Intelligent idiots, smart fools, multi-degreed morons - lots of monikers could describe a category of individuals dismayingly prominent in the ruling elites of the West. They are the people so divorced from reality, so engrossed in bookish pursuits that - for all their undoubted intellectual accomplishments and often as a direct consequence thereof - they invariably end up with egg on their faces whenever they try to engage in practical activities.
Worse yet, they idolize each other, sticking up for one another out of class solidarity. Case in point: a few days ago I watched a gathering of noted media intellectuals on C-SPAN. David Brooks of the New York Times was supposed to counterbalance the four leftist pundits who vigorously extolled Barack Obama's genius. But even the token conservative's criticism was perfunctory. Having poked a couple of holes in the administration's economic agenda, Brooks waxed lyrical about Obama's personnel policy. He was struck by the "sheer intellectual brilliance" of the economic team Obama has assembled, people "like Larry Summers" who dazzle any gathering and dominate any discussion.
Apparently, the NYT columnist was unable to see the inherent contradiction in his effusive praises: if the people who formulate the administration's economic policy are so smart, why is it so disastrous? Last January, these wizards of smart predicted that if Obama's stimulus package were passed, the unemployment rate would not go beyond 8 percent by the end of the year. At this point, it is nearing 10 percent and shows no sign of slowing down. How could they be so wrong with their vaunted brilliance?
It is a common mistake of intellectuals to confuse IQ with common sense and verbal fluency with leadership qualities. They are simply unable to comprehend that academic success does not necessarily translate into a firm grasp on reality; the knack for endlessly bloviating on an abstruse subject does not automatically imply administrative ability; an academic degree is not a substitute for practical experience; and a professors' lounge is not a corporate boardroom.
Nobody would deny that the members of Obama's circle of economic advisors are indeed academically adept, well-spoken men and women. But have any of them ever run a lemonade stand, much less a bona fide business? Have they ever met a payroll? Do they know what it means to toss and turn in bed, worrying over the coming rise in vendor prices? They may have academic theories and marshal vast amounts of data, but have little practical knowledge of how things work in the real world.
So what do they bring to the administration other than long resumes and fearsome reputations as intellectual polemicists? All these brilliant academics have been brought on board for the sole purpose of lending an intellectual veneer to Obama's political schemes and validate his power grab. Hence the pitiful sight of these noted intellectuals being trotted out to the microphones to bleat pathetically in defense of the administration's agenda.
Which should vividly remind us of the conduct of the Vietnam War by another undeniably brilliant man, full of theories and impressively in command of the data, Robert McNamara, "the perfect man" in Lyndon Johnson admiring characterization, who died earlier this week at 93. John F. Kennedy brought a team of "the best and the brightest" from Harvard to manage the war. They invaded the Pentagon and set about doing what they did best (and actually the only thing they knew): writing learned position papers, drawing charts and measuring results.
They developed a sophisticated plan and confidently awaited the inevitable outcome: the enemy would capitulate when all the curves on their charts would converge to a single point, signifying such and such level of devastation of the North Vietnamese industrial base, such and such number of casualties and other equally weighty indicators. Finally the day came when the fateful point was reached and ... nothing happened. The enemy blithely continued fighting.
The "best and the brightest" rushed back to their equations, they checked and rechecked the numbers but couldn't find anything wrong with them. And yet the benighted North Vietnamese, apparently unaware that they were supposed to surrender, had no intention of complying with the scientific logic of the Harvard men. Not one of them realized what they would have known had they studied Tacitus: that it is not the resources or the level of casualties that determine the outcome of any war, but the resolve to go on fighting in spite of the casualties, i.e. the grit and the fighting spirit.
Karl Marx memorably said that history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. McNamara's war management was a tragedy. Nearly half a century later, Obama's economic policy, which amounts to an all-out assault on the U.S. economy, repeats history as a farce -- which would be hilarious, if we didn't have to live with the consequences.
Furor grows over partisan car dealer closings By: Mark Tapscott Editorial Page Editor 05/27/09 3:37 PM EDT
Evidence appears to be mounting that the Obama administration has systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to Repubicans. What started earlier this week as mainly a rumbling on the Right side of the Blogosphere has gathered some steam today with revelations that among the dealers being shut down are a GOP congressman and closing of competitors to a dealership chain partly owned by former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty. The basic issue raised here is this: How do we account for the fact millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008?
Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan learned from a House colleague that his Venice, Florida, dealership is on the hit list. Buchanan also has a Nissan franchise paired with the Chrysler facility in Venice.
"It's an outrage. It's not about me. I'm going to be fine," said Buchanan, the dealership's majority owner. "You're talking over 100,000 jobs. We're supposed to be in the business of creating jobs, not killing jobs," Buchanan told News 10, a local Florida television station.
Buchanan, who succeeded former Rep. Katharine Harris in 2006, reportedly learned of his dealership's termination from Rep.Candace Miller, R-MI. Buchanan owns a total of 23 dealerships in Florida and North Carolina.
Also fueling the controversy is the fact the RLJ-McCarty-Landers chain of Arkansas and Missouri dealerships aren't being closed, but many of their local competitors are being eliminated. Go here for a detailed look at this situation. McClarty is the former Clinton senior aide. The "J" is Robert Johnson, founder of the Black Entertainment Television, a heavy Democratic contributor.
A lawyer representing a group of Chrysler dealers who are on the hit list deposed senior Chrysler executives and later told Reuters that he believes the closings have been forced on the company by the White House.
"It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers. It really wasn't Chrysler's decision. They are under enormous pressure from the President's automotive task force," said attorney Leonard Bellavia.
RedState.com's Josh Painter has a useful roundup of what has been found so far by a growing number of bloggers digging into what could be a very big story indeed. Also, see my column on this issue and how it fits into the larger context dubbed by the Examiner's Michael Barone as "gangster government."
As part of Chrysler's bankruptcy agreement with the White House, the company plans to close roughly a quarter of its 3,200 dealerships. Lists of the dealerships being cut and those retaining their Chrysler franchises can be found here in pdf format. Many dealers contend the criteria being used to determine which dealerships survive is not clear and that many of those that are being closed in fact are profitable businesses, despite the current recession.
[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 07-10-2009).]
The press, true to form, is hailing Obama's trip to Russia as statesmanlike. Reality, as usual, is different.
When Obama took a pass on missile defense and agreed with Russia's Medvedev to reduce our nuclear arsenal by one-third, he accomplished worse than nothing. He sold out our Eastern European allies, dumping a desperately needed missile defense plan for Poland. As he did so, he revised history, claiming we did not win the cold war. Obama said, "We don't have to diminish other people in order to recognize our role in that history." Yes, he said that. And it gets worse.
