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Subscribe to RSSObama’s presidency -- so far -- has been largely defined by moving from one crisis to the next… One thing that HASN’T happened one year since the BP spill: tackling a solution to America’s energy problems… Obama participates in a Facebook town hall in Palo Alto at 4:45 pm ET and then hits two fundraisers in the evening… Dem Super PAC goes on the attack on Ryan budget plan… Profiling the 2011 KY GOV race… Priebus delivers speech in Chicago… And Newt’s in New Hampshire, while Cain’s in Indiana.
From NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Ali Weinberg, and Carrie Dann
*** Crisis control: From 2008 until now, Barack Obama has moved from one high-wire act to another. Back in ’08, Maureen Dowd even compared his presidential campaign to Hercules’ 12 Labors: He had to slay Hillary Clinton, embark on an exhausting trip to the Middle East and Europe, survive Sarah Palin, cope with an economic collapse, and defeat John McCain in the general election. None was easy, each featured setbacks, but all were ultimately successful. And since his time in the Oval Office, the labors have kept coming. Indeed, on this one-year anniversary of the BP spill, Obama’s presidency has been largely defined by moving from one crisis or challenge to the next. Stabilizing the economy. Rescuing the auto industry. Passing health care. Stopping the BP spill. Responding to Egypt and Libya. Avoiding a government shutdown. And now trying to raise the debt ceiling.
*** Respond, survive, and move on: What all these crises have in common: The White House responded (sometimes slowly), did everything it could do withstand the crisis and criticism (deliver an Oval Office address, host marathon negotiations), and then moved on when it could. These crises and challenges also share this trait: Outside of the health-care fight, they didn’t bring them on themselves. As Obama has admitted, 90% of a president’s job is dealing with events outside of your control. And then there’s this: The crises have taken away their focus on the economy.
*** What hasn’t happened one year since the BP spill: One year removed from the BP spill, the most amazing thing about it is what HASN’T happened -- namely a solution to the country’s energy problems. We aren’t any closer to resolving these problems. “I remember very well what [Obama] said when he was nominated: He said that in ten years we will not import any oil from the Mideast,” T. Boone Pickens tells NBC’s David Gregory in his weekly “Press Pass” chat. “We’re almost three years deep now from when he made that statement… There’s been no plan put forth that I’ve seen and since he’s been president to accomplish that, unless he started talking about natural gas, and when you get down to it, we don’t have a number of options.”
*** California, here we come: Today, Obama heads to California, where he participates in a Facebook town hall in Palo Alto (on the deficit and debt) at 4:45 pm ET, and then he hits two fundraisers in San Francisco afterward. While there’s official White House business on today’s agenda -- the Facebook town hall -- the trip feels more like a campaign tour than anything else. In fact, this is probably the new normal for the president’s domestic trips from now on. Tied to the president's Facebook visit, the RNC Research shop plans to send out this release, "Is There A “Dislike” Button? You Don’t Get To Your Lowest Approval Ratings Without Making A Few Poor Leadership Decisions."
*** Dem Super PAC goes on the attack: A day after the DCCC announced it was launching a (small-buy) radio advertising campaign against House Republicans who voted for the Ryan budget, House Majority PAC -- one of the Democratic Super PACs we profiled last week -- says it’s going up with a six-figure radio campaign. An example of one of the ads aimed at Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI): “While Duffy’s budget leaves the wealthy fat and happy, it puts the squeeze on Wisconsin families, and will end Medicare as we know it, that’s right, end Medicare as we know it.” The other targets of the campaign: Paul Gosar (AZ), Rick Crawford (AR), Allen West (FL), Chip Cravaack (MN), Charlie Bass (NH), Ann Marie Buerkle (NY), Joe Heck (NV), Francisco Canseco (TX), and Blake Farenthold (TX).
*** The races of 2011: KY GOV: In our next profile of the races of 2011, we take a look at the gubernatorial contest in Kentucky -- probably the most competitive GOV race this year, though incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear (D) begins with the edge. On May 17, state Senate President David Williams faces off in a GOP primary against businessman Phil Moffett, and the establishment-backed Williams is the favorite. Williams’ campaign has stumbled in recent weeks, especially with the news that his running mate (Agriculture Commissioner and former University of Kentucky basketball player Richie Farmer) is in a divorce. “Kentucky is competitive,” the Cook Political Report’s Jennifer Duffy tells First Read. “But Beshear seems well positioned to win a second term unless Williams really has a game changer.” Could the game changer be the eventual GOP nominee tying Beshear to national Democrats? This race will be interesting to see if this kind of attack works the same way it did in 2010…
*** Priebus in Chicago: This morning in President Obama’s hometown, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus will deliver a speech to the City Club of Chicago. First Read has obtained excerpts of the chairman’s remarks. On the 2012 race, Priebus will say: “This election in 2012 is not about liking President Obama. It is an election about principles; economic principles that will profoundly affect our ability to put this country back on a sustainable path to prosperity.” On the GOP Congress: “[A] new brand of Republican leaders in Washington are working to implement those solutions. They’re trying to make the hard decisions today that will avoid us having to make even harder decisions tomorrow.” And on the economy: “The #1 priority in this country right now must be JOB CREATION … and this President simply has … not … delivered. Unemployment is not below 8% … as he said it would be. The Stimulus Bill is not creating the new jobs … as he promised it would.”
*** On the 2012 trail: Newt Gingrich delivers a NH GOP “Live Free or Die” lecture in Manchester, NH… And Herman Cain speaks at Purdue University in Indiana.
Countdown to NY-26 special election: 34 days
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 114 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 202 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 292 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up
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On Second Thought…
With all the knife twisting and gun slinging from the Media and the critics, the president will likely have to deal with America's issues on his own as it appears that he has been dealing the past two years. The debate is too plagued with devious divisiveness to be able to wade in the quagmire known as American Politics. President Obama has maintained a cool collected thought throughout. President Obama realizes that he still needs to campaign in an aggressive manner as he campaigned the last time. Juggling all these issues requires skilled tactics and he has proven that he is capable.
While the GOP shadows the steps of President Obama and his template to rebuild America, they are attempting to deviate from the fringe element known as the TEA Party.
The Republicans realize that America has a young generation that is not willing to put up with what the Old Republican Guard espouses, exclusion and vilification. The Grand Old Party now suddenly remembers that babies were born after 1955 and that those people born after that date had children themselves that are now of a voting age.
Now that President Obama is the face of a generation that embraces unity and inclusion, the Republicans have broken away from the tainted TEA. However, the Donald has broken any attempts by plugging into the stalwarts of the TEA Party to the point that they feel relevant once more.
But I really don’t give all the credit to these guys, some of it goes to the media which will ramp this up and create a façade for the TEA Drinkers to keep them even more relevant. When billions of dollars are pumped into networks, i.e. political, media, action, business, lobbying and others, they have no choice but to recognize the impact these propagandists have on society.
President Obama created his own atmosphere, unlike many people that rely on big mechanisms to carry them through. President Obama created a network of the people, by the people and for the people; those of us that stand by the man will continue to prove the critics wrong.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Democrats and labor activists have filed recall petitions against four Wisconsin state Republican senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) bill to strip public employee unions of collective bargaining rights. In all four cases, organizers collected far more signatures than the roughly 15,000 needed, and did so weeks ahead of the deadline and more to follow including the recall of Gov. Walker in January. The GOP claims to have the signatures for one democrat but so far they have not filled any paperwork. Another lie from the right??
Anybody see the reports that the tea party is running out of steam, not only are the running less rallies, the ones they do have draw about as many people as a T-Ball game at a local park with the exception of one that had a good crowd. The problem was they were mostly protestors and took the pulpit away from the right.
For the poll dancers about 80% of the people do not want Medicare or Medicaid destroyed as the Ryan Bill is calling for. The vast majority wants tax increases to the richest 2% and they want corporations to start paying their fair share as well.
More of the GOP/TP idea of “Fiscal Responsibility” ThinkProgress has obtained a copy of the contract House Republicans signed with Paul Clement, a former Solicitor General who earns $5 million a year, to defend the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act. Although Clement’s firm is charging less than the $900 an hour they typically bill for their top attorneys’ work, Clement will still leave the American people with a massive legal bill up to $500,000. Question: How many poor children can we feed for $500,000?
If you cannot beat the opposition then change the rules. In FL their Supreme Court is going to add three new judges all of them appointed by Gov. Scott which will shift the political mix. And to really skew the vote, he is going to take the three most Senior Judges, which were appointed by a Democratic Governor and move them to the Criminal Division. This would ensure a conservative-leaning majority on a new civil division, where pivotal cases involving the drawing of new voting districts will land next year. Republicans cite all sorts of reasons for expansion, such as needing to cut the court’s heavy caseload. They ignore the fact that the court’s caseload is now the lowest in a decade
In Michigan the reigning King Snyder has taken the rights of his people to a new low. In his new law where he can declare any town or city insolvent and appoint one of his designated Emergency Financial Managers to oversee that town or city and thereby fire all elected officials that the people in that town voted for, he can cancel contract and he!! he can even dissolve the whole town and deed it over to a neighbor municipality. This is wrong – Big Time. The two towns are St. Joseph and Benton Harbor on the shores of Michigan. One town has a population of about 8,500, it is 89.5% white and has an average income of $33,000. The other has a population of about 10,200, it is 85.5% black and has an average income of $10,000. Which one do you supposed that King Snyder declared insolvent and sent in the EFM. See the Rachael Maddow Show last night for the results. This is probably the most vile attack on the American People yet.
Your Civil Right to an open and fair election process free from outside interference is under attack by the GOP/TP. It started with the “Citizens United” decision by SCOTUS and ratified by the GOP when they blocked the “Disclosure Bill” in the Senate. Now the GOP/TP is trying to rig elections with new Birther Bills and Voter Registration Bills. These bills are not about voter fraud in any way, period. The GOP/TP is installing as many roadblocks and they can think of into the voting process all designed to make it harder for one group of people to vote over the other. For example some States are now declaring that you need a Birth Certificate and/or a passport to registered to vote. This is designed to stop registration rallies that sign up new first time voters. Why? Well in 2008 – 68% of the new voters voted for President Obama and 30% voted for McCain. The GOP/TP again is trying everything they can to rig the next election by making it harder for a select group of the population that the GOP/TP knows votes traditionally Democratic. Who walks around with their Birth Certificate or Pass Port in their pockets??
Everyday the GOP/TP agenda becomes more and more like the ideology of the 30’s and 40’s in Europe. They are attacking voting rights, women’s rights, religious rights, gay rights, education, unions (collective bargaining), the right to elect your own town/city officials and the list goes on. All the time they are trying to take these rights away from us and toss us into the poor house or just out into the street, they are redistributed massive amounts of power and wealth to the top 2% and claim to be doing it for America. We better wake up people as start saying no. The above ideology that they are following which is documented by all their current legislation and “Obstruction” to others is now out in the open. Connect the dots people, this is not a plan that is compatible with democracy as we know it today. It is something else altogether and it will only hurt the 98% of the people.
Today is the anniversary of the Gulf Spill. And where are we?? Try nowhere, nothing has changed
I'm going to keep this short & sweet this morning:
PS: CRISIS Control? Seriously?
Fasten your seatbelts folks, if yesterday was any indication, that headline will have First Thoughts crawling with trolls who go to great lengths to TRASH it! ;o)
Louis and Feisty:
Great posts to start theis dreay damp day in Vermont. The crisis is only being made worse by MSM and the pundits. It appears that MSM wants to be part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
Doomed Negotiations:
Congressional GOP/TP leaders have picked Senator John Kyle and Representative Eric Cantor as their representatives to negotiate the deficit with the White House. These are two of the most conservative people in Congress with each having their own agenda. Kyl , as leader of Freedom Works, would be perfectly happy to see a deficit increase fail. Eric Cantor, who is salivating over Boehner’s job would be perfectly content to see the deficit increase fail while Boehner is Speaker of the House.
Good luck Mr. President. It will be like trying to negotiate with a sign post that points to falling off a cliff.
For those interested, a moment to reflect. World War Two is just about over on this date.
April 20th – Adolph Hitler was born in 1889.
April 20/21, 1945 The Fall of Berlin begins. Hitler would be dead in 9 days.
This Battle may not have been the final battle of the World War II in Europe, but it was certainly the concluding one. Friday, April 20, was Hitler's fifty-sixth birthday, and the Soviets sent him a birthday present in the form of an artillery barrage right into the heart of the city, while the Western Allies joined in with a massive air raid. By prior agreement, the Allied armies (positioned approximately 60 miles to the west) halted their advance on the city in order to give the Soviets a free hand. By April 24 the Soviet army surrounded the city, slowly tightening its stranglehold on the remaining Nazi defenders. Fighting street-to-street and house-to-house, Russian troops blasted their way towards Hitler's chancellery in the city's center.
Over two million artillery shells were fired into Berlin and the surrounding area in three weeks and 1 million Russian infantry troops took part in the assault on the city. The Battle of Berlin ended on May 2, 1945. On that date, General of the Artillery Helmut Weidling, the commander of the Berlin Defense Area, unconditionally surrendered the city to General Vasily Chuikov of the Soviet army. On the same day the officers commanding the two armies of Army Group Vistula north of Berlin, (General Kurt von Tippelskirch commander of the German 21st Army and General Hasso von Manteuffel commander of Third Panzer Army) surrendered to the Western Allies. The official date for the end of the war in Europe was May.
The Battle of Berlin cost the Soviets over 70,000 dead. 150,000 Germans were killed during the battle. In total, over 60 million people were killed during this war.
The nightmare of The Third Reich was over.
___________________________________________________
Here are some unbelievable photos taken during the Battle of Berlin. I’m not sure, but I think the 28th photo is Hitler’s Chancellery, where he committed suicide. The photo you see of Hitler is the last photo taken of him as he hears the Russians moving closer and closer to the bunker. A lot of those bombed out structures are still standing in Berlin, particularly the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate. The Chancellery is gone. Bombed to smithereens. The scars from this battle are still evident today on all the buildings that are still standing.
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?60166-Battle-of-Berlin-1945.
Thanks Navy!
It's nasty here too!
I cannot believe they actually titled this thread 'Crisis Control' - you think maybe they've been reading too many posts from the chicken little's you hang around here?
Louis, you first commenting freak, you've done it again!!! I don't know how you do it, but keep it up my good man!!!
Shipwreck, you speak of voter rights yet you have never addressed the plight of a huge number of our fellow Americans!!! Since 1978, there numbers have swelled to over four billion worldwide, with just over 1.5 billion here in the US alone!!!
I speak, of course, of the plight of the LEGO minifigure population!!! Yes, they are only two inches high!!! Yes, their skin is bright yellow!!! And, yes, their heads are easily removed, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve the same rights afforded other Americans!!! They work hard in their little communities!!! They are policemen and firemen, doctors and astronauts, vampires and Jedi!!! Does that mean they are to be swept under the rug or sucked up into a vacuum and tossed into the dustbin of life!!! I SAY THEE NAY!!!
I may be only one man, but I am determined that the rights of all Americans be bestowed on all LEGO-Americans!!! Who will join me as I march on Washington next month??? Who among you is brave enough to stand up tall for the small???
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL LEGO-AMERICANS!!!
No @!$%#. I'm shocked that they actually paid a pollster to come up with that answer.
My question is when are we going to get some adults in Washington tell the majority of the people that we can't tax the top 2% enough to maintain Medicare and Medicade as we know it? From the two speeches I've heard from President Obama he implies that it is possible.
He now says we'll go back to the Clinton tax rates - He had his chance! Now he'll allow taxes to be raised on January 1st 2013. What a convenient date. I wonder who hopes he's re-elected by then.
I appreciate FR pointing out that President Obama has had one crisis after another dumped in the Oval Office. Even before he was sworn in, the President was in crisis mode. I do not recall any other President being faced with one crisis and sometimes two simultaneously week after week. Yes, they have each had crisis, big events but never the volume and frequency we have seen the past two years.
