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Subscribe to RSSIncreasing polarization helps explain why we’re on our fifth -- and counting -- fiscal showdown… That said, GOP Rep. Scott Rigell (R-VA) joins Obama on his trip to Virginia to warn against the sequester cuts… Attention Bob Woodward: Cantor tells the New Yorker that it was their plan to let the 2012 election decide the spending/taxes debate… It’s NBC/WSJ poll day!!!... Second time the charm for Chuck Hagel? Senate to hold vote on his nomination around noon ET… Gun issue dominates today’s IL-2 special primary… Republicans vs. Republicans in Virginia… Chris Christie not invited to speak at CPAC… And Lone Star rising?
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, responds to President Barack Obama's remarks to the nation's governors earlier today about how to fend off the impending automatic budget cuts, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, on Capitol Hill.
*** Increasing polarization: This current political battle over the looming automatic budget cuts known as “sequester” has become the fifth fiscal showdown -- and counting -- between the Obama White House and congressional Republicans since 2011. Part of the reason for this conflict is due simply to divided government, with Democrats controlling the White House and Senate and with Republicans in charge of the House. (After all, it was divided government that produced the political showdowns of the late 1990s, as well as 2007-2008.) But there’s something else going on, too: increased political polarization in Congress, even in the U.S. Senate. According to National Journal’s 2012 vote ratings, for the third year a row, “no Republican member of the Senate had a more liberal voting record than any Democrat—just as no Democratic senator had a more conservative record than any Republican.” And in the House, only 10 Democrats had a more conservative score than the most liberal Republicans, while just five Republicans were more liberal than the most conservative House Democrat. In other words, there are few ideological crossovers (like liberal/moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats) anymore. Democrats are liberal; Republicans are conservatives; and there’s little ground in between. For over two decades, since National Journal started these rankings in 1982, it was the norm for there to be a handful of ideological crossovers in the Senate. Now, it’s the norm for there to be purity.
*** Rigell, it, just a little bit: All of that said, President Obama has a surprise guest when he travels to Newport News, VA -- a huge shipbuilding community -- to warn of the sequester cuts at 1:05 pm ET, especially as it relates to the defense industry: local Republican Congressman Scott Rigell (R-VA). Also in attendance will be Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Dem Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA). And today’s event won’t be the only bipartisan meeting. As NBC’s Mike Viqueira, Kasie Hunt, and Kelly O’Donnell report, GOP Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham will head to the White House this afternoon at 3:35 pm ET to discuss immigration with the president. But those examples are exceptions rather than the rule. By the way, there are NO talks scheduled before Friday’s sequester kicks in. Just a lot of media events designed to lay the groundwork for the negotiations in March. That said, don’t be surprised, if simply for appearances sake, there is a last minute meeting at the White House before Friday -- simply because both sides need to be seen as pretending to try to stop the sequester, even if there aren’t any serious proposals right now to do so.
*** Attention Bob Woodward: In his profile of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and the House GOP caucus, the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza has this scoop, especially as it relates to the current sequester fight: Cantor admitted he talked House Speaker John Boehner out of accepting Obama’s grand-bargain deal during the debt-ceiling battle of 2011. “Cantor told me that it was a ‘fair assessment’ that he talked Boehner out of accepting Obama’s deal,” Lizza writes. “He said he told Boehner that it would be better, instead, to take the issues of taxes and spending to the voters and ‘have it out’ with Democrats in the election.” Lizza adds: “The bet failed spectacularly. Just as Cantor had urged, Obama and Romney spent much of the campaign debating tax and spending policies that the House Republicans had foisted on the Romney-Ryan ticket. What’s more, by scuttling the 2011 Grand Bargain negotiations, Cantor, more than any other politician, helped create the series of fiscal crises that have gripped Washington since Election Day.” So this reporting -- which Boehner’s and Cantor’s offices dispute, saying that they walked away from the 2011 talks after Obama asked for more revenue -- begs the question: If Cantor and Republicans decided to let the election determine the spending/budget debate, why are revenues off the table for them, even after the fiscal-cliff deal?