When queried in his press conference with Medvedev by Ben Feller of the Associated Press as to whether he trusted his Russian counterpart and whether he believed he's truly in charge, Obama said: "I trust President Medvedev." On the matter of whether Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin is really calling the shots, Obama was even more simpering: "My understanding is that President Medvedev is the president. Prime Minister Putin is the prime minister. And they allocate power in accordance with Russia's form of government, in the same way that we allocate power in the United States."
Can you imagine what the reaction would have been if Bush had displayed such stupidity and naivete? They would have ripped Bush to shreds. "Trust Medvedev" -- what foolishness. Groveling to Putin, eight years after Bush "looked into Putin's eyes."
Who can forget how the media derided and mocked George W. Bush when, after a 2001 visit, he said of Vladimir Putin, "I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country."
They pounded him relentlessly. Six years later the New York Times was still running headlines like "Mr. Bush Gets Another Look Into Putin's Eyes."
So it is amusing to watch the media groveling to Obama as Obama grovels before an evil despot. For eight years after Bush got a sense of Putin's soul, we know what he is. Putin is a KGB thug who has assassinated numerous journalists. Does Obama admire Putin's war in Grozny? There really is no word for this kind of stupidity. It's more than stupidity, it's just evil. The only nuclear reduction the Russians will undertake is selling more of their weapons to America's enemies.
Obama refused France when Sarkozy offered to host a Middle East peace conference later this year. Russia offered, and Obama said yes. Yet Russia backs Iran. Russia helped create the Israel/"Fakestinian" conflict (remember, the "Palestinian" nationality was created out of whole cloth in the 1960s) -- and they will host a "peace" conference? I ask you.
Putin praised Yaser Arafat. Back in 2003, Romanian intelligence chief Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest ranking intelligence officer ever to have defected from the former Soviet bloc, clarified Arafat's Russian connections. As Romania's former spy chief, Pacepa has read Arafat's KGB file. He describes Arafat as "an Egyptian bourgeois turned into a devoted Marxist by KGB foreign intelligence." He says that Arafat was a KGB agent. According to Pacepa, Arafat "is a career terrorist, trained, armed and bankrolled by the Soviet Union and its satellites for decades." Pacepa described Moscow's plan to make Arafat the national leader of the Palestinians. And this was what Arafat has became, as he went on to conduct the greatest terror offensive of them all -- against Israel.
Arafat was trained at the Balashikha special-ops school in Russia. Pacepa also relates how "the KGB destroyed the official records of Arafat's birth in Cairo, replacing them with fictitious documents saying that he had been born in Jerusalem and was therefore a Palestinian by birth."
Putin was/is KGB to the bone.
And Obama said to Putin, "I am aware of not only the extraordinary work you have done on behalf of the Russian people in your previous role as prime minister -- as president -- but in your current role as prime minister."
Yes, invading Georgia was an extraordinary moment.
Obama appears weak. He is groveling to Russia. It is a sad performance from a President of the United States, who inside of a month aligned with Chavez-backed Zelaya in Honduras, turned a blind eye to the brutal crackdown of a historic revolution for freedom in Iran, called for ethnic cleansing for Jews in parts of Israel, and distributed 300 million of a promised 900 million dollars to the jihad in Gaza.
George Bush's fault? Hope he is getting a sense that the world is really not just a playground, and do please quit buckling to these to these $**** heads and making us look weak.
After seeing the other thread about the above video, its time to put my foot in my mouth. At first glance, Obama is getting punked, when in fact he is introducing members of his staff.
[This message has been edited by hklvette (edited 07-23-2009).]
Plan to spend the nation out of recession isn't stimulating the economy or creating jobs
The Detroit News
President Barack Obama's plan to attack the recession through massive deficit spending is not producing the results the president promised in February when he convinced the American people to go deep into hock in the name of creating jobs and boosting economic growth. Obama is well into spending the $787 million approved by Congress for his stimulus programs, and yet the unemployment rate is still climbing and economic recovery remains elusive.
Administration economists projected that the huge influx of borrowed federal dollars would keep the national unemployment rate from breaking through the 8 percent mark. It stands at 9.5 percent today and is still rising.
Since the stimulus money was targeted toward so-called shovel-ready projects, the promise was that it would provide an almost immediate economic surge. Although spending of the stimulus money is ahead of schedule, it has not pushed economic growth upward. Even the construction industry, flush with cash for road building and other infrastructure projects, is lagging last year's performance. There's also little evidence that roughly an equal amount of taxpayer money poured into the banks and other financial institutions has done much to free up credit markets.
Proponents of big government spending see the failure of the stimulus package to deliver measurable results not as evidence that the strategy was wrong, but rather that not enough money was placed behind it. They're advocating yet another stimulus program, equal to or bigger than the last. That would compound the mistake and drag the nation even deeper into debt. Borrowing has already pushed beyond the reckless level -- the federal deficit is now nearly 12 percent of total economic output.
Printing or borrowing even more money to fund this failed experiment would devalue the dollar and increase the likelihood of devastating inflation. We said when Obama first proposed this spending explosion that it was the wrong way to stimulate the economy. That's now fact. Instead of more spending, Obama and Congress should turn to the only proven stimulus strategy: cutting taxes. Corporate and individual tax rates should be cut substantially, at all income levels, and the administration should signal that there will be no new taxes for anyone. Taxpayers allowed to keep more of their own money would spread it around the economy and trigger a broad and sustainable rebound.
The president should signal that his No. 1 priority is reviving the economy and set aside those pieces of his agenda -- carbon cap-and-trade and health care reform specifically -- that carry the serious risk of killing jobs and raising the costs of goods and services. Particularly, it ought to be clear to everyone in Washington that a nation that has squandered more than a trillion dollars on failed stimulus efforts can't afford the $100 billion to $200 billion 10-year price tag for Obama's health care proposal.
Obama has taken fiscal irresponsibility to unprecedented heights. He can't keep spending like this.
The administration and Congress should act now to bring the spending train to a screeching halt, find ways to make deep cuts in the federal budget and let individual taxpayers act as the primary agents for stimulating the economy.
On the 6th of November last, I made a wager with some of my associates in London and Zurich that within a year they would be pining for the return of George W. Bush and his "cowboy presidency".
As of today, my friends have collectively conceded and are forwarding payment.
Why the sudden capitulation? Reality has begun to set in with a vengeance.
