Excerpts and links to three articles below. The general consensus is that Obama gave a boring and empty SOTU speech last night. He blathered on and on, like most President's do, but what he actually said was either useless or harmful to our nation. He never seems to have the best interests of Americans in mind, but he tries to sound like he does. The American people aren't buying it anymore....
1) "Obama does not seem like a leader anymore." (Ben Stein is not amused...)
There were two glimpses of the old Obama -- when he slammed "subsidies" for oil companies, which of course do not get any subsidies, but have business deductions the way every other business does, he sounded every bit like the envious skinny Harvard man he once was. When he railed against tax breaks that he considered identical to government spending, that was outright socialism. That concept implies that all the income in the nation belongs to the state, and that if we let working people keep any of it, that is the same as a government expenditure. The opposite is true. The income belongs to the people, and they allow government to have some of it. But, of course, the servant has become the master now.
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/01/26/obama-and-the-bodysnatchers
2) (Obama in outerspace...)
The sense of national purpose that followed the Sputnik launch was not based on an abstract sense of the need for better education programs; it was a national security emergency. In those days lagging behind in the technology race could literally be fatal. Mr. Obama has failed to conjure the same sense of looming disaster, excepting the national state of alarm over his irresponsible deficit spending.
Maybe when the red flag is flying on the lunar surface the United States will have a true Sputnik moment, the shocked realization that while the rest of mankind is making giant leaps, Obama’s America can manage only small steps.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/26/editorial-obamas-spaced-out-speech/
3) "Limited government and free enterprise have helped make America the greatest nation on earth." Paul Ryan (R), WI
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100073619/the-obama-presidency-remains-in-a-dangerous-state-of-denial/
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Boring!!!
We have been hearing the SAME SOTU speeches for our ENTIRE lives! Deficit, education, energy, budget, we love our military, blah, blah, blah. I will vote for the politician who says the following: 1) flat tax, 2) less regulation, 3) education is a local issue, 4) we WILL tackle the big three: Med / Med / SS. But instead we hear: here is how WE will spend YOUR money. I'm just completely sick of it. One bright spot: Obama FINALLY recognized the US contribution to the Chilean mine rescue. Maybe the US is exceptional after all.... :-)
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Christie 1, Schumer 0
from the NY Post... Gotta love the candor of Chris Christie. He SAYS what the middle class is THINKING.
Christie 1, Schumer 0
January 23, 2011
Sen. Chuck Schumer last week lit into New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for pulling the plug on that $8.7 billion trans-Hudson rail tunnel.
“A terrible, terrible decision,” Schumer told a Crain’s breakfast.
Schumer being Schumer, of course, he sees in Christie’s decision the coming of a national apocalypse — a “turning point,” he said, that historians will one day look back on as the day when we “stopped looking toward the future.”
Hyperbole, thy name is Chuck Schumer.
Fortunately, Chris Christie is not one to be intimidated, even by so formidable a presence as Chuck Schumer’s — and, even more fortunately, he can give as good as he gets.
Back when the governor called a halt to the project, he cited the fact that its cost had already swelled to $11 billion and counting — with his state on the hook for $2.7 billion, plus 50% of any cost overruns.
That would hike Jersey’s liability to more than $5 billion — money the troubled Garden State simply doesn’t have.
In response to Schumer, Christie noted the difference between a governor and a senator. “Their job is easy,” he said of lawmakers like Schumer. “They get to sit in front of microphones and bloviate. I’ve got to balance budgets.”
Asking where the money would come from, Christie added: “If [Schumer] wants to offer me $5 billion, then maybe we can have a conversation.
“Until then,” said the governor, “he should mind his manners on the other side of the Hudson River.”
Ouch — but point very well taken.
Senators — especially Democratic senators — love to go on about huge projects and the jobs they’d create.
But when it comes to explaining how to pay for them, they grow silent.
However badly the tunnel is needed, it does not justify a project that was already running as high as 60% over its already exorbitant projected budget.
With absolutely no end to the escalation in sight.
Chris Christie, unlike Chuck Schumer, recognized a boondoggle when he saw it.
And, unlike Schumer, his first instinct was to protect the taxpayers.
Christie 1, Schumer 0
January 23, 2011
Sen. Chuck Schumer last week lit into New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for pulling the plug on that $8.7 billion trans-Hudson rail tunnel.
“A terrible, terrible decision,” Schumer told a Crain’s breakfast.
Schumer being Schumer, of course, he sees in Christie’s decision the coming of a national apocalypse — a “turning point,” he said, that historians will one day look back on as the day when we “stopped looking toward the future.”
Hyperbole, thy name is Chuck Schumer.
Fortunately, Chris Christie is not one to be intimidated, even by so formidable a presence as Chuck Schumer’s — and, even more fortunately, he can give as good as he gets.
Back when the governor called a halt to the project, he cited the fact that its cost had already swelled to $11 billion and counting — with his state on the hook for $2.7 billion, plus 50% of any cost overruns.
That would hike Jersey’s liability to more than $5 billion — money the troubled Garden State simply doesn’t have.