It's a little difficult for the President to tackle an energy policy with a financial collapse, high unemployment, rising health care costs, tornados, floods, fires, oil disasters, coal mine explosions, the housing crisis, the middle east in full protest mode, etc. It also takes Government money to invest in these programs--something that's in short supply. Throw in the fact that GOP claims we cannot afford it, refuses to admit we need an energy plan, refuses to allow regulating carbon emissions let alone recognize a need for the EPA--and it's obvious why the President has not accomplished this goal. Ryan's 2012 plan cuts 70% from clean energy spending--seems republicans prefer being addicted to oil and forever tied to the whims of the middle east.
That's what they want, they have no idea what America represents. So instead create something Unamerican.
*** What hasn’t happened one year since the BP spill: One year removed from the BP spill, the most amazing thing about it is what HASN’T happened -- namely a solution to the country’s energy problems. We aren’t any closer to resolving these problems. “I remember very well what [Obama] said when he was nominated: He said that in ten years we will not import any oil from the Mideast,”
_________________________________________________
Wasn't this the candidate who boasted he could "walk and chew gum at the same time"??
Oh well, out of sight out of mind. Let's get the partying on with those Left Coast fundraisers!!!
Anybody at all in the media want to point out the obvious- that Obama's so- called deficit reduction plan INCREASES the debt?
He puts forth a 12 year "plan" that increases the debt by 13 trillion, and pontificates that it decreases the debt by $4 trillion.
Not exactly.
See, he believes that not spending as much as you planned to spend is a spending decrease. So, to put is simply, if you have a debt of $100,000, and you continue to max out your credit cards, in 12 years your debt will be $200,000. So, you come up with an austerity plan- you will only overspend so much that your debt will be $180,000. Unless, of course, something unforeseen happens- like, you need a new car. Then, all bets are off.
We are in trouble here, folks. We have a totally inept, unqualified president, and a media that acts more like cheerleaders than a Fourth Estate.
Why on earth is the media giving him a pass on his falsehoods? Just yesterday he claimed that a bridge that collapsed due to a serious design flaw collapsed due to lack of maintenance. He lied throughout his speech to the nation, (held in mid afternoon) repeatedly- yet, the media ignores it.
What cannot be ignored is the reaction of the bond markets to his wild and reckless spending. While liberals and their paid propagandist friends in the media would prefer to ignore this, or pretend that it is no problem at all, the reality is that we are in deep, deep trouble, and Obama has no clue how to extricate us from the ever deepening hole we are in.
If we do not react to the clear message from the bond markets that we need to embrace austerity measures RIGHT NOW, we will be in the same position as Portugal and Greece- with the simple exception that there is no one who can bail us out.
Party's over, folks.
How about this as poll question:
If you want Medicare and Medicade to stay as they are currently structured are you willing to see YOUR taxes raised by 20% - 30%? Think that will get an 80% yes?
How about Democrats actually come up with a budget that includes the true cost of the government they propose. They're always a lot of talk about Europe and its social safety net, so lets ask the people if that's what they want. Income Tax running around 25% - 45% and a sales tax of 20% - 30% (it's call VAT if you don't believe me).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_of_Europe
Lets put it to the voters.
Feisty --
While you might disagree with the headline, I think what we wrote was a pretty fair look -- on the one-year anniversary of the BP spill -- about what has dominated Obama's first two years as president: one crisis after the other, on things largely outside the administration's control.
As Jody pointed out, the sheer number is larger than I can remember for any other president. I think you'll find what we wrote isn't an indictment on the president -- in fact, far from it.
When the history of Obama's presidency is written -- 15 to 20 years from now -- these episodes will all be important chapters.
Hope everyone is having a nice Wednesday morning....
Louis J. US Navy, Feisty, Pat, Ron -- great way to get the conversation started!
As for Chris Cranberry, jealousy seems the applicable word. Being first on this site is an equal opportunity blog. It's a talent, it takes practice; it also requires patience, determination and some luck at refreshing FR within a few seconds of when Thoughts is posted.
@Mark
Or maybe they'll just be footnotes to the looming deficit crisis that he ignored.
Did anybody point out that the Ryan Bill increases the deficit by 2.7 Trillion Dollars over the next decade and totally destroys Medicare and Medicaid in the process. Oh, and the cuts to Medicare and Medicaid are paying for the huge tax cuts to the richest 2%. Did we mention that as well?
Watch out Boehner, Cantor is sneaking up on you with a knife in his hand. Et tu Brutus?
Thanks for the feedback Mark! ;o)
Always good to hear from you!
I agree with your assessment, however, you're assuming that some folks actually read what you write.
From where I sit, it appears there's a certain element who read the headline and respond accordingly!
Hope your having a nice Wednesday morning as well!
NO American President since, perhaps, Lincoln has had to face the challenges that Barack H. Obama has had to face in the first year of his Presidency. The tongue-in-cheek treatment given the Presidents first two years in office by FT is disrespectful and diminishes everything the President has accomplished. Just look at what he has had to face in 24 months.
1. The Financial Meltdown he inherited from the previous administration.
2. Two wars he inherited from the previous administration.
3. Historic passage of much needed Health Care Reform (love it or hate it, you have to admit he got the job done)
4. An unemployment crisis spawned by the recession caused by #1.
5. An environmental disaster on the Gulf of Mexico unequaled in history.
6. Partisan carping, sniping and dirty tricks unlike any President in history has had to face in a time of war and financial difficulties.
7. A polarized electorate the likes of which we have not seen in 150 years.
And the list goes on.
But President Obama has demonstrated he is equal to every challenge. His reasoned and mature response to each of these challenges should be a model and an inspiration for future President's who find themselves in troubled times.
He deserves our thanks and appreciation for doing the hardest job on earth made just that much tougher by all the challenges I've listed above and much more.
Yes, the usual (Groucho) Marxists will continue to carp and complain and take issue with what I have said (Whatever it is, they're against it). But history will be the ultimate judge (except in Texas where they re-write history). I believe Barack H. Obama will go down in history as the greatest American President since Lincoln and perhaps of all time.
Obama/Biden 2012, 2016 and 2020, so ALL Americans can have share the dream.
I don't agree with characterization of the tax changes but why don't propose an alternative that funds Medicare and Medicade in their current structure and reduces the deficit. You do that and we can debate the merits of each plan.
What a stupid article. Crisis control is pretty much what a President is supposed to do, in between multiple vacations. And I see all the idiot libs and unionizers are out today, still pressing for handouts.
Ron,
The last compromise the GOP made, the big slash of $38 billion ended up being in reality a cut of $352 million. Nothing. If that is the best the GOP can do to check Obama - we are doomed. That at least seems to be the opinion of the world.
Funny the article is about not doing anything about energy. Obama has destroyed the American energy industry, yet supports other countries. He gave Brazil a couple billion to develop their drilling, said he wanted to be their best customer. Problem is China has the contracts with Brazil.
So we borrow $2 billion from China to give to Brazil to develop the oil they will sell to China. Insane.
They announced Obama (his US Export-Import Bank) is giving Columbia $2.84 billion to build a refinery in Cartegena. Again - we borrow money to give to someone else to help their energy while we haven't built a comparable refinery in 35 years!
Oh yea, how about borrowing $3 billion for a liquid gas project in Papua, New Guinea?
We can borrow $7.8 billion to give others for their energy, while our guys go out of business or move the jobs overseas, while gas prices soar for us - but Obama will not allow new drilling here or will even cut $400 million off a debt that will kill our economy.
Does Obama even like America?
NBNJNJ, That sounds very similar to my second wife ( a liberal) God I dont know what I was doing! I would come home from work and she would greet me at the door and tell me about how she saved me over $500 today. Once all the hoopla was over I realized the reality of it. She had really spent $1200 but was assured that with smoke and mirrors that she actually saved money, and she believed it so much she thought she could convince me. Ahhhhh the good old days!
Mark Murray-
You won't want to read what historians will say about President Obama if he allows a sovereign debt crisis to occur on his watch.
no joe, no bo, nj
Why on earth is the media giving him a pass on his falsehoods? Just yesterday he claimed that a bridge that collapsed due to a serious design flaw collapsed due to lack of maintenance. He lied throughout his speech to the nation, (held in mid afternoon) repeatedly- yet, the media ignores it.
Maybe the media Ignored it no jo because he did not lie, but lets us not forget that you are on top of everything. i don't know what bridge your talking about but with this 24 hour news cycle if he lied we would not need you to tell us.
What cannot be ignored is the reaction of the bond markets to his wild and reckless spending.
The Bond markets have been reacting like this for 2 years, citys and states have had the rating dropped because of lack of renuves, or may be the bond markets are reacting to the fact we want to raise our debt ceiling (wrong move) but maybe it because it was raised 6 times from 2003-2009. the wild spending is not just on Obama. its on everybody past and present.
But No Jo its you talking, so i guess it on Obama!!! with you everything is on Obama,
Gulf spill Obama fault, Making BP pay through the nose (good thing) Obama fault. Lybia Obama fault, Egypt Obama fault. WW2 is on Obama, VD is Obama fault, house was robbed Obama fault, A tornado destroyed a small town Obama fault.
Navy,
Sheez....... you keep ranting about the rich, the top 2% tax cuts...... the rich don't pay the full amount, they use all the deductions they can, move money, control the timing of taxes on and on.
Heck look at Obama. The great "spread the wealth around" millionaire didn't come close to paying his "share", right?
Speaking of political hypocrites, is there a bigger on ever than Obama on this?
Why can't you seem to get it?
Hi, Mark Murray, appreciate the mention in your comment.
Jeff 154.... Cheers to you, well done.
We are all so focused on the debt crisis Obama managed to create, we forget about his foreign policy failures
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704004004576271130945207142.html
Not to mention what is going on in Libya. Say, Mark, what IS going on in Libya? That file fall behind the desk?
Ok msnbc, let's see a little enforcement effort here. One poster claims I don't have the right to post here and misquotes me from a post regarding the birthers in which I stated that the birther argument is steeped in racism and those who continue to perpetrate it do so because of the President's race and the color of his skin which violates the Civil Rights Act and could be interpreted as a "hate crime". This poster continually misconstrues peoples arguments and positions. They are confrontational and make no positive contribution to the discussion. This poster also continually refers to me by the name "Skippy" (which is a peanut butter and not me) to try to diminish me and the point I am trying to make.
Let's see some enforcement of your so-called CODE OF ETHICS here, or have we tossed that out the window completely?
Ah, skip, do not get so worked up. I had posters saying such vile things to me I put them on ignore- keeps my blood pressure down.
It's no loss at all- they never wanted to engage in debate, but only in ad hominem attacks.
If it bothers you that much, try the ignore button.
Jeff,
I am not sure I would blame World War II on Obama, but I bet he blames Bush for it:)
I'm going to keep this short & sweet this morning:
PS: CRISIS Control? Seriously?
Fasten your seatbelts folks, if yesterday was any indication, that headline will have First Thoughts crawling with trolls who go to great lengths to TRASH it! ;o)
BigBear62
Jeff,
I am not sure I would blame World War II on Obama, but I bet he blames Bush for it:)
I did not say you would, i said No Jo would.
Jeff,
I was only joking around--notice the smiley face at the end.
We might all need to take a vacation--it is 4/20--a day I thought that most liberals would love:)
Feisty,
Did they also set up a website for Union Leader compensation?
Paid representatives of the workers should also have a website set up, wouldn't you think?
Or should we ignore their salaries?
Obama......crisis control?!?!?!??! You've got to be kidding! He has not brought any crisis "under control" and in many cases, made the situation worse than it was in the first place. You folks must be very short on news today to bring this up. (Let alone very short on memory.....)
BigBear62
Jeff,
I was only joking around--notice the smiley face at the end.
We might all need to take a vacation--it is 4/20--a day I thought that most liberals would love:)
I know bear i was joking as well, i know No Jo does no think WW2 was obama fault, It was his grandfathers fault, LOL. he was the person that told hitler to invade Poland!!!!
4/20 man I'm in denver they are having a big rally, only if i wasn't afraid of a drop(drug test) i would go.
Well Jeff,
Most of my students are just up the road from Denver--at the "Quad" in Boulder.
Bob...
"....Funny the article is about not doing anything about energy. Obama has destroyed the American energy industry, yet supports other countries. He gave Brazil a couple billion to develop their drilling, said he wanted to be their best customer. Problem is China has the contracts with Brazil."
Bob - this is simply NOT TRUE and you should quit repeating it. The Import/Export Bank LOANED 2B which was actually negotiated during the Bush Administration...came to fruition now. The Bank is funded primarily by PRIVATE FUNDS...that's why Congress doesn't get to block the loans they make. Their board is comprised of 3R/3D. The 2B LOAN was made to encourage the recipients to BUY AMERICAN when it comes to equipment, etc. WE WANT THEM TO BE OUR CUSTOMER. Loans incent that...and create/protect jobs. Why in the world would the President get in the way of this transaction? He wouldn't..and he didn't for all the right reasons.
And China....they made their own 10B loan. That's their business. Their reasons may or may not be the same as ours.
Ah, the good old days, when we had a president who faced reality! A president who, when he imagined he was losing an argument, co- opted the other sides' position as his own!
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-01-22/news/1997022092_1_medicare-plan-medicare-reforms-clinton
If there one thing I will never forgive the media for, it is putting this country on the brink of disaster merely so they could boast of having elected "their guy"- despite his complete lack of qualifications.
Those chickens are coming home to roost- and we, our children, and ourmchildren's children will pay dearly for it.
Huntsman sees a Trump ticket in the making and he's already regretting his decisions. Wouldn't you agree?
no joe, no bo, nj
very interesting note i read from your link,
Balancing the budget by fiscal 2002 is now Clinton's top priority, and these Medicare proposals will highlight the balanced-budget plan he intends to unveil Feb. 6.
Oha well Clinton wanted to balance the budget by 2002, and it would have happened if a guy had not come from the cow pastures of Texas to screw that all up.
Obama's response to a crisis is a three step process;
1 - Ignore it and hope it goes away.
2 - Wait long enough for someone else to solve it.
3 - If all else fails, Blame Bush.
Vermont,
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is the official export credit agency of the United States federal government. It was established in 1934 by an executive order, and made an independent agency in the Executive branch by Congress in 1945, for the purposes of financing and insuring foreign purchases of United States goods for customers unable or unwilling to accept credit risk.
Its Charter spells out the Bank's authorities and limitations. Among them is the principle that Ex-Im Bank does not compete with private sector lenders, but rather provides financing for transactions that would otherwise not take place because commercial lenders are either unable or unwilling to accept the political or commercial risks inherent in the deal.
(From wiki)
Jeff-1541632 "Oha well Clinton wanted to balance the budget by 2002, and it would have happened if a guy had not come from the cow pastures of Texas to screw that all up."
And Bush projected big budget surpluses by 2012. That's the nice thing about 'projections', they don't have to consider things like 9/11 and the financial meltdown.
Dang Skip, get some think skin. You had one of your Liberal buddy's threaten to shoot members of Congress and FR didn't do anything and that's a FEDERAL CRIME!! Someone got under your skin and your cry to FR, wow you're a tpyical Liberal or pu**y, pretty much the same right?
NO JO, thanks for the civil response. I believe we may disagree but it's never an excuse to be rude to one another. After a couple of years of posting on this board I have come to this enlightened conclusion and I apologize if I have ever made rude or condescending comments to you.
"Dearest RSVP"
Sorry amigo, but strike two. I am a state certified Civil Rights investigator with more than a dozen years of experience. I respond to complaints of descrimination and investigate them. I do not countenance racism or discrimination wherever it is found. Clarence Thomas is what he is, it is inappropriate to refer to him as an "Uncle Tom" or any other racists moniker and under some circumstances such statements might even be actionable. Throwing Oreos at Michael Steele is the same thing and I do not endorse or condone it. It is inappropriate and a waste of my favorite cookie. Again, in certain situations it could be actionable.
I have never used such terminology for ANYBODY, including the two you examples you mention and would never condone it or support those who do.
RSVP, we are all bigots of one stripe or another. It's in our genes. The measure of the man/woman is what they do to overcome their natural racism and xenophobia. Something you have yet to grapple with or understand.
