Imagine if a Republican...

Obama should take his own advice

2010-06-08T07:45:00.003-04:00

Obama tells high school grads not to make excuses for their failures and to take responsibility for their own actions. I think it's time Obama takes his own advice and stops blaming everyone else for his own short comings.

President Barack Obama is telling high school graduates in Michigan not to make excuses, and to take responsibility for failures as well as successes.
In excerpts of remarks to be delivered Monday evening at Kalamazoo Central High School, Obama said that it's easy to blame others when problems arise. "We see it every day out in Washington, with folks calling each other names and making all sorts of accusations on TV," the president said.
He said the high school kids can and have done better than that.
The 1,700-student high school in southwest Michigan landed Obama as its commencement speaker after winning the national Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge. It was among three finalists picked through public voting on the schools' videos and essays, and the White House made the final selection.

Since Obama has been elected everything that has gone wrong has been everyone else's fault. What ever happened to the buck stops here Mr President? You've been President for a year and half yet the economy is still Bush's fault? Sorry Obama, but you own this economy. It's your failed socialist policies causes this prolonged recession.

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-05-05T09:54:00.002-04:00

Used a slur when talking about a group opposing him. How would the media treat Bush if he used the "N" word while talking about Jesse Jackson and his flock? Granted calling the Tea Partiers tea-baggers isn't quite the same. But this just shows how classless Obama is. Obama is supposed to be the President to the country not just to his special interest groups. Degrading a group of Americans like this is just something a President should never do.

The term "tea-bagger" is like uttering the "n" word, some say. Though he aspires to promote civility, evidence has surfaced thatPresident Obama has added "tea-bagger" to his public lexicon, though it's considered a cheap and tawdry insult by "tea party" activists. Watchdogs at Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) barked when they saw the proof, tucked in a sneak peak of Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter's new book, "The Promise: President Obama, Year One," to be released May 18. Indeed, it appears the president joined certain partisan critics and the liberal media, and took the tea-bag plunge

This is exactly why I'm pro-life

2010-04-29T08:12:00.002-04:00

Not because of any religious affiliation. I've never gone to church and while I think there is a God, or at least some higher power, I don't exactly worship anyone or anything. I'm pro-life because I think it is cruel. Especially when I hear stories like this.

The mother, pregnant for the first time, had opted for an abortion after prenatal scans suggested that her baby was disabled

However, the infant survived the procedure, carried out on Saturday in the Rossano Calabro hospital, and was left by doctors to die.
He was discovered alive the following day – some 20 hours after the operation – by Father Antonio Martello, the hospital chaplain, who had gone to pray beside his body.
He found that the baby, wrapped in a sheet with his umbilical cord still attached, was moving and breathing.
The priest raised the alarm and doctors immediately arranged for the infant to be taken to a specialist neo-natal unit at the neighbouring Cosenza hospital, where he died on Monday morning.
Italian police are investigating the case for "homicide" because infanticide is illegal in Italy.
The law means that doctors have had an obligation to try to preserve the life of the child once he had survived the abortion.

I know the Feminazi's will say this is no big deal and abortion of demand is all that matters. But how can any sane person say this isn't cruel?

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-04-27T08:32:00.003-04:00

Obama said he is counting on the young, blacks, latinos and women for votes in November. I guess us white males mean nothing to him. Now imagine if Bush said I'm counting on you white males to get me elected. Totally ignoring another race or all other races. The racism cry would never end.

But Obama is basically saying he doesn't care about white males and no one bats an eye. Of course this is nothing new with the liberal media. Supreme Justice Sotomayor made a racist comment that she can make better decisions because she is a wise latino and no one in the media cared. But of course if Justice Roberts would have said he can make better decisions because he is a white male that would have automatically disqualified him from service.

Obama will never raise taxes on those of us making less than $250,000

2010-04-22T13:49:00.003-04:00

What a load of crap. What does he think a Value Added Tax would be? It would raise the tax of everyone, including the poor. So if he was honest, which we all know he isn't, VAT wouldn't still be on the table.

President Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that a new value-added tax on Americans is still on the table, seeming to show more openness to the idea than his aides have expressed in recent days.
Before deciding what revenue options are best for dealing with the deficit and the economy, Obama said in an interview with CNBC, "I want to get a better picture of what our options are."
After Obama adviser Paul Volcker recently raised the prospect of a value-added tax, or VAT, the Senate voted 85-13 last week for a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution that calls the such a tax "a massive tax increase that will cripple families on fixed income and only further push back America's economic recovery."

Obama is trying everything he can do to cripple the American economy and to keep everyone miserable. I really don't think Obama has ever taken a basic economics class. What does he think will happen if they enact a VAT? Prices for everything will raise. Most companies add any expense on to their product. But I think Obama knows this and wants this. He wants everyone to be equally miserable...it's the socialist way.

Real leadership the GOP can believe in

2010-04-21T10:52:00.004-04:00

I really hope Chris Christie puts his hat in the 2012 Presidential election. I've said this a few times and I'll keep on repeating myself. This is the kind of leadership we need.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said voters next week should reject school budgets in districts where teachers refuse to accept pay freezes.
Employees in 11 of 588 school districts have so far agreed to accept no increase in wages, Christie, 47, told reporters today in Princeton. The governor has urged the concessions as one way to offset $820 million in education cuts in his proposed state spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
“I just don’t see how citizens should want to support a budget where teachers do not want to be a part of the shared sacrifice,” Christie said. “That’s my view on it.”

New Jersey is one of the bluest states in the Union. Not only did he urge the districts to reject the budgets they listened in an overwhelmingly margin.

New Jersey voters took a stand on school spending and property taxes Tuesday, rejecting 260 of 479 school budgets across 19 counties, according to unofficial results in statewide school elections.
In the proposed state budget he unveiled last month, Gov. Chris Christie slashed $820 million in aid to school districts and urged voters to defeat budgets if teachers in their schools did not agree to one-year wage freezes. The salvo ignited a heated debate with the state’s largest teachers union.

New Jersey, like many states and the nation, are in a financial mess. Obama is spending money like it is going out of style. Our national debt is out of control and the budgets just keep on rising. This country needs a leader like Christie who isn't afraid to cut the budget and control spending. This is a very rare trait that no liberal has and only a very few Republicans have.

This would have solved a lot of the problems

2010-04-21T08:37:00.002-04:00

But to me this is like voter fraud. I think when you go in to vote you should at the very least have to show your id. I know the liberals think that is "racist" or some whatever ism they want to attach to a common sense idea they can't argue against. Liberals are only good for a couple things, raising taxes, growing government and calling people names they know they can't win against.

I for one don't think Obama is a Kenyan. I think he is naturally born US citizen and as such he should have no problem showing his birth certificate and so doesn't the Arizona Legislature. They just passed a bill that would require any US presidential candidates to prove they are a US citizen to be on their ballots.

The Arizona House on Monday voted for a provision that would require President Barack Obama to show his birth certificate if he hopes to be on the state's ballot when he runs for reelection.
The House voted 31-22 to add the provision to a separate bill. The measure still faces a formal vote.
It would require U.S. presidential candidates who want to appear on the ballot in Arizona to submit documents proving they meet the constitutional requirements to be president.

I can't wait to hear how racist they are. How discriminatory this is. But this doesn't effect just Obama. People on the left were questioning McCain's naturally birth citizenship because he was born in an army base in another country. But because it was an army base technically that's US soil.

Post Partisanship from Obama

2010-04-16T09:00:00.003-04:00

Remember when Obama was running for President and everyone thought he was going to be the first post partisan President. He'd be the great uniter. I guess Obama's idea of uniting the people is by mocking them.

Obama told a fundraiser in Miami that he's cut taxes, contrary to the claims of protesters.
"You would think they'd be saying thank you," he said.
At that, many in the crowd at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts stood and yelled, "Thank you!"

Not only is he mocking the Tea Party Protesters, who are a group of ordinary citizens who want actual change in this country, he is flat out lying. What taxes have you cut Obama? It won't be long until Obama's approval rating is in the 30s.

All I have to say is Hell No

2010-04-15T10:46:00.002-04:00

As much as I like Sarah Palin there is no way in Hell I'd support her if she ran with Mitt Romney. We've tried to run the big government Republicans before. They aren't winning candidates, especially Mitt Romney. I wouldn't mind seeing Palin running for President or Vice President in 2012 but if she thinks a winning ticket is with Mitt Romney I just lost a lot of respect for her.

Conservative superstar Sarah Palin opened the door yesterday to joining forces with Mitt Romney for a 2012 White House run - a hot ticket that has some Republicans licking their chops at the prospect of unseating President Obama.
“Sounds pretty good,” Palin declared at yesterday’s Tea Party Express rally on the Common when asked about pairing up with the former Bay State governor - giving the idea a big thumbs-up as she left the stage after her headline speech.
Last night, as Palin stopped for cannoli at Mike’s Pastry in the North End, she said she was “serious” about the idea.

Hopefully she was just being nice since she was in Boston for a Tea Party Rally.

This country is going to vote for the Constitution this November and again in 2012. Even a recent Rasmussen poll has Ron Paul in a statistical dead heat with Obama right now.

Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is – virtually dead even.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote. Eleven percent (11%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

I'm not a huge supporter of Ron Paul for President. I think he makes a fantastic Senator and I hope his son Rand Paul gets elected to the Senate too. But this just goes to show you how the public has swayed. We don't have any more big government politicians to run our country.

My new front runner for 2012

2010-04-14T13:37:00.002-04:00

Forget Sarah Palin. Forget Tim Pawlenty. Forget Mitt Romney.

Welcome Gov Chris Christie from New Jersey.

This is the kind of leadership we need in DC. Someone who isn't afraid of fiscal responsibly.

Gov. Chris Christie is taking $65 million, the entire allocation, from the state's global warming fund, and $5.9 million, from the toxic waste site cleanup program, to help close the over $10 billion deficit in his $29.3 billion 2010-11 state budget, the state environmental protection commissioner said Monday.
In discussing the Department of Environmental Protection's proposed $380.6 million budget before the Assembly Budget Committee in Trenton, Commissioner Bob Martin said he hopes the loss of the $65 million, funding for the state's role in a regional effort to combat global warming, will only be for one year. He told the committee that DEP staff will continue to attempt to work against global warming and so-called greenhouses gasses despite the lack of money.
Martin said while he does not anticipate that DEP employees will be among the 1,300 state workers Christie plans to layoff in January, the commissioner does intend to move to save $1.4 million at that time by reducing the workweek of employees, at least those in management, the state parks, and Highlands Permitting from 40 hours to 35 hours.

He knows man made global warming is a bunch of crap anyways. So why fund something that just hassles business for nothing?

Major tax hike from Obama

2010-04-14T13:11:00.003-04:00

I guess when Obama says he will never raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000 he really means he'll never raise the taxes when he is in office. ObamaCare is going to raise the taxes to the middle class by the billions to try and pay for ObamaCare by 2019.

Taxpayers earning less than $200,000 a year will pay roughly $3.9 billion more in taxes — in 2019 alone — due to healthcare reform, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress's official scorekeeper.
The new law raises $15.2 billion over 10 years by limiting the medical expense deduction, a provision widely used by taxpayers who either have a serious illness or are older.
Taxpayers can currently deduct medical expenses in excess of 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income. Starting in 2013, most taxpayers will only be able to deduct expenses greater than 10 percent of AGI. Older taxpayers are hit by this threshold increase in 2017.
Once the law is fully implemented in 2019, the JCT estimates the deduction limitation will affect 14.8 million taxpayers — 14.7 million of them will earn less than $200,000 a year. These taxpayers are single and joint filers, as well as heads of households.
"Loss of this deduction will mean higher taxes for 14.7 million individuals and families making under $200,000 a year in 2019," Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told The Hill. "The new subsidy for health insurance would not be available to offset this tax increase for most of these households.

Welcome to "free" health care.

Health Care Problems?

2010-04-13T08:13:00.004-04:00

I thought ObamaCare was going to fix everything? With ObamaCare health care would be far cheaper and better. Just further proof how right we were and how wrong the left was. ObamaCare doesn't put a stop to huge increases in premiums. In fact with ObamaCare premiums, especially for the young and healthy, are going to raise through the roof.

Public outrage over double-digit rate hikes for health insurance may have helped push President Obama's healthcare overhaul across the finish line, but the new law does not give regulators the power to block similar increases in the future.

And now, with some major companies already moving to boost premiums and others poised to follow suit, millions of Americans may feel an unexpected jolt in the pocketbook.

Although Democrats promised greater consumer protection, the overhaul does not give the federal government broad regulatory power to prevent increases.

Many state governments -- which traditionally had responsibility for regulating insurance companies -- also do not have such authority. And several that do are now being sued by insurance companies.

"It is a very big loophole in health reform," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said. Feinstein and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) are pushing legislation to expand federal and state authority to prevent insurance companies from boosting rates excessively.

They call it a very big loop hole. We call it very horrific legislation. But of course I think this is how they planned it. The left wants to make private health care so outrageously expensive that the only place people can turn to is government run single payer health care.

To make things worse, not only are premiums going to sky rocket, but we are also going to face doctor shortages too.

