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Larry Downing / Reuters
President Barack Obama waves after he talks about the rising costs of student loans while at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, April 25, 2012.
The president this week drove a message without distraction, but also pushed the limits of “official” travel … Boehner accuses Obama of making the presidency “smaller” – he’s become Mitt Romney’s biggest ally on Capitol Hill … Outside group accuses Obama of being too “cool” to be president … Bill Clinton testifies to Obama’s strength, as the campaign highlights the bin Laden raid … Cold War kids … Obama speaks to troops, women … Romney’s in Ohio – at a college campus with Gov. Kasich.
*** Driving a message and pushing the limits: It was a week in which the Obama campaign was remarkably able to push a single issue without distraction from something (or someone) – on student loans. The president took (justified) criticism for pushing that message on official business with Air Force One in swing states, on college campuses (not one but three), while mixing in slow-jamming the news. House Speaker John Boehner yesterday accused the president of starting a “fake fight,” demanded that he reimburse the government for the trips, said it was “beneath the dignity” of the White House, and even went so far as to charge, “This is the biggest job in the world and I've never seen a President make it smaller.” At the end of the day, Obama was able to get out and appeal to groups in areas that are going to matter to his reelection – and, more importantly from a trip-legitimacy standpoint, there is supposed to be a vote today (the last vote by about noon ET, we’re told), on the “policy” in the House, something that might not have happened without the president pushing the issue. Still, the White House pushed the limit on this when they picked three universities all in battleground states. Had they picked just one in a non-battleground, it would have a little higher ground to stand on.
Daily Rundown guest host Luke Russert is joined by NBC's Domenico Montanaro to talk about the House speaker's comments and whether his attack is a coordinated push with Mitt Romney.
*** A “Stark Contrast”: The Romney campaign pens a memo this morning, highlighting what it sees as the difference between its candidate and President Obama. “This past week previewed the stark contrast facing voters in this election. Governor Romney’s speech Tuesday night in New Hampshire contained a crisp and specific critique of President Obama’s policy failures and his own positive vision for a better America.” But: “President Obama … spent the week slow-jamming the news, striking a Heisman pose, and trying to pick a fight over student loans to help the one-in-two recent college graduates who are either jobless or underemployed as a result of his policies (which is apparently really funny stuff to the President). Unfortunately for him, Republicans agree with the need for a temporary extension, but want it paid for by cutting spending rather than raising taxes. So instead of the fight he was hoping for, he got a debate over taxes and spending – which he wasn’t hoping for.”
*** Too “Cool” for the White House? On cue, Karl Rove-backed American Crossroads is up with a video called, “Cool,” which cuts together clips of Obama wearing 3-D glasses, dancing on “Ellen,” singing Al Green, drinking a beer, killing a fly, calling Kanye West a “jackass,” and slow-jamming the news with Jimmy Fallon. It asks, “After 4 years of a celebrity president, is your life any better?” The ad picks up where John McCain left off with his “Biggest Celebrity in the World” ad, a narrative that was starting to take hold… until McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate.
*** Superficial vs. Serious – Bill Clinton testifies: But the Obama campaign is out with its own strong and sober video, featuring Bill Clinton as a testifier. It is juxtaposition to the superficiality narrative the Crossroads ad tries to create. “There’s one thing that George Bush said that was right,” Clinton says, “The president is the ‘Decider-in-Chief.” It then shows pictures of Obama in the Situation Room during the Osama bin Laden raid. “Nobody can make that decision for you,” Clinton says. “Look he knew what would happen. Suppose the Navy Seals had gone in there, and it hadn’t been bin Laden. Suppose they’d been captured or killed. The downside would have been horrible for him. … He took the harder, and more honorable path.” Then, a graphic comes up asking, “Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?” And highlights this Romney quote: “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.” This Sunday, Obama will raise money with Clinton at the Virginia home of Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman and former Virginia gubernatorial candidate. By the way, there’s been a lot of talk and about Obama money problems, especially with the Super PAC, Priorities USA. Bloomberg today notes that Clinton backers are waiting for Obama backers to start writing checks to the PAC before they will.
*** Boehner, Romney’s biggest ally on Capitol Hill: Back to Boehner’s attack. Of course, Democrats made similar charges against former President George W. Bush in 2004. But as NBC’s Luke Russert points out, Boehner, who stayed out of the endorsement fray, has emerged as Romney’s chief ally on Capitol Hill. “One of the more fascinating developments in the last two weeks on Capitol Hill has been the degree to which House Speaker John Boehner has gone after President Obama and helped to try and frame Obama's general election matchup against Mitt Romney.” Since endorsing Romney 10 days ago, Boehner went on the attack the next day, “accusing Obama of being ‘AWOL’ for the last 6 months and on a ‘constant campaign.’” He accused the president of “failing to lead” on the economy and on legislation related to jobs, student loans, gas prices, and the national drug shortage – instead opting for “campaign theatrics.” The DNC’s Brad Woodhouse responded on Twitter, leveling this: “Let’s be clear: John Boehner is the most useless, feckless, weak and failed Speaker of the House perhaps in American history.” Wow. Here’s NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell’s report on NBC Nightly News last night.
*** Outside spending ramps up: Those aren’t the only ads out there. Americans for Prosperity -- a conservative group with ties to the billionaire Koch Brothers, who made millions in the oil and gas industry -- is actually ON AIR in the next two weeks with a $6.1 million ad buy in eight states – all battlegrounds: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia. It once again focuses on clean energy and, in an odd way, outsourcing. “Fact: Billions of taxpayer dollars spent on green energy went to jobs in foreign countries. … Tell President Obama: American tax dollars should help American taxpayers.” There’s also a seven-figure ad buy up in Wisconsin in that recall race supporting Democrat Kathleen Falk ahead of the primary there May 8 to take on Gov. Scott Walker. And the NRCC is going up with $150,000 in ads in the Gabrielle Giffords district, AZ-8.
*** Cold war kids: Vice President Joe Biden was in full attack-dog mode yesterday, lambasting Mitt Romney’s foreign policy, saying that he “mired in a Cold War mindset.” And two Romney advisers added fuel to that attack yesterday when one, former Navy Secretary John Lehman said: "We are seeing the Soviets pushing into the Arctic with no response from us.” And Pierre Prosper, a former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, said, "The United States abandoned its missile defense sites in Poland and Czechoslovakia, yet Russia does nothing but obstruct us, or efforts in Iran and Syria." Czechoslovakia split into what’s now the Czech Republic and Slovakia… in 1993, two years after the Soviet Union fell. Remember, Romney called Russia America’s “No. 1 geopolitical foe.”
*** Obama signs order on troops, education, then speaks to women: Today, the president pushes the issue of education again in Georgia at Fort Stewart, where he’ll sign an executive order “intended to help protect active-duty troops and veterans from deceptive and misleading practices.” (He’ll make remarks at 12:35 pm ET). And who’s going to disagree with that? Later, the president speaks to the National Women’s Issues Conference at 4:55 pm ET in DC. Women are, of course, a key group for the president. In the latest, NBC/WSJ poll, women approved of the job the president was doing by a 52%-43% margin and favored him over Romney, 53%-41%. In 2008, Obama won them 56%-43%, an improvement from 2004, when John Kerry won them by just three points, 51%-48%. Mitt Romney is in that all-important swing state of Ohio at… a college campus (Otterbein University in Westerville). Coincidence? He’ll speak at 3:05 pm ET. Ohio Gov. John Kasich will campaign with Romney in the afternoon. Kasich, of course, isn’t the most popular politician in the country.
***Elsewhere On the trail: Newt Gingrich continues his farewell tour, with stops in North Carolina. … Ron Paul hosts a town hall in Houston, TX.
Countdown to Election Day: 194 days
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The Rubio Dream
John Boehner said Thursday that he doubted the House could pass the DREAM Act type proposal put forward by Marco Rubio. Boehner said "But the problem with this issue is that we're operating in a very hostile political environment. To deal with a very difficult issue like this, I think it would be difficult at best." After that very factual and clear statement Boehner goes on to criticize our President for not doing more on immigration reform. Clueless
Under Rubio's proposal undocumented immigrants who came into the United States as children would be allowed to stay in the country if they kept a clean criminal record and joined the military or attended college. But unlike the Democratic DREAM Act, Rubio's plan would not provide people with a path to citizenship, which immigrant rights groups say defeats the purpose of the issue.
Rubio's DREAM is create another class of people that risks their lives to defend our country and later they can stay, pay all our taxes but have no voice (vote) in what their "home" country does and cannot use many of the benefits they paid for. The Rubio nightmare Act!
GOP agenda confirmed: Torpedo the American people and get back into power.
On the evening of President Obama's Inauguration in January 2009, a group of 15-plus senior GOP members held a 4-hour session/dinner at the Caucus Room in Washington, an upscale restaurant where the price tag for a New York strip steak is $51. The 1.8 million people who turned out for the new President had "created a sombre mood".
That group includes:
Republican Representatives
Eric Cantor (VA)
Kevin McCarthy (CA)
Paul Ryan (WI)
Pete Sessions (TX)
Jeb Hensarling (TX)
Pete Hoekstra (MI)
Dan Lungren (CA)
Republican Senators
Jim DeMint (SC)
Jon Kyl (AZ)
Tom Coburn (OK.)
John Ensign (NV)
Bob Corker (TN)
Non-lawmakers
Newt Gingrich
Frank Luntz
Their decision: Oppose every initiative by President Obama to improve our economy without regard for the well-being of the American people.
Their logic: Take down the President in 2012 by blaming him for any devastation brought on by their own actions.
Payoff: Dismantling of our government as we we know it. The people disenfranchised, with the corporate and right-wing political elite permanently in control.
Our response: Will we allow them to achieve their ends? We have the power to stop them in November.
RISE UP AMERICANS.
Well, today’s Q1 GDP number sucks at 2.2%. Not surprising, to anyone who is not an Obamabot cheerleader, given the continuing pathetically anemic slow-bama economic “recovery”. It’s really good to know that corporate America has adapted to making decent/good profits even in a sh!tty American economy.
Although it’s costing me money, I’m happy to see one small part of the economy is growing nicely, despite Barry’s best efforts to kill the economy. Today is the first day of the 2012 grilling season, and last night when I bought the filet mignon and AK sockeye salmon both were up in price by 10-15% over last year. The only thing that really sucked about that trip was having to fill up the gas tank at outrageous Barry level prices.
Why am I not whining and complaining like a lefty liberal for federal govt price controls on filet and salmon?? Because my budget for filet and salmon and other goodies is based on my dividend income budget which is also up by 10-15% this year. It’s all about living within your means and properly investing your capital.
Gotta go and put the Sam’s on ice in the cooler.
I love Friday's!!!!
"Hey, I know what. Let's go to dinner while the President is being sworn in, and plot ways to destroy him." Dinner at The Devil's Diner. When you found that Eric Cantor was there, your worst fears surfaced. The guest list included the usual suspects: DeMint, McCarthy, Ryan, Kyl, Ensign, and super-sanctimonious Dan Lungren. Fifteen Republicans, in total, slithered together to create a plan to destroy a President. Consequences be damned, right along with the country.
For more than three years, we couldn't shake the feeling that Republicans were sabotaging President Obama and a Democratically-controlled Congress at every turn. We now have proof. We have the smoking gun. They dine with the devil. McConnell even told us. He "filibustered" virtually every meaningful bill in the Senate, and his counterparts in the House threw up one obstruction after another. Yet somehow, the Pollyanna in the make-up of folks with liberal mindsets just couldn't accept this.
What these Republicans have done is absolutely, unequivocally indefensible. They are disloyal at best and treasonous at worst. Judge for yourself: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/treason
Nonetheless, apologists squirm from dark, dank places and tell us this is what the loyal opposition does. What did we expect? Of course, the G.O.P. fights everything Democrats are doing. Whatever Democrats are planning to do is going to be wrong. They know this, because Republicans are ALWAYS right?
Let's go back to another inauguration day, January 20, 2001, the day George W. Bush stole the Presidency with his co-conspirators, the U.S. Supreme Court. Republicans now controlled EVERY sector of government. Bush took a budget surplus and immediately began spending it. Thanks to Bill Clinton's signing of Gramm-Leach-Bliley, the financial services sector ramped up their looting of America with no oversight.
A horrific act of terrorism, the cold-blooded murders of more than 3,000 at the World Trade Center, provided Bush with cynical justification for invading Afghanistan and Iraq. We were now mired in two invasions based on lies. The administration found time to give away billions of dollars for an unfunded drug program. Massive tax cuts further plunged us into red ink. Bush never once vetoed a spending bill and he is re-elected.
Now come the elections of 2008. Candidate John McCain promises what is essentially a continuation of the past eight years. A young Senator from Illinois promises hope and change. The economy is collapsing and we discover that the housing market is built on quicksand. Derivatives - a word most never even knew - were threatening to bring financial disaster to the entire planet. McCain has just reassured us the nation's economic principles are sound. The U.S. bails out the banks thanks to TARP, and we have no idea how much money the Fed is shoveling to these greedy SOB's. GDP goes negative, and deficits now hit the trillion-dollar mark.
This is the legacy the 15 liars, punks, and traitors at the Devil's Diner cherish. They will fight literally ANYTHING President Obama proposes. They loved the recipe that has created the almost certain depression we are facing.
There was a time to try to separate true Republicans from the insane right-wing that dominates the G.O.P. However, for whatever reason, they have thrown in with these monsters. They will vote for a party that believes the ends justify the means. They will support a party that is utterly devoid of ethics and morals.
It is time to bid adieu to Pollyanna. There is no pony behind that mountain of horse manure. There is no diamond in the rough. The Republican Party has betrayed the nation.
Incredible what is passing as humor these days on the right;
SALT LAKE CITY, April 26 (Reuters)
Now that's some funny stuff right there! *snark off*
Then there is this from one of the Fox News bimbo's;
Why does the GNOP's pitiful attempt to be humorous always have to include HATE?
There is nothing funning about killing & homophobia… nothing at all!
Dennis---how very kind of Rubio to take time away from co-sponsoring the Blunt Amendment to come up with this second class Dream Act. It reminds me of the Civil War, when rich people hired immigrants to fight for them. And Boehner says that even that insulting legislation couldn't get through the House. Whose fault is that?
Outstanding, David!
Good morning Progressive Friends,
GREAT POST from all of you!
Thanks
Backhouse & David,
As I said yesterday, at least our suspicions have finally been confirmed!
The country was on the precipice of collapse and this was the solution they offered us?
What these rich, white, evil men did is tantamount to treason!
Preposterous and Absurd GOP Leaders
It just so happens that House Majority Leader John Boehnoers' and Senate Minority Mitch McCConnell's favorite (after Barack Obama ) is the middle class, seniors, and the poor has now gotten tgo trumped up charges of owing the tax payes for his flights.
Michael Feldman, who worked in the Clinton White House said... "I don't think the president is doing anything that is out of the norm," . When he's talking about the Buffett Rule, he is campaigning for a piece of legislation and an administration priority in his capacity as president."
How about that huge debt on the Iraqui war when he should have been in Afghanistan; and those tax cuts for the rich Bush ran up? Everyone knows or should know by now Iraq was lucrative contracts for his war profiteering cronies like heartless Dick Cheney's Haliburton.
"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."
CBS News, Washington DC, 6 September, 2006
George W Bush quote
"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."
Washington DC, 12 May, 2008
George W Bush quote
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7809160.stm
Was taxpayer-funded travel invented in the Obama administration? Of course not. George W. Bush made 77 trips to Crawford, Texas, during his presidency, and you paid. What about election-year presidential travel that's ostensibly presidential but suspiciously political? Well, here's a USA Today article from June 2004, when George W. Bush sought reelection:
~snip~
President Bush is using Air Force One for re-election travel more heavily than any predecessor, wringing maximum political mileage from a perk of office paid for by taxpayers.
While Democratic rival John Kerry digs into his campaign bank account to charter a plane to roam the country, Bush often travels at no cost to his campaign simply by declaring a trip "official" travel rather than "political."
Even when the White House deems a trip as political, the cost to Bush's campaign is minimal. In such instances, the campaign must only pay the government the equivalent of a comparable first-class fare for each political traveler on each leg, Federal Election Commission guidelines say.
Usually, that means paying a few hundred or a few thousand dollars for the president and a handful of aides. It's a minuscule sum, compared to the $56,800-per-hour the Air Force estimates it costs to run Air Force One...
Can we just stop right here and do some grade-school math? There are 313,435,217 Americans as I type this, according to the Census Bureau. That means every American's share of that $497,000 is ... less than a penny. A lot less than a penny. Somewhere between one tenth and two tenths of a penny. (My calculator says 0.1585654202975 of a penny.)
This has been bugging me since I started hearing about the horrible, appalling, ghastly GSA junket that became a huge story for days and will probably be talked about at least until November. The cost? $823,000. The cost per American? 0.262574195675019 of a penny.
UPDATE:
Whoops, sorry -- the Daily Caller tells me that the exact cost of Michelle Obama's trip was $467,585. But now the Census Bureau estimates the U.S. population as 313,435,714. So that's, um ... 0.149180511963267 of a penny per person.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/4/26/19011/9590
=====================================================================
Here Boehner how you re-imbusing the taxpayers for all the time your caucas doesn't met. You can throw in the tab for your your merlot wine you say you'r so love too. Oh, have you talked to the teletubbi Newt Gringrich about reimbersing those tax dollars for his security and he's not even in the presidential race.. I bet Newt knows his stalkers are the repo men.
==================================================================================
Ha Ha Wisconsin governor ’s jobs record is a total failure. It was the only state with a statistically significant percentage change in employment to report a net loss. The college drop out governor has a math problem. Well, what do you expect when the college drop out is a liar and got kicked out for cheating.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/23/469365/wisconsin-job-losses-2011/
***Some Friday Thoughts From Damage***
Well. I've been busy all week taking my Neighborhood Watch Training. It's been great. They're gonna let us carry guns and "profile" people (whatever the hell THAT means).
But I've been dropping in here and there to catch up on some of the foolishness and I haven't been disappointed at all. Yesterday, several of you called for the jailing of Republicans for having the nerve to stand in the way of Barack "Spot Hits The Spot" Obama's agenda to "change America." Gasp! The nerve of those evil, "treasonous" bastards! Nope. NO desire by the liberals to silence and quash all dissent here! Nope. None at all. lol Pathetic. Simply pathetic. The best part is, you people claim to want to do it in the name of the Founding Fathers. They founded this country to get AWAY from you people and your kind.
And when is MSNBC, being one of the causes of it, going to report on the epidemic of attacks on Whites by Blacks in the name of Trayvon-mania? There have been so many of these hate crimes that I can't even post all the links. Of course, if I did you people would be ables to see that almost ALL the coverage comes from local news sources. C'mon liberals and your media- after weeks of lying, deceiving, omitting and distorting, you now don't want to even touch the case? Wussies. I'll bet $10,000 Jody makes NO mention of any of them in her "Weekly Wrap-Up For The Retarded" or whatever the hell it's called. Reuters actually put out a great article on recent liberal boogeyman George Zimmerman. It's fair, balanced and factual. Must be a few conservatives there at Reuters. I wonder if Spike Lee will Tweet the guy's address to try and get him killed.
Hey! Why did all the liberals suddenly stop making stupid-ass comments about Romney travelling with his dog on the roof? Did something come out that caused that all to stop? Hey Dems- End the War On Canines! LOL I kill me.
Rush Limbaugh is still on the air! What the hell happened to your silly-ass boycott? Are you people still wasting your time calling his sponsors and all? What a joke. I guess you've moved on to the newest boogeyman that the liberal media has told you to fear. Who is it this week?
Let's see...Obama's idiot lawyer once again choked in front of the SCOTUS. Arizona is right and all clear-thinking people know it. But then again, the invasion of illegals has apparently ceased. Oops! There goes that new dependent underclass the Dems were planning to add to their rolls of ignorant voters ...aka... their base.
All in all, it's been a bad couple of weeks for Barack Hussein Obama. The last time he had a case of indigestion this bad was after he ate a Pomeranian w/ pepperoni. It's only gonna get worse...
P.S. Pray for Bo.
Morning Feisty, "suspicions confirmed".
GOP is creating an increasingly privileged over-class, a world of super-inequality where the top gains exponentially, and those at the bottom continue on a 30-plus year spiral of decline. Just reported, the average Fortune 500 CEO makes 380 times as much as an average U.S. worker.
All GOP/Koch/Norquist has proffered over the last 3.5 years is; increasing the incomes of the wealthy at all costs, saying no to equal effective tax contributions, firing 600,000 public employees while saying no to Job creation, and hammering away at serial austerity cuts to non-defense discretionary spending.
Large unpopular austerity cuts without the balance of more tax revenues are creating a European double-dip recession and, in some places, a violent backlash from its citizens.
Romney's economic plan? According to his Campaign staff, "Same as GW Bush, just updated."
David's post should be mass mailed by every D running for office to show how "dis-honorable" the GNOP is....remember - when they say take back America - they mean back to the Dark Ages......
GNOP - they can't handle facts..."THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH"!
Wow. If the best the liberals can come up with is that republicans examined what they had done wrong, and how to get back on track, you're pretty doomed.
I remember watching a DLC meeting on CSpan just after the midterm elections in 1994. Bunch of dour faces- rehashing the losses, what had contributed to the losses, and how they could make gains. This was a result of "secret" meetings by the leadership prior to the public meeting.
Guess what? The purpose was to figure out what went wrong, and how to get back on track.
The DLc conclusion was that Clinton had tacked too far left after running as a centrist. I'm relatively certain the republican consensus was that they had made the same mistakes- abandoning fiscal conservatism so that they were "democrat-lite" didn't work out so well.
Know what's revealing? I don't remember seeing any talk of a forensic meeting after the Obama driven bloodbath in 2010.
I guess he still doesn't understand that his policies are rejected by the overwhelming majority in this country. Much of that is the fault of the media. Overwhelmingly liberal, they are as out of touch with the electorate as Obama- this, all their attempts to "help" wind up hurting, instead.
p>
FR: "It was a week in which the Obama campaign was remarkably able to push a single issue without distraction from something (or someone)"
It was also the week when the Preezy of the United Steezy decided that slow jamming with Jimmy Fallon was an appropriate thing for the leader of the free world to do. And now we have a terrific new ad from the RNC that contrasts our frivolous hipster Preezy with the decidedly more presidential image of Romney discussing serious economic issues.
Obama demeaned himself and the office he holds by pandering to pop culture with his appearance on the Fallon show. Romney elevated himself by keeping his eye on the ball and addressing the economic anxieties that are uppermost in the minds of most Americans. Slam dunk for the Republican nominee-to-be.
All in all, a good week for Romney.
Feisty Redhead Roselle, ILf
What exactly is funning?
Guess all of your libs r us group will be going to the imaginary DDI this afternoon to have imaginary food, imaginary drinks and talk about the great imaginary economic recovery we're having.
Just think - after the November election and your guy loses, all of you Obamabots can look forward to going to the DDI and having real food and real drinks thanks to a real economic recovery led by the Republicans.
PS - can Bev come out and play today???
Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL
Backhouse & David,
As I said yesterday, at least our suspicions have finally been confirmed!
Feisty,
Do you guys remember I post on several occasions a link from the NYT explaining how the turtle faced Mitch McConnnel had called the republicans in his office to let them what procedures he could use to slow down legistative procedures?