For nearly 65 years Western Europe has lived under the military umbrella provided by the United States. That left these countries free to minimize spending for defense and maximize spending on social issues. European socialism became a new hybrid form of historic socialist thought. It combined a modified capitalist system to provide the funding and the government to oversee cradle to grave security. At that point in history, United States and European economic hegemony controlled world trade. Surely prosperity, despite some expected minor ups and downs, would be expected far into the future, thus financing all the spending on both sides of the Atlantic.
But some unexpected things happened on the way to this never-ending golden age.
First: A true world economy began to emerge, beginning with Japan then Korea, China, India and many other former third world countries. These nations were now beginning to develop their own middle class and raise the standard of living for their populations. Therefore, in order to compete and continue this growth, they began to aggressively attract business and capital to their shores. With a built-in advantage in labor and other manufacturing costs they succeeded at the expense of many European workers. More and more products were thus imported tipping the balance sheet in favor of these exporting countries, the net result being wealth sent overseas.
Second: Energy became a political issue thanks to extreme environmentalism. Untold quantities of money were transferred to other, in some cases hostile, parts of the world so that those in the West could feel better about themselves.
Third: With the cradle to grave security guaranteed by government and the lack of job creation, the level of permanent unemployment has remained in the double digit range and the birth rate has so declined that in most countries it is below replacement levels.
Fourth: Nearly all Western European countries are now faced with inevitable bankruptcy due to the excessive entitlements.
In the past ten years, some in Europe have begun to wake up and realize this path can no longer be sustained and changes had to be made on a gradual basis. However, as long as the United States was there, not only to defend Europe but also to be the dominate economic power in the world, time was certainly on their side.
President Obama's policies have now begun to open the eyes of the most hardened socialist in Europe and the reality of world without the United States being the economic and military super power thus potentially ushering in the demise of Western Civilization has become a frequent topic of conversation.
I must confess I never thought it would take less than 6 months into the Obama presidency before articles would appear in one of the most liberal and anti-Bush publications in Europe, Der Spiegel, castigating President Obama. One of the more telling paragraphs:
Ex-President Bush was nothing if not zealous in his worldwide campaign against terror, transgressing human rights and breaking international law along the way. Now, Obama is displaying the same zeal in his own war against the financial crisis - and his weapon of choice is the money-printing machine. The rules the new American president is breaking are those which govern the economy. Nobody is being killed. But the strategy comes at a price - and that price might be America's position as a global power.
In an earlier article also in Der Spiegel Oxford historian and socialist Timothy Garton Ash discussed President Obama:
Speigel: While Europe slips to the right, the United States, under Barack Obama, is discovering the social market economy - and is slipping to the left.
Garton Ash: Soon they'll be more European than we are.
We have had through the years the advantage of watching and learning from the mistakes of our European partners, they are now telling us to stop and slow down on this headlong path to change our nation forever.
Remember that stuff about "if you don't want the government health plan, you can keep the one you have" ? Well.... lookie at page 16 of the health-u-lous bill. Apparently you can 'keep' your plan, but you can't enroll in another one. So if you change jobs you're forced onto obamacare; if you start your own business you're forced onto obamacare; if you try out obamacare and don't like it - you're stuck with obamacare.
And here I just figured they'd drive the private insurance companies out by charging everyone increased taxes to pay for obamacare whether they use it or not. Turns out that's not enough; they feel they need to outlaw the competition except for those who grandfather into getting to keep it.
Oh yeah. And congress will be exempt; they get their own plan. And the unions... they're off the hook as far as helping pay for the new commie plan (cause their current coverage is in their contract).
According to Rassmussun's weekly poll, yes. the drip, drip, drip of his wrecklessness is beginning to take it's toll on his approval numbers. Six more months, and he might actually be lower than George Bush was.
According to Rassmussun's weekly poll, yes. the drip, drip, drip of his wrecklessness is beginning to take it's toll on his approval numbers. Six more months, and he might actually be lower than George Bush was.
With the amount of damage that'll have been done by then, will it even matter at that point ?
We need to start prepping for uncle Sammy's 'quick rinse in bankruptcy'.
I am beginning to think I was wrong to say he would be as bad as Carter. If he can change his assessment on the economy, I can do the same. I now know he is far worse than Carter, and by the end of his first he will be shown the door just like Jimmy. One man should not have to endure both Carter and Obama in his life time.
And yet there are those who are buying his policies hook, line, and sinker. They are too blind to see all the damage these policies have caused and still blame Bush for the problems we are in and are about to be in. Hopefully enough of them will come down, from the kool aid high, in time to stop some of this mess at the next elections.
[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 07-17-2009).]
And it came to pass in > the Age of Insanity that the people of > the land called > America , having lost their > morals, their initiative, > and their will to defend > their liberties, chose as their Supreme > Leader that person known > as "The One".
> He emerged from the > vapors with a message that had no meaning; > but > He hypnotized the people > telling them, "I am sent to save > you. > My lack of experience, > my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, > and my association with > evil doers are of no consequence. For I > shall save you with Hope > and Change.
> Go, therefore, and > proclaim throughout the land that he who > preceded me is evil, > that he has defiled the nation, and that all > he > has built must be > destroyed." And the people rejoiced, for > even > though they knew not > what "The One" would do, he had promised that it > was good; > and they > believed. And "The One" said "We live > in the greatest country in the world. > Help me change > everything about it!" > And the people said, > "Hallelujah! Change is > good!" > Then He said, "We > are going to tax the rich fat-cats." And > the > people said "Sock > it to them!" > "And redistribute > their wealth." And the people said, "Show us > the money!" > And then He said, > "Redistribution of wealth is good > for > everybody" > And Joe the plumber > asked, "Are you kidding me? > You're going to > steal my money and give it to the > deadbeats??" > And "The > One" ridiculed and taunted him, and > Joe's > personal records were > hacked and publicized. > One lone reporter asked, > "Isn't that Marxist > policy?" > And she was > banished from the kingdom!
> Then a citizen asked, > "With no foreign relations experience > and > having zero military > experience or knowledge, how will you deal > with > radical > terrorists?" And "The One" said, > "Simple. I shall sit with > them and talk with them > and show them how nice we really are; and > they will forget that > they ever wanted to kill us all!" And > the > people said, > "Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat > our > weapons into free cars > for the people!" > Then "The One" > said, "I shall give 95% of you lower taxes." > And > one, lone voice said, > "But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes." So > "The > One" said, > "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the > fat-cats > pay!" And the > people said, "Hallelujah!! Show us the > money!"