To return to the topic at hand, I will re-state what I said before. President Obama has done and is doing a good job in VERY difficult times. The (Groucho) Marxists are posting their usual discontent, but that will never change no matter what the man does (Whatever it is, they're against it). Other than that factual statement I made no criticism and have exhibited no discrimination against any person, black, white, red, brown, male, female, Chrisitian or othewise. Your statement/conclusion is as inaccurate as your portrayal of my comment regarding the birthers and their on-going racism regarding the President of the United States.
I humbly suggest you stop listening to Rush Limbaugh and FOX NEWS and take a step back and examine the world and yourself from a neutral perspective, if you can. Then make any changes you may find are necessary.
Good luck.
ROY WILSON-336103
And Bush projected big budget surpluses by 2012. That's the nice thing about 'projections', they don't have to consider things like 9/11 and the financial meltdown.
how could he project budget surpluses if he gave away 1.2 trillion alone in 2002 in his first year. i don't care how juiced the econmy is making up 1.2 trillion is impossible. so he must have said this the day he took office because after that it was spend, spend, spend. medicade part D 6 trillion over 10 years, 1.2 trillion in tax cuts, billions on 2 wars, increased social programs, by you saying he had budget surpl;us projections makes me think now he was dumber than i first thought.
Dearest threedognight
Again with the insults. I'm violating my personal rule to not respond because MSNBC chooses not to enforce their own rules.
OK, I can handle it.
Three dog, we are all Americans. We all share the same boat. We have different opinions but at the end of the day we have to find some way to compromise and "get along" to row the boat forward into the future. If we don't, if we continue to squabble and name-call and piss all over each other we will surely sink and drown.
Name-calling and rude comments are counter-productive. You and RSVP and many others hide behind your blog monikers and shout your insults secure in your anonymity. While I, on the other blog under my own name and the city where I have lived for more than 30 years. I express my opinions under my own name. I do not hide behind some digital wall. Which one of us is the wimp?
I made a positive statement about the President. No criticism of you or yours was intended. Just a factual statement of my belief. I believe that's called "FREEDOM OF SPEECH".
In response to that I am belittled, insulted, told I don't deserve to post on this board and, in general, disrespected for showing my support for the President of the United States.
I take issue with that.
Oh, and amigo, before you bristle up and get all Rambo on me you should know the following:
1. I am not a democrat. I am an independent.
2. I have worked for and with the GOP in the past.
3. I am a centrist, slightly left of center. Not a so-called "lefty liberal".
and finally I've got more than forty years of martial arts training and experience and am law enforcement trained and qualified on a variety of handguns, shotguns and assault weapons.
You might want to keep that in mind the next time you call someone a p*ssy.
Jeff-1541632 "And Bush projected big budget surpluses by 2012. That's the nice thing about 'projections', they don't have to consider things like 9/11 and the financial meltdown............how could he project budget surpluses"
Seriously, Bush projected a $61 Billion SURPLUS for 2012 in his 2007 Budget, so when people try to say that Bush turned Clinton's projected 'surpluses' into deficits, it's a little like saying that Obama turned Bush's projected 'surpluses' into HUGE deficits.
The nice thing about 10 year projections by Presidents is that they get to put a new one out each year, and the old ones are soon forgotten.
PS - Obama projects the National Debt getting over $26 Trillion within about 9 years - I hope he's not as 'optimistic' as Bush was.
RVZ555
Dearest "Skip". I highly doubt you would have your panties in such a bunch when libs refer to Clarence Thomas as an "Uncle Tom" and a "sellout". You probably also would not object to people throwing Oreos at Michael Steele, or some of the other nasty thigs you libs say to and about black conservatives. In fact, I KNOW that none of you are against such things. You enjoy them and support them. Go figure.
RVZ555,
Lets clear something up about Clarence Thomas, Black folks don't like him not because he is a conservative, or married to a whitewoman. blacks don't like this guy because of who he replaced on the high court. he was no were qualified for the high court, he brings his personal views to his position on the high court. he does not differentiate him self from the other justices. he goes with the flow. he was not put there to go with the flow.
case in point, he wrote a 27 page ruling on a case in i think Kansas that challenged Brown verses board of education, he said that blacks were no better off in integrated schools and segregated schools. saying that the only reason why we integrated public schools was to give black a better education, but brown verses board of ed was not about the quality of education but the equal oppuntunity of education under law. but in 2001 when the election went to the high court he said nothing, he offered nothing, he sat there while every other justice gave there opinion he sat there like a uncle Tom. he is treading on thin ice with his wifes activities in the tea party and to many he is nothing but a dirty old man. Mike steele got him self in trouble on his own. Clarence thomas is in a postion to use his personal feeling to change laws.
Clarence thomas is in a postion to use his personal feeling to change laws.
______________________________________
And if you think the liberals: Breyer, Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor aren't in EXACTLY the same position, you are a complete moron.
First Readers are uniquely unable to perceive irony, Joe.
I'm sure that your observation would never, ever occur to most of them...lol
Good post, Joe.
I absolutely hate the format of First Read. The scrolling simply stinks the way they have it set up.
Skip - The list you made in a previous post goes as follows:
1. The Financial Meltdown he inherited from the previous administration.
2. Two wars he inherited from the previous administration.
3. Historic passage of much needed Health Care Reform (love it or hate it, you have to admit he got the job done)
4. An unemployment crisis spawned by the recession caused by #1.
5. An environmental disaster on the Gulf of Mexico unequaled in history.
6. Partisan carping, sniping and dirty tricks unlike any President in history has had to face in a time of war and financial difficulties.
7. A polarized electorate the likes of which we have not seen in 150 years.
While you may believe that what Obama has faced has been tough, I'm going to comment on each line item a perspective that I've developed as each item has unfolded.
1. The Financial Meltdown he inherited from the previous administration. While it's the opinion that Obama inherited this meltdown, he also exasperated it by signing the 09 budget with $1.3 Trillion worth of stimulus and porkulus bills attached to it. It added that much debt to this nation and he hasn't stopped spending since. That wasn't good leadership.
2. Two wars he inherited from the previous administration. Two wars that were approved by Congress and Iraq was pretty much over at the time. Let's be clear about the reality of the wars.
3. Historic passage of much needed Health Care Reform (love it or hate it, you have to admit he got the job done) At the cost of what? He had all the cards in his deck. A democrat majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. There was no way it could have failed with the voting block he had behind him. He didn't do anything other than cheerlead them along. He didn't pen the bill, nor, dare I say even read it.
4. An unemployment crisis spawned by the recession caused by #1. Many players were involved in the crisis spawned by #1. Let's not forget the democrat involvement in that crisis. Laying it all at the feet of Bush is insane.
5. An environmental disaster on the Gulf of Mexico unequaled in history. Of which Obama greatly ignored. Talk to the people in Louisiana for the real story of what Obama did for them. I know, I live in New Orleans.
6. Partisan carping, sniping and dirty tricks unlike any President in history has had to face in a time of war and financial difficulties. As if the partisan carping, sniping and dirty tricks didn't happen for the previous 8 years? Obama has the media on his side. Obama had a majority of like minded democrats on his side. I'd say that the sniping has been mild compared to the previous administration.
7. A polarized electorate the likes of which we have not seen in 150 years. BS. A lot of the polarization was created by Obama himself. Remember when he told Republicans they need to sit in the back of the bus? How many times did he diminish Republicans in his speeches? Lest you forget Obama has not backed his own words up by stopping his party from attacking republicans.
See, although Obama may have things on his plate, the media and left leaning people will side with him while forgetting the things he's NOT doing, or doing wrong.
Brianb...I agree 100%! This format is laggy, slow and now with the "older" and "newer" tabs terrible to post on.
Mark Murray, unless you are the one to write the history of Obama's presidency, you really aren't going to want to read it. Other than having some charisma and being able to give a good campaign speech, his lack of leadership and obscene spending will be criticized for generations.
Jody, you must be joking. Bush faced the election mess, then promptly got hit with 9/11....within the next year Hussein violates the cease-fire agreements and refuses to adhere to weapons inspections forcing UN action there. Enron scandal, space shuttle crash, renewing of tensions between the PLO and Isreal, the crash of the dot-com bubble and ensuing recession...all in Bush's first two years.
That's just one president back....check out what Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington all had to deal with crisis-wise.
Bush didn't handle crisis very well. I feel he did a decent job with 9/11, but Katrina was a cluster****, Enron was a mess and I didn't agree with Iraq.
Obama hasn't done well either. When it comes to Iraq and Afganistan, he's been almost absent in coming up with solutions. Libya was handled not only badly, but unconstitutionally. TARP and ARRA were failures. His "wait and see" approach on the oil spill was on par with Bush's approach on Katrina.
In the meantime, the only part of his job he did accomplish was pushing through a law that the majority did not want, may very well be unconstitutional, is not funded and will not accomplish what it was intended to do. He has failed to put forth a budget that is reasonable, he has failed to address many of the other problems in the United States such as immigration, tax reform, trade deficits, and other issues affecting the wellness of the country.
He spent most of last year ignoring his duties in lieu of giving speeches at fundraisers for democratic candidates. Now he announces his intention to run in 2012 and has already begun with the non-stop campaign. I don't blame him...it's the only thing he does well.
All the while, this president has gotten more of a free pass from the press than any before him.
xx
Interesting thought...
Reince Preibus states the following in Chicago: "This election in 2012 is not about liking President Obama. It is an election about principles; economic principles that will profoundly affect our ability to put this country back on a sustainable path to prosperity... The #1 priority in this country right now must be JOB CREATION …"
Is that statement not a complete concession that the GOP not only lacks an appealing candidate to run against Obama, but has no credible ideas as well? Don't vote for the guy you like because we must focus on what we've completely ignored in our first 100+ days in Congress.
Matt L:
Nice post and very true. I like your work, keep it coming.
Pat, Boston, MA-
Thanks a million for providing the link to the amazing photos of the fall of Berlin in 1945.
Kind of offers a little perspective with regard to to US Navy's casual use of the word "Nazis", doesn't it?
Navy & Matt L,
Is our government suppose to create jobs for the people or create policies that allow for the creation of jobs by private sector businesses?
I'm just a working stiff that thought he'd be retired....but probably never will. Like a lot of other folks I thought I had my bases covered. The market and an ailing mother soon drained funding. Can't blame anyone but me because anyone with an open mind saw it coming, much like being tied to the tracks and watching the train approach there wasn't much that could be done. Exhorbitant medical charges out-paced fund adjustments. But all this did was get me away from the 'system' and view the last election with eyes that saw no matter who was elected we were in for a world of pain. To attack Obama is fair; they both knew they were facing a lose/lose situation. Having supported McCain since 1999 I really believe being forced to take Palin was a relief for him because he could lose without losing face; fight the good fight and lose with his head held high. But as long as we simply debate the system we are merely puppets with strings that shorten. The system is the enemy and it needs, at the very least, an injection of reality. While watching the two political businesses in this country attack each other we are drawn deeper into divide and conquer. The battle of the libs and cons leaves real Americans without representation. And the real Americans need either to rise and be heard or remain merely sit quietly by and watch as America simply gives up and slides down the path of former great powers. Do we really believe that when the sun never set on the British Empire the Brits felt the end was not only near but even remotely possible? They lost it before they realized it was gone. We need a call to arms and we need it soon. We CAN save the country....but not by believing our past glories will sustain us. Too many people have given their lives to defend and protect America to simply shrug our shoulders and walk away from the challenge.
Big Bear,
Point to any legislation brought to the floor in THIS congress that changes ANYTHING to spur job creation.
Ted,
I would have thought that by looking at the unemployment numbers going down over the past 3 months, just allowing the tax cuts to be extended has provided a start. I mean, almost a full percentage point drop.
Did better than the stimulus package or the Michig--I mean automobile rescue package.
Ted,
PS--Is our government suppose to create jobs for the people or create policies that allow for the creation of jobs by private sector businesses?
Government's only 'create' government jobs which are payed by tax-payers. The abundance of these is one of the causes of our deficit problem.
They can, however, create an atmosphere which foster private growth. Such as lower taxes, invoking Protectionism, etc.
The latter is what we want.
"In the month of March, the U.S. government spent more than eight times its monthly tax receipts, when you include the money spent for maturing U.S. treasuries. The U.S. treasury netted $128.18 billion in tax receipts during the month of March, but paid out a total of $1.05 trillion, which included $49.8 billion in Social Security benefits, $47.4 billion in Medicare benefits, $22.58 billion in Medicaid benefits, and $37.9 billion in defense spending. However, by far, the U.S. paid out the most for maturing U.S. treasuries, which equaled $705.3 billion."
What a disaster.
National Inflation Association
Doomed Negotiations:
Congressional GOP/TP leaders have picked Senator John Kyle and Representative Eric Cantor as their representatives to negotiate the deficit with the White House. These are two of the most conservative people in Congress with each having their own agenda. Kyl , as leader of Freedom Works, would be perfectly happy to see a deficit increase fail. Eric Cantor, who is salivating over Boehner’s job would be perfectly content to see the deficit increase fail while Boehner is Speaker of the House.
Good luck Mr. President. It will be like trying to negotiate with a sign post that points to falling off a cliff.
Reposting:
Democrats and labor activists have filed recall petitions against four Wisconsin state Republican senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) bill to strip public employee unions of collective bargaining rights. In all four cases, organizers collected far more signatures than the roughly 15,000 needed, and did so weeks ahead of the deadline and more to follow including the recall of Gov. Walker in January. The GOP claims to have the signatures for one democrat but so far they have not filled any paperwork. Another lie from the right??
Anybody see the reports that the tea party is running out of steam, not only are the running less rallies, the ones they do have draw about as many people as a T-Ball game at a local park with the exception of one that had a good crowd. The problem was they were mostly protestors and took the pulpit away from the right.
For the poll dancers about 80% of the people do not want Medicare or Medicaid destroyed as the Ryan Bill is calling for. The vast majority wants tax increases to the richest 2% and they want corporations to start paying their fair share as well.
More of the GOP/TP idea of “Fiscal Responsibility” ThinkProgress has obtained a copy of the contract House Republicans signed with Paul Clement, a former Solicitor General who earns $5 million a year, to defend the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act. Although Clement’s firm is charging less than the $900 an hour they typically bill for their top attorneys’ work, Clement will still leave the American people with a massive legal bill up to $500,000. Question: How many poor children can we feed for $500,000?
If you cannot beat the opposition then change the rules. In FL their Supreme Court is going to add three new judges all of them appointed by Gov. Scott which will shift the political mix. And to really skew the vote, he is going to take the three most Senior Judges, which were appointed by a Democratic Governor and move them to the Criminal Division. This would ensure a conservative-leaning majority on a new civil division, where pivotal cases involving the drawing of new voting districts will land next year. Republicans cite all sorts of reasons for expansion, such as needing to cut the court’s heavy caseload. They ignore the fact that the court’s caseload is now the lowest in a decade
In Michigan the reigning King Snyder has taken the rights of his people to a new low. In his new law where he can declare any town or city insolvent and appoint one of his designated Emergency Financial Managers to oversee that town or city and thereby fire all elected officials that the people in that town voted for, he can cancel contract and he!! he can even dissolve the whole town and deed it over to a neighbor municipality. This is wrong – Big Time. The two towns are St. Joseph and Benton Harbor on the shores of Michigan. One town has a population of about 8,500, it is 89.5% white and has an average income of $33,000. The other has a population of about 10,200, it is 85.5% black and has an average income of $10,000. Which one do you supposed that King Snyder declared insolvent and sent in the EFM. See the Rachael Maddow Show last night for the results. This is probably the most vile attack on the American People yet.
Your Civil Right to an open and fair election process free from outside interference is under attack by the GOP/TP. It started with the “Citizens United” decision by SCOTUS and ratified by the GOP when they blocked the “Disclosure Bill” in the Senate. Now the GOP/TP is trying to rig elections with new Birther Bills and Voter Registration Bills. These bills are not about voter fraud in any way, period. The GOP/TP is installing as many roadblocks and they can think of into the voting process all designed to make it harder for one group of people to vote over the other. For example some States are now declaring that you need a Birth Certificate and/or a passport to registered to vote. This is designed to stop registration rallies that sign up new first time voters. Why? Well in 2008 – 68% of the new voters voted for President Obama and 30% voted for McCain. The GOP/TP again is trying everything they can to rig the next election by making it harder for a select group of the population that the GOP/TP knows votes traditionally Democratic. Who walks around with their Birth Certificate or Pass Port in their pockets??
