Healthcare Reform...benefits?

It's not ALL bad but it doesn't start for quite awhile. There's time for it to be changed before anyone benefits.

Wall Street Journal article

There's too much time for the insurance companies, doctors, and pharmacuetical companies etc to screw us over. Just like the same batch of idiot congress persons did to credit card reform. They made new rules and then said it starts in 6 months. In the meantime the credit card companies have been jacking rates, doubling minimum payments and canceling accounts.

Remeber the Faulkland Island war many years ago? The British said "we're going to war and we'll see you in two weeks" (it takes awhile to get to the southern tip of Argentina by boat). Then the British slowed down and it took three weeks. Then when they got there they were surprised by how well prepared the Argentinan's were. Duh! You gave them a warning and a date you were on your way. What'd you expect? The Brits lost several ships before the whole thing was over.

When the British warned Argentina they were coming they were prepared for it. When our congress warned the Credit card companies of the new rules they were prepared for it. Do they really thing the even more devious insurance and pharmacuetical companies won't be prepared by 2013?

Healthcare is inching closer

Even though the people don't want it. 59% of those who have an opinion don't want THIS reform. Most people don't argue that we need reform it's just the costly reform we're getting that's the issue. After this we're going to need perpetual reform for the next few decades to clean up this mess. Even with the final vote nearing its ugly head there will be more debate and votes in our future. This isn't over. Ugh.

http://www.seattlepi.com/politico/413527_politico30894.html?source=mypi0

Remember, congress does makes mistakes.

But, no need to worry. I'm sure Palin will fix it all in 2012.

One problem with passing legislation the people don't want is it doesn't help you get re-elected. Especially when the taxes start NOW and the benefits don't start until way after any second term would begin. In 2012 the people who are un-insured today will still be un-insured and will be wondering where their healthcare is. A "smart" opponent running against our rookie President will use this to their advantage and get a nice giant White House to move into in January 2013.

Obama and Dr. Facilier

Hmmm, who did Disney have in mind when they created Dr. Facilier for their new Princess and the Frog animated feature film? It should be noted that Dr. Facilier is the "villian" in the film. What does this say about what Disney thinks of President Obama?

All I Want For Christmas Is My Entitlements

All I Want For Christmas Is My Entitlements
(to the tune of All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth)

Everybody Pauses and stares at me
My house, health and car are gone as you can see
I don't know just who to blame for this catastrophe!
But my one wish on Christmas Eve is as plain as it can be!

All I want for Christmas
is my entitlements,
my free healthcare,
need my free Den-tal!

Gee, if I could only
have my entitlements,
then I could wish you
"Merry Christmas."

It seems so long since I could say,
"Yes I'll Super Size that today!"
Gosh oh gee, how happy I'd be,
if I could cash my stimulus money

All I want for Christmas
is my entitlements,
my free healthcare,
my new GM Clunk-car.

Gee, if I could only
have my entitlements,
then I could wish you
"Feliz Navidad!"

Hugo Chavez says "No" Too

Seems Socialist Venezuela Leader and avid Obama supporter Hugo Chavez doesn't think he should've won either.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE59A1MU20091011

Also in the article is aging Fidel Castro making note of Americas "genocidal" policies? Really? Genocidal? Does the senile old communist fart even know what genocide means?

- the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

Where are we "deliberately and systematically" trying to "exterminate" ANYONE? Being at war with someone does not equal "genocide". If war now means genocide then there are a lot of genocides going on in the world. I guess whenever the Irish bomb a British pub they're practicing genocide. When the Palestinians bomb an Israeli marketplace it must be genocide. When Russia invaded Geogia last year I guess that was genocide. What an idiot.

Barack H. Obama Peace Prize?

I was looking at a list of past winners. Most of these are for "lifes work". Many of them for decades of work. We also don't know who the competition for Obama was. They don't reveal that information. He may have been the best choice based on the competition. We won't know for 50 years according their rules.

Here's a link to the list.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laureates

• Kofi Annan is on there. He's the leader of the U.N. that botched the Iraq WMD search which lead to the eventual invasion.
• John Hume and David Trimble won in 1998. Bill Clinton worked with these two on peace in Northern Irelend and he didn't get included in the award.
• Yasser Arafat is on the list in 1994 so they're not perfect.
• At least Mother Theresa got one. She deserved it.
• Sadat and Begin won in 1978 but, like Clinton, Jimmy Carter was left out (he later won in 2002 for his decades of work and deserved it).
• Awesome, Lech Walesa won in 1983. Now what he did in Poland was truly an accomplishment bucking big bad Russia.
• Henry Kissinger won in 1973 for the "Paris Agreement". Looks like that was also an award based on promise rather than actual since the Paris Agreement didn't work.
• Martin Luther King won in 1964; that's a good choice.
• Albert Schweitzer won; another good choice.
• Woodrow Wilson won in 1919 for his League of Nations. Of course, America never actually joined the league of nations but it did later evolve into the United Nations. Not bad. I guess on this one the "promise" eventually panned out.
• Teddy Roosevelt won in 1906 for actually ending a war and creating peace without any troops. That's a good one.

Al Gore won in 2007 for making a DVD. Albeit it was a good DVD but a Peace Prize?

In Al Gore's win there was much speculation that Europe was trying to coax him into running for President (that's the speculaton on his Oscar win in Hollywood too). I'm not knocking Gore. It was a darn good DVD but is also miscontrued by many people. They forget to mention things that even Al Gore said because it doesn't fit their agenda. I need to watch it again. I really liked it.