> Then "The One" > said, "I shall tax your Capital Gains when > you > sell your > homes!" And the people yawned and the > slumping housing > market collapsed. And He > said, "I shall mandate employer- funded health care > for > EVERY worker and raise > the minimum wage. And I shall give every > person unlimited > healthcare and medicine and transportation to > the > clinics." And > the people said, "Give me some of > that!" > Then he said, "I > shall penalize employers who ship jobs > overseas."
> And the people said, "Where's my rebate > check?" > Then "The One" > said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry > and > electricity rates will > skyrocket!" And the people said, "Coal > is > dirty, coal is evil, no > more coal! But we don't care for that > part > about higher electric > rates." So "The One" said, "Not to > worry. If > your rebate isn't > enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail > you > out. Just sign up with > ACORN and your troubles are over!"
> Then He said, > "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and > slighted. > Let's grant them > amnesty, Social Security, free education, > free > lunches, free medical > care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed > housing..." > And the people said, "Hallelujah!!" And they made > him King!
> And so it came to pass > that employers, facing spiraling costs > and ever-higher taxes, > raised their prices and laid off workers. > Others simply gave up > and went out of business and the economy > sank > like unto a rock dropped > from a cliff. > The banking industry was > destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a > crawl. And more of the > people were without a means of support. > Then "The One" > said, "I am the "The One" - The Messiah - and > I'm > here to save you! We > shall just print more money so everyone > will > have enough!" > But our foreign trading partners said unto Him, > "Wait > a minute. Your dollar is > not worth a pile of camel dung! You will > have to pay > more..." And the people said, "Wait a > minute. That is > unfair!!" And > the world said, "Neither are these other > idiotic > programs you have > embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state> > and a second-rate power. > Now you shall play by our rules!" > And the people cried > out, "Alas, alas!! What have we done?" > But > yea verily, it was too > late. The people set upon "The One" and > spat > upon him and stoned him, > and his name was dung. And the once > mighty > nation was no more; and > the once proud people were without > sustenance > or shelter or > hope. And the Change "The One" had given them > > was as like unto a > poison that had destroyed > them and like a > whirlwind that consumed all that they had > built. > And the people beat > their chests in despair and cried out in > anguish, > "Give us back our > nation and our pride and our hope!!" But it > was > too late, and their > homeland was no more.
Political death, that is, and of course, I am talking about percentages, not years. (So no silly death-to-Obama accusations from you liberals, okay?) Today, for the first time (to this writer's knowledge) in any poll of his presidency Obama's approval rating falls to 50%. Leaving aside the number itself, that it's the Rasmussen poll cannot be creating many happy campers at the White House. First, Rasmussen polls only likely voters. Second, his daily numbers actually are three-day running averages. This means, mathematically, that Obama was below 50% on at least one day. And third, there is Rasmussen's sterling reputation for accuracy.
What could be worse? Well, falling below 50% would be worse and so Obama might, and soon. But in the meantime, how about this, hot off the Rasmussen Website:
If the 2012 presidential election were held today, President Obama and possible Republican nominee Mitt Romney would be all tied up at 45% each, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
The president, seeking a second four-year term, beats another potential GOP rival, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, by six points - 48% to 42%
His personal popularity is still high, befitting our Celebrity-in-Chief. But when it comes to the issues he's promoting, Obama's agenda appears to be in trouble with the voters.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals declining support for the president's legislative agenda across the board. Dan Balz and Jon Cohen have the details:
Heading into a critical period in the debate over health-care reform, public approval of President Obama's stewardship on the issue has dropped below the 50 percent threshold for the first time, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Obama's approval ratings on other front-burner issues, such as the economy and the federal budget deficit, have also slipped over the summer, as rising concern about spending and continuing worries about the economy combine to challenge his administration. Barely more than half approve of the way he is handling unemployment, which now tops 10 percent in 15 states and the District.
The president's overall approval rating remains higher than his marks on particular domestic issues, with 59 percent giving him positive reviews and 37 percent disapproving. But this is the first time in his presidency that Obama has fallen under 60 percent in Post-ABC polling, and the rating is six percentage points lower than it was a month ago.
Since April, approval of Obama's handling of health care has dropped from 57 percent to 49 percent, with disapproval rising from 29 percent to 44 percent. Obama still maintains a large advantage over congressional Republicans in terms of public trust on the issue, even as the GOP has closed the gap.
Independents have become particularly skeptical of Obama's health care plan with just 44% supporting him (as opposed to 49% opposing). This is down from 53% support last month among indies.
The president hits the airwaves on Wednesday night in what promises to be an interesting press conference. The print media has become less enamored of the president the last month and it will be interesting to see if Obama loses his cool when confronted with not only the bad news on polling, but the reluctance of members of his own party to pass his agenda.
I sure hope he holds this sham together for a while longer. At the present rate he will be out of office before he completely ruins everything.
Then what are you gonna do?
Try and fix this mess? Not going to happen. But you will get part of the blame. Better to let Obama do it all on his own(with congress) Then to think we can make a difference now. Viva Obama he is the way to revolution.
It seems the Obama Administration is trying to hide the proverbial dead elephant in the middle of the room.
Traditionally the executive branch releases the annual midsummer budget update in mid-July. This update replaces data from budgets and forecasts with actual spending and revenue figures from the first half of the federal fiscal year which ended March 31, 2009. By using real data the Office of Management and Budget can provide a more accurate forecast of deficits or surpluses going forward.
The Obama Administration is breaking tradition by delaying the release of the information until mid-August - after Congress leaves for its summer recess. The Obama administration is also trying to push congress to pass health care reform bills before the recess.
As I type, the NYT Caucus Column is one of the few sources currently reporting on this wonky issue. This Google Search should show other reporting on the issue if it becomes available.
Although the Whitehouse is able to spike the deficit projections for the rest of FY 2009, the actual deficit numbers are available for the first three quarters of FY 2009 and they are not pretty. The June 2009 Monthly Treasury Statement reports:
YTD Deficit FY2008 - $US 454.8 billion
YTD Deficit FY2009 - $US 1086.3 billion
Although increased spending initiatives like the Stimulus Bill make headlines, the vast majority of the money in the Stimulus bill has not been spent. The biggest change to the federal financial picture is a $345.2 billion drop in YTD revenue between FY 2008 and FY2009. This represents a staggering %17.9 percent of revenue. This revenue drop far worse than most observers expected and has not made its way into many forecasts as of yet.
According to the Federal Reserve, unemployment is expected to remain at or above current levels into the end of 2010. Stimulus Bill spending is expected to start in earnest FY2010. If revenues continue to drop or stay at their current anemic levels, and spending begins to rise sharply, we might one day look back fondly at our current $US $1086.3 billion deficit.
