Lawmaker: Obama Era Looks Like Atlas Shrugged

Matt Damon, Gene Simmons, and others who are disappointed

(NEWSER) - President Obama was quite popular with Tinseltown's biggest stars four years ago, but as he seeks reelection, he's fallen out of favor with some Hollywood liberals. The Week lists eight who have criticized the prez:

• Gene Simmons: The Kiss rocker now regrets supporting Obama in '08, because he believes the president hasn't done enough to help the economy. Who does he like this year? Mitt Romney.
• Matt Damon: He also doesn't think Obama has done enough (his beefs are with Wall Street as well as policies from the George W. Bush era), and said in December that "a one-term president with some balls" would have been better.

...BarackObama.com

(NEWSER) - Some wily jokester apparently got ahold of socialists.com and communists.com and set them to redirect … to President Obama's campaign website. Some Republicans have apparently fallen for the prank, fueling existing speculation that Obama is a socialist or a Communist, the New York Times notes: One user tweeted the information to Rush Limbaugh, calling it "Creepy. … Proof Obama is a communist." Tweets another, "For those who are still unbelievers - go to http://communists.com and see what comes up. I'll try to refrain from saying I told you so." More»

Birther group suspicious because of his dad's time in Mexico

(NEWSER) - Long-form , schmlong-form . The birthers are at it again, and this time they're not just after Barack Obama—they're going for Mitt Romney, too. Republican primary write-in candidate John Dummett Jr. and six like-minded birthers have filed a lawsuit demanding the California secretary of state check the eligibility of all presidential candidates before putting them on November's ballot, the LA Times reports. The suit specifically mentions “questions concerning the eligibility” of Romney. More»

At least 16 received letters this week threatening just that

(NEWSER) - Easy livin' at California pot dispensaries is about to go up in smoke. Even though several shops are operating legally under the state law allowing them to dispense medical marijuana,16 have received letters from federal officials warning them to shut down—or be closed. Federal law "takes precedence over state law and applies regardless of the particular uses for which a dispensary is selling and distributing marijuana," states the letter obtained by AP . Twelve letters were sent to dispensaries in San Diego, three to San Francisco shops, and one to a Marin County store. More»

Casino owner says that's why no one's hiring or investing

(NEWSER) - Why aren’t businesses hiring more people with the piles of cash at their disposal? Casino magnate Steve Wynn thinks it’s because they’re scared of Barack Obama. “I'm telling you that the business community in this company is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the president,” Wynn said on a recent conference call, according to USA Today . “Until he’s gone, everybody’s going to be sitting on their thumbs.” More»