I'll post it again as soon as I find it either in the archives or from my other even slower, old, computer
Well, Well, what a surprise. The Boehner Man is all ready kissing, you know what, on Nominee to be, Romney. If by some "magic" Romney should win the Presidency, (not going to happen), he would be Willard's best friend and maybe get to remain Speaker Of The House. The projected Electoral Votes don't show this happening.
If you haven't read "DRIFT" by Rachel Maddow, pick it up and read it for sure. It's an eye opener. Oh, you Republicans should read it too, you might learn something.
Obama in 2012.
Great post David Walker. You hit on every leftwing nutjobs red meat position. It's amazing that you still think Bush "stole" the election. You can't even get beyond that old canard.
Brilliant. We're at 2.2% GDP and it's the Republicans fault, even though they weren't in charge. Are the Democrats that weak that they can't rule when they are the majority? Apparently they are. That comes from poor leadership, and Barry is certainly a poor leader.
Sure, now you're back to everyones a liar if you don't agree with them, a very common theme of yours. Stupid is as stupid does.
They have, for not defeating more Democrats including the Dumba** in Chief.
You are aware that we have three branches of government, right?
Nobody is 'in charge'.
REB-1013231
PS - can Bev come out and play today???
Look I don't play; Dolly. I'm like the President I walk softly and carry a big stick. "I promise you the President has a big stick" as Vice President Joe Biden said when I'm in the presence of right wing nut jobs.
I know how to wield it too.
@David Walker
So I looked up your reference
Now we are a Republic where voters are allowed to vote out the incumbent, and there is no where you claim that the Republicans are engaged in sedition so they are acting within the democratic system. I have to conclude you are not referring to the first part of the definition.
As to the second, did I miss the proclamation of when Obama became King?
@JS1
Silly you. Don't you know it's Bush's fault.
Dennis, terrific post. Boehner's "very hostile political environment" is clueless since it is the GOP that has created it on all issues but especially on immigration reform. They run around stirring the fear pot and then have the never to blame "a very hostile political environment" for the inability to fix what they don't want to fix. Rubio's DREAM is to prevent Latinos from ever voting yet they can give their lives to fight the War Hawk neocon battles. Disgusting bunch, all.
Backhouse, great post; need to keep pointing out that the GOP on Jan 20,2009, put Party First in the midst of the worst global and national economic crisis since the Great Depression. We know their names and in my view, they are the leaders of the unpatriotic and un-American crowd of greedy, authoritarian fools.
David Walker, excellent Op Ed.
Kudos to all the FT liberal posters, terrific comments and a great way to end the week.
I must have missed the coronation as well. Was he crowned by the Pope and everything?
Uh, FR? It was week in which Obama was able to push that issue because the press conspired to keep distractions from the public.
Does not mean it worked. That video of an EPA official talking about crucifying people? Has gone viral.
The news that yet another of Obama's big dollar donors- Jeffrey Katzenberg- is under SEC investigation for criminal wrongdoing? All over the Internet.
The week was capped off by the complaint filed to force Obama to reimburse the taxpayers for his campaigning- a situation so egregious even YOU had no choice but to notice. Since the majority already KNOWS Obama is abusing the system, this complaint is the icing on the cake- and is lose-lose for Obama.
If he gets fined, he is, most certainly, guilty of taking tax dollars for his personal benefit. If he prevails? It just fuels the cynicism of the public about the honesty- or lack thereof- of elected officials.
Oh, and that message Obama got out? Polling suggests that it, like his HCR, is not all that popular with the electorate.
But other than that. . .
Dennis, "John Boehner said Thursday that he doubted the House could pass the DREAM Act type proposal.."
In a former incarnation, the last GOP Presidential candidate John McCain, co-sponsored comprehensive immigration reform with Ted Kennedy!
Republican congressionals carved out a very modest DREAM act from that Bill - and now they'd even veto that. How far to the right they have moved to obfuscate the President and 21st century progress.
Acknowledgements go to A.L.E.C. who would rather put folks in jail.
Beverly: don't worry about poor little Reb. The creature has nothing of value to say, and she is so worried that you do that she must rely on personal attacks to contribute anything at all.
One must feel sorry for those who lack insight.
But, it is a constant amusement to me that the "teabaggers" are so unable to form friendships, they are viciously jealous of those who can.
Later, friend...headed out for the day.
And if nothing else it will give them a good laugh at the schoolyard logic of their voter base.
BTW Did the Republicans also say "Let them eat cake" at this dark and devilish meeting?
David and Backhouse a one -two punch to start the day!
This is exactly right, and everybody knows it - Republicans did nothing to help America recover from the financial crisis of 2008. The Tea Party governors elected in 2010 have followed the same, corporate-set agenda - lower taxes for millionaires and reduce the salaries of teachers, police and fiirefighters, to pay for it. Leave it to Republicans to lump the benefits and salaries for public workers in with " handouts for the lazy." Like risking your life or dedicating your career to your students is worth less to society than managing a hedge fund.
Not according to Ruken. He says:
It sure seems the Democrats thought Bush was in charge of pretty near everything. But now, with Obama doing so very badly, he thinks he'd like to spread the blame around a bit. I guess we somehow have a new rule set.
Beverly in Chicago
Please don't call me Dolly and the only stick you carry is the one up your a$$.
The people that pay you to post are obviously not getting their moneys worth!!
I doubt it. That would have offended some particular group, probably women. It might have cost a few points with the Hispanic vote not having the pope.
No, I'm thinking it was more Game of Thrones as King Joffery (Barack) seized the Iron throne.
See, Beverly, poor "dolly" has a very short fuse. She will fixate on someone else by and by.
So this week Obama manufactured a student loan showdown where none existed. Even though Obama has Republican support for the student loan program he ignores reality and pushes on with demonizing. Much like his moving the goal post when Republicans agreed in debt talks. Obama isn't interested in solving anything, his only interest is having someone to blame for his failings.
JoAnnaSmith1
Great post David Walker. You hit on every leftwing nutjobs red meat position. It's amazing that you still think Bush "stole" the election. You can't even get beyond that old canard.
Sniff1
That's your problem you always think outside the box!!!
Maybe you should stop using blanket stereotypes and realize that some people can actually think for themselves.
When it comes to making laws, nobody is singlehandedly in charge.
newdayDAWNING...RETURNED
See, Beverly, poor "dolly" has a very short fuse. She will fixate on someone else by and by
She along with the whole lot of of right wing nut jobs who lurk here to cause problems.
newdayDAWNING...RETURNED
See, Beverly, poor "dolly" has a very short fuse. She will fixate on someone else by and by
She along with the whole lot of the other right wing nut jobs who lurk here to cause problems.
Beverly in Chicago & newdayDAWNING...RETURNED
Dolly is a gentleman you two twits. We don't lurk here to cause problems. We are a presence here for sanity and to try to help you LWNJ's learn that your guy is an idiot who is destroying the country. You can't just try to get people addicted to handouts and call that governing.
Try and think about it.
Boehner's all huffed up about our President's travel but don't forget, the Speaker gets a special plane to ride home in every week at taxpayer expense; and he gets a taxpayer funded-week's vacation after working 6 whole days over two weeks. The DNC/Obama campaign has already reimbursed the government $1.5 million this year; that's more than the RNC/Bush campaign reimbursed the government for the 2004 election. Careful, Boehner, that sword cuts both ways.
Personally, I believe any president, R or D, must be protected at all costs; I don't expect any president to fly Southwest or Delta or ??? to go on vacations or travel from city to city. They also deserve so-called vacations because they are on-call 24/7, 365 days each year. It doesn't bother me when they go for a mountain bike ride, a jog or play golf.
The only time I posted about President Bush's numerous trips to Crawford was when the right-wing machine was whining about President Obama's vacations to Hawaii or Martha's vineyards--it's called defending the president. You didn't hear democratic lawmakers during Bush's years whining about this kind of stuff. This is nothing but a smoke screen from the GOP, something to deflect and distract from what they AREN'T DOING in Congress which is solve problems.
And Rick get the "hitting the nail on the head" prize.
Obama has always constructed straw man arguments in order to "win". The problem? Over all, he's losing. I warned way back in 2009 that, while his overall approval ratings were high, all of his policies were underwater. That's a recipe for disaster.
I pointed out that Bill Clinton's overall approval- including the now worn out "personal favorability" rating- hovered between mediocre and lousy- but his policies were very popular after 1995. It's funny how that works- but it works that way for just about every job there is- bosses may not like you, personally, but if your work is good, you succeed. Conversely, bosses may think you're the greatest thing since ice pops, but if your work is lousy, you're out the door.
I also pointed out that in both 1946 and 1994 democrats faced steep losses- and the loss of control of the House- for attempting to nationalize healthcare. Thus, they should not have been so shocked by the bloodbath in 2010 after democrats- and only democrats- actually passed Obamacare- which is even more unpopular now than when it first passed.
This newest attempt to explain away Obama's failures? Rationalization from cult members. Obama's failures cannot possibly be his fault- he preaches all the time that they are the fault of others. Bunch of mean people refusing to worship at the feet of their idol! How dare they!
I'd feel for them, if they weren't destroying my country with their idol worship.
Martin attorney: Zimmerman misled court about money
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/27/justice/florida-zimmerman-money/
============================================
Zimmerman is a murder and a fraud!!!!
I can photo shop pictures of a bloody head too; but I would not lie about murder and money.
Anybody who thinks this creep (Zimmerman) is a victim needs their head examined.
Vick got more bond money for killing dogs
Similar to the logical fallacies your posts are filled with?
True enough, but the Democrats had a super-majority in the Senate and huge majority in the House for Obama's first two years. Pelosi and Reid ignored the GOP, which was their right to do, and legislated like the socialists they are, and Barry happly signed everything they sent him.
Now after a real stong dose of Keynesian economics, we have a 2.2% GDP on top high unemployment, on top of record unemployment benefits going out, on top of nearly half the country on food stamps, on top of a slumping housing market. That's the Obama record.
Of course Obama has one thing going for him, Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) says "We're headed in the right direction. Unemployment continues to drop and those people who are unemployed, they're not going to be voting for the party who wants to cut their benefits, cut access to food stamps, cut job training," Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/04/25/house_dem_unemployed_will_vote_for_obama_to_keep_their_benefits.html
So, people bettering themselves is a bad thing for Obama and the Democrats. . .
Poor Dolly: still trying to play with the grown ups aren't you?
See, Dolly, in order to demonstrate anything about your President, you have to start with a thesis statement that you can support. You can Google the word "thesis" and "support". Or have someone help you to understand that.
No. You simply come here to attack people, which Dolly, is a huge turn off for thoughtful people, though a source of great fun for me.
And by the way Dolly; you are a paid blogger too.
Wrong again, Jody.
Boehner flies commercial- a pledge he made and kept.
This one goes in the "all Muslims eat dogs" file- false information invented to make Obama look good. What a strange religion you follow- no lie is too big to tell to protect the idol.
Weird.
السلام عليكم to my main Muslim Republican Brothers!
And ä½ å¥½ to my Communist Party Democrat enemies!
Why bother posting such long posts when you know you aren't going to change your mind anyway? Nor are really interested in changing anyone else's?
TL;DR
(for those not familiar with silly internet slang, it means Too Long;Didn't Read)\
Back to your Republican Korans and Democratic Manifestos!
The only thing that's different about this president's travel during a campaign are the transparency requirements. Every president prior to this has campainged on our dime, in terms of travel and protection, you just didn't know.
Wow. Nice job making up figures JAS1.
It's like between a fifth or sixth, not 'nearly half'.
Sorry, people on food stamps is 15%, a 31% jump since 2009. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/number-of-americans-on-snap_n_1074344.html
Nearly half the countrty gets some kind of government check. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-28/americans-hooked-on-government-as-record-number-get-benefits.html
The legacy of Obama.
Defend that legacy Ruken.
We're in a recession and you're mad that more people qualified for welfare?
Attack the problem, not a symptom of the problem.
Nice post DW and Bev - no joe, are you still on the dog stupidity? Let's go back to things you did as a child - oh wait - that's probably just disgusting! You prove daily that sanity is nowhere to be found in the GOP.
Ruken - JAS always makes things up - it's all she has.
Is it really surprising to anyone that the GOP continues with their deceit and lies? And, is it surprising they don't remember the McCain/Kennedy proposal? As with Romney - they were for it before they were against it. The wind has shifted and the GOP goes right with it. Where is the party that once had integrity and ideas? I don't think we'll see it again in our lifetime. The GOP has stooped to a new low and the only ones left following it are lowlifes and those with no intelligence and no integrity. So sad.
Obama/Biden 2012
The Obama strategy is brilliant! It’s being criticized by Romney and the Republicans because they didn’t think of it first. But, then again, when it comes to education -- or any measure to help the 99% in any way, they are opposed to it and it would be disingenuous to even try . . .
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012!!!
It's an interesting point this Administration's relationship with Congress. I think we all agree that it has been dysfunctional since 2011. For whatever reasons the President has been able to get very little done compared to his predecessors all they way back to Reagan. Reagan worked with a Democratic Congress to get tax reform passed. Bush Senior raised taxes with a Democratic Congress to balance the budget. Clinton worked with a Republican Congress to pass welfare reform. Bush 2 worked with Democrats on NCLB and brought enough Democrats along to pass the Bush tax cuts.
However, this President's signature achievement, ACA, required that he do a 180 on a specific campaign promise, "I will not force people to buy insurance", simply to get enough Democratic votes in Congress. The mandate was passed exclusively with Democratic votes, that is a historical fact.
I guess he does not play well with others and in this category of working with Congress, he is definitely the worst President in living memory.
Man Snuffy - you just had your ass handed to you & you come back for seconds!
FLUFF FLUFF FLUFF! lmao
Why would anyone think half the country is on food stamps?
If it is, where are mine? I'm hungry!
Very interesting. The point of the article is Obama's abuse of official funding for campaign activities, yet not one lib has actually addressed that issue on this thread. Instead, they offer us the same tired old bash the consrvatives crap that we get from them every day. Ho hum.
Looks like Dumb Fux got one of her sore spots irritated. One of many I would think. STDs are just no fun for the Dumb Fux.
Dumb Fux, you never disappoint. Yeah facts to idiots like you are fluff. Have a third grader help you read the sources posted, but I doubt you'd understand Dumb Fux. A sorry ass dolt like you couldn't comprehend anything more complicated than a paper clip, and you prove that everyday.
Moron.
Ever notice the Republican commenter's never cite facts. Not assumption or thoughts or lies but facts that would further their cause. There are none. Nothing for them to stand on with any factual documentation, nothing
We're not in a recession Ruken. The need for government welfare programs has incresaed even more than when we are in a recession. Maybe you can explain that fact.
You going to answer the question about Obama's legacy, or are you going to just dodge it? Or was that your answer? If so it was a pretty poor defense.
Wow, Feisty: I'd say from poor JoAnna's response, she simply can't provide the source. Why is it, with poor JoAnna and her ilk, that the closer you are to truth, the angrier and more incoherent they become?
Nothing like the truth to get the old gal's feathers ruffled. lol
But hey, if you feel the need to lash out after getting that big butt of yours spanked... go right ahead.
I'm more then willing to take one for the 'team'!
Say, could you call me Dumb Fux one more time sweetie?
You haven't even come close to a semi-decent insult!
Kind of like the strongest strain who managed to limp across the finish line for you right win nitwits...
Now you're stuck with Willard - the gift that keeps on giving!
I sense tension.
Many people disagree with that JAS1. Many feel that calling the recession over years ago was rather hasty.
I did answer your question on his 'legacy'. You want to know why people are on entitlements? Because more people qualify for them. During the depression there were minuscule (any?) welfare programs to help people, and since this was / is the greatest economic recession since then, wouldn't it stand to reason that's why we're seeing record numbers of people on said programs?
I sense a disturbance in the Force; a disturbance that can only be remedied with Skittles.
Omnomnom.
Really? Who?
Really? And why would that be? They qualify for them because of the poor economy, the ObamaEconomy.
And the rise in the use of these programs isn't a small blip, they rose to these levels by records amounts, while we're not in a recession.
Wanna try again?
Ruken,
Maybe JAS1 thinks that 1/5th = 50%?
(Waves hand in front of monitor)...
"These are not the droids you are looking for"
I only eat purple Skittles. Many find that bizarre.
Ruken - you can't argue with JAS - she doesn't understand facts - just the stupidity she spews - based on nothing. She lacks even rudimentary comprehension skills and logic is totally beyond her. Better to just let her rant and ignore her.
Oh! Someone used a Game of Thrones reference, so...
i.imgur.com/8T2eq.jpg
All our political favorites re-cast as GoT characters.
Cheers!
I sense tension.
Since it is Friday and as long as we are using fictional characterizations...
I've seen more agreement and understanding between Jedi and Sith then here at FR.
Jedi Code
There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.
Sith Code
Peace is a lie There is only passion. Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power. Through power I gain victory. Through victory my chains are broken.
Yes, that certainly is the liberal way. Ignore what you fear and/or don't understand.
Here, lets do this SS, lets ignore you, because all your posts ever consist of is criticism of others posting style. You never offer anything interesting like comments on the events of the day. So lets just ignore you.
What a pathetic joke. My friends on the right around here post lots of facts, the problem is dolts like you don't pay any attention to them. Facts like these:
The American experience has been the steeper the economic downturn, the stronger the rebound. For example, annualized real GDP growth in the 8 quarters coming out of the steep Reagan recession of 1981-82 were: 0.3%, 5.1%, 9.3%, 8.1%, 8.5%, 8.0%, 7.1% and 3.9%. By contrast annualized real GDP growth in the 8 quarters coming out of the recent recession were: 1.7%, 3.8%, 3.9%, 3.8%, 2.5%, 2.3%, 0.4% and 1.3%. Good grief, if this were a boxing match the ref would stop the fight and Obama would be carried out on a stretcher.
When presented with this comparison, a typical response from a typical leftist Einstein is that the Reagan recession was a "normal" recession and the Obama recession was much worse so the comparison is apples to oranges. Well, unemployment peaked at 10.8% in the Reagan recession and I'm not sure how "normal" that is. But fine I'll play along, let's go back to the granddaddy of economic downturns -- the Great Depression -- and see how the recovery from that decidedly abnormal event compares with Obama's performance.
The first 2 years of the recovery from the Depression registered annual real GDP growth of 10.9% and 8.9%. By contrast, the first two years of the recovery from our Great Recession saw real GDP growth of 4.2% and 3.9%. Ouch, another unfavorable comparision! And it gets worse because the third year of the recovery from the Depression came in at 13.1%. Anyone out there think we'll see that kind of growth in 2012 – particularly when the government announced this morning that GDP growth last quarter was a tepid 2.2%? The FACT of the matter is the Obama recovery has been HISTORICALLY BAD.
So the real truth is people like you can't handle the truth, no matter how many times those of us on the right post the truth.
http://bea.gov/national/xls/gdpchg.xls
It is easy to go to any government budget cite and see that government assistance under 70 different programs is up 80% over Obama's 3 years for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2011. Each program has their own double digit increase. You progressives cant have it both ways, Backhouse yesterday provided all of this evidence indicating that the Obama economy has improved tremendously since the Bush disaster so wouldnt that mean that in each successive budget that Obama has requested less government assistance. But Ruken says no, its the great recession and that our safety net has to be greater to provide to provide everyone a check. When people say that 50% of us are getting welfare checks, included in that is the Earned Income tax Credit and other refundable tax credits. For example, I just finished the tax return of my best friend who had gross income of 80,000 owns a small muffler business and his wife is a teacher. They have a 3000 sq ft home on an acre of land, a yukon, mercedes, wisconsin home, two ski jets and a boat. One kid in college. They had $9000 of federal income tax withheld and they are getting a $9500 dollar refund. I tease him constantly of getting welfare with his lifestyle because thats what he is getting. Our tax code is a joke with all of the social engineering and Obama's policies have only exacerbated the problem.
So Ruken, Backhouse which is it? Are Obama's policies working and if so why is government assistance growing not being reduced? Or Ruken are you correct in that Obama's economic policies are not working and we are still in the great recession needing additional government assistance? Cant have it both ways.
Ruken says "we're still in recovery". Not everyone lost their job right away. That's why in the beginning of the recession people just didn't immediately hop on the "welfare train". It takes time.
The same way it takes time for people to get off the "welfare train". Not everyone will immediately have a job. Recovery takes time.
I thought this was like...common sense. Apparently I was wrong, again. I guess from now on I should just spell e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g out for people and assume they know nothing.
Bill,
One issued you skip over is that Reagan had a huge advantage with 3 times the manufacturing base and 3 times the export business. With world demand for "Made in America" products any rebound would be easier.
Seeking Sanity--many of us provide facts and common sense knowledge to you all the time and all you do is personally attack and ignore your mistakes and false assumptions. Take your head out of the sand, open your ears and listen. Nobody is telling you that you cant still vote for Obama, but knowledge is sometimes a wonderful thing to walk around with because my guess is that you would be surprised by what people say about you behind your back.
I have constantly provided you with facts and arguments and even open questions which you ignore and replace it with misplaced anger and emotion. If you want to be credible, provide a critically thought out response rather than anger laced personal attacks that make you sound shrill and small minded.
My goodness, poor JoAnna is becoming increasingly upset. Perhaps a walk in the fresh air will clear her head.
But, Seeking Sanity, you hit the nail on the head. Poor JoAnna hates being ignored.
Snuffy reminds me of a rat backed into a corner, snarling at anyone who disagrees with her absurd claims!
What can't the RWNJ's just admit to their mistakes?
Instead of doubling down on stupid?
When did someone on the right post the truth? I read a lot of the repeat-a-lie crowd on here but don't see much truth coming from the right.
The real truth is that Romney and Ron Paul have both signed the person-hood pledge to overturn Roe v Wade and make most forms of contraception illegal.
The real truth is that republicans want to make women into second class citizens with men in the government in charge of her bodily functions.
The real truth is that republicans want to starve our poor people to pay for more tax cuts for Romney and his rich friends.
The real truth is that republicans want to pollute our air and water so that Romney and his rich friends can make more money at the expense (DEATH) of our environment.
The real truth is that republicans want to kill education for the people so they can pay for more tax cuts for Romney and his rich friends.
The real truth is that republicans want to kill our post office so they can turn over the business to their rich friends.
The real truth is that republicans want to kill medicare for the old and sick to pay for more tax cuts for Romney and his rich friends.
VOTE FOR WOMEN'S FREEDOM.VOTE A SEA OF BLUE.VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
You have a Great Recession caused by 30 years of bad policies and exacerbated by a go-round of massive unpaid-fors by the previous Administration, that the current GOP congressionals want to repeat.
EIGHT MILLION JOBS WERE LOST AT THE END of 2008 and BEGINNING OF 2009. TARP was signed in by President Bush in September/December 2008 or else the Banks were going to crash pronto.
None of this has to do with the current Administration. And now it has been confirmed how his work to bring back our economy has been thwarted on every level, since the first Day of his Inauguration in January 2009.
Folks out of work = unemployment benefits and help needed for families to keep them off the streets and food on the table, like decent human beings.
As soon as I saw your predictable line .."why not reduce, why so much government assistance", I knew it was you.
Can you feel yourself breathing? Do you bleed when you cut yourself? Do you have children?
We don't want to live in your world.
One thing that people don't talk about with Reagan deals with this chart:
http://www.supportingevidence.com/Government/fed_debt_as_percent_GDP_over_time.html
Great job Reagan + Bush 1.
It seems the vast majority of new employees, college grads, either don't have jobs, or have jobs outside their field of study (under employed), or will be living at home with mom and dad until whenever the job market improves. Combine them with the long termed unemployed who haven't found jobs and have exceeded their unemployment benefits, and that doesn't have much of a feel of a recovery. It's more like bouncing along just above the next recession.