Oh, and remember that record breaking $1086.3 billion is only for the first 9 months of FY2009. We still have 3 months to raise the bar.
With the public’s trust in his handling of health care tanking (50%-44% of Americans disapprove), the White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to pass Obamacare: all Obama, all the time. As part of that effort, Obama hosted a conference call with leftist bloggers urging them to pressure Congress to pass his health plan as soon as possible. During the call, a blogger from Maine said he kept running into an Investors Business Daily article that claimed Section 102 of the House health legislation would outlaw private insurance. He asked: “Is this true? Will people be able to keep their insurance and will insurers be able to write new policies even though H.R. 3200 is passed?” President Obama replied: “You know, I have to say that I am not familiar with the provision you are talking about.” (quote begins at 17:10) This is a truly disturbing admission by the President, especially considering that later in the call, Obama promises yet again: “If you have health insurance, and you like it, and you have a doctor that you like, then you can keep it. Period.” How can Obama keep making this promise if he is not familiar with the health legislation that is being written in Congress? Details matter. We are familiar with the passage IBD sites, and as we wrote last week, the House bill does not outright outlaw private individual health insurance, but it does effectively regulate it out of existence. The House bill does allow private insurance to be sold, but only “Exchange-participating health benefits plans.” In order to qualify as an ?Exchange-participating health benefits plan,? all health insurance plans must conform to a slew of new regulations, including community rating and guaranteed issue. These will all send the cost of private individual health insurance skyrocketing. Furthermore, all these new regulations would not apply just to individual insurance plans, but to all insurance plans. So the House bill will also drive up the cost of your existing employer coverage as well. Until, of course, it becomes so expensive that your company makes the perfectly economical decision to dump you into the government plan. President Obama may not care to study how many people will lose their current health insurance if his plan becomes law, but like most Americans, we do. That is why we partnered with the Lewin Group to study how many Americans would be forced into the government “option” under the House health plan. Here is what we found: Approximately 103 million people would be covered under the new public plan and, as a consequence, about 83.4 million people would lose their private insurance. This would represent a 48.4 percent reduction in the number of people with private coverage. About 88.1 million workers would see their current private, employer-sponsored health plan go away and would be shifted to the public plan. Yearly premiums for the typical American with private coverage could go up by as much as $460 per privately-insured person, as a result of increased cost-shifting stemming from a public plan modeled on Medicare. It is truly frightening that the President of the United States is pressuring Congress in an all-out media blitz to pass legislation that he flatly admits he has not read and is not familiar with. President Obama owes it to the American people to stop making promises about what his health plan will or will not do until he has read it, and can properly defend it in public, to his own supporters.
A consumer-freedom group says President Obama's nominee for "regulatory czar" is an "animal-rights zealot" who may make life difficult for hunters and meat-eaters.
Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) has placed a hold on the nomination of legal scholar Cass Sunstein to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Budget and Management. Cornyn is worried that the Harvard professor may push an aggressive animal-rights agenda in the White House. Sunstein has argued in favor of outlawing sport hunting and meat-eating, and written that animals should be allowed to file lawsuits "with human beings as their representatives."
David Martosko with the Center for Consumer Freedom shares Cornyn's concern.
"If Cass Sunstein is ultimately confirmed to be the regulatory czar, having an animal-rights zealot in that position for the first time could be problematic for Americans who love to hunt, who like seeing circuses, [who like] having animals, who like taking their kids to the zoo, who like feeding their children meat and milk at lunch time," he warns.
"This is a guy who I would think will use every means at his disposal to push the radical animal-rights agenda."
According to Martosko, Sunstein may one day be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court -- so Senators Cornyn and Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) have both placed holds on Sunstein's nomination because they want the constitutional lawyer on the record now so that if he does something different they will be able to use it against him in a future confirmation hearing.
Barack Obama now has a negative approval score for the first time since his victory last November: 49% approve, 51% disapprove. Among those who feel strongly one way or the other, 30% strongly approve, 38% strongly disapprove.
I think the Gates-Crowley arrest controversy is killing Obama. So far , he is demonstrating he is not big enough to admit he blew it by calling the cops stupid, and pull back. Fine with me -- if he wants to see his poll numbers continue to crumble, which will ensure that his unworkable and ill-considered health care reform proposal fails, I am all for it.
A few more Rasmussen numbers: 25% think the stimulus worked. 53% oppose the President's health care reform bill. Poll numbers for Democrats running in 2009 and 2010 are also starting to crumble . Barbara Boxer is now up only 4% on Carly Fiorina. In Connecticut, friend of the bankrupt banks Chris Dodd, trails his GOP opponent Rob Simmons by 9%. In New Jersey, Governor Corzine, who has spent more money, and more of his own money, on state campaigns than any other candidate in American history. He is now 15% behind his GOP opponent. Of course, given the Torricelli model, perhaps Frank Lautenberg will replace Corzine on the ballot in October, and and then serve as both Governor and Senator.
The people of American understand that the Democrats run everything in Washington, since that profile in courage, Arlen Specter switched horses. By the way, Specter's numbers are also collapsing-he leads Republican Toomey by only 1% now.. Obama can blather, as he did in his news conference, about the GOP's obstruction, but the GOP has no power to block any Obama initiative at this point -- neither in the House, nor the Senate. So if the bills (health care, cap and trade in the Senate) are stalled, it is because there are enough Democrats in both bodies who understand the danger of following the Obama-Nancy Pelsosi-Henry Waxman ship crashing into the left bank of the river.
This would have been impossible to say a month ago,but Democrat-held Senate seats that are now in play next year include: Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, Colorado, California, , Pennsylvania, Nevada and maybe New York and Arkansas. The GOP will have to work to hold open seats in Ohio, New Hampshire and Missouri, and if Jim Bunning runs again, Kentucky is almost certainly gone. Lousiana (Vitter) and North Carolina (Burr) are not locked up either. But the playing field has shifted dramatically in a few months. Of course, things can change from how they look now, but they could change in either direction.
Obama has likely not bottomed, Nor have the Democrats.
We have all watched this scene in numerous Western movies. The sheriff says his prisoner will receive a fair trial when the judge arrives in the morning. But, one loud mouth stands on the steps of the jail house and works the crowd into a frenzy. The enraged mob breaks down the door, brutalizes the sheriff, drags out the prisoner and hangs him. It is later discovered that the prisoner was innocent. As a child watching these movies, I was amazed how people sheepishly followed one loud mouth.