All-in-all it looks like the Peace Prize isn't always accurate like any other award or us humans in general. Kissinger shouldn't have won. They should've waited to see if the plan even worked...it didn't. Woodrow Wilson's was a little pre-mature. In hindsight it eventually led to the United Nations so they lucked out. Bill Clinton should've been included in 1998 but wasn't. Jimmy Carter should've been included in 1978 but wasn't. He later won what he deserved in 2002 so that worked itself out over time. Many others won like they should have. A lot of the people on the list I've never heard of.

Only time will tell if Barack Obama is Henry Kissinger or Woodrow Wilson. Will the promise of peace pay off or will reality result in his award missing the mark?

Obama's Olympic Waterloo

Losing the bid for the Chicago Olympics is not the end of the world but it is a yet another blip that shows his lack of political prowess and experience.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20091002/pl_politico/27857

Bill Clinton was often criticized for “governing by the polls”. But, you can’t argue that it didn’t work for him. He was re-elected and finished his Presidency with the highest approval rating in Presidential history for an outgoing President. After all we are a “representative” Government and “governing by the polls” is giving the people what they want whether you think it’s the right thing or not. It’s an effective strategy that worked well for him.

George W. Bush didn’t “govern by the polls” (and in his credit he told us he wasn’t going to) and finished with the 2nd lowest approval rating of all time just barely ahead of Harry Truman. Many people were mad at Bush for his decisions and are still quite bitter today. Bush made decisions based on what he thought was right (only time will tell if he truly was) and didn’t pay much attention to what the people wanted.

Obama has a choice. He can be Bush or he can be Clinton. It’s OK to do things your way sometimes but you also have to give the people what they want sometimes too. He needs to develop some political prowess very quickly if he wants to be President longer than Jimmy Carter. All in one day we saw the announcement that unemployment has risen to 9.8% and his unnecessary risk couldn’t bring the Olympics to Chicago. We need his On the Job Training to become experience very quickly.

Roman Polanski - CRIMINAL!

Are we shocked that some degenerate Hollywood buffoons want Roman Polanski released? No!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/29/polanski.filmmakers.protest/index.html

It probably doesn’t help your “drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl” case when Woody Allen comes to your defense. It’s like those “legalize marijuana” guys who come on TV or the radio with “dude, marijuana should be legal cuz it’s like not harmful and stuff man”.

It is NEVER OK to allow a known criminal to get away and do nothing about it. He plead GUILTY. He is NOT innocent. He’s NEVER denied doing it. Just because it’s taken 30+ years to get him doesn’t make it LESS OF A CRIME! He still DID IT. He’s lead a life of luxury while mocking our justice system. LOCK HIM UP!

It’s not relevant if he thought the judge was going to be mean to him 30+ years ago. He committed a crime and there are good and bad judges out there. This is the chance you take when you knowingly and willfully COMMIT A CRIME! Hey, I know, don’t commit crimes and you won’t have to worry about it.

Afghan War

Obama may have created his very own Vietnam. He ramped up a war where the American people don’t want one. In a recent poll 57% of Americans are AGAINST the war in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan War Opposition at all time high

I don’t think the Afghan war is winnable. For one thing we’re not fighting Afghanistan. We’re fighting people who live there (Taliban). That’d be like invading America and only fighting the Methodists.

Over 7 years ago we accomplished what we went there for. Al Qaeda was broken up and put on the run (they’re mostly in Pakistan now). Our war was never with the Taliban. We only fought the Taliban because they refused to hand over Al Qaeda. Nation Building in Afghanistan was never the mission but that’s what we’re doing now. Russia occupied Afghanistan for over 20 years and never controlled it. They eventually gave up and went home. We should do the same.

Besides, there’s another strategy that can be used. For centuries Russia used the “victory by retreat” defense to defend Russia from attackers. Russia would engage the enemy and then back up. They’d continue doing this until the enemy was deep in Russia and the supply lines were long and hard to defend. Then they’d stand their ground and push the attackers out of Russia. This worked against both Napoleon and Hitler among others.

We could employ the “victory by retreat” method too by backing out of Afghanistan and engaging them elsewhere or in a more creative way (possibly covertly).

Why I Want Obamacare to Pass

1. It’s a bad, bad plan.
2. It’ll cost trillions of dollars and fail miserably
3. The republicans would never pass any kind of universal healthcare on their own
4. Due to its failures and cost overruns the democrats will lose control of the congress and white house by 2012
5. Since it’ll already be in place when the republicans take over control again they’ll have no choice but to fix it as going back to the current fiasco of a system won’t be an option
6. By 2016 President Palin will announce that the healthcare system has been fixed just before her successful re-election campaign
7. The American Healthcare plan will be the model for the new healthcare plan announced by the newly elected President of Kenya - Barack Obama

Cash for Clunkers

How about that? Big and Bigger Governments new program to make automobiles more affordable is working.

Cash-for-Clunkers

Who would've guessed that making cars more affordable would encourage Americans to buy them. Certainly not the Detroit automakers otherwise they would've thought of it 30 YEARS AGO!

While car prices have been sky-rocketing to pay for fender rivoters' pension plans and free healthcare America has been sinking further and further into oblivion. We get all panicky when someone uses the phrase "socialized medicine" but nobody says a word when they socialist based United Auto Workers union (UAW) runs roughshod over the American auto indutry. The socialst UAW has run the auto industry and the American economy into the ground.