The new federal health-care law has raised the stakes for hospitals and schools already scrambling to train more doctors.
Experts warn there won't be enough doctors to treat the millions of people newly insured under the law. At current graduation and training rates, the nation could face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
That shortfall is predicted despite a push by teaching hospitals and medical schools to boost the number of U.S. doctors, which now totals about 954,000.
The greatest demand will be for primary-care physicians. These general practitioners, internists, family physicians and pediatricians will have a larger role under the new law, coordinating care for each patient.
The U.S. has 352,908 primary-care doctors now, and the college association estimates that 45,000 more will be needed by 2020. But the number of medical-school students entering family medicine fell more than a quarter between 2002 and 2007.
A shortage of primary-care and other physicians could mean more-limited access to health care and longer wait times for patients.

Isn't this everything the media and the left said we were just crazy and nuts to mention? Just like the UK, Canada and other countries with national health care, we will have the same problem. Lack of good doctors and a long wait for any service.

To make things even worse. Lawmakers still don't know what is in the bill.

In a new report, the Congressional Research Service says the law may have significant unintended consequences for the “personal health insurance coverage” of senators, representatives and their staff members.
For example, it says, the law may “remove members of Congress and Congressional staff” from their current coverage, in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, before any alternatives are available.
The confusion raises the inevitable question: If they did not know exactly what they were doing to themselves, did lawmakers who wrote and passed the bill fully grasp the details of how it would influence the lives of other Americans?
The law promises that people can keep coverage they like, largely unchanged. For members of Congress and their aides, the federal employees health program offers much to like. But, the report says, the men and women who wrote the law may find that the guarantee of stability does not apply to them.

Because it would have made too much sense to actually read the bill before voting on it.

Obama does it again

2010-04-13T08:05:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure about most Americans but I'm for sure sick and tired of him bowing to every foreign leader. He is just showing how week he is every time he bows. American Presidents aren't supposed to bow to anyone. We are the leader of the free world.

Every now and then Obama gets something right

2010-04-08T15:47:00.002-04:00

And this is one of the few things he has gotten right.

The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said Tuesday.

Mr. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico and spent years in the United States as an imam, is in hiding inYemen. He has been the focus of intense scrutiny since he was linked to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., in November, and then to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25.
American counterterrorism officials say Mr. Awlaki is an operative of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the affiliate of the terror network in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. They say they believe that he has become a recruiter for the terrorist network, feeding prospects into plots aimed at the United States and at Americans abroad, the officials said.

I'm glad to see Obama on the right side of National Security for once. Unfortunately it doesn't happen all to often. I just wish he would have the same thought for the terrorists he wants to try as civilians. Instead of trying them he should just order them dead.

Where do I sign up for ObamaCare?

2010-04-07T10:22:00.004-04:00

You can't make this stuff up. It's just like the ObamaZombies in Detroit thinking they were getting money from Obama's stash.

Now people are trying to figure out how to sign up for free ObamaCare.

Two weeks after President Barack Obama signed the big health care overhaul into law, Americans are struggling to understand how — and when — the sweeping measure will affect them.
Questions reflecting confusion have flooded insurance companies, doctors' offices, human resources departments and business groups.
"They're saying, 'Where do we get the free Obama care, and how do I sign up for that?' " said Carrie McLean, a licensed agent for eHealthInsurance.com. The California-based company sells coverage from 185 health insurance carriers in 50 states.
McLean said the call center had been inundated by uninsured consumers who were hoping that the overhaul would translate into instant, affordable coverage. That widespread misconception may have originated in part from distorted rhetoric about the legislation bubbling up from the hyper-partisan debate about it in Washington and some media outlets, such as when opponents denounced it as socialism.
"We tell them it's not free, that there are going to be things in place that help people who are low-income, but that ultimately most of that is not going to be taking place until 2014," McLean said.
Adults with pre-existing conditions are frustrated to learn that insurers won't have to cover them until 2014 (though those under 18 will be protected in late September); then they become both hopeful and confused upon learning that a federal high-risk pool for them will be established in the next few months. "Health insurance is so confusing. You add this on top of it and it makes it even more confusing," McLean said.

There is just no making free loaders happy.

Obama is full of crap

2010-04-07T08:00:00.004-04:00

He can pretend to be a baseball fan all he wants but he proved he is full of crap in this sound cut.

I'm sorry but if you ask any real baseball fan who his favorite player he'll give an answer with out thinking. You can ask me who my favorite Redsox player from any era and I can give you an answer.

Maybe Obama could take some lessons from these ladies on how to throw out the first pitch too.

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-04-06T12:46:00.002-04:00

Judicial nominee "forgot" to disclose over 100 of his speeches and other background material. What would the media say? They'd be asking the question, what is he hiding? Is he a closet nazi? Is he a racist? Homophobe? Bigot? What could possibly be so horrible that he'd try and hide it?

But when an Obama nominee does it, it is just Republican obstructionism getting in the way of the messiah.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday slammed one of the Obama administration's most controversial judicial nominees for failing to initially disclose more than 100 of his speeches, publications and other background materials -- an omission the Republicans called unprecedented and a possible attempt to "hide his most controversial work."
They said Goodwin Liu's nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is in "jeopardy" in light of the problem.
The complaint came after Liu, a Berkeley law professor, gave the Senate Judiciary Committee a bundle of supplemental material that contained 117 things he left out after his February nomination.
Among the items disclosed were several speeches on affirmative action and his participation at an event co-sponsored by the Center for Social Justice at Berkeley and the the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group.
In response to the new information, all seven Republicans on the Judiciary Committee fired off a letter to its chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., demanding that Liu's hearing be postponed again.

Outside of Foxnews I'm sure this won't be reporting by the main stream media. For once I'd love to see some intellectual honesty. I'd love to see Chris Matthews or any of the MSNBC Obama lovers to criticize Obama for the same thing they would have bashed Bush for.

Pedal-vision

2010-04-06T09:28:00.004-04:00

I love Sheriff Joe's ingenuity. He is going to make inmates pedal on stationary bikes to generate electricity if they want to watch TV. Sounds great. But I still have a problem with this. I don't think inmates should be allowed to watch TV. I don't think they should get any luxuries. What ever happened to embarrassing inmates. They should be ashamed and embarrassed to go to prison. So ashamed they would do whatever they could to not go back.

If it was up to me I'd take away everything for inmates. No gym, no tv, no electricity, no recess, no nothing. All they would have the bare necessities to live. Bread, water, and a blanket. That's all the scum of the Earth deserve.

This is a protest I might have missed work for

2010-04-06T08:44:00.002-04:00

Too bad I didn't hear about this before. A group of women marched topless to protest the inequality of the sexes.

About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy's Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity.

The women, preceded and followed by several hundred boisterous and mostly male onlookers, many of them carrying cameras, stayed on the sidewalk because they hadn't obtained a demonstration permit to walk in the street. About a thousand people gathered as the march passed through Monument Square, a mix of demonstrators, supporters, onlookers and those just out enjoying a warm and sunny early-spring day.
After the marchers reached Tommy's Park in the Old Port, some turned around and walked back to Longfellow Square, but most stayed and mingled in the park. Some happily posed for pictures.
Police said there were no incidents and no arrests – nudity is illegal in Maine only if genitals are displayed.
Ty McDowell, who organized the march, said she was "enraged" by the turnout of men attracted to the demonstration. The purpose, she said, was for society to have the same reaction to a woman walking around topless as it does to men without shirts on.

I can't believe they are actually surprised. I'm sure the majority of men would be all for women being allowed to walk around topless. I know I would be.

This will make our enemies scared

2010-04-06T08:40:00.002-04:00

Really Obama? Do you really give that little crap about our national security? Have you ever played poker in your life? You don't show your hand until the end. So what's the point of telling everyone we won't use our nukes against non nuclear states. What if those non nuclear states use biological weapons that kill millions of Americans? This is just showing how weak you are. You are a weak leader with absolutely no backbone to speak of.

President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons.

But the president said in an interview that he was carving out an exception for “outliers like Iran and North Korea” that have violated or renounced the main treaty to halt nuclear proliferation.
Discussing his approach to nuclear security the day before formally releasing his new strategy, Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to create incentives for countries to give up any nuclear ambitions. To set an example, the new strategy renounces the development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary.
Mr. Obama’s strategy is a sharp shift from those of his predecessors and seeks to revamp the nation’s nuclear posture for a new age in which rogue states and terrorist organizations are greater threats than traditional powers like Russia and China.
It eliminates much of the ambiguity that has deliberately existed in American nuclear policy since the opening days of the cold war. For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack.

I don't care about the Constitution

2010-04-05T16:02:00.002-04:00

How can this man be a Congressman if he doesn't care about the Constitution? I bet he has never read the Constitution either.

How did this General not bitch slap him?

2010-04-01T11:29:00.002-04:00

Seriously? And how can someone so apparently stupid get elected to Congress? Well actually I already know the answer to that one. But really? He thinks Guam will turn over and capsize if we relocate 8000 troops and their family there?

That damn global warming

2010-04-01T10:54:00.003-04:00

For the first time since 2001 the Artic Sea will hit the "normal" ice line. Whatever the Hell that means. All I know is if we were experiencing global warming there wouldn't be more ice there would be less ice.

Further proof that global warming is a complete fraud and those to still try and profit from it should be tarred and feathers and made complete asses of. Because they are completely and utterly full of crap.

Credit where credit is due

2010-03-31T09:52:00.002-04:00

There hasn't been much that Obama has done that I've thought was good. Actually the one thing I can think of is when he killed that fly on national tv. Pretty sad huh? But if Obama follows through with his proposal to allow off shore drilling off the east coast.

In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling 50 miles off Virginia's shorelines. At the same time, he is rejecting some new drilling sites that had been planned in Alaska.
Obama's plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation's shores. Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico.
Obama was set to announce the new drilling policy Wednesday at Andrews air base in Maryland. White House officials pitched the changes as ways to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and create jobs - both politically popular ideas - but the president's decisions also could help secure support for a climate change bill languishing in Congress.

I'm sure this will piss off the majority of the environmental wackos who despise the oil companies but this will do a lot better job stimulating the economy. This will create more jobs than any of the billion dollar "jobs" bills that he has signed.

Drilling is good and the Republicans in the House and Senate should support drilling. But if this is going to be a compromise to get Cap and Trade passed then they better not compromise on that.

Obama getting more aggressive?

2010-03-30T10:32:00.003-04:00

How much more aggressive can he get at tearing down the Constitution? He has already signed into law a bill that is blatantly Unconstitutional and he wants to get more aggressive? His disapproval number has hit 50% for the first time in his administration and he thinks this is going to energize people to vote for Democrats?

President Barack Obama, after a year of fitfully searching for compromise, is taking a more aggressive tack with his Republican adversaries, hoping to energize Democratic voters and possibly muscle in some Republican support in Congress.

On Thursday, the president challenged Republicans who planned to campaign on repealing his health-care bill with, "Go for it." Two days later, he made 15 senior appointments without Senate consent, including a union lawyer whose nomination had been blocked by a filibuster.
At a bill-signing event Tuesday, he is set to laud passage of higher-education legislation that was approved despite Republican objections through a parliamentary maneuver that neutralized the party's filibuster threat.

On Thursday, Mr. Obama will be in Maine, home state of two moderate Republican senators who opposed his health-care plan, to promote the health law.

This is just further proof to me at least that Obama hates this country and wants to change it into an European style socialist "utopia. "

The so called Supremacy Clause

2010-03-29T23:33:00.001-04:00

All you need to know about the"Supremacy Clause"

In his words, “That language is clear that federal law is supreme over state law, so it really doesn’t matter what a state legislature says on this.” Now that Barack Obama has signed healthcare legislation into law, almost a dozen States have filed suit against the federal government, with Idaho in the lead. Battle lines have been drawn. Unfortunately, the question of State sovereignty and the true meaning of the “supremacy clause” may be swallowed up in the ensuing debate.

Engstrom’s opinion is held by a majority of constitutional law “scholars,” but he is far from correct, and Idaho and the thirty seven other States considering similar legislation have a strong case based on the original intent of the powers of the federal government vis-à-vis the States.

The so-called “supremacy clause” of the Constitution, found in Article 6, states, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding [emphasis added].”

The key, of course, is the italicized phrase. All laws made in pursuance of the Constitution, or those clearly enumerated in the document, were supreme, State laws notwithstanding. In other words, the federal government was supreme in all items clearly listed in the document.

A quick reading of the Constitution illustrates that national healthcare is not one of the enumerated powers of the federal government, so obviously Engstrom’s blanket and simplistic statement is blatantly incorrect, but his distortion of the supremacy clause goes further.

The inclusion of such a clause in the Constitution was first debated at the Constitutional Convention on 31 May 1787. In Edmund Randolph’s initial proposal, called the Virginia Plan, the “national” legislature had the ability to “legislate in all cases to which the separate states are incompetent…” and “to negative all laws passed by the sRandolph replied that he “disclaimed any intention to give indefinite powers to the national legislature, declaring that he was entirely opposed to such an inroad on the state jurisdictions, and that he did not think any considerations whatever could ever change his determination [emphasis added].” James Madison, the author of the Virginia Plan, was not as forthcoming as to his sentiment. Ultimately, Madison preferred a negative over State law and wished the national legislature to be supreme in call cases. But he was not in the majority.everal states contravening, in the opinion of the national legislature, the Articles of Union….” John Rutledge, Pierce Butler, and Charles Pinckney of South Carolina challenged the word “incompetent” and demanded that Randolph define the term. Butler thought that the delegates “were running into an extreme, in taking away the powers of the states…” through such language.

