Shareholders making their way to Bank of America Corp.'s annual meeting Wednesday in uptown Charlotte may find themselves weaving through scores of protesters angry over everything from coal-project financing to executive pay. The shareholders have concerns of their own: Bank of America's stock price has fallen nearly 40 percent since last year's annual meeting in Charlotte. And despite a modest rebound so far in 2012, the lender's performance still lags its big-bank peers. While protesters and shareholders have vastly different concerns, they do have one major issue in common: the bad mortgages that continue to weigh down the bank. Subprime mortgages contributed to hundreds of thousands of people losing their homes. They also have cost the bank billions in legal settlements and loan losses. Protesters want to see a halt to foreclosures. Shareholders, weary of write-downs and legal costs, are eager for the bank to put the mortgage issues behind it and focus on growth.

STEVE KROFT: Do you think that you might have the unemployment rate down to 8 percent by the time the election rolls around?

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I think it's possible. But…I'm not in the job of prognosticating on the economy. I'm in the job of putting in place the tools that allow the economy to thrive and Americans to succeed. Sometimes when I'm talking to my team, I- describe us…as…I'm the captain and they're the crew on a ship, going through really bad storms. And no matter how well we're steering the ship, if the boat's rocking back and forth and people are getting sick and…they're being buffeted by the winds and the rain and…at a certain point-- if you're asking, "Are you enjoying the ride right now?" Folks are going to say, "No." And are they going to say, "Do you think the captain's good—doing a good job?" People are going say, "You know what? A good captain would have had us in some smooth waters and sunny skies, at this point." And I don't control the weather. What I can control are the policies we're putting in place to make a difference in people's lives.

During a two-week period last fall, lobbyists representing a Korean trade association met with Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) or his aides five times, interspersing those meetings with $5,500 in contributions to his campaign.

A similar scenario played out in the office of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) this spring when lobbyists representing foreign entities paid a fundraising consultant on behalf of the Senator, contributed $2,000 to his campaign and contacted him about a potential trip to the United Arab Emirates within a four-day span.

The data, culled from a Project on Government Oversight analysis of contacts and contributions made to members of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, show that Clyburn and Baucus are no different than the other lawmakers on the new panel. In the past year — before the super committee was formed — lobbyists representing foreign interests repeatedly contacted each of the 12 Members who now make up the panel and contributed a collective $30,000 to their campaigns.

The bill will likely include cuts to direct commodity payments, conservation and nutrition plans. Lobbyists for agribusiness like the National Corn Growers Association and the American Soybean Association are pushing for Congress to cease direct payments in favor of improved crop insurance, which the Associated Press reports is pitting farmers in the south, who grow crops like cotton that benefit from direct payments, against those in other parts of the country.

One lobbyist described the relationship between lobbyists and congressional aides as “free-flowing and open,” Gannett reports.

The bill, if taken up by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction will be forced into an up-down vote, with no amendments to the legislation being possible. That’s drawing alarm from groups critical of farm subsidies, Gannett reports.

“Given the amount of money involved, and given the implications of the farm bill for our food and the quality of our environment, there’s a lot of folks in Congress that ought to have a voice in where this ends up other than the agriculture committees,” said Craig Cox, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the Associated Press Monday that the administration wanted the farm bill to increase disaster aid, following a difficult season for farmers.

I cannot emphasize the boost I think it would give the economy if we had a system that said to people whose homes are worth less than the mortgages that you can write down your mortgages to the value of your home if you can make the payment. Or you can extend the mortgage out and lower the interest rate. I don't think we ought to keep dumping these houses on the market when it's so depressed. Can we get the votes to do it? I don't know.

In January 2009, the unemployment rate was 6.9 per cent and Obama’s approval ratings were over 60 per cent. The question that framed his presidency was whether he would lead the country out of crisis the way Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the country out of the Great Depression, or whether he would become the next Jimmy Carter—a weak, one-term president done in by economic malaise and failures abroad.

This week the Congressional Budget Office revised down its projections of U.S. economic growth. It expects an anemic rate of 1.5 per cent in 2011 and 2.5 per cent in 2012. The U.S. unemployment rate will remain close to nine per cent through the end of 2012, the CBO predicted—a number that could spell political defeat for Obama in the next presidential election.

One Nevada Democratic Party insider offered this tip for candidates running for public office in 2012: "Don't get your picture taken with President Obama," he said.