Compare socialism to the UAW. In both the workers get free healthcare, guaranteed pensions plans, and paid when they don't work (laid off workers get 95% of their take home pay and benefits).

The UAW workers are a financial burden. The foreign auto-makers have proven that it's possible to make affordable cars on Amercan soil. American auto-makers just don't seem to have a clue how to do it. They could stop over-paying the UAW employees for doing jobs just about anyone can learn how to do in a matter of weeks. In a November 18, 2008, New York Times editorial, Andrew Ross Sorkin showed that, counting benefits, each UAW worker receives $74 per hour while Toyota workers receive about $44 per hour.

The whole assembly line technique was invented by Henry Ford. Henry Ford wanted the factory to be filled with what he called "Farmer Machines". They were called "Farmer Machines" because they were supposed to be so simple to use that he could take any farmer out of the field and have them productive in two weeks. The auto industry is no different today. Why should UAW workers be making the same money as highly educated people with Bachelor and Masters degrees for doing jobs so simple any High School can do them?

Obama-care!

Socialized medicine? Bring it on. I’d like free healthcare and I’d also like the rich to pay for it. Come on. Who wouldn’t like the idea of Oprah, Alec Baldwin and Michael Moore paying for our healthcare so we don’t have to? I think it’s a GREAT idea.

Ok, ok. Sure there are flaws. Barry Obama and Nancy “never blink” Pelosi’s healthcare plan is horrible. It’ll never work. It’ll wreak havoc with our healthcare system and damage the economy. So what?

I think we can all agree that the current system of healthcare in America is ALSO horrible. It is a broken and antiquated system that is collapsing on itself and bringing America down with it. So why replace one horrible system with another horrible system? Well, to get rid of the current horrible system, run the democrats out of office and fix the new horrible system.

If “Obama-care” becomes the law of the land then we’ll all suffer and the rich will pay for it. Thanks to our wonderful form of Democracy the politicians will also pay for it. When everything comes crashing down the newly elected politicians replacing the outgoing politicians that messed things up will have no choice but to fix the system. Plus, it’ll be nearly impossible to go back to the current horrible system. Yay!

Once us meek common folk out here have free healthcare we’re not going to want to go back to paying for it. The new politicians in office will fix the system or they’ll be leaving office next. We’ll keep replacing the current bozos with new bozos until the system is fixed. It’ll be a vicious cycle that’ll benefit all because that’s how democracy works.

What? Mix socialism and democracy together? Yes, of course. We already do it all the time. Our public school system, library systems and police and fire departments are ALL socialist programs within our capitalist democracy. The right mix of socialism, capitalism and democracy will always be the strongest system.

Obama blindly defends arrested professor

No matter what your race or your location you are ALWAYS required to do what a police officer asks you to do.

Harvard Professor Arrested

Even if you are a Professor at Harvard and a friend of Obama's. For Obama to even flash the race card when saying "I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played..." is absurd and irresponsible. He's right. He DOESN'T know the facts so SHUT UP UNTIL YOU DO!. You are NOT al sharpton or jesse jackson so don't spew race hate when you don't know what you're talking about yet.

Isn't Obama supposed to be a lawyer? Aren't lawyers not supposed to ask questions they don't already know the answer to? Doesn't that apply to statements too?

It's also irresponsible for the President to spew the generic line "...that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately." Aren't we SUPPOSED to be beyond race now by the very fact that his butt is in the Oval Office? That's what hollywood and the mainstream Sarah Palin hating media promised us anyway.

If we truly are passed race then why would the supposedly highly educated Professor Gates respond with "Why, because I'm a black man in America?" when asked to step outside when officer Sgt. James Crowley asked him to speak with him? Why would that be your first question?

But, where are the facts in this case? Clearly not on CNN (a.k.a. the Clinton News Network). They have lots of articles on the "outrage" about this incident but I can't find ONE about what actually happened. The police had to be there for a reason. How about CNN reporting some facts so Obama can have a clue before he starts mouthing off without a teleprompter again? Who does he think he is...Joey Biden?

Obama channels McCain in Michigan

Obama’s speech in Michigan today was supposed to be a Townhall. Could it be that it was changed so Michigan citizens could only listen to him read from a teleprompter and not ask him questions?

In his speech he told Michiganians “some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back,” calling them, “casualties of a changing economy.” Hmmm, about 1 year ago John McCain told the same people almost the same exact line. He went on to get his butt kicked in the primary by Mitt Romney. Maybe it’s not a good idea to tell a state with 14.1% unemployment that their jobs ain’t coming back.

He stopped short of telling them that if they wanted to continue to work in the auto industry they might want to consider moving to Huntsville Alabama (Toyota plant), Lincoln Alabama (Honda), Kansas City Missouri (Mazda), Smyrna Tennessee (Nissan) or West Point Georgia (Kia). Hmmm, they seem to be making more cars in the south than in Detroit. Maybe GM, Ford and Chrysler should outsource to the south instead of overseas.

Sotomayor Overturned Already

From an AP article ( Reverse discrimination ruling leaves confusion ):

New Haven, trying to fill senior fire department vacancies, gave a test to 77
candidates for lieutenant and 41 candidates for captain. Fifty-six firefighters
passed the exams, including 41 whites, nine blacks and six Hispanics. But of
those, only 17 whites and two Hispanics could expect promotion.