In response to Schumer, Christie noted the difference between a governor and a senator. “Their job is easy,” he said of lawmakers like Schumer. “They get to sit in front of microphones and bloviate. I’ve got to balance budgets.”
Asking where the money would come from, Christie added: “If [Schumer] wants to offer me $5 billion, then maybe we can have a conversation.
“Until then,” said the governor, “he should mind his manners on the other side of the Hudson River.”
Ouch — but point very well taken.
Senators — especially Democratic senators — love to go on about huge projects and the jobs they’d create.
But when it comes to explaining how to pay for them, they grow silent.
However badly the tunnel is needed, it does not justify a project that was already running as high as 60% over its already exorbitant projected budget.
With absolutely no end to the escalation in sight.
Chris Christie, unlike Chuck Schumer, recognized a boondoggle when he saw it.
And, unlike Schumer, his first instinct was to protect the taxpayers.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Jan 20, 1961 - JFK
We all know this famous passage: "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." BUT did you know this one? "And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe - the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLmiOEk59n8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLmiOEk59n8
Sunday, January 16, 2011
STOP THE CHARADE!
This idea of "sitting together" at the State of the Union is ridiculous! It's simply a ploy by the Dems to: 1) not let the viewing public see how the Rep numbers have grown, and 2) prolong the constant whining about 'bipartisanship' (which means agreeing w/the Dems and the media). Contact your Republican Representative and Senator, and tell them to resist this Dem publicity stunt. Reminiscent of when the Senate was split, 50-50, with a Rep Pres & VP. The Reps 'shared' everything w/the Dems and never acted like the Majority Party. Excuse me, when the Pres & VP are Rep, the Senate is Rep. Who breaks a tie in the Senate? The VP! Memo to Reps in the House: act like the Majority that you are, lest you loose it in '12!!
http://house.gov/
http://senate.gov/
http://house.gov/
http://senate.gov/
Saturday, January 15, 2011
DO YOU HEAR US??
Nancy, Harry, Barack, DO YOU HEAR US?? (It's like the scene in Horton Hears a Who where all the Who's start to scream "We are here! We are here!" so they are not put into the stew!!) Since a multitude of polls showing that 60+% of the American people were AGAINST Healthcare Reform didn't seem to resonate in DC, perhaps a poll showing that 75+% of the American people are AGAINST out-of-control DC spending will resonate. Time will tell.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20028612-503544.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20028612-503544.html
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Americans Get It...
Even Salon (yes, Salon!) is reacting to the vitriolic fingerpointing after the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Giffords in AZ...
"We know that no connection between Loughner and Tea Paty politics has been established, and what we have learned about him strongly suggests that he lacked a recognizable political identity. He looks to be a deranged young man and it's unclear if he was even aware of the political debate/conversation that the rest of us follow every day. There's just no evidence of any connection between Loughner and Palin, the Tea Party and conservative movement."
http://www.salon.com/news/gabrielle_giffords/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/01/11/culture_violence_giffords_poll
"We know that no connection between Loughner and Tea Paty politics has been established, and what we have learned about him strongly suggests that he lacked a recognizable political identity. He looks to be a deranged young man and it's unclear if he was even aware of the political debate/conversation that the rest of us follow every day. There's just no evidence of any connection between Loughner and Palin, the Tea Party and conservative movement."
http://www.salon.com/news/gabrielle_giffords/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/01/11/culture_violence_giffords_poll
Monday, January 10, 2011
A True Hero
The United States has lost a true hero. One less in the Band of Brothers. RIP and Godspeed, Major Dick Winters.
(from Yahoo news.com....)
When people asked whether he was a hero, he echoed the words of his World War II buddy Mike Ranney: "No, but I served in a company of heroes."
"He was a good man, a very good man," Guarnere said. "I would follow him to hell and back. So would the men from E Company."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110110/ap_on_en_tv/us_obit_winters
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The Constitution...it's so passé..
Once again, the New York Times knows all: bills should not be tied to Constitutional principles (why not??), a bill to reduce spending to 2008 levels has no chance of passing (yes, it does!), and apparently they don't seem to realize that the 13th Amendment is in effect (it is, since Jan 1865). The Constitution is a great document, relatively easy to understand, meant to establish bedrock principles, yet to evolve via the Amendment process when the overwhelming sentiment of the country demands it, not when one party finds it to be an impediment to achieving their goal of socialism and equal outcomes for all.
January 4, 2011 - NY Times - Opinion
Pomp, and Little Circumstance - A theatrical production of unusual pomposity will open on Wednesday when Republicans assume control of the House for the 112th Congress. A rule will be passed requiring that every bill cite its basis in the Constitution. A bill will be introduced to repeal the health care law. On Thursday, the Constitution will be read aloud in the House chamber. And in one particularly self-important flourish, the new speaker, John Boehner, arranged to have his office staff “sworn in” on Tuesday by the chief justice of the United States.
Those who had hoped to see a glimpse of the much-advertised Republican plan to revive the economy and put Americans back to work will have to wait at least until party leaders finish their Beltway insider ritual of self-glorification. Then, they may find time for governing.