Do recoveries have this much loss of GDP between quarters? 2.2% is a pretty lousy number. Not many will be willing to hire in that environment. That doesn't sound like much of a recovery. All this while we run trillion dollar deficits trying to pump up the economy.
Ruken--thats really your response? Thats not common sense thats just silly talk. Stop pandering and campaigning for Obama, there arent any votes on here you are going to change so just post honestly who cares. Of course we are still in recovery but do you really believe for a second, seriously believe that any budget put forth by Obama or any of the democratic congressional leadership will provide for a budget cut to government assistance? Not a cut in the growth but an actual cut to the budget? Lets say Obama gets reelected and even pretend for a second that the economy recovers faster, when will the government assistance gravy train really be reduced? At least admit that Obama is using the government gravy train to buy votes no different than past presidents. He has no intention of cutting government spending regardless of the economic growth of the economy.
Kirk - you have NEVER posted facts in discussions with me. Oh and I'm allowed to vote for Obama - my thank you! Where do you get off with your nonsense? I've posted fact after fact when you've posted misleading information. The fact that you don't like facts is your problem. Not mine. I will gladly dispute your lies with facts and have - which you've decided to ignore. And, I'm not the least concerned with what anyone is saying behind my back. See my friends talk to my face. Only lowlifes talk behind someone's back but I guess that appears to be your style - at least that's what you're insinuating.
As for JAS - most people know she posts nothing but nonsense which is why she is ignored so much.
Ruken - the far right - as Kirk so clearly represents - has no problem with people going hungry and living on the street. He wants government programs cut when there are not enough jobs for people. He apparently doesn't have a problem with men, women and children going hungry or without homes. He has no problem with the fact that over 50% of the hungry and homeless are our vets. What the heck to we owe them anyway. He clearly doesn't understand that until employment picks up we need to have safety nets.
And, of course those programs would be cut back as the economy recovers but cannot be cut back before. To accuse Obama of buying votes by providing assistance is what the GOP does best. Who cares about anyone else as long as they are okay? It's the "Christian" way don't you know?
Of course for most of us the right thing to do is to reach out and help those less fortunate as the economy recovers. It is the right thing to help others get back on their feet instead of ignoring them. But, hey, it's not the GOP way.
Obama/Biden 2012
Uh...GDP is going up. Not down.
You're either wrong or thinking of something besides GDP.
How is it silly? I made an assertion and your response it to hit it with blanketed retorts. If any post is silly, it is yours good sir.
RWNJ/LWNJ = ?? are we in kindergarten?
I would love to come to this comment section and actually see comments about the story, not jut more baloney spilled out by both sides. Is that too much to ask?
If you have to defend your Republican Candidate/Democrat President so much, are we as far in the toilet as I think we are? Most leading economic indicators point that America is in a deep spiral and if all we do is point fingers at the other side, instead of calling upon our OWN SIDE TO DO THEIR JOBS, then guess what?? The politicians won...
Sure, let's just spew out more name calling, and "LMAO" at the other side's comments, if that makes you folks happy...
sheesh, I have better behaved 8 and 6 year olds than some of the people on here...
Backhouse, again a post with no answer. I never blamed Obama for the great recession nor did I provide any negative comments on the need for a social safety net--the same emotional nonsense intending to cast fiscal conservatives as lacking compassion. You see I am one of those people who looks at the bigger picture and the law of unintended consequences. You like to make it about the individual and the food on the plate. I would prefer that everyone have food on their plate than focus on the one. You should volunteer and work for a charity if you want to focus on the individual as the government needs to worry about the greater good.
So Backhouse, you admit then that Obama's economic policies have not worked? I dont have a problem with that. I understand the great need for our safety net and why its grown and I dont want to cut any of it because I like you recognize that Obama's economic policies havent worked and want a change in direction so we can get people back to work and reverse the war on private enterprise by the current administration.
Doesn't seem like much growth to people that can do math.
And SS, please put me on ignore. I seem to upsetting you greatly.
JAS - actually you don't upset me at all. You're a foolish, incompetent person who never spouts anything but your stupidity. Always good for a laugh - nothing more.
Ah, so you mean GDP growth is going down. That's far different from 'GDP losses'. GDP isn't being lost. It's increasing, albeit at a smaller rate than before.
In business, a loss is a negative number.
Seeking Sanity--see this is where you seem to get caught. You seem to be mad because you and I share different experiences in the real estate world--those are not lies because you cant back yours up anymore than I can mine unless you are willing to stop being anonymous. Second, what facts do you want me to back up because I provided them to you in the past and you ignored them and went on a personal attack because it wasnt what you wanted to hear. Stop the phony outrage in an attempt to be condescending its anonymous cant you tell.
My comments to Ruken had nothing to do with cutting social safety nets--why do you keep missing the substance of these debates to focus on campaigning for Obama? I dont for a second advocate any cutting of social safety nets but I do disagree with anyone who says Obama's economic policies are working? I dont represent anything on the far right. I voted for Clinton both times, Kerry against Bush etc. I think Bush was a horrible president. I am fiscally conservative which means I vote for the president who represents the economic policies I think have historically worked. So stop trying to label me because you want to campaign for Obama. Again, open your mind just for a second and try to have some critical thoughts to engage instead of attacking. Build some credibility that you actually have thought these issues out and are not just blindly following someone because of the political party they represent. You might be enlightened.
Kirk - I have backed mine up from experience as a mortgage banker. You back yours up with nothing, period. So, you actually don't back them up at all. You have no facts to post - never have - just your opinions. When you have "facts" get back to me. But, you won't because you don't. See that's the difference. I do back up my mortgage information with facts - because I work in the industry every day. You back yours up with nothing.
Again with being condescending. I guess that's all you have since you offer nothing more.
GOP humor is never a laughing matter*. Ignorant, hateful, and stupidly based, it does though, seem to afford the lesser minded a fleeting grin here and there.
S. Clemens
The FACT of the matter is the Obama recovery has been HISTORICALLY BAD.
So the real truth is people like you can't handle the truth, no matter how many times those of us on the right post the truth.
_____________________________________
Bill, You nailed it. The pain of the slow-bama "recovery" is unprecedented in American history. Trying to understand why that is the case brought me to this question: Why is this "recovery" different?
My conclusion is that it's different because America has fundamentally changed as a country. The spirit of independence and self reliance that fostered this country in 1776 and made it the greatest country on the planet in the 20th century, is gone forever. It's greatness has been replaced by a populace addicted to the opiom of the whining lefty liberal entitlement mentality fostered by the Democrat party of govt as nanny where every whine will be soothed by some govt giveaway program funded by huge deficit spending.
Gotta go pre-heat the griil now,
Ruken, so I see you decided not to respond to my post? Your flippant response why championing 2.2% GDP growth is telling. Does this mean you think Obama's policies are working or not?
Seeking Sanity--so when you read a post from American First--do you agree with each of those points? Do you share that same very far left of center view that you are viewed the same by all of us in the middle as the those crazy far right people? When you read that kind of lunacy campaigning style do you not see that people who write this stuff are no different than the black helicopter crowd thinking the New World Order is coming or those crazies who think their is a jewish banking conspiracy? When you read something that says they are cutting education for more tax cuts dont you think people like this have no grasp on reality and the facts? Education spending has increased by double digits under every president since Clinton and its being spent at the local level. Education reform is being blocked by teachers unions backed by democratic congressional leaders at the state and local level. Can you provide better critical thought than American First or are you just another blind campaigner who doesnt care about the veracity of the underlying issues and positions?
Bill Studwell
The more important part is that you are not worse off, and yes slowly, but things are going better. You cannot say the same about the end of the Bush Administration. The country was going down like a skydiver with no parachute...and gess what? Romney wants to go back to the Bush ways of doing things.
We might not be recovering as fast as we would like but I hell don't want to go back to what it was like in 2008 and Romney is proudly announcing to continue a Bush-like strategy.
Obama/Biden 2012
Joe in Albany
Compared to what?????You cannot even compare this recovery to the one of Great Depression because we did not have a global economy influencing our economy.
Do you realize that when the Financial Meltdown happened, it went around the world just to comeback and slap us again? Do you realize that what is happening in the rest of the world (and we have no control over) is directly influencing our economy?
To what are you exactly comparing this recovery??? What is your benchmark?
So Seeking Sanity--so you say you are a mortgage broker and I am supposed to believe you anymore than you have dismissed the fact that I told you I currently have a 3 partner small real estate private equity firm. I have a business degree, CPA and attorney and have worked 30 years in the industry as both lawyer, CFO and now private equity. I literally work with foreclosures, workouts and bankruptcy courts almost on a daily basis. How is my experience somehow less credible than yours?
Again I notice you ignore the substance of posts that dont fit your perceived assumptions. Instead its personal attack. You did see I refuted your safety net assumption, your right wing assumption and all you do is find someway to personally attack. Try a different debating style and again, you will be much more credible. You can campaign for Obama but you are not changing any minds and its anonymous so why not just debate the issue and critically think rather than blindly supporting Obama.
Why would any setting president think its necessary to campaign.??
Robert in Mass,
Did you get "evicted" from your other account so you came up with this one?
I was wondering a similar thing: after Romney loses November is he going to visit the White House as a tourist so he can actually see what it looks like on the inside?
Kirk - First and foremost you NEVER said you currently have a small real estate private equity firm. You told me you received your mortgage information from the Wall Street Journal - nothing more. Secondly, if you actually did have a real estate firm you would have noted I said mortgage banker - not mortgage broker - as anyone in the business knows is a totally different thing. You clearly are not in the business. Do I believe you are all the things you post - business degree, CPA and attorney? No. You're posts belie those claims. Especially the former reliance on the WSJ and now you're owner of a small real estate firm. Not buying that at all.
I've been in the mortgage business since 1998 - in the corporate world before that. I will match you any day in experience and intelligence.
Why would you question me about posts I didn't make? I have never posted as American First. Why are you even asking me questions about their post. Okay, we'll go that route. Do you agree with everything Damage says? Please explain why or why not. Now, do you see how ridiculous that route is?
Again with the condescending tone. Get over yourself. If you want to discuss facts and not lie about what you do and your credentials, I'm happy to.
"a historical fact"........here is another, mandatory health insurance was a Republican initiative during the Bush admin. and was highly recommended by The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank. Gov. Romney made it the keystone in his health care reform for Mass.
Facts are facts even if you insist on omitting(lying?) them to further your agenda.
http://economywatch.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/27/11427206-us-economic-growth-slows-in-the-first-quarter?lite
Anemic growth for obamanomics. Let's just stop this little experiment right now.
Liberals please tell me how 2.2% growth is good.
Fisty - how's the syphilis?
Do you realize that when the Financial Meltdown happened, it went around the world just to comeback and slap us again? Do you realize that what is happening in the rest of the world (and we have no control over) is directly influencing our economy?
To what are you exactly comparing this recovery??? What is your benchmark?
____________________________
Thank you for making my point for me.
America is now competing in a global 21st century economy, and Barry and the Dems are still thinking like it's the 1950's and 1960's where the greatness of the country was built on heavily unionized domestic manufacturing companies and a huge expansion of govt as nanny entitlement programs. This slow-bama "recovery" is the wave of America's future. Just like all the other former world powers of the 1500-1900's like Spain, France and England, America is on the road to a slow economic growth and high unemployment socialist mediocracy.
I believe that what little Obama has been able to get passed in Congress has worked, at least partially.
I believe that if Congress wouldn't shoot down everything he proposes we'd be better off than we are now.
So if it did not garner ONE Republican vote why was it included in the legislation? The only LOGICAL reason is that it was required to gain DEMOCRATIC votes. Specifically, Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln and Mary Landreiu.
These are historical facts, not idle speculation.
Rational,
[Liberals please tell me how 2.2% growth is good.]
Well when you look at the UK and other Eurozone countries (our largest customers) and see that their GDP growth is negative and back in recession then we are doing ok.
Obama/Biden 2012
Clinton/ Villaraigosa 2016
Let's see, what would be a good insult for Nasty redhead?
Maybe she is a "can't understand normal thinking" kind of person.
Enjoy nasty.
I should give some credit to Bill Maher.
As watered down as it was by the Republican Party, the stimulus worked and economists agree on that - and how much worse off we'd be now without that to get us jump-started into recovery.
Without it, we may have had another 5 or 10 points on the unemployed figures, like the U.K.
In the first year of the stimulus over a million jobs were created.
4 milllion jobs have been created over the last 2 years, without any help from GOP leaders who pledged from Day One and voted No and refused to bring Jobs Bills up for debate, including the 2 million jobs in the American Jobs Act.
If 600,000 public sector jobs had not been cut by Republic Governors, our unemployment percentage would be down at least 2 percentage points. They did it purposely.
...........................................................................
SO YES!! (You thought I said NO? How come? You made that up too.)
THIS PRESIDENT'S POLICIES HAVE WORKED. AND ANY INFORMED, HONEST PERSON WILL ADMIT IT.
Other countries around the world are in deep trouble, while our economy is stabilizing and growing.
Suggest read a foreign newspaper - get outside of your denial box for a couple of minutes. I am sincerely sorry that you have been seriously deprived of the facts, or that your mind will not acknowledge facts as truth.
Let's go over this again for those who are hard of hearing, or have the attention span of a gnat:
The Democrats did not have a supermajority for the entire span of Obama's first two years. They only had about 9 months or so. Due to the battles over recounts in the Minnessota Senate election, Al Franken was not sworn in until July of 2009. This gave the Democrats 60 active votes (including independent Lieberman). This lasted until the Massachussetts special election to replace Ted Kennedy, which lead to Republican Scott Brown taking office in February of 2010. This gave the Democrats seven months with the supermajority.
Also, a supermajority only means something when your party is truly unified, which the Democrats were not. If the Dems were really unified, the health care bill wouldn't have become the mess that it turned out to be, as they would have gotten a public option supported by the Senate, instead of having moderates such as Liberman and Ben Nelson forcing compromise. This does say a lot about Obama's inability to get his own party behind him (or rather Harry Reid, who I consider to be one of the most incompetent majority leaders in Senate history). But don't say that Dems could easily have passed their agenda in Obama's 1st term, because it just wasn't so.
To quote: Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Ruken
Actually... you are incorrect.
If Congress is democratically controlled and a democrat sits in the White House, then technically... when it comes to making laws the democrats are in charge.
You see Mr. Knowitall... if a bill is passed through the House of Representatives AND the Senate (i.e. Congress - the Legislative Branch) all it takes is a signature from the President (the Executive Branch) to make it a law.
Notice no need for the Judicial Branch in this process. Only if a law is challenged for constitutionality do they get involved. they do NOTHING with regard to 'making' the law.
HENCE... only 2 of the 3 branches are required to 'make a law' and when both of those branches are controlled by democrats... democrats are 'in charge'.
(show me the clown nose, fisty!)
NJ
thats your answer?
Or maybe Snow R-Maine........LOL! It didn't need any more Dem votes. You have incredibly missed the whole point.....back in the bubble with you!
LMAO!!!!
I think your comment is unfair Alan. I do not see how you can criticize the administartion for its lack of gaining Republican votes given the stance the Republicans have taken.
The strategy of the Republicans (opinion) has been to be against significant legislation that Obama passes to make him appear ineffective. When you measure his effectiveness as a leader by his ability to gain Republican votes given the above strategy the Republicans are playing it appears foolish to me.
There is no point in arguing effectivness as a leader if that is how you are measuring as it will only lead to a circular argument since no matter how evident it is that Republicans are being "extreme" obstructionist, I cannot actually prove it. You will then go and cite other adminstrations who did it when you and I both know the circumstances were different.
Michael L
It was technically only about six actual legislative weeks. three weeks in july and then three weeks collectively after September 25th.
Not really. Even if a party had 2/3 majority (which is what they need) in both houses, they are not fully 'in charge'. They have to contend with balances from the SCOTUS, you know, the third branch of government.
Then why are you always upset? You seem like an old man with nothing better to do than be critical of others. Your schtick is getting old though old man. Better go to the DDI (Drunks Defend Ignorance) where everyone can watch you sit alone at the end of the bar mumbling to yourself.
I guess I could say the same to you, but you'd be too dense to comprehend the meaning of it.
JAS - that all ya got? Pretty pitiable. But, so like you.
Sorry to disappoint you but I am a lady who is not upset at all. Sometimes alarmed at the ignorance of the far right, but really none of you are worth getting upset over. But again, you're good for a laugh once in a while!
And, never had to sit alone at a bar in my life. But again, I'm guessing you're relating your own experiences.
You need a simple majority in the House to pass a bill You need 60 votes in the Senate to override any filibuster, and then a simple majority to pass legislation.
2/3 majority is needed only to override a presidential veto.
Certainly when the enact unconstitional laws (Obamacare) and strike down state laws (like Arizona's illegal immigration laws). It pays to be a little careful and to follow the rules.
That's all I need with you sweetheart.
In your business, I imagine not.
JAS - clearly you talk from experience. Yours - not mine! But why doesn't that surprise me?
Ruken
No they don't have to contend with balances from the SCOTUS. The SCOTUS only get involved if a lawsuit is brought forth challenging the constitutionality of the law.
And BTW... We all know that the SCOTUS is the third branch of the government... the Judicial Branch. I thought I described that quite well in my first post.
Seeking Sanity--yes I did tell you all of that I have never mentioned the Wall Street Journal as my source of experience. Have I used it as a credible source to support factual data of course. Sorry but I am all of those things I mentioned and again if you want to email me and come out of the anonymous closet and find out if I am telling you lies, be my guest because I would be happy to. Do I know the difference between a mortgage broker and banker of course. And yes I can give you the names of the real estate banking officers of all the major banks here in Chicago and New York because I work with them daily for the last 15 years. By the way you consistently miss the points or intentionally just ignore, I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. My point is that I have credible experience that I share which doesnt make me right or wrong nor does it you but having different experiences and opinions and conclusions we are reach from these experiences doesnt make us worthy of personal attack by you or anyone else. Intelligent debate would allow you to listen and understand that. All I have asked of you is to critically think and provide cogent thought and stop the personal attacks. Stop campaigning and start learning or dont learn and just debate and tell us why you think our experience and knowledge isnt going to work or useful. That is far more credible and makes you sound less silly than someone like Fiesty or David or Backhouse who are just campaigning and personally attacking. If you are part of that crowd, thats fine, just admit it and stop getting involved in the issue debates.
No I dont agree with Damage nor his personal attacks either. I dont agree with Brianb on his conservative social views although I do agree with much of his economic views. Same with Alan. As for JS, I think she provides alot of factually accurate data but loves to engage in the personal style attacks like Fiesty so I stay out of that. So my point on these is that I try to critically think on my own and actually provide some opinion based experienced based statements. I realize you guys dont always agree but if have noticed I dont personally attack you for not agreeing--I am just trying to debate and give a different perspective. Trust me SS--I am not telling fibs and I am fine with debating you anytime. I am really not being condescending, I am trying to get you to stop playing the angry card and campaigning and trying to get you to engage in intelligent discussion. Thats not condescension, that is called challenging you to do something you havent done as of yet.
Kirk, good luck with that. And I apologize for getting in the Dumb Fux gutter.
Ruken,
My question to you about the above statement is this:
Most if not all of the programs that have been pushed as job bills has been set up to take money, or income from multiple years to pay for one or two years of job growth. So saying that what is going to happen in the those years that we have already spent the money?
Bayllie
post 1.99
Just to clarify, are you saying that President Bush's policies caused this?
Ruken,
I did check out the link that you posted. Just wanted to thank you, it was interesting.
I am not sure how they worked out thier projections though, according to what they had listed we will have a 25% increase in GDP by 2015.
I agree that we should help people that lost thier jobs, I agree that we should help those who for whatever reason are poor. I believe that education is important. The problem I have with President Obama and his posted and stated policies, is I do not see anything that will truly grow our economy without using tax payer money.
Using money we do not have, to create jobs, (supposedly) that are not self sustaining is not going to get us out of this. Quite the contrary, it is going to create a even bigger problem later down the road. We are already seeing that at the state level.
Some of President Obama's policies have directly effected the very people that he is fighting for. This effect is not in a good way. The poor are poorer, the middle class has less and less true buying power and the "Rich are still getting Richer".
The truth is also this, at the end of the day who is going to pay for this?
short answer is all of us.
This is the promises that he made on his website.
There is nothing about what he is going to do december 31st of this year about extending the present tax breaks.
Big Oil, who owns it.
as you can see we do.
How is that not an attack on the middle class?
Backhouse--I am confused, so Obama's economic polices have worked? But in the earlier post you said and Ruken said we are still in the great recession. So the stimulus worked based on what? The fact that it saved a few government jobs at a cost that would have been cheaper and more productive to just hand us all checks? I didnt say that some of his economic policies havent created some positive impact, what I asked you is whether they worked to bring us out of recession? If so, they why are you saying we are still in recession and need the gigantic safety net? I assume you would agree that California, Illinois and NY are states that mirror the Obama economic policies? How has that worked out so far as guinea pigs for his economic policies. I am sure Fiesty can tell you about this company called Aon that is moving 1000 employees to London. Why is that you would say well its call Obama tax policy. First to save Illinois tax and then they discovered because they are a global company, its cheaper to headquarter overseas. Why is that Backhouse? Because Obama wants and is taxing foreign earnings of US companies and has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Nobody does it like the US and Obama wants to increase tax on foreign earnings thinking that will bring more jobs to the US. Guess what Backhouse, it will create more Aons because why stay here when they go do it cheaper overseas. What about his EPA regs killing all of those jobs? He seems to forget about the law of unintentional consequences, that kills jobs, towns, puts more people on government assistance and the social consequences of higher divorce, alcohol and drug and suicides. So he says he saves a few lives and saves $4 billion in environmental damages but forgets that he causes tens of billions of economic damage and more lives from the economic hardships. Just dumb dumb and dumber. So again explain to me what economic policies have worked? Are we still in a recession or not?
Kirk - what you failed to mention in your post is that Illinois added 3900 jobs in January - offsetting AON and adding more; 6500 in February; 9100 in March. Also AON will pay a huge tax as they leave the country. President Obama has proposed giving tax breaks to companies bringing jobs back to the US which the GOP blocked. Funny thing is - they were behind the idea before. Again the GOP plays with our country's health to further their political agenda. Talk about dumb, dumb, dumb - it's the GOP.
And, yes we are still digging our way out of the recession - the worst ever since the great depression. Anyone expecting a quick rebound is not being logical or honest in their assessment of our economy. We are still better off than most European countries which shows Obama did a good job.
And Kirk, the last time we talked mortgages you used the WSJ as your source of information - no mention of a real estate company so I find all your claims - suddenly - to be false. You should have started out with that story - would have made it believable. That to me sounds silly. Now you have this experience yet when you discussed mortgages on an earlier site you never mentioned it - just articles from the WSJ. Just doesn't wash and you know it.
I can discuss any political fact any time. But don't try to be something you're not. Now you've worked with ALL the major banks in Chicago and NY yet earlier you have a small real estate firm. You make no sense and your claims just keep piling up.
Kirk - and I did respond with facts when you complained about mortgage programs for those borrowers whose homes are underwater. You came back with an analogy that had nothing to do with the vast problem facing our country and our homeowners. People in the industry totally understand the complexity of this problem and how it relates to the overall economy of the country.
I obviously work with real estate attorneys all the time and there isn't one who doesn't understand this. Not one of them would argue that this is against our country's best interests.