This means that 118 candidates took the test for either lieutenant or captain. Of those only 56 passed (47%). Of those 41 were white, 9 black and 6 Hispanic. But, only 17 whites and 2 Hispanics did well enough to be promoted. It doesn’t specify but it looks like there were only 19 openings and these were the top 19 test takers. This also means that of the 37 who didn’t qualify to be promoted 24 were white, 9 were black and 4 were Hispanic.

Of the 56 who passed 73.2% were white (41), 16.1% were black (9) and 10.7% were Hispanic (6).

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics there are over 293,000 fire fighters in America. Of those 4.8% are women (meaning 95.2% are men). Overall, 8.2% are black, 0.3% is Asian and 9.4% are Hispanic (meaning 82.1% of all fire fighters are white).

According to the U.S. Census 66% of our population is White/non-hispanic. 12.8% are Black, 4.4% are Asian and 15.1% are Hispanic/Latino. One of the arguments in New Haven is that the racial proportions in the New Haven fire department are not proportionate to the population mix of New Haven. But, the facts (which often confuse liberals), clearly show that the racial mix of Fire Fighters in America is not proportionate to the population of America.

Also, 91% of all fire fighters in New York City are white. It seems, nationwide, white people are more likely to be fire fighters in the first place. Thus, it’s easy to take the raw numbers from the New Haven case out of context. When you compare the percentages they’re not out of whack at all.

Reporters Convicted in North Korea

Wow! A country that enforces it border security laws. What a concept.

North Korea verdict (CNN)

What’d they expect when they went over there? They knew this was possible. Reporters knowingly take chances and they are rewarded and glorified when they get away with it but when they get caught we want them released on “humanitarian grounds”. But, had they gotten away with it they’d come home, hit the talk show circuit, write a book and be hailed as brave reporters trying to uncover injustice in the world. Sorry, this time the reporters got caught and have to pay the price. Next time think about it before violating somebody else’s laws whether you agree with them or not.

If they were men (especially white men) we’d never hear about them. Remember the white male reporters who were shot and killed in South America a few years ago? No?

The two reporters in North Korea essentially amount to a hostage situation and hostage situations can get tricky. Obama needs to play this one correctly. But, even the Obama friendly Huffington Post is blasting him for being friendly to Iran and the Muslim nations while not saying a word about the one lady that was convicted in Iran nor the two in North Korea. It’s even mentioning him wanting to set Gitmo prisoners free but not getting our prisoners home from foreign countries. This can bite him later.

Carter messed up the Iran hostage situation. Reagan took advantage of that. Iran didn’t fear Carter but they were afraid Reagan would retailiate in some way. Reagan had Bush and Cheney is his cabinet. After the crises was over there were lots of mysterious bombings and “accidents” that occurred to Iranian officials. That’s back when we let the CIA do its job and didn’t occupy countries. Ah, the good ole’ days.

Like Carter, these countries don’t fear Obama. He’s a “kindler gentler” President. He’ll need to change that image if he doesn’t want more things like this to eat away at his chances of re-election.

Expect the reporters to be home shortly. North Korea is using them as bargaining chips. They want something and they’ll probably get it. They wanted this to get out publicly making it a bigger deal. The more it’s in our news the more the politicians will think they have to seem “humanitarian” and help the girls out. Don't be surprised if they’re home by the 4th of July so the politicians can reference “freedom and independence” in their public speeches while they secretly give away the farm for their photo op.

Government Motors (GM) presents...

…the new Chevy Obama! The perfect vehicle for visiting Americas 57 states.

Features include:

· Bubble top for transparency.
· Built in Teleprompters in case the conversation gets stale or you need assistance ordering a cheeseburger.
· 3-wheel design and special differential allow for easy Left turns (but it doesn’t like to turn to the Right).
· European style driver controls.
· Comes in Liberal Yellow, Deficit Red and Bailout Blue.

Mainstream/Misleading Media

According to the mainstream media’s picking on the Conservatives, President Bush, and Sarah Palin I would’ve thought the majority of the country was Pro-Choice and every Pro-Lifer was some right-wing nut job. My guess would’ve been 75% Pro-Choice and only 25% Pro-Life. According to polls by the right-leaning Fox news and the left-leaning CNN/Gallup that is not true. Interestingly both polls resulted in almost the exact numbers.

The Fox poll has it 49% of Americans are Pro-Life, 43% are Pro-Choice and 8% are undecided.

CNN/Gallup has it 51% of Americans are Pro-Life, 42% or Pro-Choice and 7% are undecided.

Thus, if you weed out the brainless undecided’s it’d be 53-47 in favor of Pro-Life for the Fox poll and 55-45 in favor of Pro-Life for CNN/Gallup. Wow! The majority of people with brain enough to pick a side are Pro-Life. This is not accurately depicted by the mainstream media that leads one to believe only a few right-wing crazies are Pro-Lifer’s and if you’re not a Pro-Choicer then you’re a crazy unenlightened person too.

Fox News Poll

CNN/Gallup Poll

London Newspaper says "sorry"

Maybe many of our American newspapers should follow suit.

London Newspaper says 'sorry'

It’s a valiant attempt though for the new owners.