Read the whole article. It will blow most peoples minds.

This is just sickening

2010-03-29T08:53:00.003-04:00

Israel is the only Democracy in the mid-east. They are our best ally in that area and our first line of defense if WW3 breaks out in that area. So why is Obama dead set on seeing the death of a great ally? How can an American President not veto any UN resolutions that is anti Israel?

The US is considering abstaining from a possible UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, sources suggest to the BBC.
The possibility surfaced at talks in Paris last week between a senior US official and Qatar's foreign minister.
The official said the US would "seriously consider abstaining" if the issue of Israeli settlements was put to the vote, a diplomat told the BBC.
US officials in Washington have not confirmed the report

Hopefully the American Jews, who typically vote Democratic, will see their mistake finally. They should see Obama for what he is, anti Israel. Regardless of whether this particular story is true or not, since it is an "unnamed US official" which has the credibility of Michael Moore. This story would never even be a possibility under President Bush who was strongly pro Israel.

Tea Partiers smarter than Congress

2010-03-29T08:18:00.003-04:00

Well no duh! Most members of Congress are blithering idiots who probably don't even know what the Preamble is. Obviously they don't even have a basic understanding of the Constitution either otherwise they wouldn't pass the majority of crap they do now including ObamaCare. So it's no surprise to me that the majority of the people think we Tea Partiers know more about the issues than Congress.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 52% of U.S. voters believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Only 30% believe that those in Congress have a better understanding of the key issues facing the nation.

When it comes to those issues, 47% think that their own political views are closer to those of the average Tea Party member than to the views of the average member of Congress. On this point, 26% feel closer to Congress.

Finally, 46% of voters say that the average Tea Party member is more ethical than the average member of Congress. Twenty-seven percent (27%) say that the average member of Congress is more ethical.

You know a law is good

2010-03-26T08:49:00.003-04:00

When Fidel Castro endorses it. That should make Democrats feel good at the Unconstitutional ObamaCare they just passed. It is so great even the communist dictator in Cuba loves it.

It perhaps was not the endorsement President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress were looking for.
Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Thursday declared passage of American health care reform "a miracle" and a major victory for Obama's presidency, but couldn't help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what communist Cuba achieved decades ago.
"We consider health reform to have been an important battle and a success of his (Obama's) government," Castro wrote in an essay published in state media, adding that it would strengthen the president's hand against lobbyists and "mercenaries."
But the Cuban leader also used the lengthy piece to criticize the American president for his lack of leadership on climate change and immigration reform, and for his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, among many other things.
And he said it was remarkable that the most powerful country on earth took more than two centuries from its founding to approve something as basic as health benefits for all.
"It is really incredible that 234 years after the Declaration of Independence ... the government of that country has approved medical attention for the majority of its citizens, something that Cuba was able to do half a century ago," Castro wrote.

I'm pretty sure if Castro was elected President he would be acting the same way as Obama.

By trying to defend the Constitution we are aiding terrorism?

2010-03-25T11:56:00.003-04:00

This is exactly how the loony left thinks. They think we are the terrorists. They are more afraid of those who want to uphold and support our founding father than they are of those in the Mid East who would strap bombs onto themselves to kill innocent lives. This just plain sickens me.

We knew this was an absolute joke

2010-03-25T09:57:00.002-04:00

I still don't understand how people actually believed anything Obama said during his campaign.

...What I want to emphasize, though, is that I have been a strong proponent of pay-as- you-go. Every dollar that I've proposed, I've proposed an additional cut so that it matches.

When do liberals actually propose and support spending cuts. Oh wait. Unless we are talking about military cuts. Then maybe I could believe him.

Most want the Republicans to keep on fighting ObamaCare

2010-03-25T09:19:00.002-04:00

Of course they do. This is a center right country. We don't want it to turn into a socialist cesspool. The vast majority agree so. They want the Republicans to continue the fight.

That is actually bipartisanship. The media always cries about the lack of bipartisanship so now we have a demand by the party to actually do so.

I'd like to see a poll on an Article 5 Convention.

Need more proof this is about control?

2010-03-24T12:58:00.000-04:00

Rep Dingel

I will not support any Republican

2010-03-24T12:08:00.004-04:00

Who thinks we can fix ObamaCare rather than repeal it. This blows my fucking mind. This is why I hate most Republicans. They talk a big game, pretend to be conservatives, but legislate like pansies with no fricken balls. Grow a set Cornyn. Obamacare doesn't need to be fixed. It needs to be repealed.

In the wake of the passage of health care reform, nearly the entire slate of Republican senatorial candidates seems ready to run on a repeal of the bill. But now, the lawmaker overseeing their election strategy is softening the message. Rather than promising to scrap the bill in its entirety, the GOP will pledge to just get rid of the more controversial parts…

“There is non-controversial stuff here like the preexisting conditions exclusion and those sorts of things,” the Texas Republican said. “Now we are not interested in repealing that. And that is frankly a distraction.”

What the GOP will work to repeal, Cornyn explained, are provisions that result in “tax increases on middle class families,” language that forced “an increase in the premium costs for people who have insurance now” and the “cuts to Medicare” included in the legislation…

The senator’s comments on Tuesday also included a push to restore funds for Medicare Advantage — an odd political moment, considering the GOP’s self-promotion as the party that trims the fat off entitlement programs.

Cornyn isn't exactly a RINO either. Which pisses me off even more. But if he doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to repeal this Unconstitutional law than screw him. He no longer deserves any support from the conservative base. He is making his bed and he will have to sleep in it.

Pansies like him just makes the Article 5 Convention that much more important.

Article 5 Constitution Convention

2010-03-24T10:51:00.004-04:00

I've said since ObamaCare was passed that this is our best chance of repealing it. State attorney generals have already promised to sue the federal government over the passage that might not be enough. If states are willing to sue over ObamaCare they should be willing to call for an Article 5 Constitutional Convention like Congressman Louie Gohmert is calling for.

Rep. Gohmert stated, “The usurpation of the rights of the states and of the people perpetrated by the U.S. House last night is blatant, arrogant, and cries out for action. A potentially bankrupting ‘mother of all unfunded mandates’ needs to be stopped. The courts may or may not do it, but the states are not helpless. Article V of our U.S. Constitution anticipates a time when states perceive a looming crisis and provides an avenue for amending the Constitution. It makes clear that if two-thirds of the states are fed up with the federal government’s abusive action, then they simply apply for a convention, and the Congress SHALL call such a convention for proposing an amendment.”

Ever since the safeguard of State legislatures electing U.S. Senators was removed by the 17th Amendment in 1913, there has been no check or balance on the Federal power grab for the last 97 years. Article V requires a minimum of 34 states to request a Convention which in this case, would be an Amendment Convention for only ONE amendment.

“That one amendment would put a check and balance back on Federal usurpation of rights reserved to the States and people under the 9th and 10th Amendments. When drafted, the amendment would require ratification by only 38 states. We already have 39 states and that number will, no doubt, grow as people become aware of the foundational damage being done to the country,” said Gohmert.

Now is the time to act. Now is the time to defend the Constitution.

More government control to come

2010-03-24T09:38:00.002-04:00

Now that the Democrats have passed the Unconstitutional health care reform what's next?

Democrats are debating whether to spend political capital earned by passing healthcare reform or hoard it so it pays dividends in the midterm elections.
Liberals argue the new momentum offers a rare opportunity to pass top priorities, such as immigration reform and climate change legislation, and warn that the party is likely to see its large majorities in the Senate and House diminished next year.

The Democrats just want total government control of everything. They won't stop until we are a mirror image of a European Socialist country.

If the Republicans have any backbone they better show it now. They have 41 votes in the Senate and can block any proposed legislation. There better not be one Republican who sides with any proposed bill until November. If any Republican even considers it they should be voted out of office as soon as possible.

This should tell you all you need to know about ObamaCare

2010-03-23T09:04:00.002-04:00

It's so great Congress exempted themselves and their staff.

What else do you need to know?

States to sue over ObamaCare

2010-03-23T08:32:00.003-04:00

This is a good first sign that we can over turn ObamaCare. The more states that sue the better our chances will be. We, as American citizens who care about individual freedom, need to keep ObamaCare as the main issue going into the 2010 elections. I know it's hard to keep up the emotions we all have had over the last few months debating ObamaCare but that is our only hope.

Florida's attorney general will file a lawsuit with nine other state attorneys general opposing the healthcare legislation passed by Congress, a spokeswoman said on Monday.

"The health care reform legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last night clearly violates the U.S. Constitution and infringes on each state's sovereignty," Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican, said in a prepared statement announcing a news conference.
"On behalf of the State of Florida and of the Attorneys General from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alabama if the President signs this bill into law, we will file a lawsuit to protect the rights and the interests of American citizens."

Virginia's attorney general said he plans to sue the federal government over the healthcare reform legislation, saying Congress lacks authority to force people to buy health insurance.
Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, a Republican, said on Monday that Congress lacks authority under its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce to force people to buy insurance. He said the bill also conflicts with a state law that says Virginians cannot be required to buy insurance.
"If a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person by definition is not engaging in commerce," Cuccinelli said in recorded comments. "If you are not engaging in commerce, how can the federal government regulate you?"

Well it happened

2010-03-22T08:21:00.003-04:00

Congress passed ObamaCare last night 220-211. They are lying to us saying that this is now going to go back to the Senate for reconciliation. But that isn't going to happen. This bill is going straight to Obama's desk to get signed. Welcome to the United Socialists States of America.

As a country we only have 3 options. Firstly there are going to be lawsuits all over the place starting with Mark Levin and his Legal Landmark Foundation. I'm sure ObamaCare will be put in front of the Supreme Court. Since this bill is Unconstitutional it should be over turned. But I don't have much faith and I'm a little afraid of that option. The same Supreme Court upheld McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform which was also Unconstitutional.

Secondly there are going to be quite a few states protesting this new law starting with Idaho and Virginia. I'm sure Texas and other conservative leaning states will join in protesting against ObamaCare. According to the Constitution states are supposed to have the power to over turn the Federal Government if it becomes to intrusive. Which ObamaCare is. There are up to 38 states who have pledged to oppose this. That is enough to make a Constitutional Amendment to get rid of ObamaCare.

If those two options don't work. The only thing else we could hope for the Republicans to take over the House and Senate in 2010 and 2012 and repeal ObamaCare. I have the least amount of faith in this. The Republicans have proven over and over again they are spineless cowards. Maybe this will be the one time they prove me wrong. And I really hope they do. ObamaCare is going to bankrupt the country much like RomneyCare is bankrupting Massachusetts.

Well I guess there is always a 2nd revolution.

Wonder how many jobs this will save or create?

2010-03-19T10:47:00.002-04:00

Caterpillar says if ObamaCare passes the house it will cost the company $100 million in the first year alone. This is exactly what Caterpillar needs in this booming economy. The only way Caterpillar can of set this cost is by laying off employees.

Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House would increase the company's health-care costs by more than $100 million in the first year alone.

In a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Caterpillar urged lawmakers to vote against the plan "because of the substantial cost burdens it would place on our shareholders, employees and retirees." Caterpillar, the world's largest construction machinery manufacturer by sales, said it's particularly opposed to provisions in the bill that would expand Medicare taxes and mandate insurance coverage. The legislation would require nearly all companies to provide health insurance for their employees or face large fines.

The Peoria-based company said these provisions would increase its insurance costs by at least 20 percent, or more than $100 million, just in the first year of the health-care overhaul program.

"We can ill-afford cost increases that place us at a disadvantage versus our global competitors," said the letter signed by Gregory Folley, vice president and chief human resources officer of Caterpillar. "We are disappointed that efforts at reform have not addressed the cost concerns we've raised throughout the year."

I hope they are having all their employees call their Congressman to vote against this bill.

True Cost of ObamaCare

2010-03-19T09:28:00.002-04:00

A lot more than the 940 billion Obama and Pelosi have been saying.

To see the bill’s true first-decade costs, we need to start the clock when the costs would actually start in any meaningful way: in 2014. The CBO says that Obamacare would cost $2.0 trillion in the bill’s real first decade (from 2014 to 2023) — and much more in the decades to come.

But $2.0 trillion wouldn’t be the total ten-year costs. Instead, that would merely be the “gross cost of coverage provisions.” Based on earlier incarnations of the proposed overhaul, the total costs would be about a third higher (the exact number can’t be gleaned from the CBO’s analysis, which is only preliminary and is not a full scoring) — making the total price-tag between $2.5 and $3 trillion over the bill’s real first decade.
How would we pay for all of this? According to the CBO, by diverting $1.1 trillion away from already barely-solvent Medicare and spending it on Obamacare, and by increasing taxes on the American people by over $1 trillion. Among the Medicare cuts would be cuts of $25,000 in Medicare Advantage benefits per enrollee — up from $21,000 in the previous scoring. To be clear, those living in South Florida wouldn’t have to worry about this, as the newly politicized nature of health care would cause them to be exempted. These cuts would affect only less-fortunate seniors, namely those living in just about any other part of the country.