*** NBC/WSJ poll day! How do Americans view the current political debate over the sequester? What are their impressions of President Obama and the Republican Party? What do they think about immigration and gun control? Beginning at 6:30 pm ET, we’ll have answers from our brand-new NBC/WSJ poll.
*** Second time a charm for Hagel? At noon ET, the U.S. Senate is expected to reconsider Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be President Obama’s defense secretary, according to a top Democratic Senate aide. If he gets 60 votes -- which he was unable to get earlier this month, becoming the first cabinet secretary pick to be successfully blocked by a filibuster -- final passage would occur either today or tomorrow. As we wrote on Friday, all signs are pointing to Hagel getting 60-plus votes. And here are the five lessons we’ve learned from the Hagel fight: 1) political betrayal is a worse sin than being a member of the opposing party; 2) getting 60 votes remains the standard in the Senate; 3) confirmation hearings, while maybe not decisive, do matter; 4) Benghazi has become a catch-all Republican fallback, with McCain and Lindsey Graham earlier saying they wanted more answers on the subject before they support moving Hagel’s nomination along; and 5) Hagel has been wounded by the entire process. Here’s a sixth point worth making, as we’ve done before: The extra week-plus that Republicans got after filibustering Hagel seems to have revealed only that a bogus group like Friends of Hamas never existed.
*** Gun issue dominates today’s IL-2 special primary: On this VERY busy day (sequester, poll, Hagel), there’s an additional story worth paying attention today -- the Democratic primary in the race to fill Jesse Jackson Jr.’s Chicago-area congressional seat. In this multi-candidate field, Cook County Chief Administrative Officer Robin Kelly appears to be the front-runner, thanks in large part to the issue of guns, especially after Newtown and the gun violence in Chicago. (See the TV ads here, here, and here.) As one of us wrote last week, this special primary has highlighted three points: One, the NRA has become anathema to many Democratic donors (hence the TV ads blasting Kelly’s opponents, like former Rep. Debbie Halvorson, for getting an “A” with NRA). Two, Michael Bloomberg’s organizations have become a countervailing force (see the $2 million-plus they’ve spent in this race). And three, do these things apply outside of urban areas like Chicago (that’s the big question moving forward after today if Kelly wins, and it’s something that Jessica Taylor of the Rothenberg Political Report questions). Polls close at 8:00 pm ET.
*** Republicans vs. Republicans in Virginia: The state of Virginia is in today’s political news beyond President Obama’s trip to Newport News, VA today. For starters, conservative pundit Erick Erickson is heavily criticizing Virginia Bob McDonnell for raising taxes in the state’s bipartisan transportation deal. “On Friday, March 15, 2013, at 8:00 a.m. Bob McDonnell will go to CPAC and address the Faith & Freedom Coalition Prayer Breakfast. For those of you who attend this event, you will be sitting staring at a liar,” Erickson writes. By the way, McDonnell will be on MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown” today. In addition, Politico’s Martin writes that GOP business leaders aren’t all that pleased with Republican gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli. “Two prominent northern Virginia business leaders got into a heated exchange with Virginia Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli in front of a few hundred top GOP donors at a closed-door meeting Friday.” These two stories highlight the current fight within the GOP between the pragmatic conservatives and the ideologues.
*** Christie not invited to CPAC: We mentioned this last week, and it’s getting more pickup after another First Read piece noted it: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasn’t invited to speak at CPAC.
*** Lone Star rising? And finally at 11:00 am ET, a group of top field strategists who worked for the Obama campaign will hold a conference call announcing the effort -- called Battleground Texas -- to try to turn the Lone Star purple in future years. (San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will be on this call.) As Politico wrote last month, the organization “plans to engage the state’s rapidly growing Latino population, as well as African-American voters and other Democratic-leaning constituencies that have been underrepresented at the ballot box in recent cycles. Two sources said the contemplated budget would run into the tens of millions of dollars over several years - a project Democrats hope has enough heft to help turn what has long been an electoral pipe dream into reality.”