Many in the news business forget "news" is also a BUSINESS. Like any business you need to cater to the needs and wants of your potential customers. While providing a variety for ALL you also have to cater to specific customers. Near our house we have two Wal-Mart’s. There’s one closer to our house but the one I prefer is a little bit further away. They carry some different items from each other and even have different prices on the same items. It’s called “zone pricing”. The two stores are in different zones. Example; the new towel set we just bought are all 50 cents higher per piece at the one near our house but cheaper at the one further away where we bought them. Each store has a slightly different clientele so they have differences in their product offerings and their pricing.

Whether it’s print or television News people tend to want to push their agenda rather than aim the news (a.k.a. their product) towards what their customers want. Rupert Murdoch (a Democrat who hosted fundraisers for Hillary Clinton) saw a niche for his Fox News network and catered to it. It was purely a business decision and NOT ideaology. He saw a base out there that had no news to watch so he created one for them. He’s now laughing all the way to the bank.

Maybe the new owners of this newspaper in London are thinking along those lines. It sounds like they’ve done some research into what their customers like and dislike. Only time will tell if a newspaper run like a business can still be successful in today’s tough news market.

Pelosi Knew

So, she DID know.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/12/pelosi.waterboarding/index.html

Ok, let’s assume for a moment that Pelosi is telling the truth (a bit of a stretch but I still leave cookies out for Santa and the Easter Bunny too). If she’s telling the truth then she’s incompetent. Thus, she was either informed and uncaring or incompetent and oblivious.

When these “techniques” were discussed, which she admits to being party to, what did she think they were going to do with them? She never asked? She never inquired about the administration’s decision on whether they were going to actually use these “techniques” or not? She was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. That’s INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE. Shouldn’t she have known SOMETHING?

If she knew about their usage then she’s an accessory to the crime and if she didn’t know then…well she’s still an accessory to the crime since it was her job to know and she failed to find out. Ignorance is no excuse for the law.

Testing Obama

Here’s an article about Obama being tested so far. It’s pretty good. It’s not making any accusations or conclusions. It’s just laying out the tests thus far that Biden promised and how only time will tell if he’s passed the tests or not.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22370.html

Most of these are lose-lose situations. They’re pretty hard to deal with no matter who you are. But, the problem is that these tests shouldn’t have happened. Many of these tests have occurred because the villains in these cases are not gaw-gaw Europeans in awe of our Celebrity in Chief. They view him as weak and do not respect him. It’s not how many people like and respect Obama that matters. It’s those who don’t that we have to be concerned about.

Stimulus Payback?

According to an article at chicagobusiness.com the state of Illinois is getting 12% of the Stimulus package money for roads and bridges. As a state Illinois represents 2% of the 50 states. 1 state out of 50 is 2%. Population wise Illinois represents 4.3% of the nations population (according to 2007 estimates Illinois had 12,852,548 of the 301,621,157 U.S. residents). Square mileage wise Illinois represents 1.5% of the United States (57,918 of the 3,749,066 square miles).

If Illinois is only 1.5% of the square mileage, 2% of the states and 4.3% of the population how could they possibly warrant 12% of the stimulus money? There is NOTHING proportionate about this disproportionate amount of money. Does this NOT look like some sort of payback?

Most would think that the powers that be would prefer to remain above reproach in a situation like this and fly under the radar. The audacity of arrogance and elitism this must take to blatantly rob the American Taxpayers is staggering. So much for equality and the greater good. Whatever happened to “one for all and all for one”? Shouldn’t OUR tax money have been spread equally among the states in some fair and honest fashion? This is typical old-school Washington politics that we were promised would was going to end.

Approval Ratings

"The president continues to be highly regarded. By solid majorities of 65 percent or more, those surveyed said he has a vision for the country's future, has brought dignity back to the White House and is a strong leader willing to make hard decisions," reported a CNN/Gallup Poll.

Hey, not bad. Except that was written near the end of 2003 about George W. Bush. My how the tide can change quickly. Watch out for the undertow.

The current CNN/Gallup Presidential approval rating poll has Barack Obama slipping from 67% on inauguration day to 62% on April 5th. The Rasmussen poll had Barack Obama at 65% on inauguration day and sliding to 56% by April 5th.

While the numbers themselves aren’t that important they do both show the same trend. His approval ratings are sliding. The public as a whole are not as enamored with him as they were 70+ days ago.

Rasmussen uses another telling number along with their daily presidential tracking numbers. They see one key differential being between those “Strongly Approving” and those “Strongly Disapproving”. The day after his inauguration Obama had a +28 differential. 44% strongly approved while only 16% strongly disapproved. That key differential, while slipping, still remained in double-digits until March. On April 5th he had only a +6 differential with 36% strongly approving and 30% strongly disapproving. As of April 13th that differential is down to +2% with 34% strongly approving and 32% strongly disapproving.

As we learned in the time between 2003 and 2008 anything can happen. Will Obama’s ratings get better or worse…yes. They will do both. Where they will end up…nobody knows. Currently the trend is down. Hopefully for all our sakes that will change. Only time will tell.

Bowing Obediently

So, Barack Obama gives the Queen of England a casual head-bob of a bow like two guys passing each other in the hallway but the Muslim King of Saudi Arabia gets a full bow

If bowing is a respectful thing they why did he show more respect to the Muslim King of Saudi Arabia than to the Queen of England? His press people have “claimed” it was a two-handed shake but I saw the video and you can see his left hand is nowhere near the Kings hand at the time. Looks more like he's trying to kiss his ring. Maybe he just dropped his ipod. You also don’t have to “bow” to two-hand shake.