I am amazed that the President of the United States uses the same technique as the loud mouth guy in the movies. To pass his stimulus package, President Obama, from his bully pulpit, has created an angry mob against corporations, executives, Wall Street and the auto industry. Thus, when he outrageously overreached his authority by firing the CEO of GM, his angry mob replied, "Yeah, yeah, get them! Let's string them up!"
Now, to pass his health care, Obama is back on the jail house steps yelling, "Let's drag out those dirty low down doctors! They perform unnecessary surgery on kids! And those insurance companies, they only care about profits! Are you gonna stand for that?"
The crowd, "No! No!"
Obama, "Well, what are you gonna do about it?"
The latest on President Obama's hit list are America's policemen. "Let's get those stupid racist profilers!" Without knowing the details of the Gate's case, president Obama said the police acted stupidly. He obviously spoke from his belief that black men are usually abused by the police.
While the officer in the Gates case, according to the police report, performed professionally and by the book, there are bad apples in every profession. Shamefully, race profiteers such as Al Sharpton relish every isolated incident of unprofessional behavior, viewing it as a golden opportunity to portray all police as racists. I have a few incidents of police behavior and profiling to share.
In the late 60s, a black relative had a nervous breakdown. He had his two young sons held hostage locked in the basement of their home threatening to kill himself and the kids. I was there attempting to calm his hysterical wife. Two white police officers arrived first at the scene; a young fit man and a veteran whose physique would lead you to believe the stereotype about cops and donuts could be true.
The wife of my relative feared for the life of her husband and kids. Not at the hands of her whacked out husband, but by the white police. She thought their attitude would be, "Let's just shoot this black n*****r"!
The older cop waddled to the basement door, "Come on son, I know life gets hard, but you don't want to do this....." He skillfully connected with my relative. Within what felt like no time at all, my relative tearfully surrendered to the veteran policeman. By the time several police cars had arrived, the veteran had my relative cuffed and gently secured into his police car. My relative received mental treatment and later returned to his family.
Years ago, my wife and I, a black/white interracial couple, were stopped at a traffic light. Police demanded we get out of our car. A robbery had just taken place and we fit the description even down to the make and color of our car. After checking us out, driver licenses and etc, the polite officers apologized for the inconvenience and went on their way. We were not manhandled or abused in any way.
I remember another incident in an upscale neighborhood in Maryland. Neighbors saw two young black men dressed in gangster attire, walking around. Though they looked out of place, no one checked them out because they feared being called racist. These men hijacked a woman's car dragging her and threw her baby out of the back seat.
I was raised in an all black community. When preppy white boys cruised around our community, 90% of the time they were there to buy drugs.
My point is this. It is absurd to ignore common sense and life experiences for fear of being accused of profiling.
Who will President Obama attack next on the jail house steps demanding America drag the low down varmints out and teach them a lesson?
There's no evidence Obama has even a sketchy grasp of economics.
Is President Obama an economic illiterate? Harsh as that sounds, there's growing evidence he understands little about economics and even less about economic growth or job creation. Yet, as we saw at last week's presidential press conference, he's undeterred from holding forth, with seeming confidence, on economic issues.
Obama professes to believe in free market economics. But no one expects his policies to reflect the unfettered capitalism of a Milton Friedman. That's too much to ask. Demonstrating a passing acquaintance with free market ideas and how they might be used to fight the recession--that's not too much to ask.
But the president talks as if free market solutions are nonexistent, and in his mind they may be. Three weeks after taking office, he said only government "has the resources to jolt our economy back into life." He hasn't retreated, in words or policies, from that view.
At his press conference, Obama endorsed a surtax on families earning more than $1 million a year to pay for his health care initiative. This is no way to get the country out of a recession. Like them or not, millionaires are the folks whose investments create growth and jobs--which are, after all, exactly what the president is hoping for.
Another tax hike--especially on top of the increased taxes on individual income, capital gains, dividends, and inheritances that Obama intends to go into effect in 2011--is sure to impede investment. It's an anti-growth measure, as those with even a sketchy grasp of economics know. But Obama doesn't appear to.
The president also spoke favorably at the press conference of taxing "risky" ventures by Wall Street investors. It wasn't clear what risky investments he had in mind. Never mind. Reckless risk-taking is hardly a problem at the moment. It's the lack of any risk-taking at all by investors that's holding back the economy. Obama said the funds raised through his risk tax would be available for bailouts of large financial institutions whose collapse might harm the economy. Fine, but there's a smarter, simpler, and tax-free way of dealing with outfits deemed "too big to fail." It consists of requiring deeper capital reserves as they grow in size. If that solution is known to the president, he hasn't let on.
Then there's the matter of corporate profits. You'd think Obama would love profits since they nurture a robust economy and job growth and are largely responsible for the rise in the stock market last week to its loftiest point since January. And strong profits may foreshadow an economic recovery. But the president's opinion of profits ranges from ambivalent to hostile.
He declared it "a good thing" that banks are profitable again, but he couldn't leave it at that. He went on to bemoan the absence of "change in behavior and practices" among bankers. As for the "record profits" of insurance companies, he had nothing but disdain. "What's the constraint on that?" he asked, as if those profits should indeed be constrained.
A good example of Obama's economic shallowness is his unrelenting defense of the $787 billion "stimulus." Enacted in February, it has had minimal impact on the economy. Yet Obama has no second thoughts. He says he wouldn't change a thing about the stimulus. It has "already saved jobs and created new ones," he said at the press conference, neglecting to note that 2 million jobs--a net 2 million--have been lost since it was passed.
He seems oblivious to what the stimulus palpably lacks: incentives for private investment. These were a major reason (but not the only one) for Ronald Reagan's success in ending the deep recession in 1981-82. They also aided the rebound from the milder recession in 2001. In both cases, investment in the private sector led to job creation. Obama, ignoring history, relied instead on government spending and small, one-time tax rebates (with no incentive power). Ideology may have played a role here. The stimulus was drafted by congressional Democrats, who loathe tax cuts. Obama could have insisted that tax incentives be added. He didn't. A fair conclusion: He simply doesn't understand the economic value of tax incentives.
"Tax cuts alone can't solve all of our economic problems," Obama said last winter. Nobody had said they could. This was a straw man. But tax incentives would surely have helped and might already have begun to stimulate the economy had Obama included them.
It's true that government can create jobs by funding infrastructure and other projects. But these are temporary jobs, and as we've been reminded again this year, it takes many months for government to get its act together and actually start hiring. The stimulus is nearly six months old and we're still waiting.