They lie to us about everything else. Why would we expect any less from them now?

Idado ready to sue over ObamaCare

2010-03-18T11:43:00.002-04:00

Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states. Maybe Congressman will take the hint. No one wants socialized health care. If the this does pass all the states can band together and basically say no. We don't want your socialism. Even if it became the law of the land. There would be no way for it to get enforced.

Idaho took the lead in a growing, nationwide fight against health care overhaul Wednesday when its governor became the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance.
Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
Constitutional law experts say the movement is mostly symbolic because federal laws supersede those of the states.
But the state measures reflect a growing frustration with President President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. The proposal would cover some 30 million uninsured people, end insurance practices such as denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, require almost all Americans to get coverage by law, and try to slow the cost of medical care nationwide.
Democratic leaders hope to vote on it this weekend.

The AP got one thing wrong. This isn't mostly symbolic. That's not how the founders set up this country. The founders set up this country so the states superseded the federal government. But reporters would actually have to read the Constitution to know that. I wouldn't expect anyone in the AP to be a Constitutional Scholar.

Government run pharmacies?

2010-03-18T08:23:00.002-04:00

I guess that is what is coming next. No politician has talked about it. But if they get ObamaCare why wouldn't they try and get government run pharmacies? Walgreens just announced they aren't going to take any new Medicaid patients because they don't many any money filling their prescriptions.

Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement.
The company, which operates 121 stores in the state, will continue filling Medicaid prescriptions for current patients.
In a news release, Walgreens said its decision to not take new Medicaid patients stemmed from a "continued reduction in reimbursement" under the state's Medicaid program, which reimburses it at less than the break-even point for 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid patents.

I'm not genius but if the government isn't going to pay pharmacies enough money to even make a small profit from filling prescriptions why would pharmacies do it? So if every pharmacy tells the government to go screw who is going to fill ObamaCare prescriptions? Government run pharmacies.

We are well on our way to socialism...

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-03-18T08:17:00.003-04:00

Vice President blessed a foreign Prime Ministers dead mother only to find out she isn't quite dead yet in fact she is very much still alive.

Vice President Joe Biden asked for God's blessing for the late mother of Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen during a White House celebration of St. Patrick's Day — except the elderly lady is very much alive.
"God rest her soul," Biden said Wednesday night as he introduced Cowen and President Barack Obama. He quickly caught himself and noted that it's Cowen's father who is no longer living. Of the prime minister's mother, Biden said, "God bless her soul."
Biden then cited the Irish proverb that "a silent mouth is sweet to hear" and yielded the podium to the president.

Now this really isn't that big of a deal. But when it happens over and over again to Biden at some point enough is enough. Seems like every week Biden sticks his foot in his mouth. If Dick Cheney kept on screwing up like this the media would be talking about how stupid and not qualified he was. Just like they did to Dan Quayle.

Lawsuits to come if House tries to pass Health-Care

2010-03-17T17:07:00.002-04:00

With the Slaughter-Rule. I'm sure Mark Levin's Landmark Legal Foundation won't be the only ones to files a lawsuit too.

Landmark Legal Foundation President Mark Levin, who served as chief of staff in the Reagan Justice Department, said he plans to file an immediate lawsuit if House Democratic leaders try to use an unconstitutional manuever to pass the Senate health care without actually having to vote on it.

“I cannot predict if we would win or lose--this is not as simple as some would have you believe--but I want to put the marker down right now and make it clear to members of the House of Representatives who think the quickest way to pass this is to adopt a rule that assumes that they voted on an underlying bill when they didn’t--that is going to be challenged if they do it,” Levin said on his nationally syndicated radio show Tuesday evening.

Mark Levin is a great American. This country could definitely use more people like him. People who actually know and understand the Constitution. Something the Democrats are Hell bent on destroying.

Exterminate the monkeys

2010-03-17T15:28:00.003-04:00

First they learn how to throw snowballs next they will learn how to take over the world.

We must exterminate them before they enslave the human race.

Health Care is going to destroy our economy

2010-03-17T14:43:00.002-04:00

Not only will this Health Care legislation raise the cost of premiums despite Obama's moronic claim it could lower companies premiums 3000% but it could also lead to almost 700,000 lost jobs.

The result is a loss of between 119,000 and 698,000 jobs between enactment of the bill this year and 2019. A breakdown is below:

Sector

ESI

Jobs

%

Low

High

Agriculture, mining and construction

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting

20

-923

-5,441

Mining

68

-939

-5,478

Construction

37

-7,374

-43,316

Manufacturing

65

-18,022

-105,229

Trade

Wholesale trade

57

-8,149

-47,663

Retail trade

39

-14,364

-84,339

Transportation and communication

Transportation and warehousing

55

-6,290

-36,806

Utilities

80

-906

-5,271

Services

Information

63

-4,510

-26,342

Financial Activities

66

-13,236

-77,269

Professional and business services

44

-22,606

-132,596

Educational services

61

-5,493

-32,102

Leisure and hospitality

25

-8,436

-49,682

Other services

48

-7,946

-46,564

Totals

-119,194

-698,098

I'm starting to think more and more that the Democrats want to destroy this country. I don't think they can claim ignorance anymore. There ideas are going to destroy this country. I think it is safe to say Obama and his ilk hate the United States and everything it stands for.

That is the only logical conclusion I can come up with to why they still are pushing for a bill that is going to destroy the country.

This has been tried before

2010-03-17T11:42:00.003-04:00

And it doesn't work. Liberals can talk about peace between Israel and Palestine all they want. But there is never going to be peace over there until one side is completely annihilated. Unfortunately for the Jews the American left has chosen sides and it isn't with Israel. Time after time they always blame Israel for the lack of peace over there.

The Obama administration's row with Israel over settlements has prompted some analysts to wonder whether it seeks "regime change," a new government that can make peace with the Palestinians.
However, the analysts doubt that President Barack Obama's administration, which has made Arab-Israeli peace a national security priority, will achieve anything if it has indeed adopted such a strategy.
In unusually harsh words, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday that his right-wing government's plans to build new settler homes in east Jerusalem sent a "deeply negative signal" about Israel's ties to its top ally.
"Is this about regime change, or is it about (Israeli) behavior modification?" asked Aaron David Miller, a Middle East peace negotiator in past Republican and Democratic administrations.

The Obama administration has taken this too far. Now they are talking about regime change? Really Hillary? You do know that Israel is the only Republic over there, right?

Green initiatives saving the day again

2010-03-17T08:35:00.003-04:00

It pays to be green. Let this be a lesson to everyone. If your town, city, state or even if the federal government wants to go green it is going to raise the rates of the cost of energy.

Households that get their power from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power could see their electric bills go up between 8.8% and 28.4%, depending on where they live and how much energy they use, under a plan unveiled Monday by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Appearing with labor and environmental leaders, Villaraigosa said the proposed increases would ensure that the DWP meets his goal of securing 20% of its energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar by Dec. 31.

The increased revenue would help pay for new environmental initiatives, including more aggressive conservation programs and a solar initiative designed to create 16,000 jobs.

And if they are saying rates may go up between 8.8-28.4% it's probably closer to 20-40%.

Blackmail gone wrong

2010-03-16T12:31:00.002-04:00

Obama is threatening to not support and campaign for any Democrat who votes against Health Care. If Obama was smart, and he isn't, he would tell Democrats he won't support them if they vote for it. His support didn't help in Mass, New Jersey, or Virginia. It didn't help Chicago get the Olympics. Everything he has supported has lost. So if I was an elected Democrat why would I want his support?

The president will refuse to make fund-raising visits during November elections to any district whose representative has not backed the bill.
A one-night presidential appearance can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds which would otherwise take months to accumulate through cold-calling by campaign volunteers.

Mr Obama's threat came as the year-long debate over his signature domestic policy entered its final week.
Mr Obama is personally telephoning congressmen who are still on the fence this week, in between several personal appearances devoted toward swinging public opinion.

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-03-16T07:58:00.003-04:00

Said they were going to pass a bill, hated and despised by a majority of Americans, with out even voting on it. That is true Democracy right there. /sarcasm. The media would be blowing its lid if the Republicans tried to pull this crap. You'd be hearing how the Republicans are trying to kill democracy and the Constitution. It would be a media Hell storm.

After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it.

Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers "deem" the health-care bill to be passed.

The tactic -- known as a "self-executing rule" or a "deem and pass" -- has been commonly used, although never to pass legislation as momentous as the $875 billion health-care bill. It is one of three options that Pelosi said she is considering for a late-week House vote, but she added that she prefers it because it would politically protect lawmakers who are reluctant to publicly support the measure.

"It's more insider and process-oriented than most people want to know," the speaker said in a roundtable discussion with bloggers Monday. "But I like it," she said, "because people don't have to vote on the Senate bill."

Republicans quickly condemned the strategy, framing it as an effort to avoid responsibility for passing the legislation, and some suggested that Pelosi's plan would be unconstitutional.

Since Pelosi doesn't have the votes. This is the only way she thinks she can pass ObamaCare.

Of course I really don't think this has a prayer in Hell of happening. I think this is more scare tactics from Pelosi trying to strong arm her fellow Democrats to vote for this even though it is widely unpopular.

Health Care Votes

2010-03-15T09:38:00.002-04:00

I'm getting so sick of reading and hearing about health care. I just want the House to vote on it and get this over with. But I think Pelosi is still trying to bribe, strong arm and beg for votes. Otherwise they would have voted for it weeks ago. But the WHIP count, per The Hill, is 216-215. If that's the case they would be voting on it today.

The Hill's survey/tracking of House Democrats' positions on healthcare reform legislation.
UPDATED: 3/15/10 at 12:19 a.m.
House Democrats not on this list are expected to vote yes. However, some members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who are not mentioned below have threatened to vote no unless the Senate's immigration-related provisions are changed.
All House Republicans are expected to vote no.
If every member votes and all GOP lawmakers vote no, the maximum amount of Democratic defections to pass a bill is 37, which would lead to a 216-215 tally.

House Minority leader John Boehner agrees with me, if the Democrats had the votes it would have been voted on long ago.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that Democrats don't have the House votes to pass the healthcare bill.
"If she had 216 votes this bill would be long gone," Boehner said of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on CNN's "State of the Union."
The Democrats "tried to pass it in September, October, November, December, January, February," Boehner said. "Guess what? They don't have the votes."
Boehner again panned the idea that President Barack Obama's healthcare summit had made the bill bipartisan, saying "he may have taken a couple of Republican ideas," but "this bill is nowhere near the middle."

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-03-15T09:05:00.003-04:00

Said they supported taking a DNA sample when someone is arrested. Just imagine if a Republican President said he supported this. The outrage from the liberal politicians, the liberal media and every watch dog group would be unprecedented. All about how the Republicans want to take away our right to privacy. There would have been more outrage over this than the Patriot Act.

When it comes to civil liberties, the Obama administration has come under fire for often mirroring his predecessor’s practices surrounding state secrets, the Patriot Act and domestic spying. There’s also Gitmo, Jay Bybee and John Yoo.

Now there’s DNA sampling. Obama told Walsh he supported the federal government, as well as the 18 states that have varying laws requiring compulsory DNA sampling of individuals upon an arrest for crimes ranging from misdemeanors to felonies. The data is lodged in state and federal databases, and has fostered as many as 200 arrests nationwide, Walsh said.

The American Civil Liberties Union claims DNA sampling is different from mandatory, upon-arrest fingerprinting that has been standard practice in the United States for decades.

A fingerprint, the group says, reveals nothing more than a person’s identity. But much can be learned from a DNA sample, which codes a person’s family ties, some health risks, and, according to some, can predict a propensity for violence.

The ACLU is suing California to block its voter-approved measure requiring saliva sampling of people picked up on felony charges. Authorities in the Golden State are allowed to conduct so-called “familial searching” — when a genetic sample does not directly match another, authorities start investigating people with closely matched DNA in hopes of finding leads to the perpetrator.

Do you wonder whether DNA sampling is legal?

The courts have already upheld DNA sampling of convicted felons, based on the theory that the convicted have fewer privacy rights. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that when conducting intrusions of the body during an investigation, the police need so-called “exigent circumstances” or a warrant. That alcohol evaporates in the blood stream is the exigent circumstance to draw blood from a suspected drunk driver without a warrant.

Oh ya...Obama is President right now. So guess there won't be much outrage since Obama can do no wrong.

Colorado learned a valuable lesson today

2010-03-12T10:38:00.003-05:00

If you raise taxes on companies you will lose revenue not gain revenue. Colorado has imposed a sales tax for online sales that would greatly effect Amazon. So how does Amazon react to this new tax? They pull out of Colorado and screw the state.

In response to recent legislation in Colorado (HB 10-1193), Amazon.com has sent a letter to its affiliates in Colorado informing them that the on-line sales giant will no longer be advertising through businesses in the state that that make money by referring buyers.

In order to close a $1.5 Billion budget gap, Colorado Democrats this session have passed a law that would make it possible to collect sales taxes on on-line purchases by creating an economic nexus between state residents and on-line retailers.