Seeking Sanity--thanks for your response. Aon hasnt left yet so it hasnt offset them. You well know that Illinois's problems run far greater than adding a few jobs. Quinn raised taxes by 60% for individuals and we have had GDP growth around 2%. So you would think that revenue from individuals would be up almost 75%. Did you know that revenue is down? Quinn raised corporate tax rates and then gave all the incentives back to corporations to keep them in the state which cant make a good progressive happy. But as you know the real problem is that if you used traditional accounting methods, Illinois would be bankrupt from its unfunded government pension and health care liabilities. Illinois finances are the worst in the country.
As for giving tax breaks, he did but they were tied to increasing taxes on foreign earnings which is why they were blocked. We are the only country in the world that taxes foreign earnings of home country companies. When GM sells or makes a car in Brazil, if its gets taxed at 35% on those earnings and Toyota gets taxed at the local brazilian tax of 20%, whose car is going to be listed for cheaper? Its economics 101 that Obama fails over and over. We should be reducing our corporate tax rate as low as possible and eliminating tax on foreign earnings and get companies to be more competitive for jobs here.
I am not a big ACA fan but not for the reason you think. I dont have a problem with us moving to universal care or some type of single payer system or even some type of free exchange system, but ACA doesnt do anything of this and I think there are good parts to it and some very bad parts. If you think I am going to defend the GOP or Romney on everything I wont because that would make me as bad as Fiesty, David or Backhouse and act.
I agree we are still digging our way out of the recession but not the worse since the great depression as I lived through the Carter recession and unemployment, interest rates, stock market and everything was far worse. Its just that the Reagan economic policies were better suited to bring us out of that severe recession. Obama has been more about ideology and less about real economic policy. I agree we are better off than most European countries but that isnt the benchmark I would want to compare and I think Obama is leading us down the path to be just like them, bankrupt or at a minimum a lower standard of living for our kids and grandkids as they try to pay off the staggering Obama national debt.
By the way, I appreciate actual honest responses and its much more enjoyable to debate and discuss than calling each other names.
Kirk, We have talked going a long way back.
And while your tone has become more reasonable, the radical message you are pushing is NOT reasonable - and becoming less and less so.
You many not realize that what you say lacks roots in the reality of ordinary folks' experiences and needs:-
In a climate where more and more wealth is being shifted to those who already control most of our country's wealth, with the clear intention of leaving ordinary folks stranded without a voice.
Good luck to you and yours! Ciao!
Item #1: Whenever a conservative poster tries to cite a source or link, the poster is attacked and the link is not even considered, but rejected out of the box, because it didn't come from a left thinking source....It is trivialized as lies and indoctrination and beneath consideration......so why should we bother to post them????? You aren't going to even give them a look, but rather personally attack us......That being said, then I guess we have to confine ourselves to making observations and voicing our opinions about the article that the thread is attached to. We have to begin our discussion from the premise that we are only allowed to view the MSNBC viewpoint, and make our decisions accordingly...Problem is, that when we come to a rational decision, based upon what we have read, and employing logical processes....we get to absorb personal attacks for not believing as you do. I have seen much more hostility and venom, foul language, and personal assaults coming from the regular liberal posters than all of the conservative voices put together. I have, truth be told, found some definite below the belt punches on the conservative side too, but not as many.
Item #2: It is really easy to mouth the words about how important it is to have a safety net for everyone, but in itself, that is condescending on your part as it implies that people are not up to your level and not able to work things out for themselves. They must have somebody (much like your enlightened selves) to look after them and instruct them on how to live....that isn't so far away from goose stepping. Actually, I do not believe in the 99%, but rather, reading these threads has convinced me that there is a 50% fighting for some sort of economic survival in our country...they want a better life for their kids, but just are not making headway. There is about 20 percent who are pretty well off, but feel that they have somehow been cheated out of having more, and will blame those who do have more, rather than actually doing more for themselves. There is about 20% left of the classic "Donna Reed/Father Knows Best" middle class-have a nice home, nice neighborhood, decent schools, decent job, vacation trips each year, out to dinner once per week or so....and they tend to go along and mind their own business, not doing anyone any harm, but being envied by the other 20% who are only slightly below them. The ones who are complaining because the guy across the street has 2 SUV's in the driveway and they only have one SUV and a sedan...or the guy next door has a plasma screen and they only have an LED....And then there are the top 10%, and I am sure that if truth be told, we would all like to aspire to that category. Private education for the kids-no problem. Extremely nice home-no problem. Multiple vacations, or maybe a vacation home-once again, no problem.....Everyone wants to be like them, but where we once would study the success of these people and learn how to adapt it to our own skills and interests, where we once would have used these people as inspiration and proof that success is possible, we have the discontented guys in the middle who feel that blame must be applied to explain the perceived lack of success. Those who do well, whatever the occupation, are to be villified, because there are all those poor people on the bottom 50% and the wealthy should just give everything away to the bottom until they themselves cease to be successful. Well, guess what? Our recession/depression, whatever the heck you want to call it, has reduced me well into that lower 50% and I don't see any of you suburbans, with your decent homes, decent jobs, full refrigerators willing to do anything to help me or people like me....Writing a check is a great way to make yourselves feel better, feel superior, and maybe that check might put groceries on my table for a few days, but it doesn't help me to climb out of that bottom, get a decent job, keep enough of my earnings to get caught up on bills and maybe be responsible again and have some savings for the future.
It occurred to me recently that the movement towards greater and greater entitlements might have alot to do with the fact that you don't have to look at the homeless person, the handicapped person, the family on hard times because of unemployment...they become nameless numbers in a government hand out. It is not longer personal or real for the people who are not experiencing hardship, but they can still fill good about themselves for "politically" supporting the poor. Doesn't take any effort on your part, and if the government decides that it needs more money to run all these conscience clearing programs....well, that is just fine as long as they don't take any more taxes from you.
Seeking Sanity--this is getting ridiculous. I thought you were starting to be reasonable. At one point in a previous debate I asked you if you had read the current WSJ on some point we were debating and it had nothing to do with my experience. Do you read these posts very carefully or just react emtionally. I gave you my background and yes I practiced as a M&A attorney until the late 90s. Took a job with a family office and then became the CFO of one of their portfolio companies. In that role, I became familiar with and created relationships with most of the major banks and this company had substantial real estate. When I left and started the small private equity firm with some of the senior execs at the company, we stayed in the real estate business. I will admit, that virtually all of our investments are in commercial real estate but we deal with the same issues as the individual context. Why is this so hard for you to believe? You also tried to act like my parents and sisters experience running the small family retail store wasnt accurate and all lies. For whatever reason you seem to have this view that anyone else's experience or knowledge that isnt consistent with your beliefs is a lie. Let me tell you a secret, I dont believe I am convincing anyone to change their mind on voting on this blog so I dont need to lie. If you dont believe me who cares, its anonymous and has no impact. All I am trying to do is have intelligent discussion because I always find I learn more from those who disagree with me than those who agree with me. I know you want to feel like the real estate expert here because of your mortgage banking credentials but sorry there are more than one experts. Tell me, do you work for branch of a regional or national bank? Do you work in the bank providing mortgages in the local community? If you are willing to open your mind, I am happy to provide you some horror stories that arent consistent with your views that doesnt mean I dont understand the devastating economic impact on those who have been hit through no fault of their own.
By the way you never did answer as to why Obama feels the need to bail out these homeowners who have made unfortunate economic decisions when he isnt bailing out others? You totally ignored why he isnt bailing out the homeowners, towns, small businesses that are and will be devastated by his EPA regs? What about the seniors who are in bad economic shape because they are trying to live on fixed income that are now paying interest rates of 2%? Lots of people could be bailed out as a result of economic calamities occuring through no fault of their own. Why these homeowners?
Sue - I don't know you or your situation but the people I know actually do more than write a check to help those less fortunate. We volunteer in the shelters and soup kitchens and realize we are not helping anyone who has chosen to be in the situation they now face. We realize that many families are one paycheck away from poverty. We realize that the lines for people trying to get jobs sometimes wrap around corners and no one in those lines turns a job down.
No one wants to be homeless; jobless; hungry. No one wants to have to be humiliated by accepting food or clothing. I don't know the people you claim just politically support the poor. I know the people who regularly get out and do hands-on work.
Kirk - I do read posts and I still don't remember you telling me anything other than your family's business and you very specifically said your got your information on the mortgage programs from the WSJ. But, that aside, I have worked both in local banks and for mortgage banks (where I work now). Commercial banking is totally different than residential banking - as you know.
And, yes, I did explain why helping with residential mortgages is a sound idea. Apparently you chose not to read the response. But, I'll do it again. The housing market's problem is not that people made unfortunate decisions. It is that the market experienced a depreciation that has never been seen before. Most of the people now hurting did NOT make poor decisions. They bought homes they could afford with payments they could afford. However, because the home values deteriorated so much they are unable to refinance to a point that allows them to take advantage of the really low rates.
Allowing that refinance would help them breathe (many have had job changes that have lowered their incomes or one person has totally lost their job) financially. That in turn would allow them to spend more which we all know boosts the economy. This is not just a small problem. It is a national problem and threatens the recovery. But, again, I said all that before.
Backhouse--not sure why you all of sudden decided to play nice but I am not sure if I can get used to that ha. But I dont think I have changed in tone as I have never personally attacked. Second, my message is not radical and if you havent noticed, my economic message and my beliefs are why Obama is even struggling to get elected. People like him they just dont like his economic policies. People are far more fiscally conservative and pragmatic. He is an ideologue and I am in the majority so not sure how you can call me radical as if you had any self awareness, you would see that applies to the progressive message.
I would give you more credibility if you didnt just cut and paste the Obama campaign and talking points messages. You sound like the crazy conspiracy nuts with these overused platitudes. I was raised in a very small town where my parents worked 14 hour days 7 days a week in the family business. My mom and sister were and are union teachers. I understand your attempt to create class warfare but your message falls on deaf ears if you dont include self reliance and personal accountability for your life and economic choices. Unfortunately those are missing from the Obama message and yours.
Thanks for the nice thoughts and hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Seeking Sanity--yes I did read that and I apologize for not being articulate enough, I didnt mean the word unfortunate as making a bad economic decision like an investment that went bad but bad in the sense in the way it turned out. I agree with all of your assessment except for the cure and the bail out because I dont understand why those people are more deserving than anyone else who has fallen on hard times outside of their control, such as lower interest rates on their investments (which is a perfect comparison to the housing underwater issue), plant closings, healthcare issues etc. It really isnt fair to bail out the person who put 20% down and is underwater but there person who put 50% down isnt. Sorry, but although I agree that maybe they didnt necessarily get to the problem from a poor decision on their part, they are more worthy of a bailout than someone else.
Second, people act like bailing them out with bank settlement money is cost free because its just coming from the banks. If you work in the industy, that really is just a wealth transfer from the customers or owners of the bank to these people. So in essence, you are taking money from poor to middle class customers of the large banks (because the wealthy dont pay the increased fees) or if they cant pass an additional fee on it comes frm the owners of the banks (via lower stock value of the bank equal to the money leaving the bank). These large banks are owned almost exclusively by institutions which are large union pension funds and 401kplans. So again we tax the middle class to pay for bailing out these homeowners. I dont find that fair.
Seeking Sanity--at this point if you dont believe me, not sure what I can do and if you still prefer the personal attack method of responding to me, dont bother. If you respond with your facts and observations as you have done the last few posts without the added personal aspects, I think we could have a long and prosperous relationship. ha just kidding smile here in case you have the ability to smile.
Kirk - didn't personally attack you. Nothing in my last post did that. But I see in your last paragraph you choose to slightly attack me? How does that work for you? It's okay for you but not okay for me?
We'll continue to disagree on the mortgage situation. It make sense for the country to put more money into the hands of responsible homeowners but I know you don't see that.
Have a good weekend! And, I smile all the time.
Great Post Sue.
I am trying to understand how these policies are going to help us reach a better tomorrow. When I really look at them it seems to me that we are trying to improve today at the expense of tomorrow.
I know what I have today, while not ideal, I can manage to get by.
I make more, but have less, how is the progress?
When it seems we have legislation, that really makes sense, we end up with a ton of attachments that do not.
The road bill is up for renewal. How is it a help to our country to put a requirement for a black box in each and every new car? What is it going to be used for in the first place? We already have 5 seconds of information for any time the air bag deploys, what more do we need?
Why do we have a health care plan, that puts a higher tax on medical devices, and the companies that make them?
How can the EPA complain about high air pollution around a construction site that is building a light rail system? How can this same agency then state, that this may effect permits for new businesses in the area? The whole point of the light rail system was to create a need for new shops along the corridor.
And you wonder why we question things?
Is President Obama above reproach?
The new law concerning protesters makes it seem that way.
The company that I work for is having a slower start to the year than last year. Yet we are constantly told that things are getting better. if things are better, than we should be adding to what we did last year, not fighting to maintain.
Like Kirk, this is why I am here. If I wanted to talk to someone who agreed with 90% of what I have to say, I would talk to my father.
Another question, I never agreed to the "Bush war" either, but honestly what should we have done? We could not let it ride. Everyone wanted to do something. Well we did. I think that we did get "our man".
What is the "change" what is the "hope".
If there is change in the way we are doing things, how come the state of Nebraska received a waiver for Obama Care. If it was so good, why would they want a waiver in the first place?
Well...I'll champion 2.2% GDP growth!
I, too, like to look at the big picture. The big picture is England just officially declared a recession, Ireland just declared a recession, Italy just declared a recession, Spain is in a recession, Netherlands just declared a recession, Greece is in a recession(depression)...
heck, if you're a western nation you have experience NEGATIVE growth the last 2 quarters. Unless you're a northern european 'socialist' country, or the USA.
And what's the big difference between countries in recession (England, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, etc) and those not in recession?
Austerity budgets. The austerity budgets that were mandated on periphery members, Italy and England (go Cameron!) just drove all their victims into recession. Again.
So the austerity plan has just been a 'live test' as a bad, bad idea.
So with all this negative growth going on world-wide, yanno what?
I'll champion the he** out of 2.2% GDP growth and Obama's policies (And Germany's, Sweden's, Denmarks, Norway).
Because it means we're not shrinking.
So tell me again how a recession is a good time for austerity measures. I'll call you a da**ed fool and point you at the real-world effects of austerity in recession.
Austerity is in times of growth...there should never have been Bush Tax Cuts, there should have been Austerity Implementations while our economy was booming.
And when our economy tanked, we should, could, and must spend money like water to force-feed demand.
Now we're stuck. Can't raise taxes in this bad climate, can't cut spending either. Hell, I think we should spend more on big-ticket projects. Another hoover-friggin-dam or something. Anything to increase demand.
Gut the military and unemployment and devote all that cash to public works projects. That's a whole lot of cash.
Teknisham,
No austerity is not good when you are on the edge of a recession. The problem is they had a false growth economy in the first place. Similar to what we are doing. We are taking tomorrow dollars and spending them today, with the hope that tomorrow our economy will be better. The only way to make that work is if you have money in the bank already. Which we as a country do not. Why do you think that the companies that are making a profit are holding on to their money?
The President Bush tax cuts was to aid a slowing economy.
The "experts" cannot even agree on the effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_tax_cuts
I agree we should have spent less, but refer to the previous post. Both parties have a habit of spending every dime that comes in when things are good instead of following a consistent policy.
Spending money just to spend money is the problem. Money without focus gets you nothing. Money with strings attached gets you what we have now. Slow to little growth, and states that are broke.
We are a consumer driven economy, no true growth can result without consumer demand. That means consumers need jobs, and job stability. Tell me how that is happening now?
Seeking Sanity--I guess I was referring to the earlier attacks re your views that I am fabricating everything and a variety of other fine comments but I agree you are definitely engaging more with me than you started. My little comment was meant tongue in cheek and you know it and I am glad you smile all of the time.
Again, I agree that the bailout puts more money into these homeowners hands, but my questions were more about economic fairness. Why is it economically fair to take money from the poor and middle class worker to bail out these homeowners versus bailing out other deserving families who have suffered economic calamities. Progressives argue for economic fairness all of the time, what is economically fair about this?
I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and if the topic changes to something else next week I hope we both can post with smiles on our face and agree to disagree or god forbid actually agree without any extra thrown in for good measure.
Kirk - agreed!
What the @!$%#???? Those sons of bitches did what??? DAMN YOU BONER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You bastards sabotaged the economy, started two wars and paid off your wealthy backers while putting it on America's credit card, and killed 5,000 American troops who died FOR NOTHING, and when the American people elect someone who wants to negotiate with you to fix things, you secretly plan to blow him off????? To hell with ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!! You bastards made a fool of the American people; what with your phony pledges and dastardly tomfoolery. Well no more. @!$%# YOU ALL YOU BASTARDS!!!!! DEATH TO THE GOP!!!!!!!! I say, any Republican who supports what their party did is UN-AMERICAN. There, I said it. You bastards can go @!$%# in hell for all I care. That is IT. No more compromise. No more respect. No more. You bastards want a war; well you'll get it. To hell with you and your traitorous party. America wanted leaders; people who would look out for them and try to help them. And what did you do??? You abandoned them; you put politics above country. You ought to be ashamed. Die, then. Die. DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OBAMA BIDEN 2012
DEATH TO THE GOP 2012
DEATH TO THE GOP 2012
DEATH TO THE GOP 2012
Freshiee,
If I remember from the post this happened Three years ago.
I wonder what the leaders of the democrats did when President Bush won twice?
I am glad that you are all fired up. Can you please talk to President Obama and ask him to put the people before politics?
I do not understand the need for all of this travel. The law makers that vote on legislation are all in Washington DC. Presidential speeches can all be given at the White House. What ever happened to fire side chats? Presidential speeches can be televised and text of the speech made available on the Internet. Texts of all the Presidents can be all emailed to law makers in Washington. I believe that most lawmakers in Washington do no how to read of at least have someone on staff who knows how to read. Students at most colleges and universities nowadays have access to the Internet and most of them, especially at the more select institutions, know how to read. If the major networks will not cover the President's speeches, networks like CSPAN, will. Remember that the President promised the American people that he would go over the health care law "line by line" with my congressman and every other law maker in Washington that requested it. I wonder when the broadcasts are scheduled to begin.
Rather than traveling the President needs to stay in Washington and work on keeping his promises to the American people. The President promised that the 2012 federal deficit will not exceed 229.27 billion dollars yet his own White House is predicting that the 2012 deficit will be more than 5 times what the President promised. The President's Promise was not contingent on anything to include any action of congress. The President needs to stay in Washington and work on keeping his promise. The President needs to work on his promise and on telling the American people how he is going to keep it. He needs to do this immediately because the fiscal year is already more than half over. The President needs to generate a plan for the federal government to pay back all of the money that it has borrowed. We need to know how it is going to be done, how long it is going to take and how much it is going to end up costing the taxpayers. I estimate that any new money borrowed now will end up costing the tax payers 9 times the amount borrowed to repay over a period of 170 years but that is just my estimate. I want our President to provide a plan.
Wow. There's a @!$%#load of stuff slinging back and forth up there^. Had to duck a few times, but made it through it. Again, wow!
Let's get back to some simple verifiable facts:
The global economic collapse was not caused by aggressive loan legislation. The real estate bubble was the trigger. The loans were the bags of money involved. The people that caused the collapse were those that created unrecognizable derivatives that skirted regulators and were backed by greedy insurers. NO ONE thought real estate was a risk. But when the real estate bubble hit, the derivatives took us to our knees. Without the derivatives, it would have been just a bubble. We would have only lost real estate investments.
Our current debt is not at all from Obama spending indiscriminately on "social" programs. Instead, our debt is directly fed by our annual budget deficit. Clinton left Bush with a balanced budget. Bush decided not to fund Afghanistan, Iraq, Medicaid, the vast Homeland Security expansion, and his tax cuts. These are what drive our primary budget deficits even today... and a Republican President would have made little difference. In fact it would probably be higher. I call this the "Bush Debt Train"... full and unstoppable for decades.
The other half of the contribution to our debt is the lack of tax revenue from the recession. This $500 billion shortfall combined with the $500 billion "Bush Debt Train" described above, puts us $1 trillion a year in the hole BEFORE SPENDING ONE NEW NICKLE. Throw in a few attempts to support the hardest hit of us (the unemployed, the hungry, the poor, the unfortunate), a few dollars to reestablish our regulatory and auditing capabilities, an attempt to fix health care, a few bucks to get us through the day, and you have our total shortfall... hardly from Obama's socialist agenda. That accusation is a complete fabrication from the right.
The GOP is big on criticism of Obama's policies, although they are short on detail. But even worse is that they have no idea as to how to get us going again. Less regulation? Bull@!$%#. Tax breaks for the rich? Bull@!$%#. Cut support programs? Bull@!$%#. Ryan's budget? Bull@!$%#. They wouldn't know a job creation effort if it hit them in their face. They have politicized themselves out of all possible reasonable solutions. Even if they had a good idea (and they probably do), they couldn't support it in the environment they have created.
And here's a well known but seldom discussed fact: There isn't one country on earth succeeding at avoiding this economic collapse. Whether conservative or liberal... not one success. Everyone is failing at recovery. And those that chose to try to balance their budgets on the backs of their people were the first to come close to total collapse... severe austerity is NOT the answer... at least not now.
So can the GOP recover the economy better than Obama? No. A FLAT no.
The only real question before us in November, in my opinion, is how we treat our people and whether or not we invest in our future while we slowly climb out of this mess. Personally, I'll take a slow but steady recovery with a focus on people and the future any day. That's in contrast to a support the rich and cut the support approach offered by the right.
Just my opinion.
Joe in Albany,
Sorry Joe, I didn't. My point was that we have never been in this situation before and since you have no benchmark to compare it to you spin the question around to:
First, if deunonizing was the miracle answer, like you claim, Gov. Walker would be glowing right now - instead his state is the worst performing state in the country. His policies disproved your and the Republican claims. Walker and his policies failed miserably.
Second, even if YOU don't feel we are moving in the right direction, why is the Republican Party's answer going back to Bush-like policies?Romney claims he will continue the Bush strategies - the same strategies that failed?????
Don't you think that the first thing to do is to stop rewarding companies with tax loopholes for offshoring jobs????? Instead, the Republicans are too chicken $hit to pi$$ of their corporate friends so they refused to bring the bill to vote. They killed it so their vote would not have to be on record. Why? So they Americans don't see who really isn't for JOBS!JOBS!JOBS!.
So?? Bush helped ruin this economy several years ago, and you righties always tell us to stop going back to the past...
Slandered him. Of course. But none of them had a secret convention to destroy Bush. Bush had some shred of bipartisan support, at least early in his first term. Obama didn't. The difference is that Obama was denied any bipartisan agreement before he was in office. Bush had bipartisan support: check the Iraq and Afghanistan War and the passing of the Bush tax cuts and the Patriot Act.
The President already tried that. He tried putting people above politics, compromising with his detractors even when he had most of the cards, and then when he had lost most of them. But the Republicans never had people before politics. If they really had, they would have at least tried to compromise with the President. But they didn't. Obama cannot compromise with you righties anymore. If he does, he'll just get kicked in the ass again. So I'll tell Obama to compromise, when you tell the Republicans to start putting people before party. But since I know that they won't listen to you and try to blame Obama (which you will probably believe), try telling them to @!$%# off and that their days are numbered. Alright????
OBAMA BIDEN 2012
That just made you lose your own argument, BOTH sides did this, and yet you people will still vote the status quo how sad is that?