Was this a Christian/Muslim thing or a male/female thing? Did he show the Queen of England less respect because she’s a Woman? It was also reported last night that in the 11 Sunday’s since inauguration day he has not attended church yet while he promised to find a new church in the D.C. area after his election. Another broken promise.

Celebrity Prez

I was watching the Obama / Sarkozy concert this morning. Uh, I mean press conference (they’re holding it in a sports stadium for our celebrity prez). Obama really is not the public speaker his followers make him out to be. I think their praise is for what they WANT him to be and not what he IS. He seemed to be talking slower today to remove the “uh’s” but it wasn’t an improvement.

I was curious about “public” speaking last night so I paid close attention to people being interviewed on various news channels. Most people being interviewed are much smoother than Obama. I tried to pay attention to figure out why. Even though these people don’t know the questions coming into the interview they still answer the questions quickly and smoothly. But “why” I wondered. Then I thought “well, they do know their subject matter very well which is an advantage”. That hit me. Does Obama not truly know the subject matter as thoroughly as he should? Is that why he stumbles in press conferences? You don’t see the confident world class orator people claim he is when watching him in a press conference unless you’re already wearing the Obama colored glasses that make him seem Shakespearean.

AIG punitive bonus tax

Wednesday night on Jay Leno President Obama avoided the answer to Jay’s direct question about Congress’s taxing a selected group of citizens just because they’re mad at them.

President Obama on Thursday commended the House for passing the measure.

"Today's vote rightly reflects the outrage that so many feel over the lavish bonuses that AIG provided its employees at the expense of the taxpayers who have kept this failed company afloat," he said. "I look forward to receiving a final product that will serve as a strong signal to the executives who run these firms that such compensation will not be tolerated."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/20/bonus.bill/index.html

But on Sunday’s 60 Minutes he said:

The president also stressed that his administration won't endorse a House bill that would levy a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid out by companies that receive bailout money.

"As a general proposition, you don't want to be passing laws that are just targeting a handful of individuals," Obama said. "You want to pass laws that have some broad applicability ... you certainly don't want to use the tax code to punish people."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/22/obama.60.minutes/index.html

Which is it BARRY? Are we taxing/punishing them or not?

AIG Bonuses

AIG paid 73 employees bonuses of $1 million or more; 11 of whom are nolonger there, according to NY Atty. Gen. Cuomo.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/17/aig.bonuses/index.html

Brilliant. You’re not supposed to get bonuses after you’ve left. You’re no longer an employee.

AIG is a bad company and should’ve went under. It would’ve been better for the economy if they collapsed. The mortgages would’ve been sold to Wells Fargo and others for 25 cents on the dollar. On a $400,000 house now worth $200,000 they would’ve paid $100,000 for the mortgage and gladly refinanced it to the homeowner for $200,000. This would’ve lowered their payment, kept them in their house and the new mortgage holder would make a profit off a previously bad loan. With a bailout the horrible status quo is maintained and the economy is held up with a false-bottom and still has room to hit rock-bottom. But this time rock bottom includes a government mortgaged future of bailout money we borrowed from whoever. What a mess.

AIG OUTRAGE

I agree with Obama that the bonuses at AIG are an OUTRAGE!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/16/AIG.bonuses/index.html

$165M??? The average household income in the U.S. is about $50,000 a year according to the 2007 census. $165,000,000 would keep 3,300 families afloat for an entire year. Someone at AIG should be behind bars. I know, how about all of those that have the audacity to cash that bonus check.

Dow Jones History

Please bear with the numbers. This is fascinating.

Prior to the stock market crash in October 1929 the Dow topped out at 381.17 on September 3rd 1929. Prior to what is considered the first crash day it slowly slid to 305.85 on October 23rd 1929. The Dow dropped about 10% on the 24th to 272.32 before rebounding to a close of 299.47 for a 2% drop. It hung in there for a day and ended the week at 301.22. The week began at 322.91 for a 6.7% drop for the week. Then, on black Monday (2nd crash day) it plummeted 13.5% to 260.64. The next day on black Tuesday (3rd crash day) it dropped another 11.7% to 230.07 for a total 2-day drop of 23.6%.

It continued to slide to 198.69 on November 11th 1929 before rebounding for awhile. By April 17th 1930 it had climbed back up to 294.07. It was almost back up to its pre-crash levels. But, it started to slowly slide again and dropped back under 200 on October 9th 1930 at 192.00. It saw 200 again a couple of days later but that was it for awhile. The slide continued and it dropped below 100 for the first time at 99.80 on September 29th 1931. There was some minor rebounding back and forth before it slid again until it hit its all-time low of 41.22 on July 8th 1932. That amounts to a drop of 89.2% from the September 3rd 1929 high to the July 9th 1932 low.

On March 3rd 1933 the market closed at 53.84 just a day before FDR’s first inauguration. By July 3rd 1933 it was back over 100 at 103.77. That’s a 92.7% increase in the day. Still far below the 381.17 peak just four years prior. The Dow then flirted with 100 bouncing back and forth until March 27th 1935 when it closed at 100.35 and stayed over 100 for almost 2 years. It peaked out at 194.40 before dropping below 100 again at 99.53 on March 31st 1942. For almost nine years it barely budged. On May 27th 1942 it finally got over 100 (101.09) and stayed forevermore.