The bill, which was part of a package of tax measures aimed at increasing revenue, originally sought to create a nexus between the state and on-line retailers based on their ties to local affiliate websites, which link to products. The bill was ultimately altered due largely to fears that retailers like Amazon would simply cut ties to Colorado companies that make money by referring buyers.

The final bill, which was signed into law in February, instead required large online retailers to start collecting sales taxes or provide a summary of people's web purchases in the state, leaving affiliates out of the equation. This created an economic nexus without making local affiliates a scapegoat for paying local sales taxes.

Amazon has apparently elected to cut dies to its Colorado affiliates regardless. Colorado affiliate Nat Torkington wrote "So let me get this straight: I've done nothing, and Amazon just fired me?"

Nat, you can thank your legislators for getting fired. This is what happens when you over tax and over regulate business. They go where it is cheaper and easier to make a profit. That's called common sense. Something most politicians lack.

Good news on Health Care

2010-03-12T09:51:00.002-05:00

If Pelosi actually had enough votes Obama wouldn't be delaying his trip to Indonesia.

President Barack Obama will delay his planned trip to southeast Asia to focus on healthcare.

Obama was set to leave March 18, and the White House hoped the House would approve the Senate's healthcare bill by that time.
But House leaders have pushed back at the deadline, criticizing Gibbs and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the process.
House leaders also do not appear to have whipped the 216 votes they need from their caucus to win the vote either, and a Thursday decision by the Senate parliamentarian has made their task more difficult.

So Obama will give another worthless speech that won't change a thing. Health Care is officially dead.

Mike Pence for President

2010-03-11T16:08:00.000-05:00

This is the kind of leadership and forward thinking the country needs.

"Federal spending is out of control and the American people know it. Earmarks have become emblematic of everything that is wrong with spending here in Washington D.C. Today, after a marathon debate within the House Republican Conference, House Republicans have determined to renounce earmark requests of all kinds in this Congress, and the American people won that debate.

"By standing in favor of a moratorium on earmarks in this Congress, House Republicans are making a clean break from the past. We are offering the American people a fresh start on spending in Washington, D.C. We are offering the American people a new way forward. With the health care reform bill being debated and haggled about in these very hallways, no doubt earmarks are being talked about in a different way by the Democrat Majority. After the ‘Cornhusker Kickback,' the ‘Gatorade Deal,' the ‘Second Louisiana Purchase,' the American people want us to change business as usual in Washington D.C.

"The contrast will be startling in the days ahead. No doubt as Democrats are making backroom deals, and offering earmarks to pass their government takeover of health care, today with one voice House Republicans have stepped forward and said, ‘The time has come to set aside earmarking as usual and begin the process of turning federal spending back over to the American people with a new course, new discipline, and new transparency.'"

Obama in a nut shell

2010-03-11T10:43:00.002-05:00

Admitting he hates democracy.

"I would have loved nothing better than to simply come up with some very elegant, academically approved approach to health care, and didn't have any kinds of legislative fingerprints on it, and just go ahead and have that passed. But that's not how it works in our democracy. Unfortunately, what we end up having to do is to do a lot of negotiations with a lot of different people."

Does anything else really need to be said?

No Obama, Thankfully that's how it works.

Good thing the Republicans are doing all they can to stop Health Care

2010-03-11T09:26:00.003-05:00

Oh wait...it's fellow Democrats holding the bill down in the House. Now the Hispanic Caucus says they won't vote for the bill unless immigration reform goes with the bill. But I'm sure some how the Republicans will get blamed for this too.

A group of Hispanic lawmakers on Thursday will tell President Barack Obama that they may not vote for healthcare reform unless changes are made to the bill’s immigration provisions.
The scheduled meeting comes as Democratic leaders and the White House are struggling to craft a final bill that will attract 216 votes in the lower chamber.

Unlike abortion, immigration has flown beneath the radar, and almost seemed to vanish altogether as House Democrats have wrestled with how to accept a Senate healthcare bill far different from the one they passed in November.
But immigration remains just as explosive an issue and carries the same potential to derail the entire healthcare endgame, a number of Democrats said.

So can someone please tell me how the Republicans, as the party of no, have been the ones holding this bill up?

Good thing for the country there has been a lot of in fighting in the Democratic Party over Health Care reform. If there hadn't been so much in fighting I'm sure this would have passed months ago.

The Senate has saved us all

2010-03-11T09:20:00.004-05:00

They passed another "jobs" bill. Hurray to our saviors.

Give me a break. How many of these stupid wasteful bills do they have to pass until they realize they don't help? They actually hurt the economy. Bush's first jobs bill didn't help and neither has any of Obama's. All these politicians talk about fixing the deficit but yet they continue to waste and waste.

The Senate approved $140 billion in extended tax breaks and unemployment benefits on Wednesday in a largely partisan vote.
The bill was approved on a 62-36 vote, with six Republicans joining most Democrats in backing it.
Senate Democrats are calling the measure a jobs bill, though it includes tax breaks extended by Congress on a near-annual basis as well as a fix to Medicare payments for doctors that lawmakers also have previously extended.
It’s the second package of legislation that Senate Democrats have labeled as a jobs bill this year, joining a $15 billion measure approved by the Senate last week.
GOP Sens. Kit Bond (Mo.), Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), David Vitter (La.) and George Voinovich (Ohio) voted for the bill.

At least Scott Brown voted against this bill.

The most brilliant idea ever for politicians

2010-03-10T14:18:00.002-05:00

When your state needs a $4.7 billion loan just to stay a float chances are you are spending WAY too much money. Those are words to live by. If a company ran a business like that they wouldn't be in business for very long. Government needs to learn to be run like a business.

Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday unveiled a caustic budget plan that would borrow billions of dollars to stay afloat and push even more debt down the road, hoping to persuade leery lawmakers to instead raise taxes in an election year.

Quinn aides warned the plan would cost some 13,000 teachers and staff their jobs, cut off poor seniors from help in paying for costly prescriptions and shut down some health care programs for the indigent. But even after about $2 billion in cuts, the state would still be $11 billion in the hole.

The administration's warnings served as the precursor for the Democratic governor's Wednesday budget address before a joint session of lawmakers who want to wrap up their business in two months so they can focus on their re-election.

Gov Quinn doesn't need a loan. He doesn't need to raise taxes. He needs to cut spending. There is no such thing as a revenue problem in our government only spending problems.

The problem is, once a Governor does propose an actually spending cut. Not just a cut in the rate of increase they get killed for it by the media.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie may propose a budget that is as much as 14 percent smaller than the current spending plan and includes cuts to property tax rebates and school aid, according to two people with knowledge of budget talks.
Christie, 47, will outline a budget that may range from $25 billion to $27 billion and contain a total of $10 billion in spending reductions that will also lower funding for the state’s 566 towns and cities as he seeks to close an $11 billion deficit, the people said. The governor told lawmakers in a conference call last week that the state anticipates $27 billion in revenue for the year starting July 1, one of the people said.

Gov Christie knows that the only way out of the financial mess in New Jersey is too cut spending. If he were to raise taxes it would only add to the mess. Cause more people to lose their jobs. Drive more businesses out of the state. And drive New Jersey into a financial bankruptcy.

Republicans will never learn

2010-03-10T08:28:00.002-05:00

Especially the likes of John McCain. Democrats only care about having a "Gang of 14" to block legislation when it's Republican legislation. Now that Democrats have all the power the are saying no to forming a new gang.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wants to revive the bipartisan Gang of 14 — this time for health care reform, not judicial nominees.

But most of his moderate Democratic colleagues aren’t rushing to R.S.V.P.

Graham said Tuesday that a coalition of Republican and Democratic senators could rescue the Senate from an institutional disaster brought on by the use of the parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation to finish the health care bill.

“Many Republicans who were ready to pull the trigger on the nuclear option on judges are now glad they didn’t,” Graham said. “This place would have ceased to function as we know it. If they do health care through reconciliation, it will be the same consequence. So if you are a moderate Democrat out there looking for a way to deliver health care reforms and not pull the nuclear trigger, there is a model to look at.”

Can't say I'm really shocked the Democrats said no to Lindsey Graham. I'm more shocked that Graham is shocked they said no. This is how the Democrats work. Bipartisonship means agreeing with them.

Here comes the false recovery

2010-03-10T08:00:00.002-05:00

I can't wait to here Obama, the Democrats and the media saying how much the better the economy is after this. Even though these will be temporary government jobs. But that won't stop the Democrats and Obama from trying to say how wonderful he is.

The U.S. Census Bureau expects to add up to 750,000 workers to its payroll by May, a hiring binge that could knock the unemployment rate down by as much as a half-point.
The once-a-decade census is coming at the best possible time for President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, who have taken political lumps for more than a year over a jobless rate that stands at 9.7 percent.

Of course unemployment is under reported now too. They aren't counting the people who have given up on finding a job or who are under employed. But I'm sure if a Republican was in office we'd be hearing the higher number. Got to love the liberal biased media.

Small government vs Big Government

2010-03-09T14:02:00.001-05:00

Texas vs California

California Texas
Population Rank: #1 #2
Joined the Union: 1850, ceded by Mexico 1845, ceded by Mexico
Hispanic Population: About one-third About one-third
Leadership over last 20 years: Democrat, large government GOP, small government
State legislature meets: Year-round Meets 90 days every two years
Net population change: Outflow of 1,509,000 from 2000-2009 Inflow of 1,600,000 from 2000-2009
Average teacher salary: $60,000/yr. $41,744/hr.
ACT score rank: #44 #30
8th grade % proficient at writing rank: #30 #16
4th grade % proficient at math rank: #26 #16
Tax Policy 8.25% sales tax, up to 10.55% income tax 6.25% sales tax, no income tax
Public sector unions: Powerful. Spent $100,000,000 (in funds levied from taxpayers) defeating legislation that would weaken the Democrat-union alliance in 2005. "Weak or non-existent".
Bond Rating (an indicator of financial health) S&P A- S&P AA+

Any questions?

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-03-09T08:12:00.003-05:00

Said Obama was so useless he couldn't sell watermelons. Imagine how the media would portray that Republican as an evil racist. How dare he say something like that. That's racist. They would try and portray all Republicans as evil bigots who hate blacks.

Of course Dan Rathers says that and no one cares. Not even Chris Matthews.

DAN RATHER: Part of the undertow in the coming election is going to be President Obama's leadership. And the Republicans will make a case and a lot of independents will buy this argument. "Listen he just hasn't been, look at the health care bill. It was his number one priority. It took him forever to get it through and he had to compromise it to death." And a version of, "Listen he's a nice person, he's very articulate" this is what's been used against him, "but he couldn't sell watermelons if it, you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic."

I don't think Dan Rathers is a racist by any means. But like I said, if a Republican were to have said that, that's how they'd be portrayed.

I wouldn't put it past the Democrats

2010-03-08T09:31:00.004-05:00

Rep Eric Massa is claiming he is being forced out of office by his party leadership because he was going to vote no on Health Care.

Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) says the House ethics committee is investigating him for inappropriate comments he made to a male staffer on New Year's Eve — and that he's the victim of a power play by Democratic leaders who want him out of Congress because he's a "no" vote on health care reform.

"Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill," Massa, who on Friday announced his intention to resign, said during a long monologue on radio station WKPQ. "And this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they've gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots."

Massa insisted that he did not know the basis of a House ethics committee investigation into his conduct until after he announced his retirement last Wednesday, and he took House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to task for going public with information related to the probe before it is completed

People try and say it is the Republicans who aren't inclusive. When it is the complete different way. If you're a Democrat and you even think about voting against the leadership you will be forced out.

Hopefully more and more Democrats will learn from this. If they band together they won't have to be ruled by Nancy Pelosi in the House. If they want to save the once great Democratic party they should band together and take the party back over.

Obama finally smartening up about Khalid Sheik Mohammed

2010-03-05T09:20:00.003-05:00

Instead of a civilian trial advisers to Obama are going to recommend a military tribunal.

President Obama's advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City.

The president's advisers feel increasingly hemmed in by bipartisan opposition to a federal trial in New York and demands, mainly from Republicans, that Mohammed and his accused co-conspirators remain under military jurisdiction, officials said. While Obama has favored trying some terrorism suspects in civilian courts as a symbol of U.S. commitment to the rule of law, critics have said military tribunals are the appropriate venue for those accused of attacking the United States.
If Obama accepts the likely recommendation of his advisers, the White House may be able to secure from Congress the funding and legal authority it needs to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and replace it with a facility within the United States. The administration has failed to meet a self-imposed one-year deadline to close Guantanamo.

This sounds great, but why the change? I for one don't exactly trust Obama.

I don't think this is a national security decision. If Obama actually cared about National Security he would have never let the idea of trying KSM as a civilian. It would have been a military tribunal from the word go. I think this is all political.

Obama knows the majority of the people care about America. They care about our national security. And they think that trying KSM as a civilian would make a spectacle of the Islamic terrorists.

It's a good thing Obama finally made the right decision regarding KSM. It just shouldn't have taken him this long.

Let this be a lesson to you Scott Brown

2010-03-05T08:19:00.003-05:00

Bipartisanship only means agreeing with Democrats. It doesn't matter how much you "compromise" with them they will never go for anything you want.

Democrats voted Thursday to defeat the first piece of legislation offered by Sen. Scott Brown, despite a plea from the newly elected lawmaker for bipartisanship.