What a wonderful day for the liberal Democrats! Obama has set a new record. Today, for the first time in history, our national debt exceeds our gross domestic product. Some other records for this so called president is adding more money in his first 3 years than any other president. Obama has almost doubled the national debt in 3+ years. We now have 16 trillion in debt, another record. Obama is also the first president to bring our credit rating down. Obama is so cool but he is a economic disaster for the country. Now make excuses for him, rationalize this disaster, blame Bush or someone, anyone else. It won't change the crisis coming. Bernanke said this week we were heading for a financial disaster cliff by the end of the year. Is that cool? Obama had his shot, he failed. He said if he didn't have the economy fixed in 3 years he didn't deserve a second term. He also promised to reduce the debt by half in his first term.
VOTE ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT
What a wonderful day for the liberal Democrats! Obama has set a new record. Today, for the first time in history, our national debt exceeds our gross domestic product. Some other records for this so called president is adding more money in his first 3 years than any other president. Obama has almost doubled the national debt in 3+ years. We now have 16 trillion in debt, another record. Obama is also the first president to bring our credit rating down. Obama is so cool but he is a economic disaster for the country. Now make excuses for him, rationalize this disaster, blame Bush or someone, anyone else. It won't change the crisis coming. Bernanke said this week we were heading for a financial disaster cliff by the end of the year. Is that cool? Obama had his shot, he failed. He said if he didn't have the economy fixed in 3 years he didn't deserve a second term. He also promised to reduce the debt by half in his first term.
VOTE ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT
I bet you $10,000.00 that Boner has a Hangover, some say Bonehead is a D-? - !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Unfortunately, there is nothing better than the status quo. Ron Paul is a befuddled old radical who wants to send us back into the 1800s.
OBAMA BIDEN 2012
Nice try, "Uncle Sam." Back in the 1940s, debt soared to a record height of 120% to GDP under Roosevelt and Truman, notably because of WWII and the Depression. So America has gone above 100% debt-to-GDP before. As for our absolute debt, Obama contributed very little to it via his own spending policies. To be sure, $3.8 trillion were caused by the Bush tax cuts, and at least $2.3 trillion were caused by Bush's spending policies. In addition, several trillion dollars was caused by the recession, which caused trillion dollar deficits. In addition, at least a quarter of the debt is owed to government institutions, like Social Security. Public debt is at 74%; real debt is at 101%. Obama isn't close to doubling our debt in his first term: debt was about $11 trillion when his policies came to effect, and it is currently $15 trillion. It would require another $7 trillion to double; basic algebra backs Obama.
As for our credit rating, Obama wasn't responsible, at least not entirely, for it. S&P blamed the partisanship of the political parties for the downgrade; and most of the blame goes to the Tea Party-controlled Republicans, who gave up on a $4 trillion deal that could have kept our credit rating and would have dealt with our fiscal crisis in a balanced manner. Plus it was 75% spending cuts and the rest in tax increases; but the GOP remembered their pledge to Norquist and let our credit get downgraded for their stupid "principles." If you want to blame someone for our downgrade, blame the GOP.
The fiscal crisis that Bernanke stated was the automatic cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts at the end of 2012. Personally, I would let the Bush tax cuts expire, but that would send us back into a recession. So, I would keep the cuts (but lower those for defense) and allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for those making over $250,000, saving about $3.3 trillion over the next decade.
The economy has improved; we've gone from hemorrhaging 700,000 jobs a month to over 25 months of private sector job growth; -6% GDP to 33 consecutive months of GDP growth; and unemployment at a peak of 10% to a still-high but understandable 8.2%. Plus the Dow is at 13,200, from a low of 7-8,000 after the recession. Sounds a lot better. Yes, people are still hurting, but at least jobs are coming back.
And Obama NEVER promised to cut the debt in half by his first term. That is impossible. He promised to cut the deficit in half, and I'll admit that he failed. But you have to admit, he offered a BALANCED deficit reduction proposal last summer, but the GOP said no because of their stupid pledge. Obama helped the economy; face it. And Romney would send us back to the hole we are trying to get out of, what with his deregulatory policies and his tax cuts that only help the wealthy. To hell with Romney; he's an idiot. He doesn't understand the economy; for pete's sake he thinks that cutting trillions in spending and giving tax cuts to the wealthy will actually help business.
OBAMA BIDEN 2012
DEATH TO THE GOP 2012
the full S&P statement RE the downgrade
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/sp-downgrades---full-ratings-agency-statement.php
a four trillion deficit reduction package was offered, yet a pack of idiots beholden to some jackass known by the name of Grover screwed it all up
@ Dennis in Columbus
I love exposing Buckeye fans as the liars they are:
I remember when REAL "news" organizations included the COMPLETE quote from someone to give context to their comments:
"I think, I wouldn't want to over-focus on Bin Laden. He's one of many, many people who are involved in this global Jihadist effort. He is by no means the only leader. It's a very diverse group - Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, and of course different names throughout the world. It is not worth moving Heaven and Earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person. It is worth fashioning and executing an effective strategy to defeat global, violent Jihad and I have a plan for doing that." -Romney
But yea, no need to give context to what he was saying. Chop it up and steal just the words you want to show so that you can paint a false picture.
Well as usual I see that the libs get to say what they want and "tyler" doesnt suspend them. If you give facts that the libs dont like he WILL suspend you! The fact is that BOZO isnt "cool"! He HAS just taken away our freedom of speach. You can research it for yourself and actually find it. But I know you libs wont do that, you will just say its not true. I personally dont care. BOZO is gone come november, THANK GOD!!! OK, now you can suspend me again "tyler".
.
Outhouse: One of your best posts ever.
Backhouse, great post. It boggles the mind of reasonable and fair minded people, there would be amongst us a list of mostly elected representatives of the people who would meet to plot for the downfall of their country. By any measure, that is treason. There is no other name for it.
Why do we permit this to continue? Why aren't the media leading the way?. Because they are all in bed together, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours mentality. If only it were true that there is no honor amongst thieves, but sadly for our country we are being betrayed by the very people elected to represent us and their actions are glossed over by a complicit media....we are truly done for.
GBM said: "but sadly for our country we are being betrayed by the very people elected to represent us and their actions are glossed over by a complicit media....""
I couldn't agree more, dear. That's why we're trying so hard to get the Foreigner In Chief and his communist flunkies out of office.
Maybe you should add 'communism' to the list of topics you need to educate yourself on. It's clear you have no clue what communism really is.
Voters in America, women and men, remember these names when you go the polls this year. These are the men who yesterday, voted against you when they voted against the VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT. These are the men in the Republican Party who think so little of the women in America, they voted not to condemn violence against us. Together with all the other laws and proposed legislations against women in various states, the message comes loud and clear, THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT US………………….show them the door, Fire ‘em.
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
DeMint (R-SC)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (R-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lee (R-UT)
Lugar (R-IN)
McConnell (R-KY)
Moran (R-KS)Paul (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Toomey (R-PA)
Wicker (R-MS)
That's an awesome last name, almost as good as:
Smoke 'em.
Backhouse -- Terrific posts today in the first thread! Ditto GBM. Keep on keeping on friend.
Foreigner in Chief? Obama's maternal grandfather fought in WWII, and his uncle helped liberate a concentration camp, but whatever, I get it, Hawaii is quite "exotic."
DCIA...thank you, have a great weekend.
Here is an interesting post from a person named Fuzzy that needs some help in getting out of the low information GOP bubble.
Fuzzy-0457
#3.2 - Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:55 AM EDT
Ruken
I must have missed the coronation as well. Was he crowned by the Pope and everything?
That's because Barack Hussien Obama was elected President by the people of the USA; not crowned King; idiot.
Why do you teabbaggers waste your time and energy making up LIES; instead of trying to help this country?
You're worst than those bytches, with the exception of the one Democrat, on the FOX NOISE "FIVE" whose job is to sit around the table brainstorming how to bytch and LIE; espescialy that bytch Eric Bolling; another college drop out.
I was joking Beverly.
>_<
Apparently I suck at making my sarcasm apparent enough in some posts.
Backhouse/Gingerbread Mamma wrote to include the names of 31 republicans who voted against the Violence Against Women Act.
If the bill had been just about V A W alone, the votes against the bill would have passed much easier and those names probably would not have been in opposition to the bill.
But the bill included provisions for visas for undocumented workers in it(among other things). I applaud every one of the Senators who stood against the bill because of that fact alone.
Politicians need to write bills for a specific cause. They need to stop including provisions for matters that otherwise would not be passed on it's merit alone. This is one of the largest problems in laws that are passed.
REB-1013231
Beverly in Chicago
Please don't call me Dolly and the only stick you carry is the one up your a$$.
Just like a vulgur teabagger you display all you sadomasochism online for everyone. What's the matter Dolley, tea bags don't suit your ass anymore so now have to delude yourself???
Hey, you are suffering from hullications there is nothing in my bottom. I can clearly see from here you are a sick "B".
One more thing, twit, I'm not a paid blogger and I don't get handouts either. If anyone needs help it's you, "Bytch".
Job1
Makes perfect sense as a tactic. Remember in 2009, there was a scare launched that President Obama would take away the right to bear arms (always a good one to rally the base.) Gun sales rocketed and there were stories about citizens buying six-packs of AK-47's. Never happened did it? However the same scare has been launched again and gun sales are booming right now. Throwing granny off the cliff was pretty good for scaring people about AHC.
The scare you found is superb - gets the link to Hitler in - got the coffins in there - uses past tense to imply the camps are already constructed! Anybody seen one? They sound pretty big!
Scares are a great tactic. They have worked in extreme religions for centuries, why not in politics. The biggest problem seems to be finding people, other than sheep, to get scared. Surely people check this stuff - maybe not.
Have a great weekend GBM. I am headed south. Hope the weather is good in your part of the country.
Fab posts GBM, thank you for the details, and naming names.
"Six female Democratic senators were joined by Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (R) on the Senate floor Thursday to offer their support for the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which expired in September.
The bill expands funding for state and local governments to respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and (a new category) stalking."
vhttp://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0315/Violence-Against-Women-Act-A-political-opening-for-Democrats
Most of us know a woman who needs or has needed protection and guidance, regardless of who, what, where and why.
FR:
So, apparently only Republican presidents are allowed to campaign for legislation they want passed, according to First Read "journalists." What's justified is the conclusion by even the timid "fact" checkers who rated as a Pants-On-Fire Lie Boehner's claim that there's a "slush fund" in the health care law he can use to pay for student loans. But the fearless "journalists" of First Read can't dare mention that, because they'd be attacked for liberal bias, which would hurt their feelings.
What Boehner is really intending to do is hold student loans hostage in until the Democrats agree to let him raid the health maintenance funds that he dishonestly calls a slush funds. Didn't we see a similar hostage drama play out last summer over raising the debt ceiling, and before that, an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy in order to avoid tax hikes on the middle class? This trick gets a little tiresome after awhile.
Another interesting fact that our fearless FR journalists haven't noticed is that the estimated cost of preventing student loans from doubling is five billion dollars, almost exactly the same as the revenue that would be generated had the Buffet Rule been signed into law. The Republicans say 5 billion dollars for the student loans is a lot of money that must be paid for by raiding other programs that assist average citizens to avoid adding to the budget deficit. But the 5 billion dollars that would be taken in by the Buffet Rule is a mere pittance that wouldn't make a dent in the deficit. So, five billion is and isn't a lot of money simultaneously, according to Republicans. And these are the nitwits who want to be viewed as "fiscally responsible."
BRAVO Houston!
I was thinking those very thoughts just last night.
Wonder why the MSM hasn't picked up on this?
Exactly. God forbid we realize there is finite amount of resources and that we may have make a CHOICE between competing needs. No, lets just borrow the funds and have both.
Finite resources Alan? In the Federal govt? Ha! That's just an obscure concept. LOL
The left gets a lot of mileage railing against this student loan increase that was written into law by ......... the left. The Democrats wrote this. All politicians are hypocrits.
The reason the fundraisers are getting attention is the sheer volume. Obama has doubled the amount of fundraisers Bush did in 3 1/2 months, that Bush did in 10 months. They all do it, just no one has come close to this large scale before.
Whoever is setting these up doesn't try to disguise them well. Like the 3 fundraisers scheduled in south FL for a month, they scheduled an official speech a day or two in advance down there so the whole thing could be paid for by taxpayers.
Job1 - isn't it frightening that anyone is that ignorant? Or most likely Fuzy is just posting trying to get those who truly are ignorant to believe this garbage and get frightened enough to vote for Romney. Sad for any politician that they have to go to those lengths to get votes but, that's the GOP for ya!
Obama/Biden 2012
Alan, NJ
And God forbid that tax cuts for the wealthy be included as one of those "competing needs."
Shut up, BigATC. SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!!!! Do you not see that you have been deceived by your own party??? Even though you hate Obama, or his policies, do you not see that he was sabotaged from the very beginning. The Republicans have abuse their status. They decided to hold fast and even undermine the president, even when he tried to compromise with them. Shut up, please. I beg of you. Your party is un-American. Americans compromise; we do. It is as American as apple pie, and we got it from the rest of the world. And the GOP @!$%#ed us all. Until you have something respectful to say, SHUT UP.
OBAMA BIDEN 2012
DEATH TO THE GOP 2012
Gingerbread Mamma,
Your list would have a lot more merit with me if you included why the people on your list voted against it. If you look at the history of the law, you will see that traditionally it was a non issue and received full support from both parties.
By adding certain language, it is now a immigration issue, a life style issue and possibly a treaty issue with the Indians.
How is this helping our Country?
I do not Hate President Obama, oh by the way he is President, so you should show some respect.
Compromise, fine, than why is there always something put on a bill that the other side will have a problem with? Both sides do it, and it is so pointless. We would probably get a lot more done if we just stuck to the true issue.
Making our country a better place for future generations. That is what I want. I am sorry if I do not see how racking up even more debt is making things better. Yes I agree that the GOP is equally to blame. The does not change the fact that we are now reaching the danger level.
There's probably a few good people in both the Democrats and Republicans but the leadership of both of the Wall Street/Corporate backed parties aren't up to anything good:
When It Looks and Feels Like Totalitarianism…
by BAR editor and columnist Jemima Pierre
The Obama administration has spent the last three years building the infrastructure of a totalitarian police state, that “has surpassed the Bush administration’s attempts to expand executive power by crushing the civil liberties of US citizens.” At the center of the repressive edifice is preventive detention without trial, buttressed by various measures that, effectively, criminalize dissent. Clearly, and methodically, “the US government is preparing for domestic insurrection.”…
…For now, I will focus on two of the more recent congressionally approved draconian laws passed by the Obama administration….
….On New Year’s Eve, 2011, away from the glitter and swoon of the media, Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (or NDAA). The law states that based on suspicion alone, the military can indefinitely detain anyone who is considered a “terrorist” or deemed an accessory to terrorism. This includes US citizens. According to the ACLU, this law codifies “indefinite military detention without charge or trial into law for the first time in American history.” “The NDAA’S dangerous detention provisions,” the ACLU continues, “would authorize the president – and all future presidents – to order the military to pick up and indefinitely imprison people captured anywhere in the world, far from any battlefield.”
What is most dangerous about this law, according to its many critics, is its broad language about who can be considered a target. In his column describing why he is suing the Obama administration over NDAA, journalist Chris Hedges points particularly to Section 1031 defining a potential target as a person who is either a member of, or substantially supported, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or “associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.” This also includes “any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.” The law doesn’t define what “associated forces” are, or what “engaging in hostilities” against the US means. And because the definition of a “terrorist” shifts according to political necessity, all of us – all over the world – are potential targets and eventual victims. Historically, we have seen how the US government has labeled “domestic terrorist” any persons or groups, particularly those on the left, who have dared challenge inequality and state oppression (clear examples are the American Indian Movement and the Black Power Movement). Most recently, we have seen the brutal suppression of domestic dissent through the militarized dismantling of Occupy Wall Street encampments – which brings us to the next worrisome law, HR 347.
The Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011 or the “Trespass Bill” (HR 347 and its companion Senate bill, S. 1794) was signed into law by Obama on March 9, 2012. This law, according to a Business Insider article, “potentially makes peaceable protest anywhere in the U.S. a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.” What it says, specifically, is that anyone can be charged with a federal felony for “trespassing” on property or grounds that is under Secret Service protection, even if the supposed “trespasser” is not aware that the area is under such protection. One can also be charged if he or she “impede[s] or disrupt[s] the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions.” This law effectively criminalizes any form of protest. This means that any place or event can, at any time and under any circumstance, be designated a “trespass” area and, anyone protesting any event can potentially be arrested. Knowing also that under NDAA, once arrested, a person can be detained indefinitely and extradited if he or she is deemed a threat, should give us all pause.
Along with these new laws, there is the recent Executive Order signed by Obama on March 16, 2012: National Defense Resource Preparedness (EO 8248). This order allows the executive branch – through various federal authorities such as the Secretaries of Energy, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Defense, and Commerce – to take control of all food, all energy, all health resources and all transportation resources in the service of “national defense,” even in times of declared peace. It is true that this latest executive order is an update to the one signed by Bill Clinton in 1994. But in the context of the growing number of laws that expand executive and military power to stifle dissent along with the rapidly expanding national security enterprise, we should be wary.
Since the passing of the Patriot Act in 2001 and its reauthorization by Obama last year, we have seen assaults on our dignity, our human rights and ability to protest. These assaults now come from multiple fronts and contain diverse tactics. And they affect us all. We see examples in the local and federal militarized response to the Occupy Wall Street movements, the deployment of drones domestically by city governments, universities, private contractors, and local police (see domestic drone authorization map here), and we see how the Obama administration has waged an all out war against whistleblowers by using the archaic World War I era Espionage Act, prosecuting more people than all other presidents combined. More importantly, there is what the Washington Post last year called the “National Security Enterprise” that depends on “854,000 civil servants, military personnel and private contractors with top-security clearances,” and whose major work is domestic surveillance to curtail dissent. The unprecedented $1.5 billion, almost 1 million square feet National Security Agency data center (or “Spy Center”) that is being built in Utah, is to work both as a bottomless database for all information on all Americans, and as a remote interrogation center.
With all of this, it is clear that, even though it seems to only be concerned with international wars and other misadventures, the US government is preparing for domestic insurrection. And it has done so by unleashing the structures of totalitarianism, as it seeks to regulate our actions through mass surveillance, fear, and threats of repression. (For how else can we understand the recent purchase by the Department of Homeland Security of nearly 500 million rounds of ultra-deadly hollow-point bullets and 40 caliber ammo, as well as a large number of semi-portable steel checkpoint guardhouses, complete with high-impact bulletproof glass windows and doors?)
And why not? The political order is being shaken, the Western financial infrastructure is collapsing, and empire is imploding. They know it and they are ready.
http://blackagendareport.com/content/when-it-looks-and-feels-totalitarianism…
Backhouse...you really want to get in to a discussion about wasteful spending by politicians? I would retreat from that topic if I were you, an obvious lefty.
Mitt and his fleabaggers are still choking over Bin ! We cannot and should not wait to vote Mr. Etch A Sketch flip flopper out, warning - don't turn your back to Romney !
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially debilitating disease in which your body's immune system eats away at the protective sheath that covers your nerves. This interferes with the communication between your brain and the rest of your body. Ultimately, this may result in deterioration of the nerves themselves, a process that's not reversible. Symptoms vary widely, depending on the amount of damage and which nerves are affected. People with severe cases of multiple sclerosis may lose the ability to walk or speak. Multiple sclerosis can be difficult to diagnose early in the course of the disease because symptoms often come and go — sometimes disappearing for months. There's no cure for multiple sclerosis. However treatments can help treat attacks, modify the course of the disease and treat symptoms. Signs and symptoms of multiple sclerosis vary widely, depending on the location of affected nerve fibers. Multiple sclerosis signs and symptoms may include:
Numbness or weakness in one or more limbs, which typically occurs on one side of your body at a time or the bottom half of your body
Partial or complete loss of vision, usually in one eye at a time, often with pain during eye movement (optic neuritis)
Double vision or blurring of vision
Tingling or pain in parts of your body
Electric-shock sensations that occur with certain head movements
Tremor, lack of coordination or unsteady gait
Fatigue
Dizziness
Most people with multiple sclerosis, particularly in the beginning stages of the disease, experience relapses of symptoms, which are followed by periods of complete or partial remission. Signs and symptoms of multiple sclerosis often are triggered or worsened by an increase in body temperature. These factors may increase your risk of developing multiple sclerosis:
Being between the ages of 20 and 40. Multiple sclerosis can occur at any age, but most commonly affects people between these ages.
Being female. Women are about twice as likely as men are to develop multiple sclerosis.
In some cases, people with multiple sclerosis may also develop:
Muscle stiffness or spasms
Paralysis, most typically in the legs
Problems with bladder, bowel or sexual function
Mental changes, such as forgetfulness or difficulties concentrating
Depression
Epilepsy
There is no cure for multiple sclerosis. Treatment typically focuses on strategies to treat attacks, to modify the course of the disease and to treat symptoms. Some people have such mild symptoms that no treatment is necessary.
Ann Romney is familiar with all this because she has this disease. I'm familiar with all this because my beautiful bride of over thirty years has it too. Mr. Romney should also be very familiar with it if like me as the Prime caregiver he has to administer the treatment to his wife's tookass 3 times a week and try monitor some of the other deleterious effects of this disease. I thought today would be a good opportunity to familiarize all of you with it.
It is the third most common killer (especially of Women) behind only Heart Disease and Cancer. M.S. patients generally are robbed of 5 to 10 years of their life. Nevertheless, two-thirds of the deaths in people with MS are directly related to the consequences of the disease. Suicide also has a higher prevalence than in the healthy population, while infections and complications are especially hazardous for the more disabled ones. Most patients lose the ability to walk prior to death. MS has a prevalence that ranges between 2 and 150 per 100,000 depending on the country or specific population.
Mrs. Romney so far doesn't seem to manifest many of the debilitating effects of this disease at least not in public. I can only attribute this to her symptoms manifesting themselves in different more subtle ways, the fact that she has access to good insurance and the ability to afford the best care that money can buy. Mr. Romney must also do a pretty good job of keeping her stress level down as that is one of the contributing factors for remission. No matter if it is one of these factors or a combination of all of them and win or lose this Presidential Race we hope that you continue to enjoy good health and remission free days.
Meanwhile up on the Hill things haven't gone quite so well. We joke a little bit about the cane that my Wife has to use now to steady herself. 'Corse it would help if the Insurance Company hadn't deemed the pills to help her gait as "experimental" so we're out of pocket for them. What else are you going to do with something that keeps her somewhat mobile and out of a wheelchair for a few more years? The expense kinda cuts down on some things that we were hoping to enjoy in our retirement years now that the Hi-Tech Generation is grown and on his own but here again what else are you going to do.
I try to gloss over and ignore the little cognitive things that she used to do well and now only confuse her. They're not that important and to bring 'em up would only remind her of how much she's lost and depress more than she already is especially on bad days. Here again the Insurance Company won't allow anti-depressants even though it is one of the recognized symptoms of the disease. Just another one of life's littlie pissoff's don't cha know.
On the whole it kinda looks like the Hill Folk and the Romney's are in about the same place. Decent Insurance and a little money for out of pocket expenses will do that for you.
So Mrs. Romney while we're all setting around patting ourselves on the back over doing and coping so well why don't you and me get together and do something for our friends and neighbors that are maybe not doing so well. With my activism and your advocacy we could do a lot of good for a lot of people who aren't quite as lucky as we are. I know Mr. Romney is pretty tied up campaigning right now so I would be more than happy to stand in for him. We could do a series of Walks for the Cure for instance. You do the talking and I'll do the walking similar to what I do already for my wife.