Everyday the GOP/TP agenda becomes more and more like the ideology of the 30’s and 40’s in Europe. They are attacking voting rights, women’s rights, religious rights, gay rights, education, unions (collective bargaining), the right to elect your own town/city officials and the list goes on. All the time they are trying to take these rights away from us and toss us into the poor house or just out into the street, they are redistributed massive amounts of power and wealth to the top 2% and claim to be doing it for America. We better wake up people as start saying no. The above ideology that they are following which is documented by all their current legislation and “Obstruction” to others is now out in the open. Connect the dots people, this is not a plan that is compatible with democracy as we know it today. It is something else altogether and it will only hurt the 98% of the people.
Do you actually have time to make up all this nonsense?
I agree Obama's presidency has been one disaster after another...many of them caused or agrravated by his horrendous policies and lack of leadership. Only the truely ignorant or mindless still believe anything he says or have any faith in anything he does. Sadly, they are the epitome of the 'koolaide drinkers".
Zrey, it doesn't take too much time to check the facts. He's right, look it up.
Retired, very eloquent, wrong, but eloquent. Reminds me of POTUS.
Good post Zath. The problem is that so many have been indoctrinated with leftist ideology through colleges and universities as well as the main stream media. People have come to believe that leftist social doctrine is, and should be the goal of government, including funding a nanny state and micro-managing the lives of its citizens.
I don't think anyone has a problem with safety nets like SS and medicare for CITIZENS who have worked all their adult life and paid in, but the system has been abused by taking money out of the system for other types of spending, and allowing newly arrived foreigners and even illegal aliens to receive benefits.
Obama is still running up historic debts like we've never seen. Now he wants to raise the debt ceiling!
It's clear that Obama is using the Cloward-Piven strategy to ruin America. (BTW Obama has personally met with Cloward and Piven).
For those not familiar with it, here is a definition:
Add to this the devaluing of the Dollar in the process. Leftists think this is all great until THEIR own savings and investments become worthless. If it only happened to them, I would be happy they got what they deserved. Unfortunately, when they sink this ship, they're taking us ALL down with them
STOP THEM!
NO MORE DEMOCRATS OR RINO REPUBLICANS.
robert-
Give retired a break. He can't help it. He's just one of those scared nipple suckers freightened by Obama's rhetoric into believing the Republicans are out to steal his pension and Medicare. Don't chastise him. Don't bother to educate his closed mind. Just pity him and write him off as a lost cause.
Funny, I don't see anywhere on MSNBC where it is being reported that the Obama administration tried to pressure S&P not to issue Credit Warning? If this had been the Bush administration the media would have been all over it. Things that make you go huh?
What the HELL are you talking about? You're just fear mongering to the ignorant and uninformed.
How in the hell could any American complain about laws ensuring that only LEGAL CITIZENS vote, and QUALIFIED CANDIDATES get on the ballot!
This is just more CRAP from the left trying to keep lax laws in place to make it easier for NON-CITIZENS to vote, because they know most of them will vote DEMOCRAT, and allow NON_QUALIFIED CANDIDATES with Anti-American views to be able to RUN AS DEMOCRATS.
You're only fooling the fools.
Sven-
My guess is S&P wanted to downgrade our AAA rating and got bullied by the Obama Regime to only downgrade the outlook. It doesn't matter. Obama can put all the spin and smoke & mirrors on it he wants. The rest of the world and the real investors know the US in not a good investment anymore. Just like the people out here in the real America know the economy is not improving no matter how the Regime manipulates the numbers.
Geno65,
The Tea Party has risen and is being heard. I've recently seen more and more bumper stickers claiming support for them than I've seen in past two years. You can either join them or start your own organization. The Tea Party is here to stay and the career politicians on the right and the left are getting nervous. I proudly call myself a TeaPublican. Just think a grassroots organization that is in the process of taking over an entire political party! It's amazing stuff!
Retired,
You seem to foget or maybe not notice that the disclosure bill you are whimpering about forced everyone other than big labor to reveal who was receiving their money. Funny how the major contributors to the Democrats are allowed to hide in the shadows but everyone else needed to be out in the sun.
Not to mention that the Democrats received more money from outside influences - outside the country influences - than did Republicans in the most recent election cycles. I forget the exact margin, but it wasn't even a close race.
Retired,
Thank you for your post. I am appalled at the reactions of many in this string. They are clueless about what is really going on in the US. All they seem to want is America to fail. Many I assume never served in the Military and now they think they are such patriotic individuals anointed to save us from them
His whole presidency is a crisis! He has turned situations into a crisis by his inactions! Waiting 3 months to act on the oil spill, waiting longer to increase troops ( or corpses as he calls them), unemployment going past 10%, stop drilling in the gulf and causing soaring gas prices, etc, etc! Compare to Bush's handling of 9/11 and bringing us out of the cliton recession.
What does odumbo have in common with the Japanese of 1941 besides both being foreigners in Hawaii? They both lowered our S&P credit rating.
President Obama's knack for controlling the crises has been proven time and time again and yet the media and observers fail to grasp it. "President Obama gets the opportunity to prove his leadership with th
LousiJ:
Very true. Our President has proven time and time again to be several steps ahead in the game. I see no reason to doubt him now. He has faced more problems in his first 2 years+ than most Presidents have seen in their whole duration.
No matter what he does the pundits say it is not enough or too much. He did not do it fast enough or he was to fast.
The bottom line is the economy is improving and he is creating jobs. These are the things that the GOP/TP promised during their campaign to only find out that they (GOP/TP) have no plans to create jobs in this country nor do they have a plan to stimulate the economy. In fact they want to do just the opposite.
I hate the 'older' 'newer' button to the side... totally jacks a comment and thought up.
Right Navy friend...
As I was saying, President Obama's knack for controlling the crises has been proven time and time again and yet the media and observers fail to grasp it. "President Obama gets the opportunity to prove his leadership with the latest crises..."
President Obama has shown the leadership that has put him in history with some of the greatest. The simple fact that Republican leadership fear him is a testament to the impact he has made in American history beyond the simple fact that he was the first African American to be elected president.
'controlling the crisis' LOL sure he does.
you must be on drugs.
joe-
Get it right if you are going to be a smart alec, I said 'crises' = multiple/several, not 'crisis' = singular.
And yes, coming off sleep medication, Ambien. Feel pretty good.
Giggidy
( (=^])
Louie: he can't control one, much less multiple.
Louis. I find if you left click about three inches from the left border of this "comment" section, it puts in the cursor without that Older button getting in the way.
Thanks Jody.
All of you talk about crisis control good or bad but if gas and food prices, unemployment don't go down he will not be reelected. Voters vote on their pocketbooks more than anything else. When he took office gas prices were around $2 now in California they are over $4 headed to $5. Food prices are up, insurance rates going up. He has shown no inclination to attack these problems. First the economy and despite all the money thrown in to the pot little success, laser like focus on jobs, no I think I will spend a year or more on health care, current polls show most don't like his health care plan. Cap and trade, energy legislation nothing. Now immigration reform. And of course trying to add 6+ billion to medicare advantage because election year is coming up and his health care plan eliminated that from the seniors and he needs their votes he now wants to add it back. If he can't get gas and food prices under control the economy will most likely tank and so will his reelection bid unless the republicans put some dimwit up like Trump. I still say the best shot for the republicans is General Petreaus, an accomplished leader with so far no discernible negatives. Just my opinion.
By the way all the nonsense on the 1st lady's plane etc. All crap anything you hear about 5 mile separation may be fine but at military airports they use MARSA (military assumes all responsibility for separation of aircraft). Andrews last I recall is military. Sorry Feisty almost had your shot at 1st lady 2.
I think General Petreaus is smart enough to realize running on a Republican Ticket, especially against his boss President Obama would end his career post haste with no recompense for future endeavors. He's too rational and reserved for today's Republican voters. Just ask Huntsman, he sees a Trump ticket in the making and he's already regretting his decisions. Wouldn't you agree?
Controlling crises.....LOL......
Stop frikken worshipping the ground this MAN walks on.
Sorry can not support trump.
I, for one, appreciate the POSOTUS spending most of his time controlling crises, especially the biggest crisis of all since Carter ... Obama.
I certainly feel more comfortable having President Obama there handling these never ending crisises than I would having the last guy in there making things even worst. The president has proven time and again that he is capable of managing big problems without losing his head or becoming distracted.
Actually, Richard, the problem with the 1st lady's plane was from the handoff from TRACON. For aircraft of that size, there is a 5 mile seperation standard that everyone who files knows about. The issue is that the C-17 (a very LARGE Cargo plane) and the First Lady's plane (a 737) was handed off to the tower with less than 5 miles seperation. The Tower had the 1st Lady's plane do some S-turns to slow it down to meet the seperation requirement.
The 1st Lady's plane does not exactly stop on a dime, so when the plane was approaching the runway, the tower had the pilots execute a 'go-around', which is when a plane on approach near the airport stops decent and climbs out (usually at runway heading) because the C-17 that had landed would not have been clear of the runway when the 737 was due to land. There is also 'wake turbulence - vorticies that emenate from the wingtips' that follows a large arcraft that could cause an aircraft following too closely to lose control.
At this point, the pilot literally 'goes around' the airport, back into the traffic pattern, whitin the speed limit, and lines up for an approach, usually about 20 miles out for a 737.
For those of you that think that 5 miles is a long distance and why is everyone so upset about it, you have to remember that a 737 can travel a mile in less than a minute, and the 256 Knot (approximately 260 MPH) speed limit in the Airport Traffic Area helps with that seperation.
Credit the pilots and the Tower controllers for averting a real tragedy. These are the unsung heroes that do their jobs day in and day out and get NO appreciation for their professionalism.
You are outside of your everloving mind........ This guy has done nothing except put us in a deeper whole fiscally and militarily. He is a mennace and needs to go into retirement. I would be glad to give him $1,000,000 a yr to just go away.
Reposting
Democrats and labor activists have filed recall petitions against four Wisconsin state Republican senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) bill to strip public employee unions of collective bargaining rights. In all four cases, organizers collected far more signatures than the roughly 15,000 needed, and did so weeks ahead of the deadline and more to follow including the recall of Gov. Walker in January. The GOP claims to have the signatures for one democrat but so far they have not filled any paperwork. Another lie from the right??
Anybody see the reports that the tea party is running out of steam, not only are the running less rallies, the ones they do have draw about as many people as a T-Ball game at a local park with the exception of one that had a good crowd. The problem was they were mostly protestors and took the pulpit away from the right.
For the poll dancers about 80% of the people do not want Medicare or Medicaid destroyed as the Ryan Bill is calling for. The vast majority wants tax increases to the richest 2% and they want corporations to start paying their fair share as well.
More of the GOP/TP idea of “Fiscal Responsibility” ThinkProgress has obtained a copy of the contract House Republicans signed with Paul Clement, a former Solicitor General who earns $5 million a year, to defend the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act. Although Clement’s firm is charging less than the $900 an hour they typically bill for their top attorneys’ work, Clement will still leave the American people with a massive legal bill up to $500,000. Question: How many poor children can we feed for $500,000?
If you cannot beat the opposition then change the rules. In FL their Supreme Court is going to add three new judges all of them appointed by Gov. Scott which will shift the political mix. And to really skew the vote, he is going to take the three most Senior Judges, which were appointed by a Democratic Governor and move them to the Criminal Division. This would ensure a conservative-leaning majority on a new civil division, where pivotal cases involving the drawing of new voting districts will land next year. Republicans cite all sorts of reasons for expansion, such as needing to cut the court’s heavy caseload. They ignore the fact that the court’s caseload is now the lowest in a decade
In Michigan the reigning King Snyder has taken the rights of his people to a new low. In his new law where he can declare any town or city insolvent and appoint one of his designated Emergency Financial Managers to oversee that town or city and thereby fire all elected officials that the people in that town voted for, he can cancel contract and he!! he can even dissolve the whole town and deed it over to a neighbor municipality. This is wrong – Big Time. The two towns are St. Joseph and Benton Harbor on the shores of Michigan. One town has a population of about 8,500, it is 89.5% white and has an average income of $33,000. The other has a population of about 10,200, it is 85.5% black and has an average income of $10,000. Which one do you supposed that King Snyder declared insolvent and sent in the EFM. See the Rachael Maddow Show last night for the results. This is probably the most vile attack on the American People yet.
Your Civil Right to an open and fair election process free from outside interference is under attack by the GOP/TP. It started with the “Citizens United” decision by SCOTUS and ratified by the GOP when they blocked the “Disclosure Bill” in the Senate. Now the GOP/TP is trying to rig elections with new Birther Bills and Voter Registration Bills. These bills are not about voter fraud in any way, period. The GOP/TP is installing as many roadblocks and they can think of into the voting process all designed to make it harder for one group of people to vote over the other. For example some States are now declaring that you need a Birth Certificate and/or a passport to registered to vote. This is designed to stop registration rallies that sign up new first time voters. Why? Well in 2008 – 68% of the new voters voted for President Obama and 30% voted for McCain. The GOP/TP again is trying everything they can to rig the next election by making it harder for a select group of the population that the GOP/TP knows votes traditionally Democratic. Who walks around with their Birth Certificate or Pass Port in their pockets??
Everyday the GOP/TP agenda becomes more and more like the ideology of the 30’s and 40’s in Europe. They are attacking voting rights, women’s rights, religious rights, gay rights, education, unions (collective bargaining), the right to elect your own town/city officials and the list goes on. All the time they are trying to take these rights away from us and toss us into the poor house or just out into the street, they are redistributed massive amounts of power and wealth to the top 2% and claim to be doing it for America. We better wake up people as start saying no. The above ideology that they are following which is documented by all their current legislation and “Obstruction” to others is now out in the open. Connect the dots people, this is not a plan that is compatible with democracy as we know it today. It is something else altogether and it will only hurt the 98% of the people.
Louise: What "crisis" are you talking about. I've yet to see one. Well.... on second thought, the only one that might be considered a crisis was the oil spill and the only thing Obama did was sit on his butt so that it could get bad enough to entice a $20 billion bribe from BP. Made Bush look like Speedy Gonzales in dealing with Katrina. If he would have been concerned from the get go, he would have immediately waived the Jones Act and let foreigners provide immediate clean-up assistance. The only real crisis we are facing now is caused by Obama. He has no sense of fiscal responsibility. The only conclusion that a rational person can make is that he is trying to drive this country into the ground by running up the debt.
I realize he and other dems are talking about the great times of the 1990s under the Clinton administration. They want to go back to those tax rates. We'll forget for the moment that the only reason things came into balance the last 4 years of Clinton's administration is because the repubs came into power in 1994 and put some sense of responsibility in the budget. Since Obama and the dems want to go back to the Clinton years, I say fine! But, let's really go back. The same tax rates, the same federal budget, the same size of government, the same health care system. A 25% increase in the size of the federal government in 2 years is just plain irresponsible. What's Obama's solution? More government and soak the rich. The problem is that you could tax the "rich" 100% and it wouldn't make a dent in the deficit.
Pietro I understand the differences, I served in the Marines in the infantry and as a military Air traffic controller. The separation was not really the problem, nor was wake turbulence, I know because we had to land an Air Force C-5 Galaxy followed by an FA-18 just about 3 miles behind. Our only concern was would the galaxy be off the runway by the time the 18 hit the deck. Had no problems as all were informed and all knew there capabilities. In this case the media seems to focus on the separation as an atc error, but neither plane was ever in any danger. If the pilot did not believe it was safe he would have executed a go-around or the tower would have had him do it. The C-17 was probably taxiing slower on the runway than normal for whatever reason resulting in the go-around. I have seen way too many scenarios to know that had it been anyone other than Mrs. Obama it would not even be in the news. Also on another note what do you think about the extra hour of time off between shifts for controllers. And as far as time off between shifts and overworked, did anyone listen to Lahood on the Chris Wallace show Sunday. He alluded to the major problem with these guys sleeping. They want to get 3 day weekends so they double up on shifts to be done earlier for the max time off. fault lies with these controllers. And time off between shifts, I will bet that when they leave, knowing that they have to be back in 8 hours they do other things and it is not sleep.