The Senate voted 56 to 44 to derail an amendment sponsored by Brown (R-Mass.) that would have allocated $80 billion in unobligated stimulus funds to pay for a tax cut for 130 million people in the workforce.
The amendment failed when senators voted to enforce a procedural objection Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) raised against the measure. A majority voted to sustain the motion.

In his first Senate floor speech, Brown asked Democrats to support his proposal, reminding them he was the first Republican to vote for a $15 billion jobs package offered by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Brown and four other Republicans voted for the Reid jobs bill, giving Senate Democrats their biggest bipartisan legislative victory of the year.

Brown asked his colleagues to return the favor.

I don't understand how people like Scott Brown can actually think the Democrats will work together with him. Democrats believe compromise is agreeing with them and nothing less.

Why is the climate bill even on the table?

2010-03-04T11:34:00.005-05:00

It really irritates me when a Republican talks like this. No Republican should be offering support for not even for something we all want, drilling for oil in Alaska. Man made global warming is a myth. The scientists lied and misled the public with faulty data.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) suggested Wednesday that the bar for her vote on climate legislation is high indeed: She wants oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the table.
“To secure my vote on a climate bill, we have to develop a good policy. In my mind that good policy would include ANWR as part of a domestic production title,” she told reporters in the Capitol.
Murkowski is considered a potential swing vote in the climate debate.
She has spoken of the threat global warming poses to Alaska, and signed on to a moderate cap-and-trade bill sponsored by Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) several years ago (Specter was a Republican at the time).
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) are trying to craft a compromise climate change and energy bill that would include emissions limits and expanded domestic energy production – including new oil-and-gas development.
“In my mind, if we are going to really talk about those things that will allow us a greater level of independence when it comes to our oil production, you have got to have ANWR on the table,” Murkowski said.

It really irks me that she can be bought off so easily too. These two things should have nothing to do with each other. They should be completely separate bills not put together for one. That's the problem with Washington.

In order to get support for unwanted and harmful bills they put in a bunch of crap to make everyone happy.

These the back door deals Obama promised

2010-03-04T08:44:00.003-05:00

Wouldn't happen under his administration? Obama's newest judge appointment just happens to be the brother in law of a Democrat who voted against the Health Care bill.

Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he's obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson's brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

10 buck says he changes his vote this time.

Maybe the blue dogs are starting to get it

2010-03-03T14:28:00.003-05:00

This is more of what the Democratic Party needs. Not the socialistic ideas the party leaders like Obama, Reid and Pelosi have now.

Blue Dog Democrats on Tuesday introduced legislation to add a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.

The legislation would require the federal government to pay down the national debt — which is over $12 trillion — and balance the budget by 2020. This year’s budget deficit is projected to be $1.6 trillion.

“Talking about paying down the debt and balancing the budget is easy,” Blue Dog Co-Chairman Jim Matheson (D-Utah) said in a statement. “It’s where the rubber meets the road that Congress has fallen short.”

The amendment would require Congress to produce a balanced budget every fiscal year, and require the president to submit a balanced budget in an annual address to Congress.

They can propose a balanced budget amendment all they want but I seriously doubt the communists running their party will even broach the idea. This is something the Republicans should hook onto and support with the Blue Dog Democrats. There are more Blue Dogs and Republicans than there are wacko leftists in Congress.

I love Reagan more than most

2010-03-03T11:10:00.003-05:00

But seriously?

A U.S. congressman from North Carolina wants the $50 bill redrawn to feature the face of former President Ronald Reagan.
Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry wants Congress to tell the U.S Treasury to replace former President Ulysses S. Grant on the bill. McHenry announced his bill Tuesday. He has 13 Republican co-sponsors.
Grant was a Union general during the Civil War who led the North to victory and later became the nation's 18th president.
McHenry said Reagan transformed the nation's political and economic thinking and argued that "every generation needs its own heroes."

There is far more important things to worry about like defeating health care, national security, lowering taxes and fiscal responsibility. Not wasting money putting Reagan on the 50 dollar bill.

I'm getting sick of talking about Health Care

2010-03-03T08:06:00.003-05:00

But now it seems that Obama wants the Democrats to fall on their swords and push the bill through with reconciliation.

White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will suggest that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial "reconciliation" rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the "fix" to the Senate bill, as opposed to the 60 votes to stop a filibuster and proceed to a vote on a bill.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been awaiting the president’s remarks direction on how health care reform will proceed.

In his remarks, scheduled to be at the White House, the president will paint a picture of what he will say will happen without a health care reform bill – skyrocketing premiums, everyone at the mercy of the insurance industry as recently seen with the 39% premium increases proposed by Anthem Blue Cross in California.

More of the same lies. I don't know how people can actually believe this guy?

What scares me the most is how can we really expect the Republicans to band together to stop this? They can't even follow the new PayGo rules. So if this does get passed through with Reconciliation the only hope is for the Surpreme Court to find it Unconstitutional. And the last thing I want to do is put something as important as this in the hands of a court.

For once, I just wish, the Republicans wouldn't be the spineless cowards they have showed time and time again to be...

Maybe President Obama should listen to Senator Obama too.

Lost a lot of faith in the Republicans

2010-03-03T07:58:00.004-05:00

If the Republicans can't even stand together on fiscal responsibility. Even though Obama passed PayGo weeks prior and that means the Senate is already breaking the new rule. Not that I'm really shocked that no one there has any fiscal responsibility anyways.

Senators approved a bill extending unemployment benefits, highway funding and other federal programs Tuesday night after Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) dropped his days-long blockade of the bill.
The Senate approved the measure 78 to 19.

Bunning had held up the Senate's consideration of the package of 30-day extensions since Thursday, arguing that the measures were not paid for. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said they were, but Bunning stood firm until reaching accord on a deal Tuesday.

That agreement allowed a vote on the package and also gave Bunning a vote on his amendment forcing the $10 billion bill to be offset with the closing of a tax loophole that has benefited the paper industry. The amendment failed, with 43 senators voting for it.

Very disheartening that my new Senator, Scott Brown, who ran as a fiscal conservative, voted for this bill too.

So much for fiscal responsibility in the Senate. So much for PayGo.

The only Senators I have respect for at this very moment are:

The 19 ‘no’ votes included GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), John Barrasso (Wyo.), Robert Bennett (Utah), Bunning, Richard Burr (N.C.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), John Cornyn (Texas), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Jim DeMint (S.C.), John Ensign (Nev.), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Judd Gregg (N.H.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Jim Risch (Idaho), Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and John Thune (S.D.).

Sad to say, any Republican who didn't vote No on this should be challenged and voted out in the next primary.

Update: Found the letter Jim Bunning read to the Senate. Couldn't be more right.

Dear Senator Jim Bunning,

I haven’t worked a full 40 hour week in probably two years now, but I fully support your decision to stand up to those in Congress who want nothing more than to spend the tax payers money, even the money they do not have, on unemployment extension benefits.

So far this year I have worked a total of one week here in Louisville, Kentucky. My employer is a sheet metal fabrication plant with it’s main headquarters based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Normally the Louisville branch would employ upwards of fifty people on any given day if business were good. Recently that number has dwindled to about four.

This country is sooner or later going to implode because of the massive amounts of debt run up over the past 40 or 50 years. Selling the nation’s soul to countries like Communist China in order to finance our life style and allow the government to further debase the currency is shear lunacy. Throwing away hundreds of billions of dollar so executives on Wall Street can keep their multi-million dollar bonuses while others in society worry about keeping the electricity on and their children fed only helps to move this country closer to a long overdue revolution. The problem is by then we won’t even own it anymore.

Politicians, on both side, enjoy getting in front of the television cameras and talk about their support of the “pay as you go” plan, but when it comes down to actually doing what they say, they all run for cover and vote for anything that they think will win them another vote and another term. Your stance in holding them to their words and expecting them to actually do what they voted for is a refreshing concept in the otherwise corrupt and hypocritical power base known as Washington, D.C.

It’s too bad Senator Mitch McConnell and some of the other elected officials do not have your backbone or your sense of decency when it comes to keeping their promises to the American public.

Sincerely,

(Name & street address withheld)
Louisville, Kentucky

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-03-02T08:09:00.003-05:00

Were to blame winter for a crumbling economy. Does anyone really think the media would report that with out questioning it?

White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Monday winter blizzards were likely to distort U.S. February jobless figures, which are due to be released on Friday.
"The blizzards that affected much of the country during the last month are likely to distort the statistics. So it's going to be very important ... to look past whatever the next figures are to gauge the underlying trends," Summers said in an interview with CNBC, according to a transcript.
Construction activity was hit particularly hard by the storms, but many restaurants and stores also had to close, putting the brakes on hiring plans and temporarily throwing some employees out of work.
Summers, director of the White House's National Economic Council, also said the United States was closely monitoring Greece's debt problems and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was encouraged by what he had heard from European officials about the issue.

Who comes up with this stuff? Is this how stupid the liberals in the White House think we are?

The problem isn't winter. The problem is over taxation, over spending and over regulating. Not all the global warming that has fallen from the sky this winter. But of course the media will report this with out one question.

Only if you are a Democrat

2010-03-01T09:05:00.003-05:00

Can a bill be bi-partisan with no Republican support. If a Republican were to say this the media would go crazy over it.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that Republicans have left their mark on the healthcare bill and should accept that the bill will go forward.

"They've had plenty of opportunity to make their voices heard," she said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday morning. "Bipartisanship is a two-way street. A bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes. Republicans have left their imprint."

The public option, for example, has been stripped from the bill because Republicans were so adamantly against it, she said.

The problem here is, the Democrats know this bill is unpopular. They know it is going to fail and bankrupt the country. Even knowing all that they still want to push it through. But they don't want to take 100% blame for it. So they are trying to lie to the media and say because they have talked about the bill it is bi-partisan even though no Republicans support it or will vote for it.

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-02-26T12:07:00.004-05:00

Improperly accepted funds and got reprimanded by the House Ethics Committee. The media would say how unethical he is. How could such an unethical person hold a seat in the House? It would be a storm to get said Republican to resign.

This scandal has been getting investigated for months and it has barely gotten any news. Why? Because Charlie Rangel is a Democrat. Who chairs the Ways and Means committee. He, more than anyone else, knew what he was doing was wrong. But he just figured he'd get away with it because he is one of the beautiful people.

The House ethics committee has admonished Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) for improperly accepting reimbursement for trips to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008 and has ordered him to repay the costs of the trip.
Rangel, who chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee and has served in the House for more than four decades, has been under investigation by the ethics committee for two separate matters for more than two years.
The ethics committee empaneled two subcommittees to look into allegations against Rangel. One focused on charges that he improperly used his office to raise money for an academic center at City College of New York named after him and allegations that he failed to pay taxes on rental income from villa he owns in the Dominican Republican, among other charges.

Democrats tried to push through a pro-terrorist bill

2010-02-26T12:00:00.002-05:00

Luckily the Republicans wouldn't let the bill go through. Just shows all of us how serious the Democrats are about defending America. They care more about the terrorists than they do about us American citizens.

What’s more, the proposed bill is directed at “any officer or employee of the intelligence community” conducting a “covered interrogation.” The definition of “covered interrogation” is sweeping — including any interrogation done outside the U.S., in the course of a person’s official duties on behalf of the government. Thus, if the CIA used waterboarding in training its officers or military officers outside the U.S., this would theoretically be indictable conduct under the statute.

Waterboarding is not all. The Democrats’ bill would prohibit — with a penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment — the following tactics, among others:

- “Exploiting the phobias of the individual”

- Stress positions and the threatened use of force to maintain stress positions

- “Depriving the individual of necessary food, water, sleep, or medical care”

- Forced nudity

- Using military working dogs (i.e., any use of them — not having them attack or menace the individual; just the mere presence of the dog if it might unnerve the detainee and, of course, “exploit his phobias”)

- Coercing the individual to blaspheme or violate his religious beliefs (I wonder if Democrats understand the breadth of seemingly innocuous matters that jihadists take to be violations of their religious beliefs)

- Exposure to “excessive” cold, heat or “cramped confinement” (excessive and cramped are not defined)

- “Prolonged isolation”

- “Placing hoods or sacks over the head of the individual”

Naturally, all of these tactics are interspersed with such acts as forcing the performance of sexual acts, beatings, electric shock, burns, inducing hypothermia or heat injury — as if all these acts were functionally equivalent.

Sad...just so very sad.

How is it possible to even compare the two?

2010-02-26T09:50:00.003-05:00

Senator Harkins thinks passing Health Care reform is the same as desegregation and the Civil Rights bill. That is just a horrible comparison.

The fight for health reform is akin to the fight for desegregation and other civil rights, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said Thursday.

"We don't allow segregation on the basis of race," Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said at the White House healthcare summit.

"And yet we still allow segregation today in America on the basis of your health," Harkin added. "Why should we allow that to happen?"

Harkin has been one of the most vociferous proponents of healthcare reform in the Senate, and has been a top proponent of the public option. (He did concede in recent days, though, that a measure establishing a government-run health plan was unlikely to pass.)

He is doing a disservice to what the blacks had to go through back then. The NCAAP should be going after Harkin. I'm not even sure how they are even similar in the least.

