators as well as candidates to sign our Pledge as well."

For further information contact: (919) 345-5741
www.AmericansForSecuringTheBorder.com

View Pantano's signed pledge here: http://americansforsecuringtheborder.com/imag

October 19, 2011
Contact:
Andy Yates
(704) 467-0795
andy@pantanoforcongress.com

A.D. 2041 -- the end of white America? Pat Buchanan ponders the possibility.

  Patrick J. Buchanan
  TOWNHALL 10-18-2011 8:49 am 

John Hope Franklin, the famed black historian at Duke University, once told the incoming freshmen, "The new America in the 21st century will be primarily non-white, a place George Washington would not recognize."

In his June 1998 commencement address at Portland State, President Clinton affirmed it: "In a little more than 50 years, there will be no majority race in the United States." The graduates cheered.

The Census Bureau has now fixed at 2041 the year when whites become a minority in a country where the Founding Fathers had restricted citizenship to "free white persons" of "good moral character."

With publication today of "Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?" this writer takes up what this portends. And while many on the left are enthusiastic about relegating the America of Eisenhower and JFK to a reactionary past, I concur with the late Clare Boothe Luce.

In this world, she said, there are optimists and pessimists.

"The pessimists are better informed."

What are the seemingly inevitable consequences of an America where whites are a shrinking minority?

First, the end of a national Republican Party that routinely gets 90 percent of its presidential votes from white America.

California is the harbinger of what is to come.

Carried by Richard Nixon in all five presidential elections when he was on the ticket and by Ronald Reagan all four times he ran, California, where whites are now a shrinking minority, is a state where the GOP faces extinction. John McCain's share of the California vote was down to the Barry Goldwater level of 1964.

When Texas, where two-thirds of the newborns and half the schoolchildren are Hispanic, goes the way of California, it is the end for the GOP. Arizona, Colorado and Nevada, also critical to any victorious GOP coalition, are Hispanicizing as rapidly as Texas.

In every presidential election since Bush I in 1992, Hispanics have given 60-70 percent of their votes to the Democratic ticket.

For Hispanics, largely poor and working class, are beneficiaries of a cornucopia of government goods -- from free education to food stamps to free health care. Few pay federal income taxes.

Why would they not vote for the Party of Government?

Second, the economic crisis of California, brought on by an outflow of taxpayers and a huge influx of tax consumers -- i.e., millions of immigrants, legal and illegal -- will be mirrored nationally.

For though the majority of immigrants and illegals comes to work, and work hard, most now come from Third World countries and do not bring the academic or professional skills of European-Americans.

Third, the decline in academic test scores here at home and in international competition is likely to continue, as more and more of the children taking those tests will be African-American and Hispanic. For though we have spent trillions over four decades, we have failed to close the racial gap in education. White and Asian children continue to outscore black and Hispanic children.

Can the test-score gap be closed? With the Hispanic illegitimacy rate at 51 percent and the black rate having risen to 71 percent, how can their children conceivably arrive at school ready to compete?

Should this continue for three decades, what will it mean for America if Asians and whites occupy the knowledge-industry jobs, while scores of millions of black and Hispanic workers are relegated to low-paying service-sector jobs? Will that make for social tranquility?

Affirmative action is one answer. But this is already causing a severe backlash, and the reason is obvious.

When affirmative action was first imposed, whites outnumbered blacks nine to one. The burden of reverse discrimination on the white community was thus relatively light. Today, however, not only blacks, but Hispanics and women -- two-thirds of the entire population -- qualify for affirmative action in hiring and school admissions.

And the burden falls almost entirely on white males, who are one-third of the country but three-fourths of the dead and wounded coming back from Afghanistan.

Sociologist Robert Putnam, author of "Bowling Alone," has also found that the greater the racial and ethnic diversity in a community, the less social capital there is -- i.e., people in diverse settings are far less disposed to cooperate for social goals. They retreat into enclaves of their own kind.

Putnam found social capital at the lowest level he ever measured in Los Angeles, the most diverse community on earth. Yet, by 2042, the demography of every American city will approximate that of L.A.

What is happening to America is happening across the West.

Can Western civilization survive the passing of the European peoples whose ancestors created it and their replacement by Third World immigrants? Probably not, for the new arrivals seem uninterested in preserving the old culture they have found.