On April 12th 1945, the day FDR died, the market closed at 158.48. That’s a 194.4% increase over 16 years from his first inauguration day but still 58.4% below the September 1929 peak.

The market finally saw 200 again on January 11th 1946. It didn’t stick though. It didn’t pass 200 and stay there until July 18th 1950 (about 4.5 years later). The Dow finally reached the September 1929 peak level again on November 23rd 1954 at 382.74. It took over 25 years to fully recover from the 1929 crash. It’s been mostly UP from there. The market, thus far, has never dropped below 382.74 again.

If you practiced the popular “buy-and-hold” stock strategy made popular by Warren Buffett (which works well in good times); in theory, the stocks you bought on September 3rd 1929 would finally be worth the same price you paid for them on November 23rd 1954. It would’ve taken you 25 years to break even.

How long will it take for us to break even this time? On September 3rd 2008 (79 years from the 1929 peak) the Dow closed at 11,532.88. As of February 25th 2009 it closed at 7,270.89. That’s a 37% drop in just over five months. It’ll take a 58.6% increase just to break even. To put that size of an increase into perspective we were at 7,290.69 on May 21st 1997. It took until January 12th 2000 to get to 11,551.10. That’s almost three years and during a time of economic prosperity to make that increase. Also, post 9/11, we fell to 7,286.27 by October 9th 2002. We got back up to 11,577.74 on May 5th 2006. It took nearly 3.5 years to recover during the post 9/11 collapse.

Volcano Monitoring but not Budget Monitoring

Gov. Bobby Jindal Volcano Remark [CNN Article]

If I remember correctly many of the 57 who died at Mt. St. Helens didn’t heed the warning and evacuate like they were supposed to.

Anyway, I think Bobby Jindal is correct. Volcano Monitoring is a “nice to have” but not a high priority during economic hard times. During economic hard times the priority is people. Just like in your own family economics you don’t go and spend money on a “nice to have” like solar powered security lights on all four sides of the house when you’re having trouble putting food on the table, paying the mortgage and keeping the electricity on.

According to the U.S. Census bureau the median household income in the U.S. is about $50,000 a year. The $140M for Volcano Monitoring could fully fund 2,800 households for one full year. The $140M for Volcano monitoring will not create 2,800 jobs since the electronic monitoring devices do the bulk of the work.

The mayor of Vancouver says the monitors get damaged all the time and need to be replaced often. Where’s the money coming from for that previously? If it weren’t for the stimulus bill where would they have gotten the money from? Get it from there this time too and help 2,800 families survive the next year instead.

Offensive Cartoon?

Offensive? Satire sometimes is. -> NY Post cartoon

People are also overly sensitive nowadays too.

When I saw this cartoon I didn’t even think of Obama. Like the artist I knew about the recent Chimpanzee attack AND the lame stimulus bill. I thought it referenced Congress as a barrel of Monkeys and critized the controversial stimulus bill.

This cartoon merely links two recent news stories together.

Besides, the facts are that Pelosi and Reid wrote the Stimulus bill and not Obama. But we wouldn’t want facts to get in the way now would we.

Bush was often compared to as a Monkey. That’s not offensive too? Why? Because he’s not black? A bit of a double standard don’t you think?

Grandstanding Congress

How about those silly Congress persons grandstanding and grilling the banking CEO’s yesterday? What a joke. Congress gives money to people we already know didn’t manage their money well, gives them more money with few restrictions, if any, and then is surprised that these very same people are wasting our money? What’d they expect? Is anyone surprised the banks are wasting our money? Didn’t most Americans say this was going to happen despite what Congress assured us?

If you hand an already irresponsible kid $10 without guidelines as to what it’s specifically for do you still have the right to be mad when they spend it all on candy? Why would you be surprised that they spent it all on candy?

We agree the banks are irresponsible with our money but Congress didn’t put tight restrictions on what they could do with our money. Congress is just as guilty as the CEO’s. They’re only grandstanding because they’re trying to point the finger at someone other than themselves.

Mexico City Rule

President Barack Obama has lifted restrictions on U.S. government funding for clinics or groups which provide abortion services or counseling for abortions overseas. The rule previously prohibiting this practice has been known as the Mexico City Rule. It has been called the Mexico City Rule because it was unveiled at a U.N. conference there in 1984.

Under this rule, no U.S. government funding for family planning services can be given to clinics or groups that offer abortion services or counseling in other countries even if the funds for those activities come from non-U.S. government sources.

This has been a good rule. There is no way to truly determine where the money came from that a Government agency sends to a foreign agency. They can claim “oh, these were private dollars we collected and sent to Bolivia”. There’s no fool proof way of knowing for sure. If you find $20 on the street and spend it on pop and candy you still have your own money sitting in the bank. If you spend $20 of your own money on a movie and popcorn it can easily be argued that you spent YOUR $20 on pop and candy and the FOUND money on a movie and popcorn.

Besides, this IS NOT about whether anyone believes in abortion or not. Whether you’re Pro Choice or Pro Life it is not OK to send our hard earned tax dollars to a foreign country to pay for their abortions. Our tax dollars should go towards more important issues that affect Americans. If you want to send money to a foreign country to pay for their abortions then write a check. I’m sure they’ll accept it.

A New Beginning?