No one in America is denied health care. If anyone is sick, hurt, dieing or anything they can go to the emergency room. It is illegal for the ER to turn anyone down. It's nothing like before the Civil Rights were blacks weren't allowed in white only schools or white only bathrooms.

Harkin is just a fear mongerer. He is trying to scare people into Health Care reform that will bankrupt our country.

This is how Democrats think bipartisanship should be

2010-02-25T22:19:00.003-05:00

Obama called for a bipartisan meeting to discuss a health care bill. And this is how he runs it.

President Obama pledged to "listen" at the outset of his much-ballyhooed bipartisan health care summit on Thursday. Turns out he meant he'd be listening to his own voice.
By the end of the televised event, Mr. Obama had spoken for 119 minutes - nine minutes more than the 110 minutes consumed by 17 Republicans. The 21 Democratic lawmakers used 114 minutes, giving the president and his supporters a whopping 233 minutes, according to a "talk clock" kept by GOP aides.
From the beginning, no one could agree on anything, even how much time each side had used. When a miffed Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, pointed out early on that Democrats had controlled 52 minutes to Republicans' 24, Mr. Obama jumped in to dispute even that.

This is great bipartisanship for Democrats. Actually it's better than what they usually give us. Of course Obama got the crap kicked out of him when the Republicans did talk. So it is no surprise that Obama and the Democrats kept them quiet for as long as possible.

But of course Obama thinks he is above everyone else. Since he is the Messiah. He should be held on a pedestal above everyone else.

The proof is in the pudding

2010-02-25T13:20:00.003-05:00

If you raise taxes government revenue will go down. It's just common sense. If you raise the cost of something people will go else where. So if you raise the taxes on the rich they will just move.

Montgomery County officials are wondering where all the millionaires have gone, as the shrinking pool of wealthy taxpayers is wreaking havoc on the county's finances.

County officials recently pegged the budget deficit for the next fiscal year at $761.5 million. Much of the gap is caused by a drop in income tax revenue, and much of that drop is tied to a small number of wealthy county residents who lost money in a poor economy, died or fled the state's new millionaire tax.

Montgomery lost $4.6 billion in taxable income from tax years 2007 to 2008. More than 82 percent of that drop comes from taxpayers with incomes of $1 million or more, county records show. During that period, the number of income tax returns above $1 million fell from 3,172 to 2,321, a 27 percent decrease.

A weak economy that ate away at capital gains and slowed the growth of small businesses can account for much of the drop. But there's been a fierce debate since the state raised taxes for millionaires to 6.25 percent from 5.5 percent in 2008 whether millionaires are fleeing en masse for states with lower tax burdens.

Same principles go for businesses. If you lower taxes and make it easier for companies to do business they will produce more. Because of that the government revenue will go up.

If states want more millionaires and businesses to come to them they should lower taxes. It is an extremely easy and quick fix. But the Democrats never learn. They'd rather raise taxes and regulations to harm the rich. It is typical class warfare. They want to make everyone equally miserable instead of trying to make every happy.

With all due respect. Yes it is

2010-02-25T08:09:00.002-05:00

House GOP says it isn't hypocrisy to ask for "stimulus" money even thought they voted against it. Well I totally disagree. The House GOP should be doing everything they can to try and reverse the so called stimulus and not waste the tax payers money. Which only hurts the economy more.

Amid mounting criticism, House Republicans said this week it is not hypocritical to vote against the stimulus and later seek money from it for their districts.
After standing united in opposition to the president’s economic stimulus bill a little more than a year ago, many Republicans have touted the benefits of that measure back in their districts, according to a comprehensive list compiled by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Citing the stimulus and other measures, the DCCC claims that 91 House Republicans are talking out of both sides of their mouths.
In recent days, former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) have echoed the DCCC claims.
But key House Republicans argue that a vote against the stimulus bill should not prevent them from writing a letter on behalf of constituents seeking grants available from the $787 billion measure. Some of them do say, however, that Republicans should refrain from attending photo-ops.

This was one of the reasons, us on the right, were so angered by Scott Brown's vote earlier in the week. The Republican Party is supposed to be the fiscally responsible ones. The minute we start taking the stimulus money for pet projects that puts our fingers on it. Makes the Republicans just as responsible for ruining our economy.

It's a good start

2010-02-24T11:33:00.002-05:00

And hopefully the youngens among us are starting to smarten up.

The "Millennial Generation" of young voters played a big role in the resurgence of the Democratic Party in the 2006 and 2008 elections, but their attachment to the Democratic Party weakened markedly over the course of 2009. The Democratic advantage over the Republicans in party affiliation among young voters, including those who "lean" to a party, reached a whopping 62% to 30% margin in 2008. But by the end of 2009 this 32-point margin had shrunk to just 14 points: 54% Democrat, 40% Republican

It is still a sad state that so many people are brainwashed into the notion that socialism actually works. But it's better than I expect considering that high schools, college and the media are predominantly liberal. It takes a lot of courage to think on your own and go against the grain.

This is a testament to the Tea Party movement. With out them a lot of people wouldn't have got the message and been educated to the conservative movement. I've said this thousand of times before, this is a center right country. The American public is attracted to a conservative view. They just need to here it articulated correctly. Which the tea partyers are doing.

This is what the Republican Party and the conservative has lost over the years. They did a great job getting their message out in 1994. But they stopped getting their message out after they were elected to a majority in Congress. They made the mistake thinking they had a mandate and could stop educating the public. I just hope, after the conservatives take over Congress in 2010 and 2012, that they don't stop educating the public.

I thought the Patriot Act was a horrible thing

2010-02-24T08:52:00.004-05:00

Created by evil Republicans to terrorize and spy on American citizens? Isn't that what most Democrats said when Bush enacted it? So if that's the case, why are the Democrats trying to extend it?

Senate Democrats are pushing for a short-term extension of key provisions in the Patriot Act as part of a package of must-pass measures.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is planning to ask for unanimous consent to pass an extension for a host of measures set to expire February 28, according to Senate sources. The request could be made as early as Tuesday night.

The large package of bills includes a year-long extension of three provisions of the anti-terrorism law known a the Patriot Act, as well as extensions for expiring tax provisions, including unemployment insurance, COBRA, flood insurance, the law governing the highway trust fund, the federal flood insurance program and a measure governing satellite television signals.

Like most issues, the Democrats don't care about National Security. Well actually, let me rephrase that. They don't care about National Security when the Republicans are in charge. Now that they have the White House it is a priority. To them it is just like any other political issue. They take what ever side will garnish them more votes. The fact that they might endanger American lives doesn't enter into the equation. It's all about power to them.

Guess Obama thinks money just grows in trees

2010-02-24T08:10:00.002-05:00

I understand the fact that there are problems and concerns about the current embassy in London but we are in the middle of a recession here at home. Mostly from over regulations and taxation from the Federal government. When we are struggling at home who in their right mind would think it is right to unveil a plan to build a 1billion dollar to build a new embassy in London.

The United States has unveiled plans for its new $1 billion high-security embassy in London — the most expensive it has ever built.

The proposals were met with relief from both the present embassy’s Mayfair neighbours and the residents and developers of the Battersea wasteland where the vast crystalline cube, surrounded by a moat, will be built.

The decision to abandon the former site in Grosvenor Square by 2016 came after a prolonged battle with residents angered by the security measures demanded after the September 11 attacks. More than a hundred residents took out a full-page advertisement in The Times to oppose tighter measures that they said would leave the area more vulnerable to attack.

The new embassy, on a former industrial site behind Battersea power station known for its gay clubs, will be designed by Kieran Timberlake, the Philadelphia architect.

Obama is so out of touch with the average American I'm sure he really doesn't care what we think. People are struggling just getting by pay check to pay check and the government, instead of cutting costs, is proposing another billion dollars in spending.

This is what we think liberals are un-American

2010-02-23T14:06:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure what everyone else would call it but if I see someone laughing at the thought of saying the Pledge of Allegiance before an union meeting I'd call it being anti-American.

A Republican candidate for Congress in California is calling on U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra to "clarify his reaction" after the Democrat was caught on a YouTube video laughing at a suggestion that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited prior to a union meeting in Los Angeles.

If the Pledge of Allegiance is a laughing matter, then the joke may be on a California congressman.
A Republican candidate for Congress in California is calling on U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra to "clarify his reaction" after the Democrat was caught on a YouTube video laughing at a suggestion that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited prior to a union meeting in Los Angeles.

The 46-second video was captured by an unidentified staffer who accompanied candidate Ari David to a Service Employees International Union meeting on Saturday. By early Tuesday, the video had been viewed roughly 10,000 times.

This is the entire problem with the Democratic party. In my opinion this isn't the exception but this is the norm with the leadership in the Democratic Party. If a Republican was caught laughing about the Pledge he would have already been forced to resign and not from the media but from the constituents and leadership of the Republican Party. But of course, most of the media, probably doesn't see a problem with what this Congressman did and it won't make the news.

The great Canadian Health Care

2010-02-23T13:47:00.001-05:00

Summed up in one quote.

"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."

What more do we need to know about National Health Care?

I agree with him. But it's politicians like Danny Williams who supports Canada's system. And they are hypocrites. They want one rule for all the peons and another for themselves. Most Canadians can't afford, probably from over taxation for the "free" Health Care, to go to the United States to have a procedure as he got.

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-02-23T07:49:00.003-05:00

Was in the White House right now. Imagine how differently the media would be treating the current administration. If Bush ordered a strike that killed civilians the media would be going wild over it.

U.S. Special Operations Forces ordered an airstrike that killed at least 27 civilians in southern Afghanistan and the soldiers may not have satisfied rules of engagement designed to avoid the killing of innocents, Afghan and coalition officials said Monday.
The airstrike Sunday hit a group of minibuses in a remote part of the south near the border between Uruzgan and Daykundi provinces. The area is hundreds of miles from Marjah, where the largest allied offensive since 2001 is now in its second week. But the airstrike nonetheless illustrated one of the major problems for coalition forces as they try to win over civilians in Marjah and across Afghanistan: figuring out who is a civilian and who is an insurgent—and not killing the civilians.

And do you remember the death count tracker the media had for 8 years under Bush. Everytime there was a new milestone it was all over the media.

Icasualties.org said 54 U.S. troops were killed this year in Afghanistan, raising the casualties to 1,000, compared to eight in Iraq, where the total has reached 4,378. The rise to 1,000 dead coincides with one of the biggest offensives against the Taliban, a NATO-led assault in the Marjah district of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province.
The operation is an early test of U.S. President Barack Obama's troop surge strategy aimed as wresting control of Taliban bastions and handing them over to Afghan authorities before the start of a gradual U.S. troop withdrawal in 2011.

Where are the Cindy Sheehan's of the world protesting? Where are the Democrats calling for war crimes against Obama?

Tea Party and the Republican Party

2010-02-23T00:36:00.006-05:00

The Tea Partyers have single handily saved this country from going down the road of socialism. The media declared conservatism dead after the election of Obama. There was no hope what so ever for us on the right according the liberal elitists. Obama was so popular, so transcendent, so wonderful, nothing could possibly stop him from pushing his agenda down the throats of every American. But like the Phoenix, out of the ashes, arose the Tea Party movement.

They were so outraged by the socialistic views of Obama, they formed, rallied and took down a perceived popular newly elected President. With out the up swell of conservatism from the Tea Partyers who knows what we might have now. It was bad enough we got the "porkulus" bill that has done far more damage to this country and has prolonged the recession but with out the Tea Party movement we very well could already have Socialized Medicine, Cap and Trade and be going down the road to full fledged Socialism.

With all that said, if the Tea Party Movement is serious about stopping Obama's socialist agenda they must join the Republican Party. But not just join it. They must take it over. Vote out all the week kneed Republican elitists like John McCain or Charlie Crist. Which is well under way in both cases. They must take over the leadership from the fake conservatives like Mitt Romney and my exodus the likes of Colin Powell. It won't be an easy job, but that's what needs to be done.

If the Tea Party tries to form their own political party they will not only fail they will also help destroy this great nation of ours. This country has already seen what happens when a 3rd party candidate runs. We elect a President like Bill Clinton. That will happen over and over again. It sounds great in theory to start another political party but it isn't possible. It will just lead to the total opposite of what we all strive for, freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The Tea Party movement has already done so much good for this country. Forming a 3rd party will put and end to all the good it has done. The election season is right around the corner. Now is the time to join the Republican Party and in every primary vote out the likes of the Crist's and vote in the Rubio's. That's how we will save this nation.

Stop lieing McCain

2010-02-22T15:57:00.000-05:00

You were not misled. You were not duped. McCain is just afraid of losing in his primary race to an actual conservative.

Under growing pressure from conservatives and "tea party" activists, Sen. John McCain of Arizona is having to defend his record of supporting the government's massive bailout of the financial system
.

In response to criticism from opponents seeking to defeat him in the Aug. 24 Republican primary, the four-term senator says he was misled by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. McCain said the pair assured him that the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program would focus on what was seen as the cause of the financial crisis, the housing meltdown.
"Obviously, that didn't happen," McCain said in a meeting Thursday with The Republic's Editorial Board, recounting his decision-making during the critical initial days of the fiscal crisis. "They decided to stabilize the Wall Street institutions, bail out (insurance giant) AIG, bail out Chrysler, bail out General Motors. . . . What they figured was that if they stabilized Wall Street - I guess it was trickle-down economics - that therefore Main Street would be fine."

