Oregon Live

Jerome Polk was so impressed with the special edition Obama coins he saw television star Montel Williams hawking in an infomercial, he ordered six sets for himself and some of his grandkids.

Instead of coins engraved with Obama’s face, as Polk thoughy he’d ordered $18 a pop, the Northeast Portland retailer received four actual U.S. coins — a silver dollar, half dollar and two quarters — featuring painted-on Obama images.

“This isn’t an Obama coin, it’s a 50-cent piece with a picture glued on,” says Polk, who paid the U.S Coin Network $145.78 for five four-coin and one three-coin sets, including $25.98 in shipping.

The U.S. Mint doesn’t mind if companies decorate its coins and sell them — in this case — for nine times their worth. However, the federal agency doesn’t like it when companies offer authenticity certificates, as the Coin Network did, that may confuse consumers about who issued the coins.

The Coin Network’s certificate assures, “This is to certify and authenticate that the coins used in the Barack Obama Inaugural Collection are genuine and made by the United States Mint.”

Michael White, a Mint spokesman, says the agency has asked some companies to drop its name from certificates. Citing privacy, he wouldn’t say whether such a request was made of the Coin Network.

Painted coins, such as Polk’s set, which included a Silver Eagle dollar and a JFK half dollar, rarely hold value for collectors, said Paul Rigby, owner of Coin Cottage in Southwest Portland. In fact, he said, altering the otherwise sought-after Silver Eagle dollars detracts from their collectible value.

“Even with President Obama’s picture, it won’t help,” he said. “They usually end up sold as junk silver.”

Polk’s not surprised. “I knew it right away: I got bumped,” says Polk, whose mother also bought a few sets.

Jerome Polk is an idiot. $18 for Obama stickers? I wish I would have thought of this racket.

The U.S. Coin Network did not lie. The coins were really minted by the U.S. Mint.

Check out the video on KATU.com.

NEW YORK – Three news agencies refused to distribute White House-provided photos of President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Wednesday, arguing that access should have been provided to news photographers.

The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Presse said the White House was breaking with longstanding tradition in not allowing news photographers to capture the president at work in the Oval Office on his first day.

“We are not distributing what are, in effect, visual press releases,” said Michael Oreskes, managing editor for U.S. news at the AP.

The news agencies have used White House-provided images in the past for areas in the White House where media access is generally not permitted, such as the Situation Room or the private residence. But they contend that the Oval Office is the public office of the president and photographers should have access rather than rely on a government handout.

“Using these photos would be a major break with established precedent and would compromise the long-held tradition of independent photo coverage of the president and the White House by the major news agencies,” said Courtney Dolan, spokeswoman for Thomson Reuters.

There was no immediate reply to e-mail and phone messages left with Obama representatives.

The White House later released a photograph of the president retaking the oath of office with Chief Justice John Roberts, which the AP also rejected.

Vincent Amaluy, director of photographer for North and South America for AFP, said he suspected first-day confusion was more at play than an attempt to clamp down on access.

“We are hopeful of negotiating an amicable solution,” Oreskes said.

The two-year honeymoon is over!

Hat Tip: Hot Air Headlines

Funniest. Voicemail. Ever.

Check it out at ACE OF SPADES HQ.

I was going to originally title this blog “President Obama kills babies!”, but why be controversial?

Fox News.com

President Obama will issue an executive order on Thursday reversing the Bush administration policy that bans the use of federal dollars by non-govermental organizations that discuss or provide abortions outside of the United States.

Obama will sign the executive order on the 36th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in all 50 states.

The policy, known in governmental circles as the “Mexico City policy,” requires any non-governmental organization to agree before receiving U.S. funds that they will “neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.”

The language was announced at the United Nations International Conference on Population in 1984, and was approved by President Reagan and originally drafted by his assistant secretary of state, Alan Keyes.

I guess this ad was ineffective in swaying President Obama’s decision.

Murderer.

Hat Tip: Gateway Pundit

The Washington Times has removed the article.

Mr. Obama will shutter “all permanant detention facilities overseas,” the draft said, according to the individuals who asked not to be named because the orders have not yet been signed. There are at least eight such prisons, according to published reports. The Bush administration never revealed the number or location of the facilities, although several were said to be in Eastern Europe.

I believe I will be mostly blogging about National Security during President Obama’s tenure.

If President Obama believes that this executive order is good for the country, he is mistaken. This is not a good start

How many attacks on America and our allies have been prevented because of the information extracted by CIA agents from terrorists while insides these “black sites”?

It seems as if President Obama is sacrificing America’s safety for a misguided ideal of treating everyone equally, even if that person is evil.

Hat Tip: Hot Air Headlines

Marc Ambinder

President Barack Obama is going to get his blackberry.

On Monday, a government agency that the Obama administration — but that is probably the National Security Agency — added to a standard blackberry a super-encryption package…. and Obama WILL be able to use it … still for routine and personal messages.

It’s not clear whether he yet has the device.

With few exceptions, government Blackberries aren’t designed for encryption that protects messages above the “SECRET” status, so it’s not clear whether Obama is getting something new and special. The exception: the Sectera Edge from General Dynamics, which allows for TOP SECRET voice conversations.

Perhaps the NSA and US telecommunications companies have created a special, more secure digital pathway for Obama’s messages to travel on, one that would resist the inevitable penetration attempts by foreign governments.

A General Dynamics spokesperson declined to comment; the NSA did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment, neither did two Obama spokespeople.

The messages, like other White House communications, will kept from the public for the duration of his presidency, if not longer.

Obama and other officials won’t be able to use Instant Messaging in the White House.

Earlier in the transition, there was a plan to give select officials access to a Blackberry owned by the Democratic National Committee; the devices would be able to be used for political communication but would be subject to different disclosure rules.

I believe this is a National Security issue because the messages sent and received by other phones and Blackberry’s with Obama’s messages will not be protected by National Security Agency technology.

However, any messages that become public knowledge will be posted on Scoop This.

Hat Tip: Hot Air Headlines

Green?

The Institute for Liberty, a conservative think tank, estimated recently that the millions of people coming to the inauguration will generate a half-billion pounds of carbon dioxide — 260 million pounds from the 600 private jets that will come to Washington, and another 260 million pounds from personal vehicles.

It says the pollution amounts to more than 575 million pounds of CO2, which would take the average U.S. household 57,598 years to produce.

It looks like a hippie-nuke bomb went off.

Hat Tip: Hot Air Headlines and JammieWearingFool

Nice!

Michelle Obama - Juggler in Chief.

Hat Tip: JammieWearingFool

Drudge Report

At 735 pm, (Chief Justice) Roberts administered the oath of office again to President Obama in the map room.

Robert Gibbs said the White House counsel, Greg Craig, believes the oath was fine Tuesday, but one word was out of sequence so they did this out of a “an abundance of caution.” “We decided it was so much fun…” Obama joked while sitting on a couch.

Obama stood and walked over to make small talk with pool as Roberts donned his black robe. “Are you ready to take the oath?” Roberts asked. “I am, and we’re going to do it very slowly,” Obama replied.

Oath took 25 seconds. After a flawless recitation, Roberts smiled and said, “Congratulations, again.” Obama said, “Thank you, sir.”

(There was a) smattering of applause. “All right.” Obama said. “The bad news for the pool is there’s 12 more balls.”

Now, it’s official.

This is a wonderful commercial.

Please choose to protect the unborn, President Obama.

Hat Tip: The Jawa Report