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Have Europe's austerity third-dip recession and 26% unemployment rates, taught us anything?
FACT: If the Sequester cuts go forward, federal spending will fall to a new five-decade low, with bigger cuts ahead over the next 10 years. We know cutting does not create prosperity. We know cutting cannot grow the economy or jobs.
Why would we go along with the Sequester cuts? Actually, we do not. Almost every interest group out there wants to stop the Sequester. According to the latest Pew Research Center polling we say NO to cuts:
60% of us say NO to cutting State Department
65% of us say NO to cutting Unemployment benefits
71% of us say NO to cutting Poverty programs
71% of us say NO to cutting Health care
73% of us say NO to cutting Defense
74% of us say NO to cutting Energy
76% of us say NO to cutting Environmental Protection
76% of us say NO to cutting Agriculture
77% of us say NO to cutting Science Research
77% of us say NO to cutting Anti-Terrorism Defense
81% of us say NO to cutting Roads and infrastructure
82% of us say NO to cutting Medicare
82% of us say NO to cutting Combating crime
83% of us say NO to cutting Food and drug inspection
84% of us say NO to cutting Natural disaster relief
87% of us say NO to cutting Social Security
89% of us say NO to cutting Education
91% of us say NO to cutting Veterans benefits
The above demonstrates how much we like our government spending. We understand "the Deficit" is not "the Economy".
We voted a big NO to GOP policies 3 months ago. Yet GOP's goals continue to be cutting our Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, while whittling taxes for the rich down to zero. GOP's goal of trashing the economy and victimizing the American people has not changed.
When what we need is a rapid infusion of spending on infrastructure, education, energy & research;
GOP/Koch is proposing self-mutilation, decimating jobs & the gross sabotage of our present and future economic recovery.
I have a feeling that there are those -- aside from the hard left who in cult-like fashion will fall over themselves trying to defend this or just ignore it because there is no defense -- thinking that they might have been sold a bill of goods as we used to say.
Huh??? From the most transparent administration in history?? Are you serious?? What "state" secrets could be discussed at a governor's meeting??? Was this in retaliation of the press questioning your wasting of tax dollars with world renowned moral example Tiger Woods without allowing them access?? My question would have been -- Mr. President since you obviously have very little family time, why didn't you choose to spend your three days with your wife and daughters?
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-governors-clear-out-press-so-we-can-take-some-questions
From the beginning, the administration of transparency ordered policies of secrecy. Please don't bother trying to say this secrecy is historically the way it has been handled because that was not the bill of goods -- the impression -- the American people were given. Are some of you starting to scratch your heads??
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/24/robert-gibbs-i-was-told-not-even-to-acknowledge-the-drone-program/
Best interpretation I have heard in ages when it comes to the GNOP;
Hat tip to my soul sistuh Clara in KC! ;o)
I predicted weeks ago that they were SO convinced Willard would win, they never bothered to plot a an alternative scheme!
Ummm... Eric, the President won re-election decisively, Democrats gained seats in the House & Senate.
So, now what's your EXCUSE???
Fact -- Scare-questration was the president's idea. The democrats and many conservative republicans have said that if the Republicans were serious about cutting the deficit they would agree to increased taxes. Well -- check mark -- they did. They were also told that they would cut the defense budget. Well -- check mark again -- the Scare-questration will do that.
Now Mr. President live up to your end of the bargain and actually cut spending -- not hypothetical future cuts or reducing the level of growth for the future. Take out that sharp pencil you said you had four years ago and go line item by line item and cut.
Oh by the way if you want to close a loop hole, just close the one where your surrogate group raising $500K a pop can't deduct from taxes.