Isn't fixing crises different than controlling them or in this Administrations case creating them? WTF has this big eared jug headed President ever fixed? Oh wait, my bad, there was the Olympics for Chica.... ooops, not that's not it. There was the Libyan thing that he..... no that can't be it. Oh, I know there was that oil well leak in the Gulf that he uhm, er, ah..... Oh!! There's the outrageously high gasoline prices that he's done...........
Richard - OK, very good, but you and I both know that there is a HUGE difference between a 737 and a FA-18. I agree that the C-17 was probably not off the runway, and yes, i agree that the pilot(s) and or the Tower ATC would have requested a go-around.
I DISAGREE about the wake turbulence though, and when I was flying, I had to wait a full 3-5 minutes before I was ever given clearance to take off if a Heavy was landing before me. I am not sure if there is a difference in some of the rules between military and civilian ATC (I never really had to check).
Agreed. The Pilot would have probably been the one to request the go-around. I also agree that if it was not the 1st Lady's plane, it would not have made the news. As far as the danger involved, the pilots for the 1st Lady's plane were competent, and I would have trusted their judgement and actions over what ATC may have done.
I had an opportunity to sit in at a TRACON facility in Palmdale, California many years ago, and they were pretty strict about the 3-mile seperation rules. When I was sitting in with the controller, we had a Heavy (itwas a 747) take off from LAX (Los Angeles International) that was 1.5 miles from another Heavy that was about to handed off, and there was a great fuss about the 'mid-air' that probably resulted in some paperwork for all involved.
Personally, I am not able to answer your question directly because I am not actively involved with ATC and what they have to deal with. However, I think that some changes are needed if we have a problem with ATC staying awake. The nature of the job requires you to be sharp and alert when there are aircraft to be dealt with.
Pietro
Bet you had fun in TRACON. By any chance were the controllers making fun of call signs of different aircraft. Ray Lahood was saying that the main reason these guys have these back to back shifts is so they can get long weekends. If that wasn't the case then there would not be as many problems. In fact i beleive he said that changing shifts with anybody is not going to be allowed.
Wake Turbulence if I read your original post the 737 was flying at a mile a minute then with 3 miles separation there would have been minimal to no wake turbulence once the 737 touched down. The military uses what is called MARSA (military assumes responsibility for the separation of aircraft). have a nice day.
A Year Ago
I just don’t have it in me this morning to giggle and joke. Saw a big’ol, good’ol Louisiana Shrimper and Waterman almost break down the other night. Just like farmers know and love their land Watermen know and love the sea. It is their second wife. She is your life partner and the mother to your children and stands beside you through thick and thin, happy and sad. You come to know her so well. The curve of a hip, that little snore that gives you a faint smile in the night because you know that she’s sleeping well and untroubled. That little wrinkle on the forehead that lets you know that you’ve said something a little off color. The flash of those eyes that lets you know that you’ve royally screwed up and when you get somewhere private a bad storm is coming. Takes years to build that relationship and develop the rules that you can both live with and reach an accommodation with each other. If all goes well your best friend and if things go bad and you break her trust your worst enemy. Somebody has slipped in the back door one evening while he was out making a living and done her great harm. The gentleman has received the diagnosis from the doctor but it just confirms what his eyes and heart have already told him. It ain’t good. There isn’t anything that he or she has done to deserve it. There isn’t much that he can do to change it. It is rock bottom down to his toes breaking his heart. No folks I just ain’t got it in me this morning.
Revisited that Waterman the other evening. That big old heart hasn’t healed and he has done what he can to reconcile himself to the knowledge that His Lady will probably never fully recover from the damage done to her health by the unwarranted attack. It’s an awful hard pill to swallow but he don’t know no other way.
In the ensuing year we have seen the same set of thieves and charlatans that did such great harm to the Lady Gulf repeatedly try to spread their damage to her younger sister the Lady America. The attempts to break down the doors that protect our elderly, our poor and our disabled have become unrelenting and threaten to overwhelm us. Pitting one group of Americans against another threatens to tear the very fabric that cloth and shield her and US from great harm to our very souls.
I hope that we all take a long look deep into that good old boy’s eyes and see the scars on his heart. If we cannot empathize with his heartache and do our utmost to ensure that we don’t let the same folks that did harm to the Lady Gulf spread it all over our great land in their different guises then his and the Lady Gulf’s sacrifices will have been in vain.
IR:
How true. There was an interesting article a few weeks back on how some of the BP money was spent and it had nothing to do with cleaning up the Gulf and improving the safety of the rigs. Some used the money to buy SUV's, run seminars, buy equipment that had no bearing on the Gulf issue etc.
People are trying to scam the system which just makes things move more slowly.
I completely agree.
Wonderful post, IR. In the rest of the country we have moved on to the next story----because we want to think that the passage of time heals it---and because there are other stories out there---after all, Charlie Sheen has something to say.
I'm going to keep this short & sweet this morning:
PS: CRISIS Control? Seriously?
Fasten your seatbelts folks, if yesterday was any indication, that headline will have First Thoughts crawling with trolls who go to great lengths to TRASH it! ;o)
I rest my CASE! lol
Beautifully said, IR, . It is such a tragedy. Oil still washing up on beaches and into the marshes, folks like that fisherman know it will be decades before things improve and they get close to normal again...and sadly, that it could happen again and again.
I thought obama waved his holy hands and healed the land?
Too bad the old fisherman cheated on his taxes so he doesn't have a whole lot of income to prove he lost so he can't get much money from the $20 billion settlement that the government has their hands on and now can't afford to support his loving wife. Too bad he spent all his savings from not paying taxes on gambling and drinking at the local casinos cause that's all he's known. Nobody taught him to be a man cause the government paid his out of wedlock mom to stay single and have more kids. We've all known fellers like him. Fellers that thought they knew better. Fellers that figured they were owed. Oh well. Need to move back to where he came from before the Gulf oil spill. The tired old fisherman bit didn't net him as much as he thought. Even with leaving his teeth out for the photos. Maybe Baton Rouge has got some new pigeons he can pluck?
To the Chicken Little conservatives, the debt isn't the only part of the sky that is falling. Nor is President Obama completely responsible for the debt--most of his spending was to fix the mess he walked into--and tax cuts. Some things like trade deficits and jobs going overseas have been going on for a long time, and the accumulation is why S&P has issued it's warning.
The right-wing Haters will never give President Obama credit for anything. But considering all the crisis he has faced it makes me thankful it's not McCain/Palin at the helm (haunting, I shudder at the thought).
In the short-term, we need good paying jobs. In the long run we need affordable health care. And inbetween we need to deal with the energy crisis and climate change. "The debt, the debt, the debt" is really annoying. Come on conservatives, multi-task!
"Despite growing concerns about the country's long-term fiscal problems and an intensifying debate in Washington about how to deal with them, Americans strongly oppose some of the major remedies under consideration, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll."
Yup, the masses don't like the strong medicine that is inevitably coming our way. "Fix the damn budget," they say in one breath. "But don't cut my Medicare," they say in the next. Sorry folks, but the party is over. Our Medicare is going to be cut whether we like it or not.
This is a situation that just cries out for leadership, leadership that explains that the magnitude of the problem demands solutions of equal magnitude. We can't fix this thing by reverting to the old chestnut of eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" in government. Heck, that's pocket change compared to the real problem.
Republicans are showing leadership on this issue. Over a year ago Paul Ryan released his Roadmap to America's Future to address our budget deficit and debt problems. More recently, in his role as chairman of the House Budget Committee he drew on his work in the Roadmap to develop a budget resolution that lays out a framework for the changes to spending and tax policies necessary to put us on the path of fixing the problem.
On the other side, the Dems haven't done a darn thing. The president pretty much ignored the recommendations of his own debt commission and didn't bother to engage until Ryan smoked him out with his budget resolution. Then instead of starting a serious national conversation on these issues, the Great Demagogue immediately went off into class warfare mode. That approach is useful in stirring up uninformed passions, but does nothing to advance the ball any closer to the goal line – unless of course the goal line you have in mind is your reelection.
So Republicans talk cold hard facts while Democrats soothe the folks with their Alice in Wonderland nonsense that all we need to do is tax the evil rich and we'll all live happily ever after. Change we can believe in? HA, what a pathetic joke.
Why Bill - you didn't post the actual breakdown from the ABC/WP poll.
How come?
WAIT! I know - it didn't fit your narrative! ;o)
Fesity:
He never tells the whole story, only picks out a few words to try and prove a falsehood. . It was reported on MSNBC this morning that 80% of the people do not want Medicare and/or Medicaid destroyed as in the Ryan Bill. Same for Social Security.
The right just will not let the thruth stand in the way of their false rhetoric.
yeah don't cut it...let the IPAB cut all the services, so the old people will just get a pain pill like obama wants.
and we'll inflate the currency so we can repay the old people with useless paper....hoax and chains!
...and in further poll news Public Service Unions don't want their pension and benefits changed as long as someone else is picking up the bill.
Doggone it Feisty, I really can't believe you continue to spend time reading my stuff. I'm humbled, truly I am.
And for you and Navy Vet, I did address taxing the evil rich in the last sentence of my post. And I also posted on that issue several times yesterday to demonstrate that it wasn't a realistic approach to fixing the problem.
What I haven't done yet is point out that when it comes to tax revenues, the real pot of gold is in the vast middle class. That's where the real money is, but of course the prez has promised not to tap into that. Not yet anyway...
Let's look at two countries who faced similar issues:
In Portugal, their growing debt became a crisis. Public reaction to austerity measures was decidedly negative- the bond market did not give a hoot. Due to their inability to face the problems, the government collapsed. They were unable to float any more bonds, had to be bailed out by the EU, and now austerity measures are being enforced by people outside their government.
Spain fought tooth and nail against austerity measures, reasoning that they were too big to be allowed to collapse. Reality hit them, pretty quickly, in the form of a pronouncement from the bond markets that they were not, in fact, too big to collapse. Those same people also mentioned, in the same breath, that neither was the United States.
Spain got religion- quickly. Voted for the austerity measures they had been resisting for quite some little time, and were able to float bonds at a favorable rate.
Whither the United States? We have a president and a media who would be more than happy to ignore the issue, and continue on their merry way. We have a democratic party that wants the party to continue- while telling us that their feckless leader is the "only adult in the room".
Right.
The adults are addressing the problem,, not ignoring it, or telling people what they would like to hear, despite its lack of truth.
Mark, above, talks about how history will reflect on this presidency. It is not going to be good, folks. Not good at all.
And notice he took time out of his day to politely correct the fiesty one! NJNBNJ I enjoy your posts and the reactions they get out of the gang of well lets say 12. Im still trying to figure out just what Navy "did" in the navy!
Bill,
Good morning. So nice of you to create a thread where folks can get their delusions and misinformation out of their system. The "vast middle class" thanks you, oh wise and benevolent defender of corporate interests and protector of the rich. What would they do without you?
P.S. jollyoldsouth: Don't give yourself a headache trying to figure out what Navy did in the navy, mmmmkay . . . maybe save that until after you solve the mystery of "Obummer's" birth certificate.
lol
At one point in our lives, Navy & I agreed,
The problem isn't with the tax rate--it is with the tax code. Until we convince our wealthy Congress men and women to revise the tax code--which neither side of the aisle will do, we are going to keep having these problems.
Even if you raise taxes on the rich to 100%, they are still gonna find a way out of paying their federal income taxes.
We don't need tax increases--we need tax reform. Is that progressive enough?
I read the conservative comments complaining about the awful "Obama" debt yet none of these same conservatives were complaining in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008--no Tea Party outrage, no "we're broke", no attacks on the elderly safety nets. Guess what conservatives, we had a budget surplus in the final four years of the Clinton administration, we were on the road to reducing the debt and then......Bush/Cheney and the GOP opened the credit card flood gates. Pigs will fly before any conservative here or in Congress ever admits THEY CREATED THIS DEBT CRISIS!
Big Bear don't have time today but you've got the germ of an idea up there that I've been toying with for a week or two. If you don't mind I'll revisit it tomorrow or Friday and kick it around a little and see what falls out.
Guess what, Jody? There were plenty of us who decried Bush's spending- and it was nothing like Obama's.
S&P did not downgrade our debt, nor did the bond markets threaten to shut us out during his term in office.
Face it- for all Bush's spending, things were never as bad as they are today. Need a remeinder? How about $820billion in stimulus that stimulated nothing but the debt? Remember those 600,000 jobs that were supposed to magically appear as a result in summer of 2009- that somehow never managed to materialize?
How about Obama's giveaways to GE for so- called "green technology"- great deal for GE- Immelt gets a job as an Obama advisor, and, incidentally, his company owes zero taxes, despite making a profit.
My personal favorite is $9 billion for home visits for first time, underprivileged mothers. Are they so underprivileged they have no mothers of their own?
Want to talk about all the spending on his personal entertainments, which, incidentally, have just enough congressional representation or cabinet members to qualify for taxpayer payments?
Jetting off to NYC for dinner and a play with the wife? AF 1 costs quite a lot more to operate than the cost of two first class tickets, which is all he pays back for using it for "dates".
How about all the money spent on not just the increased numbermof federal employees, but the number of highly compensated federal employees?
Obama spends like there will never be a daynof reckoning. He is wrong. That day is here.
That's exactly right. The left completely ignores the dissatisfaction of conservatives with the Bush spending policies. And ummm, doesn't anyone on the left remember how Bush's approval rating tanked in his second term? A big part of the reason was his spending.
But ya know, that's really water under the bridge. In fact it's completely IRRELEVANT to today's situation. What's RELEVANT is how do we get out of this mess, not who was to blame for getting us into the mess. There's plenty of blame to go around and the narrow minded Bush haters on the left might actually want to consider the many generations of politicians on both sides of the aisle who have been complicit in making promises the government can't hope to keep.
There is no difference between what is going on in this POTUS term than any other except for the fact that this POTUS is so unqualified to do the job that everything turns into a crisis. With this POTUS it is a crisis if the teleprompter breaks down while he is speaking at a community college. He has surrounded himself with ideologues who are also not qualified for the jobs that they have been given and he refuses to enforce the laws of our country. The mess he got us into in Libya is really turning out great - huh. Qaddafi will still be in charge and ready to bring down another plane. Nice job 0bama. The Change will come on Nov 6 2012 which is 566 long days away.
I'd rather not blame either Bush or Obama, more than anything else, it is the cumulative effect of the total debt that is problematic. There's more than enough blame to go around, but the issue is that there's not much room left to add to the debt.
Morning world.
Morning Tom.
And Good Morning to you, Tom. Have you voted yet? Just kidding.
Good morning to you, too, California Tom. I admit that after reading many serious posts, I look forward to your simple hello and vote messages.
For all of you that like to collaspe posts and deny many on this board our Freedom of Speech you only foster the following comparison. You people are proving this beyond any reasonable doubt what so ever. Below is exactly what the new GOP/TP is all about.
These are not my words they are in the History Books, I am only pointing out the Historical comparisons to what is happening today and what has happened in the History before us and it is frightening at best and it is History that we cannot afford to repeat.
In the middle
We are not worshiping the ground that "this man" walks on.
But you, by saying that reveal allot about yourself. Since you see positive postings about the president you automatically skew whatever goes into our brain by saying that those of us that are supporting Obama are worshiping him. Can't we just be happy about him saving this country ? Your'e idea of feedback is to get angry and belittle us.
Questions:
Why is the "personal responsibility crowd to take any responsibility for the mess they have made of the U.S. and world economy?
Why do the same folks who come here daily and blame President Obama for every problem under the sun suddenly not care who is to blame when it is time to talk about turning the Clinton surplus into the Bush deficit?