The raid and visits come amid increasing evidence the Justice Department and Inspector General are exploring whether Solyndra mislead the government in securing its $535 million loan in 2009 -- and landing a vital refinancing of that loan earlier this year. Beginning in March, ABC News, in partnership with iWatch News/the Center for Public Integrity, was first to report on simmering questions about the role political influence may have played Solyndra's selection as the Obama administration's first loan guarantee recipient. One of the lead private investors in Solyndra was an Oklahoma billionaire who served as an Obama "bundler," raising money during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Members of Congress leading a House investigation of the DOE loan have focused specifically on visits Solyndra CEO Harrison made to Washington in July, when he said the company was on sound footing and expanding.

David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Obama, used the exact same phrase in dubbing the credit rating drop the “tea party downgrade,” as Democrats tried to position themselves as reasonable, pragmatic leaders and conservative Republicans as irresponsible ideologues who caused the downgrade by refusing to accept any new taxes.

That’s exactly the kind of blame game that led Standard & Poor’s, one of three key credit-ratings agencies, to strip the U.S. federal government of its AAA status Friday night and reducing it to AA+ for the first time in the nation’s history.

Bowing to pressure from immigrant rights activists, the Obama administration said Thursday that it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria, such as attending school, having family in the military or having primary responsible for other family members’ care.

The move marks a major step for President Obama, who for months has said he does not have broad categorical authority to halt deportations and said he must follow the laws as Congress has written them.

"Now they have this other governor, I can't remember his name," Paul joked. "He realizes that talking about the Fed is good, too. But I'll tell you what, he makes me sound like a moderate. I have never once said Bernanke has committed treason. But I have suggested very strongly that the Federal Reserve system and all the members have been counterfeiters for a long time."
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Paul also bemoaned the lack of press attention to his second-place finish at the Ames straw poll, and praised Jon Stewart for taking up the issue on "The Daily Show."

he bad news: Mr. Obama is below 50 percent in most of the battleground states that will determine next year’s election. And this result is from aggregated Gallup tracking data that were taken from January through June of this year, so it does not factor in the high-wire debt-ceiling act, the uptick in unemployment, and the plummeting markets.

Chances are, if each state was polled now, the numbers would be lower. His current Gallup three-day rolling average is 43 percent job approval.

Two Republican senators launched a pre-emptive strike today against any attempt President Obama may make to ignore the nation's debt limit and continue paying off America's loans.

Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas introduced a resolution making clear that Mr. Obama does not have the authority to pull off a "debt limit dodge," as they called it -- an issue that may arise if Congress doesn't agree to raise the debt limit within a matter of weeks.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano's recent description of a U.S.-Mexico border that's "as secure as it has ever been" appears to be in direct opposition to a Pentagon assessment.

For months the nation's Homeland Security Secretary has repeatedly insisted that everything is safe and secure on the southwest border, even as violence escalates and overwhelmed federal agents are increasingly attacked by heavily armed drug smugglers.

Just last month Napolitano declared that violence along the Mexican border is merely a mistaken "perception" because the area is safe and "open for business."

Dear Mr. President,

Why won't you secure the borders and do what the people have asked you to do?

The general public overwhelmingly favors immigration reform. Poll after poll shows that Americans want well-enforced, sensible, and sustainable immigration laws.

• 63% of likely U.S. voters think that border control is more important than “legalizing the status of undocumented workers.” Only 27% put amnesty ahead of border security (Rasmussen, March 2011).
• 67% of likely U.S. voters believe law enforcement officers should check immigration status during traffic stops (Rasmussen, March 2011).
• 66% of likely U.S. voters support strict government sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants (Rasmussen, March 2011).
• 67% of likely U.S. voters believe that states should enforce immigration laws if the federal government fails to do so (Rasmussen, February 2011).
• 65% of likely voters believe that gaining control of the border is more important than granting amnesty to illegal aliens living in the U.S. (Rasmussen, December 2010).
• 54% of likely voters oppose the DREAM Act, compared to 38% who support its passage (Pulse, November 2010).
• U.S. registered voters support stricter enforcement of immigration law over "integrating illegal immigrants into American society" 68% to 24% (Quinnipiac, September 2010).
• Americans oppose, 58% to 34%, granting automatic citizenship to a child born in the U.S. to an illegal immigrant (Rasmussen, August 2010).
• Two major polling firms asked Americans to rate President Obama's performance on a series of issues.
  1. 23% of likely voters rated Obama's performance on immigration as positive, while 74% rated his performance negative, including 58% who rated his performance poor (Zogby, August 2010).
  2. Only 29% of U.S. adults approved of President Obama's handling of immigration compared to 62% who disapproved (Gallup, August 2010).
• 61% of likely U.S. voters oppose "sanctuary cities" that prohibit police officers from inquiring about an individual's immigration status. Only 26% support sanctuary polices. 54% believe that the Justice Department should take legal action (Rasmussen, July 2010).

http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/facts/public_opinion.html

Mr. President, we would like for you to secure the U.S. borders and ports. We ask that you start listening to the people of this country. You know the same people who put you in the job, that pay your salary.