THE SEQUESTER:
GOP took credit for it - and GOP majority and Leaders voted for it:
Is a smokescreen for the Right wing to shaft public/government programs and replace them with for-profit ventures.
THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s fun watching the lefty liberal Dems floundering around,
and whining and complaining about the Obamaquester in Washington. Lefty
liberals like to think they can demonstrate their superiority by claiming that
Barry is playing chess while the Republicans are playing checkers. Too bad for
the lefty liberals and Barry that the real game in Washington is poker.
When Barry and the wizards in his White House dreamed up
their Obamaquester plan they thought Barry was making his checkmate move against
the Republicans. What he was really doing was making an all-in poker bet while
holding a pair of twos. Now the Republicans are calling his bluff and he is
screaming like a stuck pig. They don’t have to do a thing and Barry’s Obamaquester
plan will just kick in and give the bloated federal budget a taste of diet food
for a change. And there will be no tax increases when the Obamaquester plan
kicks in. Barry got his tax increases two months ago. It’s time to get his
promised spending cuts taken care of.
From the beginning when Obama first took office and the republicans met and decided that they were not going to corporate even for the good of the nation with the president the stage was set for a divided America. He beat John McCain and McCain has never got over it.
Those first little hints of spring for those who live in cold weather states.
That's when we think – gee, I can't wait to open up the windows; can't wait to toss the winter coats and boots and slip into some comfortable sandals; how nice it will be to get the bike out of the basement; can't wait to once again take a walk along with ocean/lakes without those howling winds knocking us down. Thinking about maybe planning a long drive to the country or mountains as the snow bids us farewell.
Perhaps some of you are looking forward to a beer as you say hello once again to fellow baseball fans at the ballpark on opening day- the same fans you haven't seen since late summer.
These are things we can't do yet, but these are activities we are all looking forward to, whether we're a democrat or a republican.
What is up with the republican party? What is with the constant drama? Do they honestly think we take them seriously? We've all moved on. We all just want to work and enjoy life - just normal people, doing normal things.
There is nothing normal about today's Republican Party. Destruction, lies, stubbornness, divisiveness and yes, incompetence - is still the name of the game with them.
That's not who we the American people are. The Republican Party's days are numbered.
As are winter days.
Give me a link to your supposition and I will give you my link that says if we go through with the sequester and a 9% reduction we will be spending at a level not seen for..............wait for it..........three years! OMG the sky is falling!!! Back to 2010 levels! Surely we will all perish!
Downgraded
This is what happens when you cut too much too fast
Friday, February 22, 4:55 PM
Credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Britain’s government bond rating one notch from the top AAA to AA1, citing weaknesses in the economy’s medium-term outlook.
The British government is in the midst of a program of spending cuts designed to reduce the nation’s hefty deficit, but a flat-lining economy has led it to downgrade its own estimates of future growth.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/credit-ratings-agency-moodys-downgrades-uk-from-aaa-to-aa1-cites-weak-medium-term-outlook/2013/02/22/9a01b702-7d3a-11e2-9073-e9dda4ac6a66_story.html
Sorry double post.
Joe and his fellow idiots are going to have a grand time watching our recovery tank. They sound downright giddy!
The latest contrived disaster - sequestration - could be cured so easily. Unfortunately, the cure is honesty, and the biggest deficit we face is in the "Honesty Account". It's empty. One single fact illustrates the manifest dishonesty in Washington, D.C. We continue to re-elect the very people we say we despise. We - you and I - vote for legislators who invariably make promises they cannot and will not keep.
We lie to ourselves when we say it's our Congressperson who is doing a great job. It's yours who is going the lousy job. You send back your great guy, I send back my great guy and to our eternal surprise, Congress hasn't changed one iota.
Congressman who are now railing about wild spending are the same ones who were spending like drunks just a few years ago. Since they've been in office, Republican leadership has wasted money as though there was no end to cash. Democrats have joined the Republican chicken hawks in one foreign bloodbath after another. Killing people in faraway exotic lands isn't cheap. They also gave free prescription drugs to our oldsters.