Why do folks keep saying stupid stuff like we need to clip coupons to save for retirement?
If your child was sick and needed and operation, and your "health insurance" had a $5000 deductible, would you charge it on your credit card if you didn't have the money? Once you incur this massive unexpected debt (because your child got sick), how many coupons do you think you could clip to make up the difference?
Just askin'.
Nash:
Good questions. When you (GOP/TP) have no new ideas and the ones you have are ready proved to be dismal failures the only thing they can do to keep the eyes of the people off them is to lie and create false crisis. This is the ideology they are using in trying to take our voting rights away by claiming "Voter Fraud" which is not true. Same thing on just about everything in their rhetoric. They first cloak it in some rhetoric like "National Security" and then hold McCarthy Style hearings targeting one religious group. They cloak the arguments in "Fiscal Responsibility: and then propose spending cuts to pay for tax breaks to corporation and the richest 2%.
They make Karl Rove proud do they not.
Sad but true Navy. Here's hoping more "real Americans' wake up to the fact that they are being scammed.
When asked what will happen if the vouchers are used up and the person gets sick? Michael Steels answer was "they are SOL". Wonderful.
Now who's running the death panels?
The Ryan plan, if you are so sick that you use up your vouchers, you need to just die already. It's not his fault if you are not rich enough to afford your own health care. Remember he took care of the rich, the rest are on their own.
fletch: IPAB...get a clue...obama wants to give ya a pain pill.
That's right.
People die. Stuff breaks. It happens.
It is not societies job to keep you alive long past the point nature sets her sights on you.
And the fact that there are more people on the dole than are working is another sign that stuff has reached critical threshold. In a healthy society, 70% of your population works full-time whether in manufacturing or just homemaking (raising kids is a job, I maintain it). 70% cares for the other 30%, whether they be children or the elderly.
This entire medicare/medicaid thing? Would have worked if growth trends were constant. Aka - The Greatest Generation average 4 children per household, the Baby Boomers must also average 4 children per household.
But that didn't happen, did it? So we'll hit critical mass, something will break, and we'll revert to a hundred or so years ago when the only people who cared for the elderly were their families. And you'd better pray you had some kiddies or you're pretty screwed.
Welcome to the laws of historical inertia, fellas. In the net-sum, societies don't change. They just go through phases.
Nashville. Good question, great comparison. It is annoying that these conservatives complain about the debt yet never admit it was they who created the current debt crisis. The Great Recession began in Dec 2007, on their watch; they took four years of budget surplus under Clinton and went on a spending spree while claiming to be fiscally responsible. They still claim they are but facts and records prove the GOP hasn't been fiscally responsible since Reagan was elected.
Neither democrats or republicans have all the answers, all the solutions to the problems we face. It requires the best ideas of both sides. The President is willing to listen to GOP ideas, why aren't they willing to listen to his and democrat ideas? It requires a combination of targeted spending cuts, targeted spending increases in areas to stimulate the economy like roads, railroads, clean energy and targeted tax increases plus a complete overhaul of the tax code system eliminating the loopholes and subsidies (something Ronald Reagan did). In fact, the tax codes should be reviewed and revised every 5 years.
Jody, Iowa
Nashville. Good question, great comparison. It is annoying that these conservatives complain about the debt yet never admit it was they who created the current debt crisis.
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The truth is far more nefarious than that Jody. They have spent the last 30 years talking about "starving the beast" (Maybe try something like tax cuts tilted for the wealthy as you start two wars) and then feign surprise when their actions result in their desired outcome.
I'd rather get s pill than be told I'm @!$%# out of luck. Ryan's plan call for vouchers valued at $15.000 to buy health insurance for the rest of their lives. So who pays for the deductible? Since 'Obamacare" is to be repealed, what will they do about their preexisting conditions? SOL I guess......Only the rich get to live, per Sir Ryan.
I know faux is not reporting them like they did in 2010, but how about the town hall meetings? Ryan never thought the elderly were smart. He thought because they are called 'old folks' they were born that way.
obama handles each crisis the same way...duck and cover.
Elaborate, please.
And the GOP/TP handles each crisis with lies and deceit
really? you mean like when bush invaded afghanistan? or reagan confronted the soviet union? remember how ineffectual obama was during the gulf oil spill?? or the WAR FOR EUROPEAN OIL in libya?? what a joke.
joe-3041821
Not a very good example to bring up. Bush botched the war in Afghanistan because he got bored with it and decided he needed a shiny brand new war in Iraq, which he also botched, leaving both messes to President Obama, along with the economic disaster he and his flunkies in Congress created.
really? how did he botch afghanistan? casualties weren't very high there until obama tried to ramp it up.
looks like bush won the war in iraq...guess you haven't noticed huh? but then you democrats don't notice very much.
oh and the flunkies in congress at the time were DEMOCRATS...LOL
Seriously? Those are your examples?
Reagan never "confronted" the Soviet Union...and his actions included arming rebels in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet army including an up-and-coming future terrorist named Osama bin Laden.
Bush's invasion of Afghanistan? Great until he said, "Screw it, let's go to Iraq!" As for how he botched Afghanistan, Bush never did get bin Laden. It's that simple.
hey noid nice lie....even bin laden said he never took any american support.
saddam fed people to plastics shredders...I can see why you libs are so upset that he's no longer in power.
Da Noid Bush did not get Bin Laden but Presidential candidate Obama said he would get Bin Laden still waiting.
"duck and cover"
You do not tell the truth!
He handled each crisis and fought off the criticism of the "rabid right" and the media at the same time.
Now he has to fight to get his name on the ballot in all 50 states. The "rabid right" is working very hard to de-legitimize his candidacy with this "birther" nonsense.
Obama 2012!!
Joe, you're misinformed. We haven't won in Iraq. Or Afghanistan. We never will. And do you really choose to believe Bin Laden over any other source?
fielden: we haven't won in iraq? so we're still fighting a war there? really? we never will win in afghanistan with obama leading the troops thats for sure.
the CIA agents who were in charge of the weapons programs in the 80s agree with bin-laden...but of course you believe SOROS over them, right?
Bush not only let Bin Laden escape when the US had him cornered at Tora Bora, but he let the Taliban regroup as well after he lost interest in Afghanistan. Now that Bin Laden is safely holed up somewhere along the border with Pakistan, he's a lot harder to catch now than when Bush let the best opportunity to catch him slip by. And Bush had 7 years to catch Bin Laden and failed. Obama has only been in office a little over 2 years.
Joe is engaging in a little revisionist history here, and his comments should be asterisked with the John Kyl Republican disclaimer: "not intended to be a factual statement" (i.e., lie).
talk about revisionist history...bush didn't let bin-laden escape those are just democrat talking points (ie lies)
my history is true, post your proof that I am wrong...in other words, you're a liar houston.
It is time to lay to rest the nagging doubt held by many Americans that our government was somehow responsible for fostering bin Laden. It's not true and it leaves the false impression that we brought the Sept. 11 attacks down on ourselves. While it is impossible to prove a negative, all available evidence suggests that bin Laden (search) was never funded, trained or armed by the CIA.
Bin Laden himself has repeatedly denied that he received any American support. “Personally neither I nor my brothers saw any evidence of American help,” bin Laden told British journalistRobert Fisk (search) in 1993. In 1996, Mr. Fisk interviewed bin Laden again. The arch-terrorist was equally adamant: “We were never, at any time, friends of the Americans. We knew that the Americans supported the Jews in Palestine and that they are our enemies.”
In the course of researching my book on Bill Clinton and bin Laden, I interviewed Bill Peikney, who was CIA station chief in Islamabad from 1984 to 1986, and Milt Bearden, who was CIA station chief from 1986 to 1989. These two men oversaw the disbursement for all American funds to the anti-Soviet resistance. Both flatly denied that any CIA funds ever went to bin Laden. They felt so strongly about this point that they agreed to go on the record, an unusual move by normally reticent intelligence officers. Mr. Peikney added in an e-mail to me: “I don’t even recall UBL [bin Laden] coming across my screen when I was there.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,98115,00.html
So the GOP has selected Senator John Kyl to represent Senate Republicans in discussions with the President about the deficit. Wouldn't they be better served by someone who DOES intend to make factual statements when he speaks?
so you're saying there won't be any democrats in the discussion.
Swing and a miss by "joe".
truth hurts doesn't it noid?
#NotIntendedtobeaFactualStatement
What an incredible stretch trying for a zinger based off my original statement, "joe". don't strain yourself.
don't have to, its easy to make democrats look stupid...you do it to yourselves with every post.
I now see why republicans lie so much. They think speaking the truth make you look stupid.
the only lies I see are from the democrats...and their easily led and uneducated followers who believe their lies.
Joe Here's something you can use in future post with liberals
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with their stupidity."
Okay, okay....I will stop arguing with joe.
you're not arguing with me...you're just making yourself look foolish! LOL
joe-3041821
You should know. You're dodging and weaving to avoid admitting the truth that Kyl lied about Planned Parenthood. The media would even have let him get away with it if it weren't John Stewart and Steven Colbert ridiculing his outrageous disclaimer.
uh ok, go ahead and post my lies...put up or shut up.
planned parenthood...oh you mean that organization that takes donations to kill black babies...no wonder you support them.
DCCC Medicare Commercial was humorous but serious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z7FiBsR8OQ
The plan won't work. I don't need grandmother having to work after working hard for 40 years.
Maybe if Obama would quit trying to be a Movie Star he might actually have time to work on a problem, the people put him in office to do a job, not campaign every day and run Air Force 1 into the ground. Many of us thought that a change was needed, but evidently, if this is the Change, no thank you, if Obama wants to be a Movie Star , he needs to do it after his term, not during it, No wonder nothing is getting fixed at this time.
0bama is not qualified and has no idea how to fix the problems of our nation. He needs to go back to Chicago and organize for Rahmbo! Nov 6 2012 - the end of an error.
I see Priebus intend to sing that same ole sad ass song; "job creation" President Obama's fault, etc.
GOP/TP has told some many LIES that now they are sounding like a broken record.
Hey Priebus ... only FOOLS will believe the CRAP coming out of the mouths of the GOP/TP. You all are con-artists...that fed lies and took Trillions from America's treasure and the future of our children.
You and the GOP/TP words are CRAP - they are meaningless... more working for the GOOD OF ALL AMERICANS and less CRAP.
The blame game senerio is played OUT!!! you get it you idiots. We know who screwed U.S. - The Republican Party - and you will pay dearly come 2012 elections.
and theirs nothing you can do about it!!!
TRUTH - not CRAP
Thank you and GOD BLESS AMERICA
The Democratic Solider:
Touche' Nicely said.
keep eating that democrat crap sandwich...how do you like that $4 gas? hoax and chains.
Joe -- if you don't want to pay $4 for gas, don't do it. It's a free market. Maybe you can go to Mexico and buy it cheaper there. Or Venezuela or Brazil. why is it so hard to understand that oil is a WORLD commodity. Whatever company, whatever country has the oil, it is regulated on the world market. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't be getting any oil from elsewhere and our own supply would be long gone.
I would rather have the $4.00 gas (the price of which is controlled in part by the speculators in Wall Street trying to make a buck) than a fascist/Nazi/despot regime that the GOP/TP is trying to lay out for this country currently.
The facts based in the current legislation passed (and legislation blocked) and proposed by the GOP/TP makes this similarity in ideology unmistakable.
I'll take the $4.00 gas price and you can keep the new GOP/TP ideology.
Kate: we have more oil in this country than saudi arabia. ever hear of shale oil? but we don't exploit our own resources, and obama has effectively banned new drilling in the gulf, not to mention anwr.
supply and demand, it always works.
navy: speculators...right, name these 'speculators' whenever someone says 'speculators' it shows how ignorant and easily led they are.
lmao........ wow. This is more like a cartoon today.
Joe, OPEC countries have almost 80% of the world's crude oil reserves. We in the US use far more oil than we could produce for ourselves, which is why we have been importing it for years. Ever since President Nixon and the energy crisis, people have been trying to get us to use less energy, to find alternative forms of energy, etc. Only "high" gas prices (which are still much lower than Europeans pay) get anyone's attention.
Kate:
Study reveals huge U.S. oil-shale field
The United States has an oil reserve at least three times that of Saudi Arabia locked in oil-shale deposits beneath federal land in Colorado...
By Jennifer Talhelm
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The United States has an oil reserve at least three times that of Saudi Arabia locked in oil-shale deposits beneath federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, according to a study released yesterday.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002463368_oilstudy01.html
Navy,
You must be having a bad day today--to call people Nazi & fascist because their ideas are different from yours.
Where are the ideas from the Left? A 7 page outline, without numbers? Reminds me of what Ron was saying about the budget numbers of the right, in their 3 line no number outline.
You should watch what you say. Because we are American, we have a free right to speech, you can say these things, but any respect people have for you, will go down the drain when you resort to name calling--especially when someone does not agree with your statements and they have their own ideas.
BigBear - you should do like a lot of us do and put USN?? Fiesty, Bev, Jody - you know the group on Ignore. There comments are collapsed and you don't have to see their BS.
I referred to a Political Party, the GOP/TP Party, not individuals, but if the shoe fits. THe proof is all around us each day and let me remind you all on the right here that are infringing on peoples freedom of speech the following:
Interesting week on the continue decline of democracy in this country. While this silent killer has been lurking in the shadows since this nation was born it has now emerged out into the light. On December 6th of 2010 I wrote on this board;
“Tomorrow is December 7th a “date that will live in infamy” (President Roosevelt – 12/07/194i). There is another date in American History that will also live in infamy – January 21, 2010. This is the date that the US Supreme Court sold this country out to the highest bidders (Foreign or domestic) with their “Citizens United” decision”. Back then little did I know just how virulent this silent killer is and the extent of the reach of its tentacles into the very fabric of the democracy that this great country was built on.
We have been seeing symptoms of this over that past few years with the GOP's attacks on “Full Disclosure” which would have corrected the “Citizens United” decision, The attacks on women’s reproductive rights, the attacks on the gay community, the attacks on immigrants, the poor, the unemployed, the middle class, education, medical research, teachers, fire fighters, law enforcement, and now the unions and voters rights. The only safe ground was for Wall Street, Big Business and the wealthiest 2% of the population. A very small segment of the overall population that has increased their overall wealth and power to record levels while the other 98% are fighting just to survive. Does “Oligarchy” ring a bell??
Just this week we have seen more repugnant examples stating with Governor Walker in Wisconsin. He artificially creates/adds to the budget deficit by passing a tax cut bill for 140 Million dollars to the corporations and the rich and then puts the blame on the Public Unions demanding cuts from them (which they agreed to) and repeals their right to collective bargaining (which they did not agree to). This was never about the deficit, the GOP/TP wanted just to bust the unions to lower their membership which means lower dues and less money available for campaign contributions. Did I mention that these unions typically vote for the Democrats? They also cut millions and millions out of education and have taken control of Medicaid and the sale of public power plants which is a reward for the Koch Brother’s support of Walker. This is all about busting up the unions and power trying to rig the 2012 election and has nothing to do with reducing the deficit at all, just Power and Greed.
Quote from Ronald Regan; http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/03/13/video-where-free-unions-and-collective-bargaining-are-forbidden-freedom-is-lost-ronald-reagan/
“Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost” Sept. 1,1980 his “Liberty Speech” in Jersey City – Ronald Regan
Then we have the “McCarthy Style” hearings on the Muslims being the primary terror threat within our boarders by Rep. King. Now, I do agree we should have these hearings but it should include all groups not just the singling out one based on religion/race. This is McCarthyism at it finest and is done for one reason and one reason only, to divide a country and pit them against each other. Why would the GOP do that? Because they know that 1 in 4 people STILL think President Obama is a Muslim. If they can connect all Muslims as terrorists then they will play this card in 2012 that President Obama is a terrorist. Proof: Just watch the FOX news, listen to Glenn, Rush and Hannity, enough said. See below for a detailed report on the 125 tracked terrorist plots. 64% were attributed to NON Muslim groups. See below:
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/09/king-muslims-plots-terrorists/
And we have some governors like Snyder in Michigan that are re-writing how much power they will control. They want the ability to declare any municipality to be insolvent at their discretion and replace all elected officials, laws, contracts etc and replace them with their own cronies.