Those who hold the white race responsible for the mortal sins of mankind -- slavery, racism, imperialism, genocide -- may welcome its departure from history. Those who believe that the civilization that came out of Jerusalem, Athens, Rome and London to be the crowning achievement of mankind will mourn its passing.
---------------
http://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2011/10/18/
ad_2041_--_end_of_white_america/page/full/

Debate Fireworks: Herman Cain blames the unemployed, GOP audience cheers.

 

CAIN SLUGS IT OUT AT VEGAS SHOWDOWN

 

Amanda Terkel aterkel@huffingtonpost.com

First Posted: 10/18/11 09:42 PM ET Updated: 10/18/11 09:42 PM ET 

Herman Cain recently criticized the Occupy Wall Street protesters, saying, "Don't blame Wall Street. Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself."

At Tuesday night's CNN debate, Cain stood by his comments -- to loud cheers from the audience.
"I still stand by my statement," he said.

"They might be frustrated with Wall Street and the bankers, but they're directing their anger at the wrong place," he added. "Wall Street didn't put in failed economic policies. Wall Street didn't spend a trillion dollars that didn't do any good. Wall Street isn't going around the country trying to sell another $450 billion. They ought to be over in front of the White House taking out their frustration."

In response, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) criticized Cain for blaming the people who have been hurt by the financial crisis through no fault of their own.

"I think Mr. Cain has blamed the victims," he said. "There's a lot of people that are victims of this business cycle. We can't blame the victims. But we also have to point -- I'd go to Washington as well as Wall Street, but I'd go over to the Federal Reserve. They create the financial bubbles."

2012 Elections ,   GOP Debate ,   Herman Cain ,   Elections 2012 ,   Unemployment ,   Video , Herman Cain 2012 , Cain 2012 , Gop Debate Las Vegas , Gop Debate Unemployed , Herman Cain Gop Debate , Herman Cain Occupy Wall Street , Herman Cain Ows , Herman Cain President , Herman Cain Unemployed , Las Vegas Gop Debate , Politics News

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/18/herman-cain-unemployed_n_1018798.html

Busing still a hot topic -- but this time Obama's taking the heat, and McCain is doling it out.

Verne Strickland  Blogmaster / October 18, 2011

JOHN McCAIN: OBAMA BUS TOUR IS 'WRONG'. TRIP THROUGH NORTH CAROLINA AND VIRGINIA RAISING BIG BUCKS -- AND TAXPAYERS ARE FOOTING THE BILL!

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) continued his verbal onslaught against President Barack Obama's bus tour on Tuesday, blasting the three-day swing through North Carolina and Virginia as inappropriate.

"Never do I believe any of us have seen the kind of activity that the president has engaged in, and all of it being charged to the taxpayers of America," McCain said on the Senate floor, suggesting that the president was campaigning for his reelection in key swing states under the guise of promoting his jobs plan. "That's wrong. That's the wrong thing to do."

"According to recent reports, the president's campaign has raised record amounts of money already," McCain continued. "The campaign should be paying for this North Carolina trip of his. And I don't begrudge him beating up on us and criticizing us and making all kinds of allegations about not understanding his 'stimulus two' package, which we understand very well is more of the same. But at least this campaign should be paying for this kind of campaigning."

Obama's reelection campaign pulled in a total of $70.1 million over the past three months, according to third quarter fundraising reports.

At a speech in North Carolina on Monday, Obama took direct aim at congressional Republicans, telling the crowd that it was possible that they "couldn't understand the whole" jobs plan all at once.

"So we're going to break it up into bite-size pieces," Obama told the audience.

Senate Democrats have decided to bring forth as their first vote a proposal that would provide $35 billion for state and local governments to rehire teachers, police and firefighters.

McCain's latest comments build off of similar ones he made Monday, in which he also accused Obama of campaigning using taxpayer dollars and of traveling in an ugly bus while doing it.

"I must say again I have never seen an uglier bus than a Canadian one," McCain said on the Senate floor. "He is traveling around on a Canadian bus touting American jobs."

