Vowing to find new ways to stimulate the sputtering economy, President Barack Obama will call for long-term investments in the nation’s roads, railways and runways that would cost at least $50 billion.

The infrastructure investments are one part of a package of targeted proposals the White House is expected to announce in hopes of jump-starting the economy ahead of the November election. Obama will outline the infrastructure proposal Monday at a Labor Day event in Milwaukee.

While the proposal calls for investments over six years, the White House said spending would be front-loaded with an initial $50 billion to help create jobs in the near future……

In a Labor Day interview on CBS’”Early Show,” Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the plan Obama was to unveil Monday would “put construction workers, welders, electricians back to work … folks that have been unemployed for a long time.”

Obama made infrastructure investments a central part of the $814 billion stimulus Congress passed last year, but with that spending winding down, the economy’s growth has slowed. Officials said this infrastructure package differs from the stimulus because it’s aimed at long-term growth, while still focusing on creating jobs in the short-term.

Administration officials wouldn’t say what the total cost of the infrastructure investments would be, but did say the initial $50 billion represents a significant percentage. Officials said the White House would consider closing a number of special tax breaks for oil and gas companies to pay for the proposal.

A spontaneous decision led a group of friends from Jackson to travel to Washington, D.C., for Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally on Aug. 28. Col. Don Sparks and his wife Mary Lynn were part of a crowd that stretched from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial — where the stage was set up — to the base of the Washington Monument, Don Sparks said.

“It was a mass of humanity,” he said. “The crowd stretched out far and wide.” Mary Lynn said the entire program, which lasted about three hours, was full of inspirational speeches and moments — with little time focused on politics.

“There was a peace around us,” she said. “I was swept up in the Holy Spirit and felt at peace.”

“People of all ages, all races, all walks of life were spending time together that day,” he said. “We had a great spot up front and around us were people from everywhere.”

…..The couple met people from New Jersey, Texas, California, Colorado, Utah, Hawaii, France and Nigeria, Mary Lynn said. “This event reflected all that was noble and of integrity,” she said. “Many of those there were young people, some brought their families. There was an outpouring of virtues that were truly emulated. I’ve never seen a more kinder, living, giving group of people who cherish this nation.”   “He gave us a 40-day challenge to be on bent knee praying every day for 40 days,” she said. “Also, we are to engage our families and cultivate fellowship with each other. Finally, we are to document all the things we can do to change someone’s life for good.”The entire event was memorable and gave the Sparkses something to think about as they traveled back home, Don said.

A gunman has been shot dead by police after taking a number of hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Maryland, U.S., after his idea for a television show was rejected.  

All three of James Jay Lee’s hostages managed to escape safely. At least one device appeared to explode as he was gunned down.  Lee walked into the main entrance of the building at 1pm today waving a gun and wearing what appeared to be metallic canisters strapped to his front and back…..

 A website registered under the name of James Lee contained demands that Discovery air programming urging people to stop having babies…..He said that was leading to the overpopulation of the planet….‘Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is,’ says the site, http://savetheplanetprotest.com. ….

 ‘Saving the Planet means saving what’s left of the non-human Wildlife by decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies!’ it says……

 ‘If there is ANY network whose responsibility it is to save the planet, it’s the Discovery Channel.’

Where’s the coverage of how his extreme leftist views in any way contributed to this event?  Keep looking but you won’t find it.

The Drudge Report has the ratings out for cable news. In 1,2, 3 order the winners are Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck. No wonder MSNBC hates these people.

FOXNEWS O’REILLY 3,977,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,645,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,600,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,097,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,858,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 1,856,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,078,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,027,000
MSNBC SHULTZ 699,000
CNN SANCHEZ 676,000
CNN KING 620,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 620,000
CNNHN GRACE 586,000
CNN COOPER 581,000

If there was ever an indication of the political hurricane that’s about to hit America in November, this is certainly a real-time look at what’s coming.

Imagine this. Almost 4 million for O’Reilly, over 2.6 million for Hannity, 2.6 even for Beck and so on.  These people are clobbering the competition. Wiping the floor with them. 

There are political tea leaves to be seen here, and not just those of the Tea Party.

Conservative Fox News host Glenn Beck, a frequent critic of the mainstream news media, has launched his own news site, The Blaze. The site appears to be modeled after The Huffington Post and not surprisingly, features stories with a conservative bent about some of Beck’s favorite issues, such as faith, terrorism, the imam behind the planned Islamic community center in New York City and Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday.

The site, which went live sometime Monday, features a welcome message from the man himself, timestamped just before midnight Tuesday:

If you are like me, watching the news or reading the paper can be an exercise in exasperation. It’s so hard to find a place that helps me make sense of the world I see.Too many important stories are overlooked. And too many times we see mainstream media outlets distorting facts to fit rigid agendas. Not that you’ve ever heard me complain about the media before. Okay, maybe once or twice.

But there comes a time when you have to stop complaining and do something. And so we decided to hire some actual journalists to launch a new website — The Blaze. And we moved fast. We built the team and the site in just two months.

Over half a million Americans showed up to Restore Honor

When Fox News and talk radio host Glenn Beck comes to Washington this weekend to headline a rally intended to “restore honor” to America, he will test the strength – and potentially expose the weaknesses – of a conservative grass-roots movement that remains an unpredictable force in the country’s politics…….

Some “tea party” activists say the event, at which former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is also scheduled to speak, will have a greater impact than last September’s “9/12″ march along Pennsylvania Avenue. Though the attendance figures for that anti-tax rally are disputed, it was the first national gathering to demonstrate the size and influence of the tea party movement……..

Conservative activists, meanwhile, promise that the rally will show their unity and voice, as last year’s 9/12 event did. Jamie Radtke, founder of the Federation of Virginia Tea Party Patriots, predicted an event as much as twice as large as last year’s, based on the number of buses that local tea party organizers have chartered. The Richmond Tea Party alone is sending 15 buses – up from seven last year, she said…….

Expect to hear a lot about how much the Iraq war cost in the days ahead from Democrats worried about voter wrath against their unprecedented spending excesses….Well, it was expensive to be sure, in both blood and treasure, but, as Hoven notes, the CBO puts the total cost at $709 billion….

* Obama’s stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War — more than $100 billion (15%) more.

* Just the first two years of Obama’s stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.

* Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.

* Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame.

* Iraq War spending was not even 15% of the total deficit spending in that time frame. The cumulative deficit, 2003-2010, would have been four-point-something trillion dollars with or without the Iraq War.

* The Iraq War accounts for less than 8% of the federal debt held by the public at the end of 2010 ($9.031 trillion).

* During Bush’s Iraq years, 2003-2008, the federal government spent more on education that it did on the Iraq War. (State and local governments spent about ten times more.)