While we're at it why don't we see if we can't get Mr. Romney's stances on some of these issues that have consequences for our less privileged neighbors? Research for instance. Twenty short years ago an M.S. diagnoses was basically a long painful death sentence. Now we have Pharmaceutical alternatives that while expensive and do not cure the disease at least extend sufferers life and the quality of that life. Stem Cell research seems to be especially promising in the area of not only M.S. but a myriad of neuro- muscular diseases such as Parkinson's and Muscular Dystrophy. Your husband wants to reduce funding and outlaw Stem Cell research entirely.
Actually we need to work on your Husband's attitude on this whole Health Care deal. See he wants to back up on it some and I don't think that is such a good idea. I mean M.S. develops over such a long period of time and periods of remission make it perfect for Insurance Companies to go back to denying coverage for Pre-existing conditions for instance.
How can we expect Emergency rooms to administer the MRI and Spinal Taps necessary for diagnosing what at the time looks like something else? How about the bi-annual blood test for liver function necessitated by the Treatment Drugs? Or the annual MRI deemed necessary for monitoring and revising treatment? How about the Physical therapy to help retain as much function as possible? You and I are managing to afford this and several other things right now but many of our friends and neighbors can't. Why make them make a choice between maybe eating and or watching your loved one deteriorate right in front of you.
So Mrs. Romney lets elevate our discussion of whether Stay at Home Mothers are better than Working Moms. Let's move into the realm that is at once both and neither. You and Mr. Romney can use it to burnish your credentials he for President and you as his Principal Advisor on Women's issues. I can support that if it raises the Awareness for Multiple Sclerosis and what it's doing to our Wives, Mothers and Brothers one iota. Because trust me Mrs. Romney I would dance a jig with the Devil himself if it would spare just one women the future that you and my wife are staring straight in the eye.
I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead;
I just need some place where I can lay my head.
"Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"
He just grinned and shook my hand, and "No!", was all he said.
Take a load off Annie, take a load for free;
Take a load off Annie, And you can put the load right on me.
Bravo, IR *stands and applauds* Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your hard-won knowledge of this terrible disease. And special hugs to your courageous bride.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if something positive came out of the Presidential campaign instead of endless negative ads with grainy pictures and the scary voice guy? Maybe we could all learn to work together and advocate policies that would help our fellow Americans.
IR, beautifully said as well as informative. Thank you for posting it.
Great Post IR - stand strong....we are all with you.
IR -- Well said. You have been hitting em' out of the ballpark this week! Kudos friend! Haven't had much time to post this week but I've been reading these threads and you have been very busy with all the trolls trying to mess the place up. Have a wonderful weekend and keep up the great work. Hugs to you and yours. We indeed stand with you.
IR thank you for sharing what must be a very painful ongoing experience for both you and your beautiful bride. You are on a long journey together, that will bring in its own way joy and tears. It would be nice if those in high places and who can truly empathize with fellow sufferers, step to the forefront and lead the way to more awareness. Mrs Romney has unfortunately two diseases, MS and Breast CA, which she could visibly lend support to, both of which predominately affect more women than men and in thus leading would be helpful to many.
Floyd,
That red headed ex-school teacher of yours sure married herself a peach!
All the best to Miss Ellie & you as you both travel down this road...
Thank you IR! You have eloquently expressed your thoughts. May we put aside our differences and come together to work for the good of all Americans.
So say we all.
IR: you prove again why I value you so highly as friend and mentor: one only has to recall that the right wing wants to shut off stem cell research and wonder how Mittens will deal with that issue.
Loyalty to wife, or self aggrandizement by doing everything he can to become President?
Blessings and hugs to you and Miss Elly.
IR, thanks for sharing a most personal story.
Prayers for your brave wife and wishes for all the best.
Thank you my friends and neighbors for all the well wishes and to Mr. Murray and Mr. Montenaro for giving me a forum to put this up. My wife and Ann Romney and all the other fine folks that suffer mostly in silence are the real Heroes. I’m just the fellow who’s Southernisms you’ll have to wade thru to get to the point. Like I said I’d Dance a jig with the Devil if it does just one person some good especially on this issue.
IR -- You and your wife have a special place in my heart and in my prayers, friend.
Thanks IR for putting together these facts: Mrs. Romney should be able to relate to the need for universal health insurance, but she apparently doesn't. Why doesn't she tell Mitt to knock off attacking Obama's health reform act? Surely she realizes not every woman is married to a man who has made millions working for an investment company.
One of my relatives has a chronic condition, cannot afford private insurance, and lives in fear our Tea Party governor will succeed in kicking her off MaineCare. And the irony is, she voted for LePage, because she bought the lie that Republicans are "fiscal conservatives." Yeah, Republicans are "conservative" when it comes to spending money on public health, but, then they turn around and cut taxes for millionaires with the "savings."
Thanks for your voice IR,
We really must have full Universal Healthcare, just like other developed nations have had, for decades.
Thanks for taking such good care of Miss Ellie, with love.
Wonderful post IR
Every time you post it proves more and more why rational voices like yours helps bring this country to "coming together".
All the best to you and Miss Ellie when walk yonder down the road.
wow,wow,wow, he sings to, I think he may be a prophet
IR -
Having met you and your lovely wife in person, I can vouch for both her courage and your steadfast devotion to doing everything you can to help her with this battle. And since I believe Mr. Romney cares for his wife just as much, I'm glad that neither she nor Miss Elly have to battle this disease alone.
There are SO many others out there who are not as fortunate, either because they're alone in the world, are no longer able to work but do not yet qualify for disability, or are fighting the same sort of battles with their own insurance companies that you described. I realize that healthcare is a business just like any other, but it saddens me that in all of our discussions about it here and elsewhere in this great country over the last few years, we've focused solely on the dollars and cents and many of us have lost sight completely of the compassion and empathy we should be feeling for others. Until we've walked in your shoes - or mine and a number of other posters on here that I know of when it comes to cancer - we should be wary of passing judgement on others. As Phil Ochs and Joan Baez once sang, "There but for fortune go you and I".
But those who do have that fortune are in an excellent position to educate and advocate for those who don't. I hope that some day the Romneys can do half as good a job at that as you have done here today.
Thanks, Uncle R - I've been hoping you would share your's and Miss Elly's very personal experiences here. You've given everyone much food for thought. Hugs to you both.
Thanks JoAnne... You always say it better than I ever could ...... And know that you have a special place in old Uncle R's and Miss Elly's heart too.
Scarecrow,
You brought a tear to my eye today. Please know I send all of my love and best wishes to both you and Ms. Ellie!
(((((((hugs))))))))
IR - thank you for a touching and informative post. I have a friend who was diagnosed with MS about 6 years ago. I did not know - until now - all she is going through. You've definitely opened my eyes and given me the information to hopefully be a better and more caring friend.
Good luck to you and your wife. You are lucky to have each other!
Seeking then I've acomplished my mission and I thank you for the positive feedback. We Can change the world if we in the words of the late Jimmey Valvano " Never give up. Never Never give up"
Independent Redneck,
The sincerely in your words has brought me to tears.
Thank you for sharing.
IR - LOVED Jimmey V! Since I'm originally from NC I love all things basketball from NC. And he was beyond special.
Thank you again for your great post!
Correction sincerity in you words.
Sorry!
Thats OK thetotas I knew what you meant and I appreciate it.
"And that's the way it is"....this week
Cantor and Ryan's latest screw the poor bill cuts $33 billion annually from food stamps but spends $46 billion annually (adding to the deficit) to cut taxes for small businesses except most of those "small businesses" have 500 or more employees--the Donald Trump/Paris Hilton Benefit Bill. Deficit reduction? Where?
Ryan justified his support of the Trump/Hilton screw the poor bill by saying that food stamps "haven't lifted people out of poverty." Not sure what is worse, Ryan saying food stamps don't help or Sean Hannity saying they can live on beans and rice.
Romney claims he never said Arizona's "papers please" should be the model for the nation. Well, Duflopus, what did you mean during a televised debate when you said the AZ law "should be the model for the nation?" Mr. Etch-a-Sketch in action.
Utah's Orrin Hatch was forced into a run off with a Tea Party candidate; he failed to get the outright nod by 32 votes. Maybe Hatch should talk to Cantor about the $25K he gave to primary those not "conservative enough".
Wal-mart is in trouble for its executives in Mexico bribing officials to build stores. The firm also failed to notify law enforcement after its own investigation found evidence of millions spent in bribes and shut-down its own probe. Plus, they're in trouble for their high-powered lobbying campaign to amend the long-standing US anti-bribery law while they violated said law in Mexico! Oops.
John Edward's trial began. No defense of him but how ironic that he's charged with illegal use of about $900K in campaign donations given by two people. Meanwhile Sheldon Adelson gave $20 million to Newt Gingrich. With Citizen's United, Edwards could have put the money in a Super PAC and gotten away with it because it would have been legal! Supreme Court wisdom?
As an after-thought to his speech the other day, Me-too-Mitt returned to the mic to say he fully supports not allowing student loan interest rates to double this summer. Mitt likes students, too, or at least this week he does. Except...Mitt embraced the Ryan budget; said he'd like it on his desk on Day 1 and in it, the student loan interest rate is doubled! Which is it, Me-too-Mitt, for or against or both?
Common Cause filed a claim with the IRS against ALEC's tax exempt status. ALEC claims it does not lobby. Really? It merely writes legislation as wanted by businesses and pushes said legislation beneficial to those businesses whose membership fees are paying for a Hoo-Rah-Rah from ALEC?!!!
Iowa's own GOPer Chuck Grassley doesn't like that 14 big companies have quit ALEC so he's organizing a boycott of Coca-Cola. Never mind there are Coca-Cola bottling plants in Iowa or that the #2 ingredient is high fructose corn syrup--made from Iowa's cash crop, corn. Who said Chuck wasn't a bright bulb?
Ron Paul appears to have locked up about half of Iowa's republican delegates. No wonder the GOP was nervous about the new Iowa party Chair who just happens to be a Ron Paul former staffer and continued supporter.
Because it's super hot in the ALEC kitchen, the group announced that it was quitting the social issue and Voter ID law efforts and will now focus only on economic legislation (like more tax cuts for the rich). Trouble is, they turned over the issues of God, guns, gays, abortion, union-busting and Voter ID to the National Center for Public Policy--you know, the former Jack Abramhoff group from the big scandal that took down lots of politicians and their colleagues and sent a good number off to the slammer. Nice.
Gas prices have been dropping for the past three weeks. Funny how Mittens and the GOPers were blaming President Obama when they rose but now we only hear crickets.
Cuba plans to move almost 50% of the country's economic activity to the "non-state" sector--another shift from communism but that won't stop the GOP from beating the Red Scare drum.
Most moving photo of the week was of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and President Obama hugging prior to our President's speech at the Holocaust Museum.
Marco Rubio auditioned for VeeP this week. Guess Paul Ryan botched his audition having gotten Mitt in trouble with those illegal free sub sandwiches passed out on election day in Wisconsin.
Jon Huntsman said the GOP had dis-invited him to a Florida fundraiser because he called for a third party, "this is what they do in China on party matters if you talk off script." By Monday, Jon was on a damage control tour telling Morning Joe viewers that "buzzsaw" got it wrong--except BuzzFeed had his quote perfect!
FOX in 2001, "Freedom Fries"; 2004, John Kerry "looks French"; 2012, Mitt and Ann strolled the streets of Paris many times--beaufiful city, Paris!!
Ann Romney wins the Gilded Foot award, "I LOVE the fact that there are women out there who don't have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people, too. And sometimes life isn't easy for any of us." It's the "love" that is out of touch, Mrs R.
Kurt Mix, a former BP engineer was arrested and charged with intentionally destroying evidence related to how much oil was spilling from BP's 2010 broken Gulf of Mexico well after the Deep Water Horizon explosion.
FOX's Steve Doocy sort of retracted his fabricated President Obama quote, "I did some paraphrasing."; sure apologize after the damage he intended was done.
Tennessee House Bill 3517 passed 80-18. It makes miscarriage potentially murder. "Anyone's actions that cause a miscarriage is murder". One wonders if TN will have a Homicide for Miscarriage Team to track down and investigate miscarriages but, hey, there is no GOP War on Women!
The birthers are running amok again. Tony Perkins, head of the American Family Association, has joined Orly Taitz in Birtherville by saying that "questions about Obama's birth certificate are a legitimate issue." Oh, and according to Tony Baloney, President Obama's a "communist mole." The GOP continues to suffer from 1950's Red Scare Fever which causes Kenyan Birtherism Syndrome.
The GOP House leaders are writing legislation to make it illegal for trusted adults--you know, mothers, fathers, grandma/pas, clergy--who help teens who choose abortion but, hey, there is no GOP War on Women!
Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke again, "Fluke, just a poor, isolated college student worried about her contraception. Contraception isn't enough, they want their education paid for, too." Loathsome faux man, Limbaugh. One of these days Rush will ugly himself to death.
Imagine being the worker at the Brush, Colorado, McDonald's when a dairy cow stopped at the take-out window--perhaps looking for a chicken sandwich and a shake?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wisconsin's job losses the past year are the worst in the nation. GOPer Gov Scott Walker took office in 2011 and for the past 12 months, Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state. Don't worry, Scott, Mitt Romney says you are a "great leader...courageous and a hero"!!!
Speaker Boehner was all huffy this week. How dare President Obama go to colleges and universities in battleground states and stir up trouble over student loan interest rates? Boehner said this was never an issue--except what Mr. B failed to mention was that every House GOPer voted "yea" on the Ryan Budget a few weeks ago and it doubles the interest rate permanently; and until the pressure was on, the GOP was obstructing the legislation to prevent the increase. Never an issue? Really? It just bugs the heck out of Boehner when President Obama hands the GOP the paint and brushes and the GOP happily paints itself into a corner--yet they keep doing it over and over and over hoping for a different result--then they hit the mic and whine about it!
Marco Rubio dipped his toes in Foreign Policy waters Wednesday. Trouble is when he got to the end of this speech, "I left my last page of the speech, does anyone have the last page?" Teleprompter, Rubio?
The right's gone off the deep end because President Obama did the slow-jam on Jimmy Fallon's show. FOX's Gretchen Carlson's upset, "...I think it's nuts-o". When President Bush appeared on Deal or No Deal, Gretchen was beaming, "I like it..."
The Gingrich campaign announced that next week the Newtster will quite the race. He's on a farewell tour right now. What's with the GOP? Candidates gave speeches announcing that next week they would announce they were running; now they're announcing that next week they'll announce they're quitting. Just Do It!
Mitt Romney wins the Bachmann "Chitspa" award for this President Obama criticism gem. "People have to see that the president is not taking elaborate vacations and spending in a way that is inconsistent with the state of the overall economy." Would tearing down a perfectly lovely multi-million dollar La Jolla beach front home and building a $12 million, two-story mansion complete with a car elevator be more "consistent with the state of the overall economy"? Chutzpah on a grand scale from Tin-Mitt.
Good morning Jody,
Another Great wrap up for the week.
Thanks
Jody -- Pretty wild week! The President was awesome this week. He shines when directly addressing the people. The Gee Oh Pee's were exposed as nefarious obstructionists. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good week for us Dems.
Terrific wrap-up as always, Jody. Have a wonderful weekend!
Another great recap, Jody. Thanks for all your hard work.
This Republican nonsense over the President delivering speeches in battleground states is so ridiculous. What did they say when George Bush used a taxpayer-funded aircraft carrier for his "Mission Accomplished" speech. Next they'll be objecting to having "Hail to the Chief" played when the President speaks.
Here is what else happened this week-
Obama finally went too far with his campaigning on the taxpayers' dime. Â When even this site put "official" Â in quotes, it became clear that he had, finally, been entirely too contemptuous of the law. Â Thus, a complaint has been filed, seeking to force him to reimburse the taxpayers for his campaign trips. Â Whether that succeeds or fails, the public understands what's going on - and does not like it. Â What was really dumbfounding was Obama's campaign stop in North Carolina, where early voting has already begun on a state constitutional amendment which would ban not just gay marriage, but civil unions, as well. Â Obama said NOT ONE WORD. Â Not for, not against. Â He simply ignored it. Â Kind of the same way he is ignoring the EO on his desk that would ban discrimination by government contractors against the LGBTcommunity. Â I assume it does not poll well. Â Does anybody remember that when Clinton was president, 70% of people did not want members of the LGBT community to serve in the military AT ALL?!? Â Clinton enacted DADT by EO-an order that served its purpose and that Obama had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to rescind- but that EO started a national dialogue the end result of which was the polling on that issue doing a complete flip. Â Moreover, who on earth is in favor of discrimination? Â What, exactly, is Obama's problem?
Obama did talk about the remote possibility that the rates on Stafford loans might increase. Â He did not mention that he had missed not one, but two votes that decreased those rates- ironically, because he was too busy campaigning. Â He did not mention that the discussion was not whether or not to keep the rates lowered, but how to pay for that rate cut. Â He also did not mention the debt each and every student would bear because of his outrageous spending. Â Like Amendment One, he could not find time for it in his campaign speech.Â
On the heels of the EPA following through on Obama's campaign promise to shut down coal fired electric plants by making it too cost prohibitive to operate them, the agency drew even more heat when, in the words of Obama appointee Al Armendariz, they set about on a campaign to "crucify" natural gas producers. Â Armendariz explained that they would follow the ancient Roman model of descending on a town, grabbing five men, and crucifying them as an example; they would then have no trouble with the town for a long period of time. Â The agency, Armendariz said, chose natural gas producers at random, and targeted them for real or imagined violations. Â This persecution instilled fear in other companies- so the agency could simply go about its business, with no fear of real violations. Â In case you missed it, let's go to the videotape
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/04/26/epa_official_says_philosophy_is_to_crucify_oil_and_gas_companies.html
Not exactly the way most Americans want the government to work, is it?
Home sale prices fell to their lowest level in over ten years in February, while homes resales also fell. Â This had a serious impact on retailers such as Home Depot and Bed, Bath and Beyond- firms that typically supply goods to those purchasing new homes. Â Not surprisingly, durable goods also fell. Â As a corollary to that news, initial claims for unemployment continued to rise, Â which should mean a big rise in unemployment. Â That remains to be seen, as it is entirely possible that another couple hundred thousand folks will hit the lottery again this month, and leave the labor force as a result.
Joe Biden took to the campaign trail this week, to tell us about all of Obama's foreign policy successes. Â It would have been the shortest campaign speech in history, but Biden managed to fill it in with his usual garbled nonsense. Â In a twist, he added a dirty joke about, of all people, Obama, and matters most of us do not care to discuss. Â And they said Plain was dumb. Â Mind you, I'm not saying Palin is Mensa material- but compared to Biden? Â Moreover, I'm relatively certain that had she been Vice President, we'd have been spared information about McCain's, um, er, parts best covered by pants- not press.
Due to the fact that, like Carter, Obama cannot possibly run on his record, and also because he is running out of ideas, Obama's speech writers decided to recycle Carter's re election stump speeches. Â Big oil, tax cuts for the rich, foreign policy "expertise"- the full, Carter2.0. Â Don't believe me? Â Google it. Â You'll be astonished.
Obama's media arm, NBC, decided not to even attempt to regain any credibility after the revelation that they had maliciously doctored audio tapes in an attempt to foment racial unrest, and unleashed the hounds. Â Just this week,one talking head called the GOP the Ku Klux Klan party, another accused Ann Romney of exploiting her health problems, yet another accused republicans of wanting to go back to the days when "women and blacks could not vote"-
And Obama caps it off by jumping the shark on Jimmy Fallon.
Oddly enough, they don't seem to have uncovered the story from 2003, when Romney rescued six people- and their dog- from drowning.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/the-heroic-romney-rescue-that-for-some-reason-th
Coupled with Romney's reaction when the 14 year old daughter of an employee went missing, it gives you a pretty clear idea of the man's ability to handle a crisis, does it not?. Â No wonder NBC never noticed it.
They also seem not to know that Obama's biggest Hollywood contributor, Jeffrey Katzenberg  of Dreamworks, is under SEC investigation.  He joins Jon Corzine in the Obama Donor Hall Of Shame-along with Norman LaBoon.  Who's that?  The virulently anti-Semitic Obama donor and supporter in jail for threatening the lives of Eric Cantor and his family.  Nice bunch of characters the cult idol attracts.
In all, another bad week for Obama. Â They'll be getting worse the closer we get to the election.
Obama shelved in 2012.
Outstanding Jody! One can check out your posts on Friday and get caught up on the important news of the week.
Brilliant Jody... simply brilliant!
Hard to chose which is the most outrageous? lol
Plenty of picking to chose from!
PS: I notice you have attracted quite the group of imposters lately?
Rest assured - there is only ONE - "And that's the way it is"....this week
Wonder why they can't post their imitations as a stand alone?
Instead they have to ride someone else's coattails!
Get your boots on the right is shoveling the bull$hit this morning.
Nah, they just hire some illegals to do that.
Thanks again Jody for a great wrap - up......You may have missed you calling - I'm sure the NY Times would love your column......The WSJ...eh....like most GNOPers - THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH.
Jody:
A great wrap as always, but I fear you made one error. Those weren't bribes Wal-Mart was handing out in Mexico. That's the free market at work.
Ron Indiana:
I was out of town last week, but I knew the wrap would be there. Checked it out Sunday evening.
Republicans:
Let that be a lesson to you. The truth doesn't go away just because you collapse posts, or close your eyes, or put your fingers in your ears.
Thanks Jody - Love your wrap up. Very informative.
As always wonderful Jody. Afraid we're going to have to rent a Trac-hoe this week to clean up the Yahoo mess. You just use your back door for a while and we'll get this cleaned up and steam cleaned directly.
Jody--I will add my thank you for a great wrap up as usual to everyone else's! I always look forward to it! Have a great weekend!
"We have met the enemy and he is us!" Pogo by Walt Kelly
no joe, no bo, nj
Thanks for telling the other side. Reading Jody made me wonder if Obama was really a God. Reading yours confirms he is just a weak, no nothing who is destroying this country day by day.
Romney 2012
Weird...
Wonder if you read the same post we did?
Jody barely mentions President Obama.
The nut job from NJ on the other hand, shows off her secret granny crush on him... lol
Love it Jody, once again you hit it out of the park. I especially liked that last paragraph, Mitt truly deserved the Chitspa award not only for the week but for the month too..for being so out of touch. Well done Jody.
I think we should follow Obama and the Democrats on the path of doing nothing. Demonizing anyone that puts forth a solution is working, and liberals seem confident nothing needs to be done to solve our looming debt and deficit problems. That everything can remain as is and the government can care for the masses cradle to grave.
Of course reality is a different story. Demonizing solves nothing. Offering no solutions solves nothing. Spending this country into oblivion will only accelerate the problem. When the system collapses under the weight of massive debt and irresponsible spending the very people Democrats are pretending to care about will be the ones crushed first.
So Obama and the Democrats should just continue to play politics with what is a very serious problem facing this country. There is no need to offer solutions when doing nothing is working so well for the politicians, who by the way will be fine when we are not able to kick the can any longer. So remind us all again who the real obstructionists are in Washington, the ones offering solutions or the ones that aren't? The Democrats are the party of blame, and no solutions.
Poor no jo: still trying to get the applause that Jody gets for her don't miss wrap ups.
Won't happen no jo: One must have talent to gain the readership.