The empty gestures are officially intended to set a new tone in Washington, to demonstrate — presumably to the Republicans’ Tea Party supporters — that things are about to be done very differently. But it is far from clear what message is being sent by, for instance, reading aloud the nation’s foundational document. Is this group of Republicans really trying to suggest that they care more deeply about the Constitution than anyone else and will follow it more closely?
In any case, it is a presumptuous and self-righteous act, suggesting that they alone understand the true meaning of a text that the founders wisely left open to generations of reinterpretation. Certainly the Republican leadership is not trying to suggest that African-Americans still be counted as three-fifths of a person.
There is a similar air of vacuous fundamentalism in requiring that every bill cite the Constitutional power given to Congress to enact it. The new House leadership says this is necessary because the health care law and other measures that Republicans do not like have veered from the Constitution. But it is the judiciary that ultimately decides when a law is unconstitutional, not the transitory occupant of the speaker’s chair.
All of this, though, is simply eyewash — the equivalent of a flag-draped background to a speech — compared with the actual legislation the Republicans plan to pass. And though much of that has no possibility of being enacted, it does suggest the depth of the struggle to come. The bill tauntingly titled the “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act” has nothing to do with increasing employment and will never reach the Senate floor, but shows that the leadership is willing to threaten the hard-fought access to health care for millions of the uninsured, just to make a political point.
On budgetary issues, the House Republicans’ new rules bypass the chamber and even their own Budget Committee to give all power to set spending levels to the committee’s new chairman, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. It is hard to imagine how long such an aggrandizement of power will last in a contentious body like the House. The plans by Mr. Ryan and his colleagues to simply cut all spending back to 2008 levels also have no chance of being enacted.
The one good thing about these meaningless rules and bills is that they finally seem to be prodding House Democrats into standing up for their own programs as they enter the minority. Democrats have begun to remind Americans of what is at stake in repealing health care: popular provisions like the elimination of lifetime coverage limits, insurance under parents’ policies up to age 26, and coverage for pre-existing conditions.
The Republicans’ antics are a ghastly waste of time at a moment when the nation is expecting real leadership from Congress, and suggest that the new House leadership is still unable to make tough choices. Voters, no less than drama critics, prefer substance to overblown theatrics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/opinion/05wed1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
January 4, 2011 - NY Times - Opinion
Pomp, and Little Circumstance - A theatrical production of unusual pomposity will open on Wednesday when Republicans assume control of the House for the 112th Congress. A rule will be passed requiring that every bill cite its basis in the Constitution. A bill will be introduced to repeal the health care law. On Thursday, the Constitution will be read aloud in the House chamber. And in one particularly self-important flourish, the new speaker, John Boehner, arranged to have his office staff “sworn in” on Tuesday by the chief justice of the United States.
Those who had hoped to see a glimpse of the much-advertised Republican plan to revive the economy and put Americans back to work will have to wait at least until party leaders finish their Beltway insider ritual of self-glorification. Then, they may find time for governing.
The empty gestures are officially intended to set a new tone in Washington, to demonstrate — presumably to the Republicans’ Tea Party supporters — that things are about to be done very differently. But it is far from clear what message is being sent by, for instance, reading aloud the nation’s foundational document. Is this group of Republicans really trying to suggest that they care more deeply about the Constitution than anyone else and will follow it more closely?
In any case, it is a presumptuous and self-righteous act, suggesting that they alone understand the true meaning of a text that the founders wisely left open to generations of reinterpretation. Certainly the Republican leadership is not trying to suggest that African-Americans still be counted as three-fifths of a person.
There is a similar air of vacuous fundamentalism in requiring that every bill cite the Constitutional power given to Congress to enact it. The new House leadership says this is necessary because the health care law and other measures that Republicans do not like have veered from the Constitution. But it is the judiciary that ultimately decides when a law is unconstitutional, not the transitory occupant of the speaker’s chair.
All of this, though, is simply eyewash — the equivalent of a flag-draped background to a speech — compared with the actual legislation the Republicans plan to pass. And though much of that has no possibility of being enacted, it does suggest the depth of the struggle to come. The bill tauntingly titled the “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act” has nothing to do with increasing employment and will never reach the Senate floor, but shows that the leadership is willing to threaten the hard-fought access to health care for millions of the uninsured, just to make a political point.
On budgetary issues, the House Republicans’ new rules bypass the chamber and even their own Budget Committee to give all power to set spending levels to the committee’s new chairman, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. It is hard to imagine how long such an aggrandizement of power will last in a contentious body like the House. The plans by Mr. Ryan and his colleagues to simply cut all spending back to 2008 levels also have no chance of being enacted.
The one good thing about these meaningless rules and bills is that they finally seem to be prodding House Democrats into standing up for their own programs as they enter the minority. Democrats have begun to remind Americans of what is at stake in repealing health care: popular provisions like the elimination of lifetime coverage limits, insurance under parents’ policies up to age 26, and coverage for pre-existing conditions.
The Republicans’ antics are a ghastly waste of time at a moment when the nation is expecting real leadership from Congress, and suggest that the new House leadership is still unable to make tough choices. Voters, no less than drama critics, prefer substance to overblown theatrics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/opinion/05wed1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
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