Nor does Obama understand the economics of business. Our corporate tax rate of 35 percent is the second highest among the major economic democracies. To avoid paying it, companies don't repatriate their overseas profits. They do this to be competitive in the global economy.
Slashing the 35 percent rate would allow them to bring profits home and remain competitive abroad. This solution isn't on Obama's radar. On the contrary, Obama has proudly proclaimed an economically counterproductive approach to overseas profits. In his address to Congress in February, he announced: "We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas." Profits earned abroad would be taxed at 35 percent.
This makes no economic sense. Untaxed foreign profits allow companies to keep many jobs at home. Taxing those profits weakens global competitiveness. And the beneficiaries would be foreign firms that replace American companies and reap the profits Obama is eager to tax. The Obama policy means the profits go away and tax revenues vanish. Does Obama understand this? There's no evidence he does.
Listen to Obama talk about making "clean energy the profitable kind of energy" and you reach the same conclusion: When it comes to economics, he doesn't get it. His "cap and trade" policy would limit carbon emissions, drive up the costs of gasoline, electricity, and natural gas, and stifle the economy. Only then would green energy become profitable (maybe) and only so long as it continued to receive a massive government subsidy. You can't get much more uneconomic than that.
But maybe Obama can. He wants to eliminate many deductions for upper middle class and wealthy taxpayers. He's eager to spur the growth of unions, though success here is likely to slow the rate of growth and increase the rate of unemployment. He wants government to intervene more aggressively in the economy, a reliable job killer. He's asked for authority to seize any financial institution deemed (by his administration) a "systemic risk" to the economy. He thinks government can teach the private sector lessons in efficiency. That would be an historic first. He believes his budget, which triples the national debt, "lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity."
Whew! And this is just what Obama has proposed in the first six months of his presidency. Obamanomics pays lip service to a free market economy. But Obama hasn't a clue what makes it work.
Why is President Barack Obama in such a hurry to get his socialized medicine bill passed? Because he and his cunning circle realize some basic truths: The American people in their unimaginable kindness and trust voted for a pig in a poke in 2008. They wanted so much to believe Barack Obama was somehow better and different from other ultra-leftists that they simply took him on faith. They ignored his anti-white writings in his books. They ignored his quiet acceptance of hysterical anti-American diatribes by his minister, Jeremiah Wright. They ignored his refusal to explain years at a time of his life as a student. They ignored his ultra-left record as a "community organizer," Illinois state legislator, and Senator. The American people ignored his total zero of an academic record as a student and teacher, his complete lack of scholarship when he was being touted as a scholar. Now, the American people are starting to wake up to the truth. Barack Obama is a super likeable super leftist, not a fan of this country, way, way too cozy with the terrorist leaders in the Middle East, way beyond naïveté, all the way into active destruction of our interests and our allies and our future. The American people have already awakened to the truth that the stimulus bill -- a great idea in theory -- was really an immense bribe to Democrat interest groups, and in no way an effort to help all Americans. Now, Americans are waking up to the truth that ObamaCare basically means that every time you are sick or injured, you will have a clerk from the Department of Motor Vehicles telling your doctor what he can and cannot do. The American people already know that Mr. Obama's plan to lower health costs while expanding coverage and bureaucracy is a myth, a promise of something that never was and never will be -- a bureaucracy lowering costs in a free society. Either the costs go up or the free society goes away. These are perilous times. Mrs. Hillary Clinton, our Secretary of State, has given Iran the go-ahead to have nuclear weapons, an unqualified betrayal of the nation. Now, we face a devastating loss of freedom at home in health care. It will be joined by controls on our lives to "protect us" from global warming, itself largely a fraud if believed to be caused by man. Mr. Obama knows Americans are getting wise and will stop him if he delays at all in taking away our freedoms. There is his urgency and our opportunity. Once freedom is lost, America is lost. Wake up, beloved America.
A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows that President Barack Obama's rating in Rasmussen's Presidential Approval Index has hit negative double digits for the first time.
The survey found that 29 percent of voters strongly approve of Obama's job performance, while 40 percent strongly disapprove.
Rasmussen calculates its Presidential Approval Index by subtracting the "strongly disapprove" figure from the "strongly approve" figure. As a result, Obama's overall score is a minus-11. That's the first time his rating has reached negative double digits.
Other results of the poll:
49 percent somewhat approve of Obama's performance.
50 percent disapprove of Obama's performance.
76 percent see Obama as liberal.
48 percent see Obama as very liberal.
54 percent primarily blame former President George W. Bush for America's economic woes.
25 percent say the U.S. economy has been aided by the economic stimulus package.
53 percent oppose the Democratic healthcare reform package.
37 percent say deficit reduction should be Obama's top priority.
20 percent say healthcare should be Obama's top priority.
The poll is based on answers from 1,500 likely voters. It has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
This is a really good assessment of where we as a country are at present. It is full of links (at the original site) if you'd like to follow up on the claims the article makes:
I don’t like being the bearer of bad news. It’s difficult for me emotionally and mentally to continually bring the message that ‘bad times are coming’ and I know you’re growing tired of continually hearing the message of ‘prepare, prepare, prepare.’ There are times when I wish I could see the ‘green shoots’ that Ben Bernanke says are sprouting up or agree that the Obama Administration has “rescued the economy from the worst recession ever.”
But I have to tell you how I see the world. I’m not an economist or banker and I could be wrong, but I don’t see ‘green shoots’ or long-term stability for America right now. On September 18, 2007 when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 13,403 and unemployment was at 4.6% and the ‘experts’ were telling you good times were ahead I had to tell you that, “We are absolutely heading in for a recession. It is unstoppable…”
I wish I could tell you I see better times ahead but I don’t. Here’s a summary of where we are today.
On the Domestic Front
Now, the DJIA stand at 9093, the official unemployment rate has hit 9.5% with non-government economists suggesting that the real unemployment rate is closer to 20% with over half-a-million Americans filing initial jobless claims a week. Unbelievably, the same ‘experts’ that missed the near-collapse of the global financial system are telling us about ‘green shoots’ and more good economic times ahead while are banks remain basically insolvent despite having received hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money and continue to fail without the infusion of taxpayer cash.
The 6.7 trillion dollar commercial real estate market faces hard-times with Wells Fargo reporting a 69% jump in non-performing commercial loans between the first and second quarters of this year. Commercial real estate prices are down 35% from their 2007 peak. Even that great optimist Ben Bernanke was forced to concede that the market for securities backed by commercial mortgages remains “completely shut down.” On the residential front a massive wave of optional adjustable mortgages are coming and the vast majority of these option ARMs are set to re-finance in 2010 and 2011.