Feisty: don't you love how poor Dolly has nothing to offer except anger and bitterness? Must make for a long day.
Feisty -- It would accurate to say NJNB is obsessed with the President! lol
BTW - You've been kicking butt this week! Keep it up. I've got to run and won't be around later but kick up the jams for me and have a great weekend!
DCIA,
Thanks!
Any requests for the Dew Drop Inn later?
You have a great weekend too!
Feisty -- Anything that gets the joint rockin'! Cheers friend!
Thanks for the kind words, friends. Definitely need boots and the Trac-Hoe but the fact we need those things says I've succeeded in annoying the right-wingers with the truth and the truth just gets in their way.
I see Jersey Shores No Joe still hasn't taken that writing class recommended months ago nor has she found the "humor" pills but she has improved in the "fiction" category. Too bad she's too chicken to post her own stand-alone comment instead of attaching. What are you afraid of No Joe? Afraid to let your post stand alone for scrutiny, stand on its own merits? Never mind, we know the answer.
Many thanks, Jody! And to all my First Read friends, keep up the good work! I'm off to the hospital to visit my husband before I go to work. I'll check in later, if possible.Oh, and I think a few cuba libre's are in order for tonight at the DDI! ;-) Have a drink or two on me!
Obama/Biden 2012
So true, Jody: Your wrap ups put me in mind of Anna Quindlen. Did I spell that right? No matter, you know who I mean.
no jo's are more like an eight grade writing assignment....done badly.
No Jo said: Big oil, tax cuts for the rich, foreign policy "expertise"- the full, Carter2.0.
It is unbelieveable, that thirty some years after Jimmy Carter championed developing alternative energy sources and getting off oil, we still are dependent on the middle east and fossil fuels. Unbelieveable!
You can thank Reagan, oil men Bush I, Bush II and his henchman Dick Cheney, whom GW put in charge of the nation's energy policy twelve years ago.
And, in 1980, a typical CEO made 42 times what an average worker made in income, and today it's 343 times! Income inequality in this country is seriously out of whack, and Republicans se nothing wrong with this picture!
Jody, Iowa
I see Jersey Shores No Joe still hasn't taken that writing class recommended months ago nor has she found the "humor" pills but she has improved in the "fiction" category
Thanks for the fantastic, weekly, wrap up. No Jo All Blow puts me in mind of Cantor and his uber right wing cronies, all gloom and doom fiction.
Amy B Portland Maine can't seem to get off that Republican bashing train. First off it takes years, maybe decades to get approvals for new energy production in the US. From the EPA to environmental groups the permitting process has become an arduous process. Now is that all the Republicans fault Amy? If so how can they be for dirty air, contaminated drinking water, and be blocking new energy which often carry those arguments?
How many alternative energy sources do you suppose have been developed but were bought up by corporations that never wanted to see them hit the market? Oil is a world wide commodity, if we all stopped using it tomorrow the entire world economy would collapse. What the presidents that you mention did was keep oil and gas cheap, and as such the cost of alternatives were prohibitive. Now do you suppose more people want 4.00 gas or 1.86, when there never has been an alternative even at 4.00 a gallon?
So far Obama has failed on all his green energy scams, except that a bunch of his cronies have been handed major paydays thanks to taxpayers. It takes one million solar panels to power 17500 homes. Not going to cut it. Wind is not much better, and both are being hammered by environmental groups from everything to scenic views to bird deaths. Maine is a good example of how hard it is to build a wind farm, how long has that battle been going on Amy?
Plus you fail to mention perhaps the biggest reason oil consumption is nothing the federal government wants to end. Come on, algae for fuel, lets get real. Tax dollars and nothing else keeps all of Washington in bed with the oil industry. So when you paint a picture, try to be honest for once.
Jody - So Good. And thank you for all your work on our behalf.
About A.L.E.C., and further to your comment on lobbying:
ALEC is the only organization to get an individual carve-out in the section.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/26/alec-south-carolina-lobbying-exemption_n_1455861.html
.........................................................................................
"The outings that ALEC organizes for politicians are essential to its influence. At these retreats, ALEC officials work with state lawmakers to craft new legislation.
As the Post-Courier in Charleston recently reported, some of ALEC's "model laws" have been making their way into the South Carolina legislature. The state passed a voter ID law last year, for example, which had similar language to a model bill that ALEC had proposed."
Rick said: From the EPA to environmental groups the permitting process has become an arduous process
Well, this is where you and I have a fundamental difference in values. I am alarmed by reports of people's drinking water bursting into flames, polluted by the chemicals used in fracking, and you, apparently, feel damaging our environment is worth it, in order to power the likes of the car elevator in Romney's garage.
Jody - great post - as usual. I always look forward to your Friday wrap-up. You do it soooooo well!
Amy, it's really unsettling to see that Republicans just don't give a damn about our environment. The "use it up while I'm here and who cares about future generations" mentality is truly frightening. I can't imagine not leaving a country that still has beautiful forests, oceans, animals, etc. for those yet to come. Sad, really!
You forgot to mention Maine and Minnesota too ;)
I'm actually starting to respect Rachel Maddow now she's the only one who keeps bringing it to attention that Dr. Paul is getting screwed, she should be careful though she could end up getting fired like Judge Napolitano.
Amy, SeekingSanity,
Please explain what you want to use instead of oil and natural gas?
Do you know how Geo Thermal works?
Can you be any more extreme in your descriptions? Do you think it is ok for a movie star to have a 32,000 square foot house?
subnormal - we have to work toward less dependency on oil and natural gas - that just makes good sense. Instead of doing that, oil companies just want to drill more. Fracking is destructive as everyone knows yet the oil companies want to continue it and actually increase it.
Yes I do know how Geo Thermal works.
No one is being extreme in their descriptions. We already see pollution of the ocean destroying reefs; floating islands of plastic. We see animals going extinct. Why do you not want that to stop.
And, I don't get to sign off on the size of a movie star's home any more than I get to decide the size of Romney's home or whether he installs a car elevator for his wife. Now that is stupid and extreme. Why did you not mention that one?
Geo Thermal uses a similar process to fracking.
Big oil is investing in other forms of energy. Here is the link.
http://www.kpmg.com/be/en/issuesandinsights/articlespublications/pages/oil_company_reporting.aspx
There are too many different reports of fracking for me to decide on that issue. I think that if it is done correctly it will work. The gas is usually below the water table. The problem becomes one of lining. There are reports that I have read on the one that I am assuming that you are referring to that there was leakage even before they started drilling.
Yes oil will run out someday. probably within 75-100 years. That number keeps on changing as well. We will have to keep on using it until we come up with a practical way of storing energy.
Most of the time when our government does a mandate, they pick the wrong product. Asbestos is a good example. Corn based ethanol is another. President Obama or I should say our administration has bet heavily on solar power. The companies that we put money in have either failed or are not meeting expectations. We cannot force a market to grow when the demand is not there.
If we let the market drive it we will end up with a better result for all of us.
At least in the united states we are a lot cleaner. China is getting worse and so are other parts of the world. Let me ask you this, would you rather have more development in our country where the regulations are stronger? Or should we just buy the oil from some other country?
We are causing animal extinction just by our population. No I do not want to see that. We spend all this money on being clean and yet so many people through their trash out the window. That does not make sense either.
If I had the money and my wife wanted an elevator for her car, well I would build one too. Things like that is what drives our economy. Purchasing basics only will never support our job market. We are too efficient to go backwards on that one.
I mentioned movie stars because for what ever reason they seem to be very liberal in their politics. Yet seem to live the rock star life style.
I have one bag of garbage a week. I recycle everything that I can. I have my daughter living with me and my son part time. I take my pop cans home from work each month so I can recycle those too.
Sometimes it is the little things that add up. Why do we have to make things a million dollar project?
I take everything I can home from work to be recycled.
Again, I have a problem with you harping on the movie stars but you defend Romney. However, that doesn't surprise me. The elevator for he car is just plain stupid and extravagant and shows how out of touch with the real world the Romney's are. At a time when people are losing their homes and sometimes wondering if they will be able to put food on the table, for a Presidential candidate to put a car elevator in their home just shows how totally he doesn't have a clue. And, this is the GOP's best? Really sad.
Again, I know what Geo Thermal is - didn't need it explained.
Unfortunately fracking - in many instances - has created very real pollution problems and done damage that will take decades to clean up.
Yes, we now have to depend on oil and natural gas but should be doing everything in our power to move away from so much dependence on them. That is the only way we reduce big oil's stanglehold on our economy.
oh, that's because those CEOs work so much harder than regular folk do.
after all you can't punish "success for working hard" now, can you?
excuse me while I throw up...
I think you are generally correct, I think most of the problems with fracking have come from those that have tried to rush the job "on the cheap". similar to the problems that occured with deepwater horizon, which was an example of pushing cost over safety
Geo thermal energy and Hydro fracking have only one thing in common. They drill into the ground.
Most geothermal uses a sealed tube with fluid circulating to draw out or deposit heat from/to the rock. The wells rarely excede 400 ft deep and they go straight down.
Hydro fracking drills down thousands of feet and then turns to bore horizontally.water mixed with many chemicals is pumped in at extermely high pressures. This cracks the shale rock layer to allow natural gas to flow into the well. It has been proven to cause earthquakes in some areas.
Other consequences of fracking have been observed but industry has resisted efforts to thoughly study the long term effects.
Oil will run out. As supply diminishes, price increases, so in 10 years gas could be $10 a gallon. I filled up for $.89/ a gallon in 98. Why the rush to burn it all when it is far more valuable when processed into petrochemical products?
Industry has and will push the limits of safety in the persuit of higher profits.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!
It was 1 year ago this weekend when, while we were treated to the comedy stylings of President Obama at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Osama bin Laden was treated to the comedy stylings of Seal Team Six.
(They killed that night!)
amen noid! the President and our elite troops at their best!
fired up, ready to go!
GO Obaaahhhhma 2012!
sorry for the double post, but hey....i'm still fired up and ready to go :)
GO Obaaahhhhhma 2012!
Happy 1 year anniversary of the world being a safer place.
When the news about Bin Laden came out, it amazed me that the President had coolly delivered his zingers (the ones against Trump were the best, as was watching the Donald pretend not to mind them) all the while knowing that the lives of our brave Seals were at risk.
getting Bin Laden...now that was "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
The Correspondent's Dinner is coming up again! Hope it is as good as last year!
Thanks, Jody. Was waiting for your recap. Can head out now, after enjoying what you had to say for the week.
Yup, the Correspondents Dinner should strick fear in every 'wanted' bad guys heart!
President Obama is so Cool!
Cheers for the reminder, Da Noid. I remember President Obama visiting the tornado devastion in the south, then watching President Obama deliver Donald Trump a knock-out birther blow; I remember at the end his unusually serious remarks about our brave military. Little did we know the news that would come the next evening; not one hint that day about the decision our President had made.
Da Noid, great point, I remember the trumped up birth trumpery from Donald.
The President is indeed an extraordinary human being. It takes courage, hard work and serious love of country to do what he is doing.
We knew from McConnell's loud crowing over the last 3 years, that this President has had zero support from the GOP/Koch/Norquist party to help with digging us out of a deep economic hole.
And we just found out to what degree they were willing to make us all suffer in order to satisfy their future-destroying goals - ever since the Day of his Inauguration.
sure the president is cool and karl rove isnt.
this president is doing the same political government travel which every president has been doing since ronald regan.
personaly, i like it when the president goes to the people, its called the bully pulpit, and the people must have their president amongest them, not hiding like many of the out of touch republicans.
"Had they picked just one in a non-battleground, it would have a little higher ground to stand on."
This is ridiculous.
There is NO ground high enough for President Obama to stand on to avoid the vicious attacks from the TeaPeople funded by Americans for Prosperity (Koch)! TeaPeople have no answers, no policies other than lower taxes and less regulations, defund safety programs for the poor and working class, repeal the ACA.......Attack, Lie, and distort!
Obama/Biden 2012!
Amen, chilled. It is disappointing that FR signs on to this ridiculous argument. And Boehner, who can't bother to represent his country at a State Dinner, says the President makes the Presidency "smaller"? They are jealous because Romney couldn't get the kind of audiences we saw this week if he spent a few days' income paying them.
Nice attempts at deflection. Keeps people from asking about Romney's tax returns.
@Chilled
Can you tell me why you think Barry can do no wrong?
Really I'm curious what mental condition to call it when people refuse to accept the FACT the job is not getting done but you ripped the last guy a new butt every chance you got.
Bush derangement syndrome should have woken you up regardless of whether the guy had R or a D after his name.
It seems that FR is trying to push that narrative, Steeler.
I was really dissapointed and I ain't buying it!
And I am with you on that!
But the Republican/Tea organizations certainly aren't... to them, CORPORATIONS are "the people" and they are frightened to death of us in the 99%, the voters, the true American citizen PEOPLE.
They know in their heart that 1. Barry Goldwater was right (sarcasm!) and
2. they are in DEEP do-do come November 2012.
Their desperation certainly is showing!
Another cart load of RNC/TEA daily talking point drivel & B.S. benr.
Why do you refuse to open your eyes and deal with truth instead of FOX misinformation??
Fact is, The "Job" IS GETTING DONE , particularly compared with the previous eight years of Republican control. Just a fact (that YOU refuse to admit. I wonder what THAT mental condition is called!)
benr##### posts: "Really I'm curious what mental condition to call it when people refuse to accept the FACT the job is not getting done but you ripped the last guy a new butt every chance you got."
It appears that you're exhibiting symptoms of something being terrible wrong personally.
Let's start with you and TeaPeople accepting the fact that the last guy lied this country into a war. Accept responsibility for all the deaths and damage those lies caused.
That would be a start benr####.
kr, agree. What better way to keep in touch with the people than to go see them; get out of the WH and DC bubble.
chilled, well said! The truth is that the right wingers are jealous, it bugs them to see huge crowds of people cheering President Obama.
At the U of IA visit Wednesday, there were 5500 people wall to wall in the field house; every inch of floor space, aisles, bleachers was filled. Odd how we rarely hear of the numbers attending Romney's events. Mitt's Tuesday "I won" speech looked a bit thin on people. A huge sign filled an empty spot and blocked the fact there were few people behind him; the cheering echoed as if in a less than full room.
benr-3287919: There is a kind of hysteria surrounding Obama. Over and over I see posts here where the argument boils down to Obama is not as great a failure as Bush and that is acceptable. It is like a race to the bottom. It is partisanship run amok.
Anony - and yet the GOP offers a candidate that has nothing at all to offer. President Obama has done a good job with what he inherited. Do most of us wish more had been done? Of course. But, when you have the GOP opposing every program he proposed, tough to get things done.
I believe in his 2nd term he will accomplish more. I think the GOP is going to see - by the election results - they either have to become part of the solution or they are going to be viewed as THE PROBLEM and have trouble getting any offices in the future.
No one is hysterical over Obama but you Republicans. Your hysteria started on the day he won as President and hasn't subsided since. Why don't you try working to help the country instead of working against it?
Right on, Seeking Sanity.
SeekingSanity: First of all, I am not a Republican. I happen to think that Clinton was the best President since the 1970's. Secondly, I think Romney is eminently qualified and will, if given the chance, fix the economy. No excuses either. Thirdly, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. More of Obama is just insanity.
Right.... "fix the economy" for the wealthy you mean - MORE upper echelon tax breaks/write-offs, decimate Medicare & Soc. Sec. the same way dubya/Cheney decimated our balanced budget & the U.S. economy =
Do you really believe America wants MORE of 2001-2009 Anony? Truely?
Certainly makes me believe your first statement above is NOT the truth either.
Are you an RNC/TEA troll? Are you on their payroll?
If you would read what I am saying, you will see that I believe that the Bush years were a period of decline in America due to lack of intelligent leadership. I believe the Obama years are similar because of a lack of ANY leadership. I am one that lived through a Leader who promised the same thing that Obama promised and continues to promise.
When Bush became President it was hard to fathom but at time he was viewed as being more likable. When Obama became President I had a similar feeling and today he is also viewed as likable. Both stewardship are periods of decline in America.
Romney is our best hope and if he doesn't deliver then in four years we kick him out. If this Independent thinking takes root, it will serve to cleanup the entire American political system immediately.
Except in four years he will have completed what dubya/cheney almost did - bankrupt and ruin this great nation.
America CAN NOT afford to change horses now. You many not be satisfied with President Obama's progress, but it is PROGRESS. We must continue cleaning up the mess those like Rommey led us to between 2001 and 2009 - it is happening, but not quickly thanks in large part to the obstructionism, stonewalling and hostage taking the Republican Congress practices in opposition to our President.
I am actually impressed with what our President HAS accomplished in the face of such assinine opposition. Without them, just imagin what he will do...
...and that is exactly correct! So why on earth would you advocate returning to the same thing by electing Romney? Makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever
I am not as delusional as to think that there is no better than what Obama has offered. I think you cannot get over partisanship.
Oh, contrair Anony!
It is your partisanship that prevents you from admiting the progress President Obama is making.
Progress with what? We have an ACA that is being reviewed by the Supreme Court and may be struck down. We have high unemployment after Obama promised to bring below 8% after spending 1 trillion dollars. We have runaway deficits after Obama promised to cut in half in 2008. We have anemic growth. We have uncertainty by small businesses and large corporations due to new compliance rules by the Federal government. We have a 100% increase in those making over 100k and working in Government. We have increased poverty. We have people on unemployment for a longer time than anytime in history. Social Security will go bankrupt earlier than expected. Welfare cost has increased substantially. Obama has to go.
Rest my case.
Thank you!
We have an ACA which has been sought unsucessfully for YEARS and is needed;
We have vastly IMPROVED uemployment after what dubya left us with...
We have IMPROVED deficit control over what dubya/cheney did between 2001 and 2009;
We have growth, and it is also improving;
Bin Laden and Ghadaffy and other terrorists are dead and Al Quaida is all but defunct;
We have not been attacked on our homeland in the past four years;
The un-necessary/illegal, imbecillic war in Iraq is finally over;
All of this and more in the face of GOP/TEA obstructionism, stonewalling and hostage taking in Congress in opposition to the President....
THAT, sir, is pretty impressive, regardless of you naysayers and your distorted rhetoric.
I say again,
And, besides: President Obama is just way cooler than Willard....
You are as stupid as I think!
The ad picks up where John McCain left off with his "Biggest Celebrity in the World" ad,
I always thought this was the least effective political ad ever created. Pictures of beautiful women, like Britney Spears, followed by clips of Obama, and this is supposed to turn off voters? Hello?
Madison Avenue has used beautiful women to sell cars for 80 years, just having these girls stand next to a vehicle increases sales. What a dumb move on Karl Rove's part. Has turdblossom, Bush's "architect," lost his touch? Or, did he never understand the appeal of lovely women?
They always said part of George Bush's appeal was that he was a "regular guy". I didn't get it myself but that is what you heard people say. Well, the things that the GOP now says are the President being a "celebrity" are really more that he is a regular guy. I can see him talking basketball with people, it is cool that he can relate to young people like on Jimmy Fallon. They are just saying it because Mitt comes across as a pompous stuffed shirt (whether he is or not I don't know) and they can't make him seem like a regular guy.
Absolutely not. Amy your analogy is way off target. Several democrat pundits have admitted such and are scared. The Romney team is being comprised of season veterans with experience from world/foreign affairs to the economy to the budget and team Obama is scared.
The times are different now. McCain played in a contest with kid gloves on. Romney will take the gloves off. Romney has taken hits in his life and weathered the barrage and came out strong and successful. Obama is already showing the signs of weakening in the first round. Pretty soon his only tactic will be to bite the ear of Romney to overcome the shear strength and skill of a superior opponent and his last three and a half years of mostly failures on all fronts.
The celebrity status played well four years ago but that was because Americans (not me) believed in the hope and change being spouted by Obama -- a man without a record, without experience, a man who was absent in the Senate. Now when Americans have felt the despair and spare-change of this administration, the celebrity status reminds them of the 1% the left vilifies.
The American people will see that a professional approach where vanilla will become the new black & white; where you don't need to be a celebrity; where you don't need to be a singer, dancer and a golfer is what this country needs. Americans will say loud and clear in November's ballot box we don't need a personality -- we need experience -- we need a proven leader -- not a community organizer.
ROMNEY 2012 -- and it won't even be close.
Amy -- Couldn't agree more.
Well said Amy
Amy is into cool. So, Obama making a fool of himself "slow jamming" the news? She thinks is too cool for school.
Funny, we never get any stories like this about Obama
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/the-heroic-romney-rescue-that-for-some-reason-th
Romney puts himself at personal risk to rescue drowning people- Obama makes a fool of himself living down to people's perceptions of him as an unserious, failing narcissist who never understood what it is to BE president- but is pretty good at playing one on TV.
Amy is voting for the dog eater. I'm pretty sure she's going to be okay- when Obama loses, he can get a job on MSNBC.
The Romney brothers and their father quickly raced to their Jet Skis. "We tore out of there and my dad hopped on the other Jet Ski and came out right after us."
John Kerry also had an experience on a boat. You remember him? The man whose heroism the Republican Party attacked back in 2004?
He was 13 and drunk when he did that
Amy, that's probably true about Karl Rove; he misread what people saw in Candidate Obama and misread badly--and the right still misreads it. All that McCain add did was point out the stark contrast between the enthusiasm for Candidate Obama and the stodgy, stiffness of Senator McCain.
Remember, Paris Hilton came out with an ad mocking the McCain one; that must have been a blow to Rove's ego.
The young man who introduced President Obama at the U of IA Wednesday was interviewed on the local news. Prior to Obama's speech, he and five other students sat down at a table to talk. The student said President Obama was so nice, so down to earth, easy to talk to and made them immediately feel comfortable by asking why everyone was so quiet and serious when he walked into the room; he said he listened to their concerns and asked questions. Contrast that picture with Mitt Romney last week sitting at a picnic table criticizing the cookies offered to him.
You know nojo, there is a disturbing trend in your posts that are becoming quiet common, especially when Amy posts. It is, for want of a more subtle word, bullying. I could also label it stalking and that too would describe you. Perhaps you might not be aware you are doing it, I know you have been rather busy with dogs and everything that this trend of stalking and bullying may have escaped you.
Try to be more aware of your tendencies to descend into unacceptable behavior when interacting with others.
Amy, excellent reminder of the GOP attacks on our military and former military fighting men and women. I read Douglas Brinkley's biography of John Kerry, "Tour of Duty" which contained the truth. I still get angry at the attacks on triple amputee Max Clelland, who lost his limbs fighting in Vietnam, by Saxby Chambliss; Chambliss accused Clelland of being unpatriotic and un-American. What shallow, empty patriotism the GOP projects.
Gingerbread Mamma, cheers for that one; Jersey Shores deserved it.
Ben numbers, those "veterans" in foreign policy are 15 of the Bush neoconservatives who were basically blackballed for time after their Iraq lies; they have zero credibility with the real foreign policy experts. What that should tell anyone is that if Romeny is elected, expect the same cowboy, war-starting mentality that left this country wallowing in massive debt at the cost of many thousand lives and many more thousands of injured. If that's your idea of "expertise", God help us all.
"...seasoned veterans..."
yeah, seasoned by the W BUSH FAILURES,...sheesh!
Put it in Drive, people! Not Reverse!
Ben - Romney does not present leadership. The only group he has ever helped are the corporations he raided; displaced the workers but made money for the top people. He has no leadership ability. He only thinks of the top earners and offers nothing to the middle class; upper middle class; and the poor. He has no plans; no programs; he says nothing. You are voting for a nothing - who really doesn't give a damn about the country. He just wants to one-up his Dad. If you had a real leader - which unfortunately the GOP hasn't had for a long time - you should have run that person.