And by the way, 2012 is coming...voters remember... We won't get fooled again by you or the incumbents that promised one thing and did nothing about the true problems in America. Be they Republicans or Democrats.

The Independent Voter

Article V of the U.S. Constitution gives a supermajority of state legislatures the power to force Congress to call a convention to restrain an overreaching federal government through targeted constitutional amendments. There is no reason to worry about a "runaway" convention because three-fourths of the states—38 states—would have to ratify whatever amendment might be proposed. Moreover, nothing in the nation's history justifies fear of a "runaway" convention.

It is a myth that the U.S. Constitution was born of a "runaway" convention. The truth is the Convention of 1787 had an incredibly broad mandate from Congress—to establish "in these states a firm national government . . . [and] render the federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of Government and the preservation of the Union." In proposing the Constitution to amend the Articles of Confederation, the 1787 convention stayed well within the congressional call, as well as within the commissions of most delegates.

The state will stop collecting union dues from 16,500 private day care providers, and will no longer fund the agency in charge of their union, Department of Human Services director Maura Corrigan announced Tuesday.

Corrigan said the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council has not improved the quality of child care for low-income families whose children get state-subsidized day care.

Motion picture industry giants Relativity Media LLC and Shangri-La Industries recruited Bill Clinton to push for tax credits to build studios on Maui and Oahu. But a critic says breaks just help "the rich get richer."

Clinton who has financial ties to both companies, sent a letter this week to lawmakers asking them to support HB 1551 and SB 1550. "The Shangri-La/Relativity commitment to build the most environmentally friendly stages in existence, coupled with the economic benefits of this bill and Hawaii's timeless appeal, will make Hawaii the most attractive place in the world to shoot a film," Clinton writes.

The legislation would cost the state an estimated $46.3 million in lost revenues, according to the state tax department, by boosting the film production tax credit on Oahu by 35 percent (from 15 percent) and 40 percent (from 20 percent) on the neighbor islands.

One of the great ironies revealed by the global recession that began in 2008 is that Communist Party–ruled China may be doing a better job managing capitalism's crisis than the democratically elected U.S. government. Beijing's stimulus spending was larger, infinitely more effective at overcoming the slowdown and directed at laying the infrastructural tracks for further economic expansion.

As Western democracies shuffle wheezily forward, China's economy roars along at a steady clip, having lifted some half a billion people out of poverty over the past three decades and rapidly created the world's largest middle class to provide an engine for long-term domestic consumer demand. Sure, there's massive social inequality, but there always is in a capitalist system. (Income inequality rates in the U.S. are some of the worst in the industrialized world, and more Americans are falling into poverty than are being raised out of it. The number of Americans officially designated as living in poverty in 2009 — 43 million — was the highest in the 51 years that records have been kept.)

Money has emerged as the electoral trump card in the U.S. political system, and corporations have a Supreme Court–recognized right to use their considerable financial muscle to promote candidates and policies favorable to their business operations and to resist policies and shut out candidates deemed inimical to their business interests. So whether it's health reform or the stimulus package, the power of special interests in the U.S. system invariably produces either gridlock or mishmash legislation crafted to please the narrow interests of a variety of competing interests rather than the aggregated interests of the economy and society as a whole. Efficient and rational decisionmaking it's not. Nor does it appear capable of tackling long-term problems.

Much speculation and debate has centered on who might run for the 2012 republican nomination, but yesterday that speculation was put to some rest. Announcements were made on 1-12-11 that Hermain Cain has officially formed his exploratory committee for the 2012 bid after many months of encouragement from around the country.

After having spent over a year now listening to his radio show I'm thoroughly convinced that he is the man who can lead this country back to greatness. For those who don't yet know of him he has a nightly radio show on WSB 750 AM out of Atlanta which is picked up across many states but is available nationwide on the internet at www.wsbradio.com from 7 to 9 pm eastern time. Tonight he will be doing questions and answers with callers to his show about his bid to now enter the presidential running.

I strongly urge all my friends on the vine and all others who are concerned about our countries direction to visit the radios website tonight and listen to his show. Then vist his website at www.hermancain.com to see his ideas, positions, and opinions on the troubles we currently face.