2012 Elections ,   Elections 2012 ,   Obama ,   President Obama ,   Video , American Jobs Act , McCain Obama , Obama McCain , Obama Jobs Bill , John Mccain Obama , John Mccain Obama Bus , Mccain Obama Bus , Mccain Obama Bus Tour , Obama 2012 , Obama Bus Tour , Obama Jobs , Obama Jobs Act , Obama Jobs Plan , Politics News 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/18/john-mccain-obama-bus-tour_n_1017938.html

Texas high school students forced to recite Mexican pledge of allegiance, sing country's national anthem.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

By Madeleine Morgenstern   THE BLAZE

Posted October 17, 2011 at 8:56am 

McALLEN TEXAS -- Students in a Texas public high school were made to stand up and recite the Mexican national anthem and Mexican pledge of allegiance as part of a Spanish class assignment, but the school district maintains there was nothing wrong with the lesson.

It happened last month in an intermediate Spanish class at Achieve Early College High School in McAllen, Texas — a city located about 10 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

(Related: Listen to Glenn Beck interview the father of the girl who refused to recite the pledge)

Wearing red, white and green, students had to memorize the Mexican anthem and pledge and stand up and recite them in individually in front of the class.

That didn’t go over well with sophomore Brenda Brinsdon. The 15-year-old sat down and refused to participate. She also caught it all on video.

“I just thought it was out of hand, I didn’t think it was right,” she told The Blaze. “Reciting pledges to Mexico and being loyal to it has nothing to do with learning Spanish.”

She said she was particularly offended because the presentations in teacher Reyna Santos’s class took place during “Freedom Week,” the week after the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and on U.S. Constitution Day — the same day as Mexico’s Independence Day.

“Why are we doing their independence when it‘s Freedom Week and it’s also Constitution Day?” Brinsdon said.

Brinsdon said she complained to the school principal, Yvette Cavazo, who told her it was part of the curriculum and that she should participate. Her father, William, also got involved, calling the school district superintendent to complain.

When Brenda made clear she would not stand up and recite the pledge, she was given an alternative assignment: an essay on the history of the Mexican revolution.

Meanwhile, other students continued with their presentations, which took place over the course of several days.

When Brinsdon talked to Santos — a first-year teacher at Achieve — about her new assignment, the teacher told her she grew up in Mexico.

“She told me that she loved Mexico,” Brinsdon said.

School district spokesman Mark May defended the presentations, saying it’s a state requirement for upper-level language classes to teach about foreign culture.

According to the state’s Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards, students are expected to gain “knowledge and understanding” of other cultures and use the language to demonstrate understanding of different practices and perspectives. There are no specific requirements about learning to recite pledges or anthems.

May said it’s up to the teacher how to interpret and teach the standards.

“It wasn’t required to pledge loyalty and renounce the U.S., they were simply spreading the culture of another country,” May told The Blaze. “In my mind it’s no different from memorizing a poem or memorizing a passage from Shakespeare.”

William Brinsdon took issue with that notion, saying if that’s the case it cheapens the pledge.

“You‘re taking their allegiance and their oath from Mexico and cheapening it just as a grade or words don’t mean anything,” he said.

May reiterated that the lesson was all done within the context of meeting the state requirements, and that the school did its duty providing Brenda with an alternative assignment when she objected.

“The students came away with a better understanding of the culture, heritage and customs of a neighboring country where Spanish is the primary language,” he said.

May added that the lesson was “well received” by other students and parents.

“There’s always going to be people that always feel a little bit differently,” May said.

William Brinsdon is still having a hard time fathoming the idea of reciting foreign pledges and anthems in a U.S. public school in the first place.

“Our kids don’t even know the [American] national anthem and here we are…teaching them to memorize and perform the national anthem for Mexico,” he said. “I just think it’s so backwards.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/blaze-exclusive-tx-high-school-students-made-to-recite-mexican-national-anthem-pledge-of-allegiance/

The Blaze’s Jonathon M. Seidl contributed to this report.

Breaking News: Vincent Van Gogh may have been murdered.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / Oct. 17, 2011

THE BELOVED ARTIST -- A PASSIONATE BUT TROUBLED GENIUS -- HAS LONG BEEN SUSPECTED OF HAVING TAKEN HIS OWN LIFE. I WOULD PREFER TO BELIEVE THIS NEW THEORY ABOUT HIM.