The eighth largest economy in the world—which would be the state of California—has been paying its bills with worthless pieces of paper (no, not the US Dollar, but IOUs) that are so worthless that even our insolvent banks won’t accept them. And while the good people of California continued to work hard the politicians there spent their time debating whether or not cow tails should be removed from cows. The politicians worked out a grand solution to their money problems that include letting the sea otters keep their trust fund, sending 26000 prisoners home 20 months early and authorizes the California state government to “forcibly borrow” money from the county and city governments.
It gets better. The California public pension system director has now come out and said (apparently with a straight face) that he wants to make riskier investments in order to make up for the 23% loss it recently sustained. So, if I understand his thinking, the more you lose on risky investments the more money you should invest in even riskier investments—he’s got to get together with Joe “we have to spend money to keep from going bankrupt” Biden—that would be fantastic!
And while California is on the financial ropes the federal government is doing what it does best: taking advantage of their situation by telling state officials that if they close state parks due to budget problems it will seize the land, auction it off or re-sell it to the state. This land grab isn’t an isolated incident. Sarah Palin recently warned the American people to “be wary of accepting government largess. It doesn't come free.”
ACORN and the SEIU are part of this land grab. It’s not just a grab for physical land—but for our freedoms and liberties. These organizations are engaged in a pattern of intimidation and suppression of your rights.
At the national level our political leadership has put their faith in money and not the people. Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, at their core, think the American people aren’t ready to make the hard sacrifices so they printed money—lots of it. The TARP Inspector General has valued the total TARP monetary bailout commitments at 23 TRILLION dollars.
On the International Front
While President Obama is trying to create an atmosphere in order to have an open dialogue with our enemies, Iran continues to make progress building a nuclear bomb with some diplomats saying they could test one within six months which would set-off a nuclear arms race across the Middle East.
And while Obama is eager to have a dialogue with those who would do us harm his administration is ignoring our allies. Even the leaders of one of our closest allies, Israel, have been forced to discuss and plan what to do if Obama halts or reduces US military aid to their country.
Further east, China has gone from giving vague and cloaked answers about their support for our bonds to having their highest officials publicly call for a new reserve currency to replace the US dollar as the financial global backbone and our economic and military competitors Russia, Brazil and India were quick to endorse the idea.
Closer to home Venezuela is continuing their military build-up by doubling the number of existing tank battalions and following through on its purchase from Russia of 100,000 combat rifles, 24 top-of-the-line fighter-bombers, and 50 helicopters and is using this power to assist Iran and Hezbollah operations in South America. Meanwhile, Mexico continues to struggle against narco-terrorist organizations that seem to have the Mexican military out-manned and out-gunned as they struggle to end their reign of drugs and terror.
The Obama Administration’s response to these events is to continue the Bush Administration approach of “ignore them and maybe they’ll go away.” Adding insult to national security is that while our government has found $1,900,000 for the Pleasure Beach water taxi service project and another $4.2 billion for 341 other pork projects there’s apparently no money for border security and that’s why our politicians have actually requested VOLUNTEERS from the National Guard to serve on the border.
Our Politicians Continue to play Politics While the Country Teeters
So while our economic, domestic and international problems mount what are our politicians doing? Right here in New York City our billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, worked on passing a law to prevent YOU from idling YOUR car while his SUV idles 40 MINUTES at a time throughout the day.
Mayor Bloomberg joins a growing list of hypocrites and elitists who firmly believe they are entitled to live one way while forcing you and your family to live by another more restrictive set of rules. Michelle Obama preaches thrift and cutting-back while wearing $500 sneakers at a food-bank and quipped that $600 wasn’t really a lot of money and could easily be spent on a pair of earrings; Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are working overtime trying to force government health care down our collective throats while absolutely refusing to commit to adopt that same health care plan for themselves and their families; and Al Gore and the green movement ilk continue to make billions by forcing us to change our light bulbs and compel us to bring toxic mercury into our homes. And Charlie Rangel pushes for higher taxes while refusing to pay what he owes. Our youth are ‘educated’ through the propaganda of Americorps and ‘tolerance camps’ that this type of elitist behavior is good and that its okay for ‘them’ to live by a different set of rules than the ‘small people’ have to follow.
Not only are we losing our freedoms we seem to be in a race to do it. The TARP bill under Bush was a “must have rush bill”, the stimulus bill under Obama was a “rush”, the cap-and-trade bill “had to get passed” quickly and the health care bill originally had to be passed out of both chambers of congress before the end of August. Why? It took the Obama family three months to select the family dog—but the restructuring and rebuilding of America has to take place over one summer?
In short, politicians continue to play politics. We have a health care bill that would socialize 15-20% of our economy and add another trillion dollars to our national debt—and what are our politicians focused on? The Republicans are looking to defeat the bill—not based on conservative principles—but to make this Obama’s Waterloo. And Obama’s pushing to pass the bill—not based on a debate involving the benefits of his proposal—but because failure to pass it would “destroy my presidency.”
Conclusion
Our politicians continue to give us a weak anti-biotic when major surgery is required. The anti-biotic will temporarily mask our symptoms but will not address our underlying pathology and condition. In the end the meager dose of medicine we receive will actually make us worse by making our system immune and luring us into a false sense of security when we need to have all our senses heightened to the dangers and threats lurking around us.
Today, I wanted to show you where our country really is. We live in perilous times and we ourselves are in a perilous condition. We will have a period of stability where it looks like things are going well and it looks like we’ll have turned the corner on our problems. Remember, until fundamental changes are made any period of stability will be temporary. Tomorrow, I want to write a bit about how other countries, faced with similar challenges and problems dealt with those circumstances and whether they were successful in meeting those challenges.
We will meet those challenges but it will take commitment and a lot of work from us.
Barack Obama was out jogging one morning along the parkway when he tripped, fell over the bridge railing and landed in the creek below.
Before the Secret Service guys could get to him, 3 kids who were fishing pulled him out of the water. He was so grateful he offered the kids whatever they wanted.
The first kid said, 'I want to go to Disneyland ' Barack said, 'No problem, I'll take you there on Air Force One.'
The second kid said, 'I want a new pair of Nike Air Jordan shoes.' Barack said, 'I'll get them for you and even have Michael Jordan sign them.'
The third kid said, ' I want a motorized wheelchair with a built in TV and stereo headset!'
Barack was a little perplexed by this and said, 'But you don't look like you're handicapped.'
The kid said, 'I will be after my dad finds out I saved your ass from drowning! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
