Government Ownership of Banks Increases, Obama Used as Propaganda Tool, UN Walks Out on Iran

1) Bailout advisers shifting strategy Loans may be converted into banks' common stock WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's top economic advisers have determined that they can shore up the nation's banking system without having to ask Congress for more money any time soon, administration officials said.  In a significant shift, White House and Treasury Department officials say they can stretch what is left of the $700 billion financial bailout fund further than they had expected a few months ago, simply by converting the government's existing loans to the nation's 19 biggest banks into common stock (emphasis mine). Ummm…translation, they will now own the banks, in part or in whole.  Converting those loans to common shares would turn the government aid into available capital for a bank – and give the government a large equity stake in return. See: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/20/1n20bailout22378-bailout-advisers-shifting-strateg/?uniontrib 2) SPIN METER: Saving federal money the easy way WASHINGTON (AP) -- Cut a latte or two out of your annual budget and you've just done as much belt-tightening as President Barack Obama asked of his Cabinet on Monday. The thrifty measures Obama ordered for federal agencies are the equivalent of asking a family that spends $60,000 in a year to save $6. See: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SPIN-METER-Saving-federal-apf-14976290.html?.v=1 3) Glenn Beck: Obama used as propaganda tool HILLARY CLINTON: Well, I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year. I will promise a very vigorous diplomatic effort because I think that it is not that you promise a meeting with that high a level before you know what the intentions are. I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes. I don't want to make a situation even worse, but I certainly agree that we need to get back to diplomacy, which has been turned into a bad word by this administration, and I will pursue very vigorous diplomacy and I will use a lot of high level presidential envoys to test the waters, to feel the way. But certainly we're not going to just have our president meet with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez and, you know, the president of North Korea, Iran and Syria until we know better what the way forward would be. See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/24282/ 4) 51% View Tea Parties Favorably, Political Class Strongly Disagrees Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans have a favorable view of the “tea parties” held nationwide last week, including 32% who say their view of the events is Very favorable. See: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics2/51_view_tea_parties_favorably_political_class_strongly_disagrees 5) How Obama actually delayed pirate rescue SEAL team deployment stalled 36 hours, hampered by limited rules of engagement WASHINGTON – While Barack Obama is basking in praise for his "decisive" handling of the Somali pirate attack on a merchant ship in the India Ocean, reliable military sources close to the scene are painting a much different picture of the incident – accusing the president of employing restrictive rules of engagement that actually hampered the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips and extended the drama at sea for days.  Multiple opportunities to free the captain of the Maersk Alabama from three young pirates were missed, these sources say – all because a Navy SEAL team was not immediately ordered to the scene and then forced to operate under strict, non-lethal rules of engagement.  They say the response duty office at the Pentagon was initially unwilling to grant an order to use lethal force to rescue Phillips. They also report the White House refused to authorize deployment of a Navy SEAL team to the location for 36 hours, despite the recommendation of the on-scene commander. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=95451 5a) Somali pirates fire on cargo ships in Gulf of Aden See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_re_af/piracy 6) Four CIA chiefs said 'don't reveal torture memos' Agency's ex-directors objected to interrogation techniques being revealed. But Barack Obama went ahead anyway. See: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/four-cia-chiefs-said-dont-reveal-torture-memos-1671068.html 7) Iran leader sparks walkout at UN over Israel GENEVA – Dozens of Western diplomats walked out of a U.N. conference and a pair of rainbow-wigged protesters threw clown noses at Iran's president Monday when the hard-line leader called Israel the "most cruel and repressive racist regime." …At the first mention of Israel, about 40 diplomats from Britain and France and other European Union countries exited the room. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_re_eu/un_un_racism_conference And: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517151,00.html 8) Minnesota's Missing Votes  Some Senate absentee ballots are more equal than others. …Case in point: the panel's dismal handling of absentee ballots. Early in the recount, the Franken team howled that some absentee votes had been erroneously rejected by local officials. We warned at the time that this was dangerous territory, designed to pressure election officials into accepting rejected ballots after the fact. Yet instead of shutting this Franken request down, or early on issuing a clear set of rules as to which absentees were valid, the state Supreme Court and the canvassing board oversaw a haphazard process by which some counties submitted new batches to be included in the tally, while other counties did not. The resulting additional 933 ballots were largely responsible for Mr. Franken's narrow lead. See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124000875842430603.html