Vincent Van Gogh: Self Portrait

There are two facts that even your average school child can tell you about Vincent Van Gogh: he cut off his ear and he killed himself. But now two Pulizer Prize-winning authors have a new book that throws that second fact into question. If Vincent Van Gogh didn't kill himself what are they going to tell us next, that Pluto isn't a planet?


In their new book Van Gogh: The Life Steve Naifeh and Greg Smith reportedly make a whole new case for how Van Gogh ended up with a bullet in his stomach. A teenage boy did it. It is always the kids, isn't it?

“No physical evidence of the shooting was ever produced,” they write. “No gun was ever found.” Van Gogh, who “knew nothing about guns,” left no suicide note, and the bullet entered his upper abdomen “from an unusual, oblique angle — not straight on as one would expect in a suicide.” The authors hypothesize that he was shot by a friend’s teenage brother, who carried a gun and “had a history of teasing Vincent in a way intended to provoke him to anger.” (The artist, for his part, “had a history of violent outbursts.”)

We don't know how to feel about this. But we guess we'll wait until we've read the book (out next week) or at least watched this Sunday's 60 Minutes interview with its authors to form an opinion.

http://gothamist.com/2011/10/14/breaking_vincent_van_gogh_may_have.php

Herman Cain survives crucial test on NBC's 'Meet the Press', says liberals 'do not believe in a stronger America.'

 Verne Strickland Blogmaster / October 16, 2011

Presidential contender Herman Cain meets with media Sunday after appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."   (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

 

By Brian Bennett / LA Times

October 16, 2011, 10:57 a.m.

Herman Cain tested the national spotlight Sunday as the Republican presidential primary’s newest front-runner.

Facing tough questions during a 25-minute one-on-one interview on NBC’s "Meet the Press," Cain acknowledged that his plan to simplify the tax code would raise taxes for “some” people and clarified his position that he doesn’t believe abortion should be an option in instances of rape and incest.

Scrapping the current federal tax code--which he described as a “10-million-word mess” –-would eliminate a host of invisible taxes and eventually reduce prices, said Cain.

Some economists have pointed out that Cain’s plan would shift the tax burden further from the rich to the poor and middle class.

"Some people will pay more. But most people will pay less," said the former Godfather’s Pizza executive and a former chairman of the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City when pressed by host David Gregory about the effects of his tax plan.

Cain said the biggest appeal of his plan is its simplicity. The plan calls for a 9 % personal income tax, a 9 % corporate tax, and a 9 % federal sales tax.

Video game enthusiasts have pointed out that Cain’s plan is the same tax schedule used in the computer game SimCity 4.

When asked how he would get the 9-9-9 plan passed through Congress, Cain said he would drum up public support.

“The American people understand it and are going to demand it,” he said.
Citing the simplicity of his positions and his conservative credentials, Cain said that he doesn’t think his front-runner status will peter out like other GOP candidates who surged in the polls only to fade away earlier this year.

“I don't think Herman Cain will be a flavor of the week," he said.
Michele Bachmann took the lead in July and Donald Trump led polls in April. Trump dropped out of the race and Bachmann has trailed in the past few months. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has slumped since topping the polls in August.

During the interview, Cain spoke of his “humble” background and his family’s work ethic. His mother worked as a maid, his father was a barber, janitor and chauffeur. Cain said he understands "main street" economics and has run a small business, made pizzas and hamburgers and kept an inventory.

When asked if race was a factor in his campaign, Cain, who is African-American, said no. Black supporters are drawn to him, “not because of my color but because of my ideas,” said Cain.

Given the opportunity, Cain did not back down from an earlier statement that “the objective of the liberals is to destroy this country.”

“They [liberals] do not believe in a stronger America, in my opinion,” said Cain when Gregory asked him to explain the comment.

Cain said he does not agree with abortion "under any circumstances." In cases of rape and incest, “there are other options,” he said.

Cain implied that an abortion might be appropriate in an emergency, when the procedure would save the life of the mother. “The family is going to have to make that decision,” said Cain.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday showed Cain was the first choice for the Republican presidential nomination for 27 percent of voters. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney followed with 23 percent and Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 16 percent.

When asked what distinguishes him from Romney, Cain said, “he has been more of a Wall Street executive, I have been more of a main street executive.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-cain-meet-press-20111016,0,812972.story