Just a few short hours after the inauguration of the first African American President Racism rears its ugly head. I thought this election was supposed to prove that racism is over in America. This election was supposed to prove that we’re ALL Americans without any descriptive adjectives before or after the word “American”. We are all just AMERICANS.

I went to the CVS Pharmacy tonight after dinner to get some cold medicine for my daughter. As I’m at the register paying for the medicine two African American citizens entered the store. As soon as they see the White/Caucasian clerk and myself they start chanting “O-bama, O-bama, O-bama” then laugh as they disappear into the depths of the store. Neither of us bothered to acknowledge their stupidity.

Is this where we’re headed? We’ve just traded one race issue for another? At a time when race is supposed to no longer be an issue are some foolish souls going to start a race war?

I read an article a few months back where the author wrote about the possibility that some African American people may feel empowered by Obama’s election and take it out on White people. He claimed that some less-enlightened African Americans will feel their race is now in charge and that they will get “even” with the White race. I didn’t want to believe something like that was possible. “Americans” are supposed to be above that regardless of race, creed or color. After all, we have our first African American President. The countries that brought slavery to our shores, England, France and Spain, have never had an African President.

Let’s hope for all our sake that this is an isolated incident. Although, contrary to my actions sometimes; it has been pointed out to me that I am not the center of the Universe. Thus, this probably isn’t an isolated incident. So, we’ll just have to hope it’s just a celebratory act of exuberance and all will be well once everyone realizes he’s only human. After all, he is half white as well.

To Watch or not to Watch

No, we’re not ALL giddy with tingling legs about watching the upcoming Presidential Inauguration. According to the mainstream media that anointed the “great one” you’d think that all 305 million Americans will be glued to their TV’s on that fateful day. Nope, sorry.

They forget that 48% of us DID NOT vote for him. 48% of us don’t want him anywhere near the White House to be sitting behind the most powerful desk in the free world. 48% of us would rather have that grumpy old McCain puttering around the White House in a baseball cap and T-Shirt that reads “Wouldn’t you like to be a Maverick too?”

While some mainstream media outlets are making it sound like most of us can’t wait until noon on January 20th 2009 to watch our new leader take the reigns a more un-biased Rasmussen Reports poll says differently. According to Rasmussen 28% will watch the whole thing. Not quite a majority. Another 18% will watch “most” of it. That’s a total of 46% and still not a majority. Remember, he got 52% of the popular vote so not even ALL of them will be watching most or all of the glitzy Hollywood style event.

Another 29% say they’ll watch “some” of the event. If “some” equates to accidentally flipping through one of the 927 channels overplaying the event then I might accidentally fall into that category while searching for Gilligan’s Island re-runs.

So, that leaves the 21% who aren’t planning to watch any of the event at all and the 4% who aren’t sure. Aren’t sure? I’m guessing the 4% who aren’t sure just won’t answer for fear of being called a racist. Wow, we’ve come a long way baby.

To sum up; 54% will watch “some” or none of the event while 46% will watch “most” or “all” of the event. Again, hardly a landslide.

President Barack H. Obama-Lincoln

Barack Obama will be sworn in as the President of the U.S. on January 20, 2009 using the Bible that President Abraham Lincoln put his hand on when he was sworn in as the sixteenth president of the U.S. Obama has not only convinced himself, but the media that he is Abraham Lincoln.

There are some similarities:

• Both served in the Illinois State Legislature for two terms.



• Both were elected during the time of great crisis in America.



• Some claim that Obama is as good as Lincoln in public speaking and speech
  writing. Of this I must completely disagree - NO one will ever be as good as Lincoln.



• We at America’s Voice sincerely Hope that this is were the similarities end and history does not repeat itself as it did with John F. Kennedy, who just happens to be Obama’s second biggest idol.

I find it amazing that most Americans, Europeans and even some people in the Middle East are such lemmings. These people will blindly follow Obama, even down the path of destruction based on their admiration and unwitting loyalty. I can only equate this to a cult such as The Branch Dividians, Heavens’ Gate and many others, but on a much larger scale.

I have never been a follower and one must earn my respect and trust. If President Elect Obama can fulfill his promises, improve the economy, and keep Americans Safe, then and only then will I fully support our new President.

I only Hope that allowing a man with a questionable background as to his citizenship, questionable associations, William Ayers, Reverend Write, etc.., Zero experience in Governing anything and who’s ambition is to go down in History as the greatest president that ever lived, is a Huge leap of Faith that I am not ready to take.

Finally I Hope that Americans glassy eyed trust, backed by the liberal media and Obama’s personal ambition to be the greatest of all presidents will not lead see America go down in Flames.

Where's the Change?

More old people from a retro-administration? Where’s the change? Where’s the young fresh new ideas? On the bright side, Obama's obviously in favor of recycling.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/05/panetta.cia/index.html

Some will argue that it's better to fill these positions with people who are tested rather than untested. Untested? That's what Obama is and we're supposed to trust him. Wouldn't "change" from old-school Washington politics require some untested people to be put in charge?

The change we were promised isn't just change from Bush. It's supposed to be change from old-school Washington politics. Change from Bush was inevitable. Whoever won was change from Bush. The change Obama promised was away from all the old Washington politics. Obama promised us more than just change from Bush.

It looks like Obama may have found that politics is a dirtier game than he thought. It seems he's traded a lot away to the Clintons to get her to back off and let him win. Now we get a "retro" adminstration. Our change is from Bush and back to Clinton.