22 GOP/TP States are trying to disenfranchise a segment of their population (Democrats) from being able to vote either in their State Elections or the upcoming Federal Elections. See: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/05/state-disenfranchisement-schemes/
Instead of ideas on jobs and the economy like they (The GOP/TP) campaigned on and were elected to do, the GOP/TP are using and/or creating the excuse of budget crises whether “real or not”, to take our rights away from us. In the 1920′s and 1930′s, fascists in Europe used economic crises to gain power and that is exactly what Republicans are doing now. The GOP/TP is using the current economic environment as an ruse to create an Oligarchy (Fascism) and take away our most basic of rights like the right to a free and open election process free from outside interference whether it is domestic or foreign. Again, it is all a power grab by the right for more control (power) and wealth.
There is a good article on this that has been fact checked by PolitiFact and be accesses at: http://pwtenny.newsvine.com/_news/2011/03/12/6254135-politifact-ohio-sen-sherrod-brown-says-hitler-stalin-and-mubarek-all-opposed-independent-unions-true
Read this article, but be careful, it will turn your stomach on some of similarities that we are bearing witness to today. This is History that we should not repeat.
An excerpt from this article for those last week that claim Germany (under the reign of Hitler) did not abolish unions.
“May Day was first celebrated as an international day of labor in New York in the 1880s. Hitler made it an official paid holiday, not just a negotiated day off, on May 1, 1933 -- and used it to rally for his regime and industrialization. William Shirer (The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich), who was there, called it "an elaborate piece of trickery."
”The next day, on May 2, 1933, unions were dissolved, their assets were confiscated, their offices were occupied and their leaders were arrested. Hitler then outlawed strikes, abolished collective bargaining and established the German Labor Front, a corrupt party organization”.
These are not my words they are in the History Books, I am only pointing out the Historical comparisons to what is happening today and what has happened in the History before us and it is frightening at best and it is History that we cannot afford to repeat.
Although oil is a world commodity, Obama helped get the price up simply by speaking to the Egyptian people on their tv stations when he should have stayed out of their business. This gave them hope for change as Obama would be proud to say, and we are now living with the high gas prices as a result of the resulting chain reaction. Obama needs to be given credit for the "freedom wave of Muslims in the Middle East" that he is so proud of.
He doesnt solve crises; he creates them.
The biggest crisis of his day amounts to getting booked on THE VIEW again so he can have his ego stroked by the Liberal Rags. The ego stroking gives him Hope.
Barack Obama's Memento Presidency
Arianna Huffington
We got used to the president making strong promises and then caving -- from closing Guantanamo to not extending the Bush tax cuts for millionaires. Now he's making strong promises he's already broken. He's like a political version of the Guy Pearce character in Memento -- he's figured out a way to break promises outside of the limitations of linear time.
With his signing of the extension of the Bush tax cuts in December and his agreement to cut $38 billion -- including from programs that help the less fortunate he championed in his speech -- his actions pre-belied his upcoming words. As a result, those words, no matter how powerful or masterfully delivered, are no longer working the magic they once did.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/obama-economy-speech_b_851311.html
I don't know if I agree with her, but there is a growing sense of betrayal on core issues felt by the left wing of the president's party that she is giving voice to, despite it's absence on this blog.
Then apparently, there aren't a whole lot of left wingers who write to this forum. Obama only gets attacked by right wingers here for the most part.
Your correct most of the Liberals here are Mr Obama backside smoochers. I mean Bev's posts read like old love letters, complete with grammatical and and spelling errors for effect. Some times I almost feel dirty after reading some of them.
So you like feeling dirty and hanging out with backside smoochers?
Most supporters here (Both sides here share this quality) consider any criticism, from any direction to be an attack (see above where Houston! sees and characterizes Huffington's critique into an attack), and they generally respond by attacking the criticism, the author or in many instances, both.
The failure to see the flaws in your own position is a fatal flaw. The inability to be self-critical results in seeing any criticism as an attack.
dangerfield
Accusations of "betrayal" ARE an attack. So are the moronic replies to your post above, which strangely don't seem to bother you. And given your past claims to being tight with Joe Sestak and other Democratic pols, the backside-smooching accusation applies to you more than most here.
You're projecting again.
Houston!
Thanks for again for being the poster-child- proving the point that;
"they generally respond by attacking the criticism, the author or in many instances, both."
You missed quoting that part...
Real leaders don't move from crisis to crisis ... They control the agenda through experience! I guess that says it all for Presdient Obama. Once upon a time, all the silly people in the uS voted Jimmy Carter into office " because he had a nice smile and was a good man" and look what we got with him ...deminished respect in the world! Now we have Obama with his smile and speaking skills , but no substance and even less expxerience to tackle the major issues facing this nation... so we continue to boucne from crisis to crissis! Any similarilties being noted here?... I thtink YES! How is the Hope and Change working out for ya silly people?
So they control hurricanes, earthquakes, conflicts by other nations, etc? One measure of a real leader is how he/she responds to a crisis. Leaders often have no control of the environment (crisis's) around them. They can only respond.
Navy, Good morning...
Remember they dubbed him "The Messiah". They expect him to control the crisis before it happens. Democrats know there is no reason to pray to him because he is just a man, a good one at that. Republicans call him"The Messiah", so they can pray to him and they are disappointed when they don't get what they pray for.
A majority of the "crisises" noted in the article were manmade, not natural. (I.E.< like the disaster of Healthcare reform or the wonderful payback to unions and other Democratic constituencies in the Stimulus debacle all formulated in the dark back rooms of Nancy Pelosi's office, etc etc) .. but even during the natural disasters as you refer to in your comments, the Presdient was not engaged and leading. He was responding and usually only when the polls forced him to. That is not leadership. Too bad some people in the US elected someone without any experience or backbone! So we continue to move onto each new crisis without any planned approach as a Nation. He uses the stimulus to grow Government by over 25% and then does not admit that it is unsustainable! Sad... really sad!
Sorry, Fletch--it was conservatives who dubbed him "Messiah". It was conservatives who also said "God is back in the White House" when Bush claimed victory in 2000.
Right FedUp Senior,
Obama kind of drifts along, like a drunk staggering down a dark street. No direction, no proactive thinking. His modus operendi?? Ignore the major problems, and if they won't go away??, Blame them on Bush.
This is what America elected?? No wonder the rag-head terrorists arn't afraid of us.
Proactive - I guess you mean something like the letter to President Clinton in 1998 where the neo cons outline exactly what they wound up doing in Iraq 2-1/2 years later - thank God they had a reason to attack Iraq - Weapons of Mass destruction - and a willing administration. Wait the neo cons WERE the administration. How lucky can you get ???.
Question - is there a weapon that is not capable of mass destruction ?
Uh, it's impossible for a president NOT to have a "lowest" approval rating, even a wildly popular one. This Republican snark doesn't make any sense, something it has in common with most Republican utterance.
MSNBC: Obama's presidency -- thus far -- has been largely defined by moving from one crisis to the next...
Begging for sympathy, but refusing to admit that many of which, Obama and his administration purposely created, magnified and exploited, themselves....
Remember the Obama montra ?... "Never let a good crisis go to waste !"
You tell'em, BOSS!
I'm sick to hell with the way they keep managing his being born in Kenya. I can't believe that those darn liberals can manipulate his being a forgeigner to their advantage. You'd think our G.O.P. could just impeach the guy and put an American citizen in office. I can't figure out why we haven't done that....can you?
I'm beginning to think, for some reason, our G.O.P. wants to let him keep being President when we could easily kick him out of office for being a foreigner. We need to just announce that Donald Trump will be our candidate for the presidency, and Sarah Palin will be his V.P. Then, we can let them remind everybody that they're Americans and Kenya-Bama is NOT. Then, the montra..."Never let a good crisis go to waste!"....will gobble them up!
I beg to differ with the author of this piece. The "crises" faced during the Obama Administration so far have been fairly weaksauce compared to, say, 9/11.
Could this article make him sound like the second coming any more? Rescue the auto industry? He had the Government bail out GM by buying it and giving parts to the union and Canada. I'm sure Ford who didn't need the bailout appreciated the government propping up their competition. rescuing an entire industry? No he bailed out a couple companies.
Healthcare? Well in 2019 there will still be 24 million without insurance according to the CBO. Don't give me it's a good start either because a forty percent miss after a decade is a failure.
Reacting to Libya? He did what he said a President didn't have the authority to do, now they are hinting at troops on the ground when he said there would be none.
Raise the ceiling? He said when he was a senator doing that showed a lack of leadership.
BP oil spill? Took him 9 days before he even went to the gulf to check out the crisis.
Please stop making him sound better than he really is. He is definately not what he said he would be. Remember how he promised to change the way Washington works? The way he has operated since he took office has been the polar opposite of those words, he has done things just like very politician before him. He is a fatcat politician helping his fatcat friends and honoring party and private agendas over the best interests of the country no more no less.
Those who voted him in should feel duped by the way he has acted and those of us who didn't vote for him should be pissed that you didn't listen to us in the first place. But then again history could not have been made and that is certainly worth pounding our country into the ground isn't it.
Johnny.....great post, but you are posting to the deaf, dumb and blind here on this blog. It was commandeered by the liberal/progressive/socialists long ago.
It occurs to me that, taken all together, history will judge President Obama on the basis of the financial crisis he inherited and those challenges he met, and also how well he really did meet the subsequent challenges he faced.
One of the greatest challenges he has met has been his unwavering spirit of generosity in response to those attacks that history will note were racially motivated--even though they posed as other matters.
Plus, I cannot imagine a better person to meet the international diplomatic crises that routinely afflict every sitting U.S. President. So, no, President Obama has not been as progressive as I would like, but given the hostile political currents that constantly buffet him, I think he has acquitted himself admirably to date.
And I think his greatest test is still ahead of him. I wish him well.
what attacks are racially motivated? another liberal liar...fancy that.
Great post, Fancy That. I think another of the President's greatest challenges has been the failure of his own party to back him in Congress, especially the Senate.
Joe 3041821: "what attacks are racially motivated?"
Well, certainly not this one - right, Joe?
"This week Marilyn Davenport, a Southern California Tea Party activist and member of the central committee of the Orange County Republican Party circulated what some are calling hate e-mail to an unknown number of her fellow conservatives.
Written under the words, “Now you know why — No birth certificate!”, is an Obama family portrait depicting his parents as chimpanzees.
When asked if she thought the email was appropriate, Davenport is quoted as saying, “Oh, come on! Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people–mostly people I didn’t think would be upset by it.”
Former Chairman of the California Republican Party Michael Schroder has demanded Davenport’s resignation saying it’s not her first brush with racist rhetoric.
In February 2009, Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose, another Orange County Republican, emailed the White House watermelon image and then apologized. While others demanded he step down, Davenport defended him."
I mean, why would anyone find this to be racist? She has friends who are black! (Isn't that what they always say?) She only sent to a few people who "wouldn't be upset by it"! (in other words, her equally racist friends). And she thought it would end right there, because really who ever heard of such a thing as forwarding "joke" e-mails you get to everyone on your own list, who will then forward it to everyone on their list, and......well, who cares, how could she know that would ever happen? It's not like she's a racist or anything.....
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/04/15/orange-county-republican-party-member-circulates-racist-e-mail-targeted-at-president-obama/
is that like hairy 'n e g ro dialect' reid? or joe 'clean and articulate' biden?
Is that the Biden who fell ASLEEP during his Boss's Campaign (lies) Speech last Wednesday?
Even HE is sick of the BS!
Lordy, Lordy, if that had been a Republican V.Pres........the news media would have had a field day!
Instead.......they are laughing........it was *so cute*!
Kinda like his F-Bomb on National TV!.........wow......the World is laughing "at" us!
His Wife is even laughiing on the VIEW!
Am I the only one embarassed by this Administration?
Joe - I've had a long history of being offended by the way "articulate" in particular is tossed around that way, as if it's such an unexpected surprise - long before I ever heard of Barack Obama. If your point is that many of us have biases we see easily in others that we don't see in ourselves, I would probably agree. But if your point was that this deliberately malicious attack was somehow Ms. Davenport's clumsily expressed means of actually praising the President, then I guess there's no point in trying to explain the difference.
joanne: so according to you democrat racism is OK. some pigs are more equal than others.
Joe,
There's a distinct difference in the tenor of the statements made by VP (to be) Biden, and Harry Reid, and the woman in the O.C. here in California. Biden and Reid, regardless of what you think of their remarks, or even them personally, were commenting on the (then) candidate Obama. Both of them, in their ham-handed fashion were attempting to compliment candidate Obama, while Davenport was clearly making an offensive correlation between President Obama and a chimpanzee. Joanne's comment was not racist, nor in my opinion did it condone racist behavior on the part of either party, it merely acknowledged each of us as having failings, regardless of party affiliation.
living: you democrats called bush a chimp constantly...along with hitler and every other vile name in the book.
no surprise to see you excusing patronizing liberal racism....its as big a part of liberalism as your holy sacrifice of killing unborn babies.
Umm, Joe? If you posted here regularly, you'd know that Living in LA is very much a Republican, so I doubt he ever called President Bush any of those things. Neither did I. And you know no more about his views on abortion than you know about mine.
Living - I'd enjoy discussing this with you in more depth - maybe another time?
Joe,
As JoAnne indicated, I'm a member of the minority party here in California, (Republicans). I don't condone racism, whether it's from the conservative or the liberal side of the fence. I don't actually care what your opinion of me is, but I'd have to admit to being lumped into the liberal group gave me quite a chuckle, pretty sure that I wouldn't pass the test, whatever test there may be. As to the abortion issue, people have to make up their own minds, it's clear where you stand, hopefully you'll never have to test that stance. Having known several people that had abortions, and knowing the mental anguish they went thru, I'm happy that I wasn't born with that plumbing, and that I've never had to make that choice.
JoAnne, another time works for me.
living: yes you sound as republican as AHNULD...
Good morning Progressive Friends,
You folks are on fire today. Please keeps it coming. This snip from Navy’s post is so true that we can’t afford to stop our fight. The Republicans-Tea Baggers in office are out to set American back and I mean way back.
"Everyday the GOP/TP agenda becomes more and more like the ideology of the 30’s and 40’s in Europe. They are attacking voting rights, women’s rights, religious rights, gay rights, education, unions (collective bargaining), the right to elect your own town/city officials and the list goes on. All the time they are trying to take these rights away from us and toss us into the poor house or just out into the street, they are redistributed massive amounts of power and wealth to the top 2% and claim to be doing it for America. We better wake up people as start saying no. The above ideology that they are following which is documented by all their current legislation and “Obstruction” to others is now out in the open. Connect the dots people, this is not a plan that is compatible with democracy as we know it today. It is something else altogether and it will only hurt the 98% of the people."
"Today is the anniversary of the Gulf Spill. And where are we?? Try nowhere, nothing has changed"
yeah way back to the days of freedom and prosperity.
Joe -- could you give us all a time frame for when those days were? There has never been a time in this country when all citizens have experienced "freedom and prosperity."
You're so right, joe....I think America has forgotten how good we had it under George W.
He was always so calm, collected, kewl, and intelligent...and the economy was doing just fine til Obama took over. Americans need to remember how good we had it before we let a foreigner in the White House. Then, the economy went to hell for no reason! I just dont' understand why George W. doesn't just speak out about it being against the law to let a non-american run the govt. I guess he's busy, but he should tell it like it is.
Even though my retirement monies fell by 68% during the last few months of G.W.'s term, I knew he had a plan to get all my monies back for me. Now I'm in a mess cause Obama doesn't know G.W.'s plan. I pray for the day that the G.O.P. puts us back on the right track to freedom and prosperity, too!
lmao....... progressives! Just the name makes me chuckle!
marco: thank the democrats for CRA fannie and freddie....how do you like that $4 a gallon gas and 9% unemployment?
Kate: look back at the 80s. we had a real president...not a pretender.