Your post really makes no sense. The only proven person in Romney's campaign is Karl Rove who is proven to be despicable; a liar; a lowlife and just a really disgusting person. It's the only one who would go near Romney. That pretty much says it all.
Obama/Biden 2012
Just want to make sure I understand the Republican position on student loan.
The economy grew at a 2.2% annual rate in the first quarter.
Consumer spending increased at a 2.9% rate, good but not yet great enough to sustain growth.
Overall investment was good with a 6.0% growth rate, but most of that was building up inventories, and still not pretty in non-residential investments.
Decrease in government spending was the big negative factor in government growth with spending going down 3.0% in the first quarter overall and federal government spending going down 6.0%.
So with a major contributing factor to the anemic economy being a premature government austerity program what the Republicans want to do is cut government spending.
The logic simply escapes me.
Logic? In 2008, our National Debt was $10Trillion Dollar$, it's now 2012 and our National Debt has grown to $15TRILLION DOLLAR$. For every $100 we spend, we borrow $40. Is the "LOGIC" to CUT SPENDING starting to manifest itself to you?
Down 6% from what Tmess? Answer that question and you might begin to see the logic that spending going down 6% is a drop in the proverbial bucket.
Tmess, well said and the truth. Austerity is exactly what has slowed the growth.
ssmithlg, well, where were you and the other right-wing deficit and debt hawks during the Bush years? You do realize that the debt keeps rising due to servicing the debt Bush and the GOP left; add an economic collapse in 2008, the start of the recession in Dec 2007; unfunded tax cuts and two unfunded wars and this is what you get but it belongs to Bush and the GOP. President Obama's portion of that debt is $750,000 billion for the stimulus package and the continued cost of Bush's wars; the rest belongs to Bush 43 and the GOP. Now that's reality and logic.
Read the BEA report itself Atticus and you might understand how economics works unlike the folks today who do not understand why austerity policies tend to reduce growth.
What counts as government spending is mostly what folks refer to as the discretionary part of the budget which is 1.2 trillion. The rest is considered positive and negative taxes because a grant doesn't have any economic impact until the consumer spends it. You could elminate all government spending and we would still have a deficit because we give out in grants, entitlements, and subsidies (negative taxes) more than we take in in what most people call taxes. So if you are concerned about the deficit (which the Republican majority is not), you first need to balance the positive and negative taxes. Even though positive taxes are at the lowest rate in a generation, the Republican majority seems to be focused on cutting back on negative taxes -- i.e. those things that benefit the majority of working Americans to avoid putting the burden on those who invest in other countries instead of the US.
Economists don't know how economics works.
We do have plenty of evidence to show that supply side, trickle down, tax cut economics do not work.
While Obama is PANDERING to pampered college students and TRYING to Look "Cool" on late night TV, former President George W. Bush hosting the second annual Warrior 100K bike ride for wounded veterans.
NOBAMA2012, Our Military DESERVES a MUCH BETTER Commander & Chief.
Yea, they deserve one that will increase their funding (at the expense of everything else) right?
Just asking - How much is the GNOP going to cut veteran's benefits as part of their spending cuts ?
The ultimate irony: increase defense spending but not the healthcare for the damage (physical and emotional) that our veterans suffer.
Hypocrites.
Paul & Ruken.... In 2008, our National Debt was $10Trillion Dollar$, it's now 2012 and our National Debt has grown to $15TRILLION DOLLAR$. For every $100 we spend, we borrow $40. Is the "LOGIC" to CUT SPENDING starting to manifest itself to you?
So why do they propose increasing spending on defense? Is this the "logic" you speak of?
Riddle me that.
Well, the logic of those in position to do so - the wealthy - paying their debt certainly IS manifest. Why doesn't the Tea/Republicans get it?
Are you all THAT controlled by the Kochs & Roves etc.?
Romeny certainly should have paid MORE taxes on his $58,000/day income than he did, and so should others with income ove $1,000,000.00/yr. Take care of the nation instead of hording more for yourselves...
Remember JFK's inaugural question?
Greedy, unpatriotic RWNJ's!
Question...
Did Dubya ever, in 8 years, have a balanced budget?
Nevermind...........
SS
I'll be surprised if one of the disabled vets doesn't take a shot at him.
Oh the Weeper of the House is crying. Perhaps he and his gang can reimburse us the American people for the pay they receive for not doing anything but going home on break and disrespecting the President every chance they get. So, the Weeper can shut up and stop crying, because he doesn’t demand anything from the President.
Mr. Weeper, we demand that you do and your followers in Congress do your job or go home for good.
Hey Boner!!!!! SHUT THE HELL UP, you bastard!!!!!!!!!!!! ENOUGH WITH YOUR BULL@!$%#. ENOUGH WITH YOUR LIES. ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OBAMA BIDEN 2012
Death to the GOP 2012
So let me get this right. Under the Rubio plan we can have people over there fighting
for our country, be from Arizona, stop at that place, visit,etc. Be seen by a cop
and say hey thanks for risking your lives now we're deporting you.
I could care less what Boehner thinks. I am glad the President was getting the truth out of the right wing agenda to increase student loans. Now he needs to get out and let women know that they have agreed not to, but only if they can cut rights for women to get immunizations for their children, cancer screenings, and research for birth defects. Someone has to get out and tell the truth to the people! Thank-you President Obama!!
damage, no jo, joe in albany are starting to write a what happened this week in there posts. It looks like they got there idea to do that after good people on here have been doing for a while. When someone copies your ideas it shows they have none of there own. Typical right wing trolls.
Amen!
Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery!
Best part is they don't come even close... not by an inch...
When someone copies your ideas it shows they have none of there own.......................
Just like the party they follow.....empty of ideas and lacking in moral fiber.
Smitty, thank you for saying that.
Jody Your welcome.
While Obama is PANDERING to pampered college students and TRYING to Look "Cool" on late night TV, former President George W. Bush hosting the second annual Warrior 100K bike ride for wounded veterans.
NOBAMA2012, Our Military DESERVES a MUCH BETTER Commander & Chief.
Our Military DESERVED a MUCH BETTER Commander & Chief than George W. Bush, and now we have one in President Obama.
Obama - Biden 2012 For a Strong American Military.
Michael Hastings' new book, The Operators, jabs at what could be a vulnerable spot for the Obama Administration, the president's relationship with the troops.
The book describes a visit to Baghdad:
After the talk, out of earshot from the soldiers and diplomats, he starts to complain. He starts to act very un-Obamalike, according to a U.S. embassy official who helped organize the trip in Baghdad.
He's asked to go out to take a few more pictures with soldiers and embassy staffers. He's asked to sign copies of his book. "He didn't want to take pictures with any more soldiers; he was complaining about it," a State Department official tells me. "Look, I was excited to meet him. I wanted to like him. Let's just say the scales fell from my eyes after I did. These are people over here who've been fighting the war, or working every day for the war effort, and he didn't want to take @!$%#ing pictures with them?
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE SOMEONE THAT APPRECIATES OUR MILITARY?
Our country deserves a commander in chief who takes out the terrorists who threaten our country (Osama Bin Ladin) and looks out for the interests of the people, even the ones who hate him for no reason. We have an awesome commander in chief in President Obama!!
ssmithlg
While Obama is PANDERING to pampered college students and TRYING to Look "Cool" on late night TV, former President George W. Bush hosting the second annual Warrior 100K bike ride for wounded veterans.
NOBAMA2012, Our Military DESERVES a MUCH BETTER Commander & Chief
While Georgie Boy was clearing brush in his Texas President Obama cleared out Osama bin Laden who Georgie Boy intentenially let go in Toro Boro just to forge on to Iraq's oil.
President Obama and George Bush are worlds apart.
President Obama paid respect to the bodies of the dead veterans coming home and the First Lady works with the Military; the stepford wife Laura did nothing.
BTW: Was that the day Bush's ass fell off the bicycle?
Obama/ Biden 2012
Bush was the blunderer-in-chief.
The only thing he did a good job at was increasing oil prices and making the rich soo much richer.
Student loans the president buys his office! Don't pay your loans we will take care of you, yes that is what he told people and we all took a hit! I spent 140 k to put 3 kids through school. Saved and busted my ass for 3 solid educations. Didn't except anyone to bail me out! Maybe the president should send me a check for my wife and I busting our ass so our kids could be educated!
crazyhorse Show me the quote where the President said that. Put your money where your mouth is show the quote.
Smitty when the crisis was going on the president told the American people you have to make your payments for 3 or 4 months! I have talked to college grads who were so disappointed that the president didn't pay off their loans because he made that promise. Come on Smitty the man says things he can't cover! Stop covering for him, what are we a welfare country! This guy says things just to get elected!
crasyhorse Show me the quote. If he made the quote you than you have something to stand on. Not a empty soapbox. You made the statement back your statement. How an I covering for him by asking you to show his quote?
Crazy Horse - perfect moniker for you. The President NEVER promised to pay off student loans for anyone - except maybe his daughters when they get to college. Why would you think anyone would believe this trash?
The word is after 20 years your student loans will be forgiven, of course you will still have to make payments until then.
Crazy horse, You and your wife did the right thing. So many people do not.
Another example of doing things right is my god-daughter. She went to private college and took out student loans. She is currently living with her mom and dad and working two jobs to pay off the debt. For now she has settled for jobs that do not require her education.
The important thing is she is paying her debt and not defaulting. She assumed responsibility for her education.
The president thinks 100% of all Americans should go to college. 100% of all Americans are not suited for college and there are not jobs for 100% of Americans that require a college education. Trade school for the people who cannot go to college is one possible solution or the old system of paid apprenticeships. We need to get away from the idea that 100% of Americans should get a higher education.
We will always have and need burger flippers out there.
Just in case people weren't really listening to Romney's NH speech, his platform is simply that of Mitch Daniel: national right-to-work (abolish collective bargaining by weakening it), charter schools (teachers are paid too much and their unions are too active politically against the GOP), eliminate public sector pensions (if you don't have one, they shouldn't either), and cut taxes (and since there won't be any magical 8 percent growth as a result, services and care for those in need will be reduced or sent to the states). You can have granny move in with you, or you can have your property taxes raised. Or check out Sean Hannity's beans and rices recipes - that's what you should be eating before you ask for food stamps. I dare any any reported to ask Romney directly or through his campaign whether he believe in the principle of workers to organize and collectively bargain with most employers. And whether he believes that tied to this right is the democratic right of the majority of the group to impose dues upon its members and to contract with the employer to withhold those dues?
oboma should be driving this message thru---- I AM WASTING TAX PAYERS DOLLARS TO THE TUNE OF 4.296 MILLION A DAY TRAVELING AROUND DO THESE TOWN HALL MEETING.
I AM A LIAR AND I WASTE TAX PAYERS MONEYS.
oboma is a joke. wasting tax payers dollars at 179,000 dollars an hour or 4.296 million a day when campaigning at college campuses in battle ground state. he should be in jail for doing this. there is no reason that can justify this waste. have you ever heard of skype you fu----- as-hol-.
he is a hypocrite, asshol-, liar, and a waster of tax dollars. if he was in the middle east the US government would be helping to over throw him.
what is funny about these voters that oboma is attracting or the entitlement group living on the government picket, riot, yell and scream about needing more but in reality they are slaves to the government now.
100 years ago a master provided for their workers, the workers were called slaves. there is no difference to those setting at home able to work but don't because they are lazy and there new master (the government or oboma). they enjoy being slaves of someone else, oboma is their master today. wow, how times have not changed at all.
slave is a slave regardless of how you lay the facts out. the master is spending tax payers dollars getting his slaves to vote for him so he can give them more. the problem is 100 years ago the slaves actually did work. today they are entitled to do nothing at all.
one day the money will stop as it will run out. regardless of the lying master that is the leader of this country.
he is spending money at a rate that has never been seen or will be seen in the history of the world.
he has spent more money in 2.5 years than the last 10 presidents did in 50 years. wow, what a jackwagon he is.
rj what rock did you crawl out from under. I'm sorry it was the "jackwagon" and you didn't crawl you got pinched out. You are a slave to the right.
Smitty you are a slave to the left, the real world is that both parties have failed us! Both have overspent and both preach things that can't come true! Get your head out of the sand oh buddy Smittty!
LOL...that pretty much covers my reaction to RJ. This is the kind of reasoning that will keep the right wing out of the Oval Office.
crazyhorse oh buddy Smitty. First lets make this clear your not my buddy. Yes you right when you said that both parties have failed us and have overspent and say things that can't come true. The republican party is the party of the rich. The Democrat Party is the party of the working man. Sell your soul vote, republican.
RJ it's not spelled oboma, it's spelled Bush.
ssmith, how quickly you forgot Bush's lack of attention to the VA and the wounded through his administration. Hospital conditions, lack of services for both the military and their families. I gues when you go to war you go with the dope that you've got, as Rummy would say...
He should be all over it given it was his fault that all of the soldiers killed our wounded in Iraq suffered needlessly. It should never have happened.
Incumbency has tremendous built-in advantages and places on any challenger the extra burden of overcoming the incumbent's public pulpit.
That said, Congress can enact a law specifying under what conditions the President's campaign must pay for, say, half the cost of his travel (security costs would be excluded from this). Such a restriction would make a President think twice about traveling as often during an election year.
Where was all this talk of travel restriction when scrub bush ran for reelection. I forgot its ok when a republican does it. You righties will say anything at this at this time to make yourselves look like you all have a plan.
The DNC/Obama campaign has already reimbursed the government $1.5 million this year; that's more than the RNC/Bush campaign reimbursed for all of 2004.
First Read, are you really telling me that you want the President of the United States to plan his travel schedule based on how states are polling on a particular day? That is pretty ridiculous, no? All of the states are part of the United States, and the President can visit them as he sees fit . . . its one of the perks of the office.
The sad part is that John Boehner starts whining about it, and the media feels obligated to repeat it.
Kind of how we have "reporters" running all over South America "researching" strip clubs and brothels so they can report back that men like to have sex.
How does that help anyone other than the reporters on assignment?
We have a real priorities problem in this country.
I agree, Nash. And if the President had made a speech in a non-battleground state, the media would have said he was cynically adding a non-battleground state to his agenda. He can't win with them so I'm glad he isn't trying. He spoke out on an issue that is of enormous concern to students everywhere and got the House to take a break on renaming post offices and waging a war on women's reproductive rights to take action. I call that doing his job, not campaigning.
So true Steeler Fan . . . if the past 3 years have taught us nothing else, it has taught us that no matter what the President does, the GOP won't like it. . . even when the President is agreeing with them or using ideas that they thought of.
So much for "Country First".
So true, Nashville. The GOP just doesn't play well with the other children, unless the children are also from the far, far right.
You mean unless the children are unborn.
man has our ass-hol- president pushed the limits.
he has spent more tax payers dollars in 2.5 years than the last 10 presidents did in the last 50 years.
folks- this guy spends over 4 million a day traveling around doing these town hall meeting.
stop spending you freak. he is ruining this country.
You have a source for that? Or did you just pull that out of your rear?
Ruken, if you would ever pull your head out of Chris Matthew's butt, you might learn something!
October 05, 2011
The Treasury Department just released updated numbers on the national debt. What they show is that Barack Obama has run up more debt since he has been in office than all of the other presidents in U. S. History from George Washington through George H. W. Bush. CNS New has the story:
The Obama administration passed another fiscal milestone this week, according to new data released by the Treasury Department. As of the close of business on Oct. 3, the total national debt was $14,837,099,271,196.71—up about $44.8 billion from Sept. 30.
That means that in the less-than-three-years Obama has been in office, the federal debt has increased by $4.212 trillion--more than the total national debt of about $4.1672 trillion accumulated by all 41 U.S. presidents from George Washington through George H.W. Bush combined.
Sorry RJ...when you make comments like that, people are going to blast you. Why don't you post, for educated comparison purposes, how much Republican candidates spend on campaigns (and line their pockets with from campaigns)? And, like the other radicals on the right, you blame one man for the state of the country. You Reds hated it when liberals blamed Bush but you turn around and do the same thing. No ONE person is destroying this country. Get a clue.
Troy.... YOU need to get a clue. Read #21.2 and learn something.
I can twist statistics too.
Because when you look at spending and debt as a percentage of GDP, FDR must have been 'destroying this country' during the Great Depression and WWII.
Oh hey look! Seems like Obama is curbing our debt increases.
Your demigod Reagan seemed to be doing a bang-up job though.
LMAO ssmithlg. I could cut and paste from cnsnews.com too. There's no bias in their reporting. None at all.
Ruken, I don't "twist" FACTS.
Only those still defending this FAILED president have a need to do that.
NOBAMA2012, the END of an ERROR.
Troy, when you open your eyes in the morning do you see Obama's colon, or your own?
No, you twist statistics.
Because statistics also show the fact that spending as a % of GDP is going down, and therefore debt as % GDP is being curbed.
These are facts.
RJ & ssmithlg - you don't twist facts - you just plain out lie. Why in the world would you think anyone with a brain believes the lies your tell? Please! And, the ass-hol isn't our President but check out the mirror and you'll see him!
RJ is, sadly, a victim of foxwashing.
The conservatives are done,,,,they don't care about 99% of the american people,,,,,their politcal beliefs are archaic,,,,they have done more damage to this society over the last 40 years and it will take a miracle to dig ourselves out of this deliberate destruction,,,,in at least 36 states they are silently changing laws that effect the everyday lives of the middle class and poor,,,,their followers are people that just care about themselves and not the good of their fellow americans,,,It is time to stand up to all these criminals,,and that is what they are,,It is time to use the only method we have left to us to fight these injustices,,,It is time to vote them all out before they change all the voting criteria so we won't even have a vote,,,,Vote a straight democratic ticket and maybe we will have a chance,,,otherwise I'm afraid we will all be doomed!!!!!!
Not much to add...nicely said. The only thing I'd add is that our democratic system is a good thing but, when the system becomes as polarized as it is now, it doesn't work. We need moderate thinkers on both sides to take over and work together. Radicals on the right and radicals on the left are accomplishing absolutely nothing.
The 99% you speak of is the "silent majority" (aka The Taxed Enough Already, TEA Party) NOT a small number of unwashed, hippy anarchists that litter public places and deficate on police cars.
2010 SHOULD have been your lesson.... The Conservative Tsunami will be MUCH, MUCH Larger in November. Barry & His Marxist/Socialist Dimocrats are DONE!
ssmithlg - when you do the stupid Marxist/Socialist garbage we all know you are missing a few brain cells. Go back to your basement and play with the Star Wars toys. Your stupidity is totally out there!
Yeah, the 99% support attacks on women's rights, income inequality, tax cuts for the wealthy, and calling the President a Communist, a Socialist, a Nazi, a Kenyan, and a Muslim. Shut the hell up, smith. Did you hear the news??? Your party sabotaged America to score political gains. Why don't you pull your head out of Sean Hannity's arse and see what America is actually like???
OBAMA BIDEN 2012
Budget cuts called for by the corrupt Republican corporate political puppets to pay for student loans! WHY aren't these corrupt corporates PAYING FOR THE LOANS? They are the ones that REAP THE GRADUATES HARVEST! These corrupt corporates stole our pensions so why should we expect them to pay for their OWN JOB FORCE!! It was only WISHFUL THINKING!
Vote STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC, the lives you save WILL be YOURS & your CHILDREN! This message is brought to you by a LIFELONG DEVOUT REPUBLICAN who is totally disgusted with the corrupt Republican corporate rule and he has NOTHING TO GAIN except the satisfaction that he is helping his fellow Americans!
LIFELONG DEVOUT REPUBLICAN"? Me thinks I smell a lying Marxist/ Socialist/ Democrat, no suprise there.
Sorry Smith, the only thing you smell is yourself. Why would anyone, much less a republican go for the destroying of our country for more tax cuts for Romney and his rich friends?
Fortunately for us in America, not all republicans are as stupid as the tea party crowd. There are actually several who post here and are respected by the liberal crowd.
To be respected around here you have to write your thoughts and not just the repeat-a-lies that so many right wingers recycle over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
VOTE FOR WOMEN'S FREEDOM..VOTE A SEA OF BLUE..VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN
I am truly not sure that I fully understand who stole whose pensions....If something is promised that is beyond the realm of reality to keep, who is supposed to pay for that error. If a union, or a government, or a company promises impossible returns for pension benefits and cannot pay them, then why should the government???? I simply don't get why the entire of the American people should be paying again and again for the errors of a few.
And part of the problem with college graduates is that there is no "corporate harvest"....the ripened crops are rotting in the fields with nowhere to go and losing value as time passes....there are not jobs for anyone, student or otherwise to aspire to.
"Barf en Ch ief"...."Too Cool to be Pre sident"...."Sexy, Handsome, Charismatic"...."Moo chelle one of most beau ti ful women in world"......If you are an American citizen that believes this....I am so sorry for you....This guy is corrupt from the word go....
justmee no hate in your comment huh.
Smitty-4183671 nope just ignorance and jealousy!
"Barf en Ch ief" spent millions of tax payer dollars to tout his student loan message on campuses....People this admin lies about everything....If you want to be a third world nation, vote for a second term for "Barf en Ch ief"....our Moo s lem Leader.
justmee Again no hate in your comment huh.
Just Mee
"Barf en Chief" spent millions of tax payer dollars to tout his student loan message on campuses....People this admin lies about everything....If you want to be a third world nation, vote for a second term for "Barf en Chief"....our Moo salem Leader.
John Boehner needs to return the tax dollars for his caucus taking weeks off and not doing any work!!!
George W. Bush made 77 trips to Crawford, Texas, during his presidency, and you paid. What about election-year presidential travel that's ostensibly presidential but suspiciously political?
The Daily Caller tells me that the exact cost of Michelle Obama's trip was $467,585. But now the Census Bureau estimates the U.S. population as 313,435,714. So that's, um ... 0.149180511963267 of a penny per person.
How about the teletubby, Newt Gingrich, reimbursing those tax dollars for his security and he's not even in the presidential race? I bet Newt knows his stalkers are the repo men
See post#1.9 - Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:29 AM EDT
FYI: Student loans are government business!!!
Obama is certainly driving home his message to young adults; my failed economic policies aren't producing any long term well paying jobs so stay in school.
Not to worry about amassing huge student loan debt you'll be paying back for the rest of your life, I have you covered.
Support me in this up and coming election and I promise you that when you finish school, I will have some type of government assistance program in place to take care of you because my never ending debt crises will never create an economy that will produce the long term well paying jobs you'll need to pay off all those student loan I encouraged you to get.
But, I must tell you, my promises are only good as long as my never ending debt crises doesn't destory my ability to borrow money from foreign nations to keep my government operating.
My nephew who just received his mechanical engineering degree is going to grad school because he has no job offers. It's Jimmy Carter all over again.
My son couldn't even get the required work/study in his field in order to fully complete his undergraduate degree, which meant more student loans while he tried to frantically fulfill that graduation requirement...an extra year which didn't yield the desired cooperative work experience, and for a fifth year undergraduate, there are no grants, just loans......and then to have to throw in the towel-don't have the degree on the technicality of not having the work/study experience, so no job in your field, and a mountain of loans coming due.....and no real jobs out there to go to other than what you studied either. As somebody who graduated at the end of the Jimmy Carter years, I would say this experience is pretty identical, and I can only hope that it doesn't trash his future chances when and if the economy truly begins to be more healthy.