Nearly 15 months later, commercial lenders still are in shaky condition and the commercial real-estate industry is in trouble, he said. On Friday, President Barack Obama announced $1.5 billion in funding for new measures to help Arizona and four other states hit hard by the tanked housing market and by joblessness.

But McCain stopped short of calling the TARP a mistake.

"Something had to be done because the world's financial system
was on the verge of collapse," he said. "Any economist, liberal or conservative, would agree with that. The action they took, I don't agree with."

All McCain had to do was listen to the Republican leadership in the Senate or the conservative media to know what TARP was all about. The problem wasn't that he was misled. The problem is McCain is pretty far from a conservative.

This should be a warning to all you wishy washy RINO's. If you want to continue getting elected and supported by the Republican base start acting like a conservative. The Republican elitists like McCain hate the tea party movement because of that.

The proof is in the pudding. McCain is losing in the polls in Arizone. Rubio is leading Crist in Florida. Most importantly Scott Brown won "Ted Kennedy's" seat in Massachusetts. This country has always been a center right nation. Finally the people are becoming more active and voting out those who don't fit that mold.

More regulation. Just what a flat economy needs

2010-02-22T09:10:00.000-05:00

Well if you want an Universal Government run Health Care this is exactly what I'd do. There is no better way to bankrupt an organization than to regulate it to death. Which is exactly what Obama wants to do with insurance companies. Allowing the Fed to regulate rate increases will destroy insurance companies.

President Obama will propose on Monday giving the federal government new power to block excessive rate increases by health insurance companies, as he rolls out comprehensive legislation to revamp the nation’s health care system, White House officials said Sunday.
The president’s legislation aims to bridge differences between the bills adopted by the House and Senate late last year, and to frame his debate with Republicans over health policy at a televised meeting on Thursday.
By focusing on the effort to tighten regulation of insurance costs, a new element not included in either the House or Senate bills, Mr. Obama is seizing on outrage over recent premium increases of up to 39 percent announced by Anthem Blue Cross of California and moving to portray the Democrats’ health overhaul as a way to protect Americans from profiteering insurers.
Congressional Republicans have long denounced the Democrats’ legislation as a “government takeover” of health care. And while they are likely to resist any expansion of federal authority over existing state regulators, they will face a tough balancing act at the meeting with the president to avoid appearing as if they are willing to allow steep premium increases like those by Anthem.

Profit is not an evil word contrary to what most Democrats believe. If you take away profit there is no incentive to work. As more and more insurance companies stop offering health insurance the government, under Obama, would be more than happy to fill the void.

Like most Democratic ideas, they are death to politicians, so the only way to get them out there is through backdoor processes like this.

So much for the most open administration

2010-02-22T08:49:00.000-05:00

Another broken promise from Obama.

President Obama, who pledged to establish the most open and transparent administration in history, on Monday surpasses his predecessor's record for avoiding a full-fledged question-and-answer session with White House reporters in a formal press conference.
President George W. Bush's longest stretch between prime-time, nationally televised press conferences was 214 days, from April 4 to Nov. 4, 2004. Mr. Obama tops that record on Monday, going 215 days - stretching back to July 22, according to records kept by CBS Radio's veteran reporter Mark Knoller.
The president has seemingly shunned formal, prime-time sessions since his last disastrous presser, when he said police in Cambridge, Mass., "acted stupidly" by arresting a Harvard professor who broke into a home that turned out to be his own. The off-the-cuff comment took over the news cycle for a week, overshadowing his push for health care reform, and culminated in a White House "Beer Summit," where the president hosted white police officer James Crowley and the black Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr.
"He does seem a little snakebit on the whole presser thing," said Julie Mason, a longtime White House reporter and board member of the White House Correspondents' Association.
"At his last big press conference in July, he lost control of the message with his response to the Gates question, and then returns six months later with an unannounced, five-question avail in the briefing room - on a snow day. Was it something we said?"

Maybe, just for fun, Obama should actually keep one of his promises. Sadly he isn't capable of keeping all his promises, it is a hard thing to do when you promised everything to everyone. This is just one example of many of his dishonesty.

Obama is the great campaigner of our time. His teleprompter can make most people believe his lies over and over again. But when it comes to actually delivering on his promises he has failed just about every time.

War in Iraq

2010-02-19T08:40:00.000-05:00

Oh wait sorry. Operation New Dawn, as it is being renamed now. It is pretty sad, the Democrats, including Obama, have spent the last 5-6 years calling for the end of the war. Yelling at Bush for being a war mongerer. But now that they have the White House, the war hasn't ended, and they are changing the war's name to make it their own.

ABC News has learned that the Obama administration has decided to give the war in Iraq -- currently known as Operation Iraqi Freedom -- a new name.

The new name: "Operation New Dawn."

In a February 17, 2010, memo to the Commander of Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the "requested operation name change is approved to take effect 1 September 2010, coinciding with the change of mission for U.S. forces in Iraq."

I just want some intellectual honesty here. I'm glad the Democrats are finally, half assed, starting to support the war. They should have been since the beginning. But like everything else they just think "how is this going to effect me politically?". They don't think "how is this going to effect America?".

Now it behooves now to, in my opinion, pretend to support the war in Iraq. Even though they have been against the war for as long as I can remember. It's going to take a lot more than a name change for me to believe the Democrats are serious about national defense.

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-02-18T15:53:00.000-05:00

Was President. This would be front page news over every news paper through out the country. The TV anchors would start their programs off with "are the Republican policies causes homelessness in America?" But because Obama "cares" and "hopes" and "change" the media loves him.

Homelessness in rural and suburban America is straining shelters this winter as the economy founders and joblessness hovers near double digits—a "perfect storm of foreclosures, unemployment and a shortage of affordable housing," in one official's eyes.
"We are seeing many families that never before sought government help," said Greg Blass, commissioner of Social Services in Suffolk County on eastern Long Island.
"We see a spiral in food stamps, heating assistance applications; Medicaid is skyrocketing," Blass added. "It is truly reaching a stage of being alarming."
The federal government is again counting the nation's homeless and, by many accounts, the suburban numbers continue to rise, especially for families, women, children, Latinos and men seeking help for the first time. Some have to be turned away.

It's pretty sad that homelessness is only a problem when a Republican is in the White House.

Maybe when things get so bad that the media can't ignore it anymore we can get the old Jimmy Carter misery index back.

Jobless claims surge

2010-02-18T14:35:00.001-05:00

Unexpectedly of course. I'm not even a paid economists and I could have told you uneployment is going to continue to go up. But of course Obama and Biden were out yesterday yelling about how their stimulus has saved America from recession. Which couldn't be further from the truth.

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly surged last week, while producer prices increased sharply in January, raising potential hurdles for the economy's recovery.
Initial claims for state jobless benefits increased 31,000 to 473,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Financial markets had expected them to fall slightly.
Another report from the department showed prices paid at the farm and factory gate rose a faster-than-expected 1.4 percent from December as higher gasoline prices and unusually cold temperatures helped boost energy costs.

In fact, just like under FDR, all this federal spending is putting us in a prolong recession. The stimulus didn't even give our economy a temporary boost that Obama and company said it would. It just makes things worse.

You can't run an economy off the government. It just isn't feasible. Money doesn't just grow on trees and if it did we'd just have double digit inflation...oh wait. That's what Obama is doing now, printing money we don't have and in turn we will have double digit inflation in the coming years if it doesn't come under control. Which is a beautiful way to ruin an economy.

The only way to grow an economy is through the private sector. If there is no private sector there is no money, through taxation, for the government coffers. So all the federal jobs they are creating now will be lost if there is no money to pay the employees. Unless, like I said before, they just print more and more money and cause more and more inflation.

Bought and paid for

2010-02-18T14:12:00.000-05:00

That's exactly what Unions want and expect. And when you don't comply with their wishes they will ask for their money they donated back.

Labor leader says groups feel betrayed by voting record of Rep. Griffith

Angered by his voting record in Congress, Alabama labor groups that contributed to U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith's 2008 campaign demanded Monday that Griffith return their money.

"Parker Griffith, we feel you have swindled us," said Al Henley, secretary-treasurer of the Alabama AFL-CIO.

This is exactly why I hate Unions. They are nothing but a branch of the Democratic Party now. They don't represent the working people they represent a political philosophy that wants to kill the American economy.

Best quote from a Democrat

2010-02-17T08:50:00.000-05:00

In a long time. Evan Bayh finally has some intellectual honesty.

“If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months.”

Only took him quitting the Senate to say it.

Of course Bayh also said he is quitting because he can't stand the partisanship in Congress. But yet he was a guaranteed vote for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. If he was more than a self promoting douche bag of a politician he would have said this before he retired.

Who does Obama care more for?

2010-02-16T08:49:00.001-05:00

The trial lawyers or the American people? We already know the answer, the trial lawyers.

President Barack Obama wants a bipartisan deal on health reform, but trial lawyers don’t want him to deal on a top Republican priority: tort reform.

Trial lawyers defeated President George W. Bush’s push for medical liability reform and successfully lobbied to water down tort reform provisions in healthcare reform bills this Congress. But the battle is far from over.

If Obama was serious about reforming Health Care and controlling the costs involved, this is the first thing he would reform. But Obama is not serious about reforming Health Care for the good of the American people. He just wants to reform it to give the Democrats and his allies more power.

Reason number, well too high to count the number,..

2010-02-16T08:42:00.000-05:00

Why I hate political correctness. This is just unbelievable, well I guess with liberalism nothing is unbelievable. But I've long said the TSA agents should be focusing on those who have tried to blow us up in the past. Which are Muslim men aged 18-34, not disabled children aged 4.

Just when I thought I was out of the Transportation Security Administration business for a few columns, they pull me back in.
Did you hear about the Camden cop whose disabled son wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces?

Unfortunately, it's no joke. This happened to Bob Thomas, a 53-year-old officer in Camden's emergency crime suppression team, who was flying to Orlando in March with his wife, Leona, and their son, Ryan.

So why would anyone with an once of common sense think this is right? Was this little boy really a threat? How many 53 year old cops have tried to hi-jack any planes? I mean really?

Imagine if a Republican...

2010-02-15T08:14:00.001-05:00

Like Dick Cheney, and imagine if his motorcade had killed, injured and been in 4 accidents in the first year in office. The media would be calling for his resignation. They would be asking the question "is Bush/Cheney just trying to intimidate the American public"? But of course Joe Biden's motorcade has been in 3 or 4 crashes, killed a person, and it barely makes the news.

Biden's motorcade is no stranger to accidents. In November alone, the vice presidential motorcade was involved in three: one in which NYPD at the head of his security detail crashed with a cab, injuring three; another in which a pedestrian was struck and killed by two Secret Service employees in Temple Hills, Md.; and another in which a sheriff's deputy was hit by a car while escorting Biden's motorcade in New Mexico.

How many more people does Joe Biden's motorcade have to hurt before we ban it?

This has been true since the invention of America

2010-02-11T11:53:00.000-05:00

I don't know why this is even surprising to anyone that most Americans are unhappy with the government. That's what makes America so great, among other things, is our great distrust of the government. Which leads to the people governing themselves rather than being ruled by a dictator.

Two-thirds of Americans are "dissatisfied" or downright "angry" about the way the federal government is working, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. On average, the public estimates that 53 cents of every tax dollar they send to Washington is "wasted."

Next they are going to find a poll that most Americans think the sky is blue

Sector	ESI	Jobs
	%	Low	High
Agriculture, mining and construction
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	20	-923	-5,441
Mining	68	-939	-5,478
Construction	37	-7,374	-43,316
Manufacturing	65	-18,022	-105,229
Trade
Wholesale trade	57	-8,149	-47,663
Retail trade	39	-14,364	-84,339
Transportation and communication
Transportation and warehousing	55	-6,290	-36,806
Utilities	80	-906	-5,271
Services
Information	63	-4,510	-26,342
Financial Activities	66	-13,236	-77,269
Professional and business services	44	-22,606	-132,596
Educational services	61	-5,493	-32,102
Leisure and hospitality	25	-8,436	-49,682
Other services	48	-7,946	-46,564
Totals		-119,194	-698,098

California	Texas
Population Rank:	#1	#2
Joined the Union:	1850, ceded by Mexico	1845, ceded by Mexico
Hispanic Population:	About one-third	About one-third
Leadership over last 20 years:	Democrat, large government	GOP, small government
State legislature meets:	Year-round	Meets 90 days every two years
Net population change:	Outflow of 1,509,000 from 2000-2009	Inflow of 1,600,000 from 2000-2009
Average teacher salary:	$60,000/yr.	$41,744/hr.
ACT score rank:	#44	#30
8th grade % proficient at writing rank:	#30	#16
4th grade % proficient at math rank:	#26	#16
Tax Policy	8.25% sales tax, up to 10.55% income tax	6.25% sales tax, no income tax
Public sector unions:	Powerful. Spent $100,000,000 (in funds levied from taxpayers) defeating legislation that would weaken the Democrat-union alliance in 2005.	"Weak or non-existent".
Bond Rating (an indicator of financial health)	S&P A-	S&P AA+