MarcothePolo
Were you asleep during the Bush years? I know that at the end of the Bush terms we the United States was headed toward
MarcothePolo
Were you asleep during the Bush years? I know that at the end of the Bush terms we the United States was headed toward
Facts from the United States Government:
In Trillion
2000-7081 President Clinton last year in office.
2001-7324 President Bush first year in office.
2002-7880
2003-8573
2004-9331
2005-9990
2006-10655
2007-11360
2008-12537 President Bush last year in office. (Total under Bush 5 trillion 456 billion)
2009-14539 President Obama First year in office
The 2010 projected National Total debt made in 2009 was 16173 Almost 2 trillion lower than projected.
Currently, the total National Total debt is at 14221 down by 318 billion in 2010 compared to the end of 2009.
Trillion- Remember all spending is signed into law by the President in charge.
Under Bush the debt grew 5456 5 trillion 456 billion (8 years in office)
Under Obama the debt grew 1684 1 trillion 684 billion (2 years 3 months)
Look back in the 80's to when we had a President who promised the money given to the rich would 'trickle down' into the pockets of all Americans. WRONG
Also he decided that deficits don't matter.......three Presidents followed suit with not a peep from the repugnicans. NOW the repugnicans have decided that President Obama is guilty of all the deficits that they must be dealt with.(on the backs of those who are already in trouble) Also they have indoctrinated the sheeple into believing HE caused the damn things in the first place.
Joe,
When were the days of freedom and prosperity?
Jolly,
Kind of like the name, "Tea Baggers."
oh of course Job, the congress has NOTHING to do with spending...the democrats won the congress in remember...the last deficit with a REPUBLICAN congress was well under 200 BILLION...not the TRILLION dollar deficits with the democrats in congress...
can't you read? the 1980s...
hey sheeplehuman: remember that 7%+ GDP growth rate in 1984? 'trickle down' ie capitalism, work pretty well.
remember who was running congress in the 1980s??? oh yeah democrats.
Whining about where the debt came from is irrelevant. Democrats controlled congress during most of the years the debt rose. Congressman and Senators from both parties have created a mess that needs fixed. Idiots can spread blame forever on who sank the Titanic, but the fact is it still sank.
Fix this mess, spend FAR less money from now on and stop squandering the nations wealth. Then impress the rest of America by taking credit for something productive for a change. It will almost offset the democrats support for drugs, crime and illegal immigration.
kate 1855079
Joe -- could you give us all a time frame for when those days were? There has never been a time in this country when all citizens have experienced "freedom and prosperity."
Joe couldn't find his ass with both hands. Day after day everyone is a liar that doesn't agree with the repub manifesto.
PS Joe we could suck every drop of oil out of the ground and all the oil shale too but it won't drop the gas prices one bit. It all goes out to world market Joe and that's where the price is determined. That's why speculators are driving up the price! There is no shortage but you knew that right?
And the actor we had for a president in the 80's ran deficits and created McJobs but you keep drinking the cool aid old boy because he and your party did a good job of brainwashing ya.
rick: such stupidity has to hurt, let me guess you're a democrat jackass
hey moron, more supply equals lower prices...get a clue...I can see why you're a democrat, you need someone to do your thinking for you.
mcjobs, you mean like the jobs mcdonalds is offering now in the obama 'recovery'??
that actor knew how to be president unlike the coke-headed clown pretending to be one now.
Joe can you change your reference from coke-headed clown to something else, I only drink coke and I certainly don't need that visual.
It must be campaign time all the left wing bloggers out to defend Obama how great he is how much he done for the people in this country, like make the cost of living higher, medical expenses higher, made the unions richer. Good job Obama take a vacation you have screwed us so hard you need it.
All things considered, I think he is doing a good job. This is a time in the world that we witness history on a very volatile view point as the world merges into a global, multinational agenda. New American Leaders had better be ready for a World where America competes against minds and not just resources.
For our nation, this is really and fundamentally about: What country do you want to live in. Do you want cheap schools and poor health care = low taxes , Do you want best schools and best health care = high taxes, or do you want cheap schools, poor health care, short term deficit and high taxes? I think people would be willing to pay more for great public education and good long term health care but we don't trust the government enough to let them run public programs. I also think people are growing weary (even conservatives) about the intentions of free markets to willfully give back money to create jobs. Neither option is realistic, either in it's extreme could tilt the country against free markets toward socialism or into fat cat snake oil capitalism.
My view is that education and health care are the focal fight in how we want our country to grow. Education = potential, Health Care = Security. My view is that education is sorely lacking in this country and we will suffer generation after generation as long as we vilify the educators and the educated. To get the best jobs you must have a good education. But as the cost of education outpaces the salaries and available government assistance, regular folks can barely keep up. I see similar characteristics in the Republican plan for Medicare if a set amount of money is given to seniors to pay for the cost of a system that outpaces the government planned stipends and salaries of those that would retire into the future proposed systems. You'd have University of Phoenix type health care plans popping up all over the place offering alternative solutions with questionable benefit?
Bottom line where do you want the country to go; hopefully there are serious thoughts about this, grown up opinions are welcome. Please visit cartoon network dot com for pot shots and name calling and silliness.
we spend huge amounts on schools...and they're lousy. doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity.
and your savior obama wants to give that old people a pain pill...that will 'take care' of them.
and we spent about a trillion to create jobs...porkulus...where are they?
I don't think we spend a lot on schools in comparison to what we spend on defense and discretionary spending. Imagine if schools could afford the best teachers offering good pay and bennefits to lure graduate students away from corporate jobs and into the public sector. For instance. New jersey actually has the number 4 education system in the U.S. and their teachers are paid quite well. I mention this because recently Gov Christy targets their unions but neglects the surprisingly robust education system in NJ. Bottom line, you get what you pay for.
As Far as Obama and spending on jobs, you have to take the sum of all parts: Did the money spent to create jobs create bonus jobs or just even out what would have been negative jobs? When wall street collapsed, was that the sum of innovation plus capitalization or free market saturation minus deregulation?
When you play chess we don't play to capture the king, you considered all moves and the impact on your own parts. I admit to being a conservative but a pragmatist, a centrist really and a belive in the pendulum of our democracy. Take too much one way and the other part cries out for mercy, take too little and the future generations cry out for mercy. Do just enough and no one knows that it ever happened. I give the president credit for the sum of all parts. The economy didn't continue to tank and there is enough progress to keep moving in a positive direction. You will see jobs return but we're capped out on the types of jobs that will return. The high paying ones don't return with low taxes, the high paying jobs return with innovation and innovation is the sum of all education.
total school spending by states localities, and the federal government are more than defense...
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/education_chart_20.html
imagine if the union thugs weren't controlling the schools. private schools spend less and produce better outcomes. same for home schooling. obama sure doesn't send his kids to public schools.
Obama promised us if we passed his porkulus bill unemployment wouldn't go above 8%, remember? the jobs aren't coming back, and obama is doing all he can to make sure they don't. look at what he did to drilling in the gulf. giving loans to build refineries in latin america.
Joe- same website different chart:
Note: in FY12 govenment spending for education is 3% of the federal budget. Defense spending is 24% of the federal budget. That's WILD!
For your argument, "private schools spend less and produce better outcomes". Remember: Sum of the whole? Private schools have their choice of students. They choose the best and don't need specialists. Public schools have to take everyone so all kids will not be equal. You spend more to try and educate a child that doesn't have an "educated parent'. As we get more educated the cost of school would in theory go down. Schools would have better students from smarter parents but it takes generations to do this. That is why many in Wisconsin are miffed with the governor for targeting teacher unions. Many of the communities spent generations building their schools systems with healthy parent teacher associations. Taking benefits away from teacher to save a buck in a 4 year political cycle stagnates a generation of new teachers who would take the torch with new parents to carry forward better public schools (less specialization for poorly educated students).
As far as Obama and the "porkulus bill" I'm not sure which bill you are referring to, usually the Congress creates the bills to fund the government and the pork is discretionary allocation by each individual; so I cannot argue that point. However, I believe unemployment will eventually get to under 8% once innovation returns to our country. That is what we must focus on: the next internet, the next super computer, the next super fuel. That will change our country not a cyclical politician. Encourage better education and support innovation.
and that 3% is wasted...check out these charts...
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/president-to-call-for-big-new-ed-spending-heres-a-look-at-how-thats-worked-in-the-past/
oh please, the whole 'private schools have their choice of students' please, public schools can expell students too...and private schools in harlem for example, do real well with the same poll of students.
schools used to work real well...until the federal government got involved, and public union thugs. the public union teacher thugs ARE the problem.
give the students vouchers, let the public schools compete for students...nothing you libs fear more than that.
oh please 'innovation' all you have are platitudes, and the same old failed socialist policies of the past....doing the same thing and expecting results is insanity.
Joe: You can't expel a child with a learning disability and you can't expel a child that has a hard time focusing in the morning because he couldn't afford a breakfast. Your tunnel vision is hard to debate. But to your point I do remember when a time when schools used to work well, back in the go old days. The 50's and 60's oh but wait, that was a time when Unions were at their peek
""
I don't always agree with unions (for every benefit there should be moderation) but you have to admit that it is ironic that as the unions went so did the spend power and value of the middle American. The "good ol days" = America with unions. Consider the sum of all parts. You blame it on the "government" I blame it on the people who sold their way of life for a hand full of beans that if "i let you get rich" you'll give me a job. 30 year later and people like you still like the taste of those beans. Buy GOLD!
oh please, the old canard 'the kid can't afford breakfast' please, with all the welfare programs..right. you assume parents would rather starve their kids than feed them. as far as learning disabilities, has the state really helped people with learning disabilitities, or has it just warehoused them?
talk about tunnel vision, please your insistence upon spending more money on a failed public education system is just staggering. for the last 40 or so we have just spend more and more money, for the same failed results...and yet you want to spend even more.
you care more about the benefits of the public teacher union thugs than you do about educating children.
Any venture into privitization, schools, healthcare, whatever, eventually focuses on the profit rather than the service. That cripples them. A public system, on the other hand, counts as its shareholders the very people that it serves. It is thus more beholden to them for it's success and its response.
the only people the public school system serves is the public teacher thugs and the adminstrators, not the kids.
you really don't understand capitalism at all. you provide the best service you get the best profit...amazing ignorance.
Joe:
You left out: (Best Resources + Best Investment + Best Service) = Best Profit. THAT is capitalism. My original argument is Best Resources (Government money = most expensive; parent volunteers = cheapest) + best Graduate Students + Best Service from Graduate students = Best outcome. No Graduate student is going to work for beans and crappy benefits. They'll go into the private sector or in your argument, to private schools where they have their choice of nice benefits, wealthy parents and pre-educated students. You're left with the bottom of the barrel graduate students for teachers. For the best profit we: Kill the unions and teach your own kids or pay for the best teachers and pay high taxes. Either way it is a choice and so far many are choosing to kill the unions and pay less taxes, we DON'T teach our own kids and we get poor profit = poor education. And that's about all I can say about that.
Remember sum of all factors. What kind of country do you want to live in? What kind of country can you afford to live in? It is a really profound cross road...
hate to tell ya but private school teachers get paid less and have less benefits than your union thug teachers. and of course parents do a better job at teaching all for free.
to people like you its NEVER the teacher's fault...oh no, they're just saints. right its just laughable, they only care about their benefits not the students as they just proved in WI.
we sure can't afford to continue in your failed socialist state...your education policy is a failure...and people like you want the whole country to be like detroit.
Joe- Here in California they have a commercial from the teacher's union claiming mass layoffs all over the state for teachers. According to the L.A. Times (liberal) Wed April 13,2011 Pg A3 for those that want proof. California Governor Jerry Brown faces growing pressure from the left to raise taxes without asking the voters which would require him to break a campaign pledge. The head of the California Teacher's Union David Sanchez said that legislators should extend higher sales, vehicle and income taxes through legislative vote rather than pass the question to the electorate. Because school leaders are nervous about their funding sanchez is pushing for higher taxes for the next 4-5 years. As Sanchez said Once you put it on the ballot after June, it is no longer an extension it becomes new taxes. And once they are new taxes, the people won't support that. I think the legislature ought to do that themselves. Again the union trying to bypass the people to get what they want.
"Mark Murray
Feisty --
While you might disagree with the headline, I think what we wrote was a pretty fair look -- on the one-year anniversary of the BP spill -- about what has dominated Obama's first two years as president: one crisis after the other, on things largely outside the administration's control.
As Jody pointed out, the sheer number is larger than I can remember for any other president. I think you'll find what we wrote isn't an indictment on the president -- in fact, far from it.
When the history of Obama's presidency is written -- 15 to 20 years from now -- these episodes will all be important chapters.
Hope everyone is having a nice Wednesday morning...."
I would like to know if this person, Louis J, Bev from Chicago and your usual gang are paid by MSNBC to copy and paste their Democrat spiels on here everyday?? I would like an honest answer!! This is a laughable blog!
And yet, here you are honey, b!tching & moaning! LOL
Im glad to see you have been laying off the popcorn lately. Ive read that giggiditying and waddling can be dangerous when combined. Nancy, If you look at the grammar and punctuation you would know that they do not write for a living. Navy is about the best of them, though he tends to over do it just about every time!
That is why I posted copy and paste....I have never seen so much ignorance in my life. I look at this most days and just cannot believe that these people spout so much drivel! My only conclusion was that some one is paying for this! Most of these people are so laughable
wow, lol. now that's funny. where's my check? give it to me now!!!
Giggidy
Wow, it looks like Nancy, the Queen of the Trolls is working today.
Hey Louis - what do you say we negotiate a raise for ourselves?
Judging from all the WHINING that's going on around here, I'd say we well deserve it!
HOT Giggidy!
Louis...... you just outted your self. Give him his check....... NOW! He demands it for......Ummmm well nothing! As normal!
Hi Feisty and Louis,
Perhaps a 20% raise for you two. I thank the two of you are worth it. Also, do you know what fruit jar Nancy clawed out of?
Thanks Job. I think Nancy's 'laughable' is code for 'well thought out'. LMBO! Some people just can't bring themselves to think outside the box... the TV box that is.
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Louis you didn't get a check. Sorry the treasury department needed it to go elsewhere, it is that redistribution of wealth thing. lol
Pathetic, Hillary was right. That 3am call has come often and he's hit snooze control everytime.
BP - He was on Pensacola Beach one morning, made a speech from the Naval Air Station saying he would mobilize a military change of command. Then some time on that plane back to make his oval office speech later that night, Rahm or someone reminded him "never let a crisis go to waste". So instead he sold us out for his cap & trade agenda. Should have waived the Jones act, 2 days later we had black oil all over our white beaches. Instead of a military type chain of command, we had Thad Allen and the Girl Scouts.
Health Care - full of back room deals especially for his Chicago union cronies.
Libya - First he sits on his can doing nothing. Then he says Q-Daffy Must Go more than once, before we did anything. Now WE are stuck with that juvenile statement. Daffy won't forget as long as he's there.
Now the country is going belly-up in debt. He doesn't have a clue. And it's our fault for getting snookered into electing an inexperienced, Chicago-corrupted, community organizer. I just hope we don't make that mistake again (Florida won't). I'm not sure we can survive 2 more years, much less 6.
backfire-You obviously didn't fall for it. I can just see the morons who wrote this story sitting around in their "editing" room giggling about how they are going to shape Obama's image and make sure he gets elected again. I guess they forgot that the American people are smarter than they are. Journalism at its finest!
Hey, Backfire, don't forget to mention re: healthcare that Barry has issued waivers for some of his fat-ass corporate supporters... GE comes to mind. How much do you think GE is siphoning into some offshore Indonesian accounts for Obama when he retires? 773 waivers granted to date, folks... so much for EVERYONE having to tow the mark... everyone but those that butter Barry's bread, that is.
I think I am going to throw up! The political hacks at MSNBC have written yet another idiotic story portraying Obama as a "hero". I seem to remember them relentlessly attacking Bush on a daily basis even though he endured much greater challenges than the current President. The cheerleading in the media needs to stop, we aren't a third world country where the media can "control" the news. Chuck and company should give up their day job and join the Obama campaign. Maureen Dowd? Really!!!