We elected representatives who gave us free money. Come on now, you know it was free. Tax cuts pay for themselves they told us. Well, maybe not. So we borrowed money to pay for the tax cuts. Whoopee! Free money. It's so free that it is rapidly becoming a major component in our national debt.
So, these Congresspersons who don't have the guts to deal with budget cuts and tax increases passed a sequestration bill that was so awful, so terrible, they would force themselves to deal with the issue. Incredibly, the bill has allowed a relatively small group of brain-dead legislators - the right-wing Teabaggers - to control this nation, to show us that government is our enemy. Boehner doesn't have the guts to stand up to them and Cantor stands behind Boehner prodding him with a shiv.
Democrats refuse to budge on entitlement reform even though it is the largest component of the budget. Republicans are grateful, because they don't have the guts to deal with it either.
We are going to find out in very short order government is not the enemy. We are going to see that it's presence is felt in literally every sector of our country. We are also going to find out in very short order we have elected Congresspersons who have no business in the governance of this nation.
If we want to start working on that deficit in the "Honesty Account" it's time we looked at ourselves and admit the problem begins with us.
This is what happens when a politician with a radical agenda runs and claims he's going to be the most "transparent" POTUS ever and that he will lead from the middle of the aisle ... but then we all come to find out this was in no way true. Radical, non-nonsensical leadership has to be met with "No". It can't be left to go unchecked or the entire nation will suffer down the road.
It isn't helping that the stated number one priority of the most powerful republicans in America is to "Make Obama Fail". That has been proudly repeated again and again and again. These clowns opposes anything Obama is for, whether that opposition makes any sense or not. Opposition to Obama is more important than ANYTHING else to the GOP base. They don't even deny it.
As far as the sequester goes, Boehner was claiming the GOP got 98% of what they wanted immediately after they agreed to it. So did McConnell. So did Cantor. They all claimed victory. Their only victory was blocking Obama's proposed $4 Trillion deficit reduction package. Great work guys!
Republicans will trip over themselves to get in line to vote to RAISE taxes on the middle and poor classes BUT when it comes to taxing the rich they will fight like hell to see they get to keep their gimme's in the tax code. Quite sickening.
The House is back but still have no desire to work on anything other than naming things. A NASA facility has a new name AND their budget will be cut. Thanks Republicans.
Apparently, there are those who think they own the president, think they should dictate what, when, where, how, and with whom he should spend his time. Since when did the president become Ben's bitch in chief?
Will we finally see Hagel confirmed today? I think so and hope so. Thanks Repugs for a long time coming. (Sneer). And , can we finally get some movement and settlement on this Sequester problem. Republicans are going to HATE Friday if they don't get their act together. Come on GOP you have actually accomplished NOTHING so far this year, actually since the election you lost. Get with it guys.
All the kings men and all the kings horse's cannot put the GOP party back together again. It is broken and a friday without a compromise and targeted spending cuts and revenue increases the republican party will be put on clasic fail.
Best Progressive Communist on a Political Blog
From the article above:
Yesterday, TomasGrande had his first real, “You’re a Communist!” moment. I’m not talking about the daily; run of the mill Communist-Marxist remarks I’ve heard from our dear friend Caesar Augustus. No, I’m talking about a real, genuine, fire and brimstone, in-your-face “YOU ARE A COMMUNIST” moment!!!
Here’s the re-post of the blog that made it all possible:
Courtesy of NBC Politics on NBCNEWS.com
I am humbled and honored by this Piece de Resistance post so much that in the spirit of the Academy Awards aired on Sunday; I have to take a moment to express my gratitude.
Thank you, thank you so much. It’s quite an honor to be called a “Communist” as have so many of my fellow, progressive columnists who have come before me.
(Sigh) Oh, there’s so many I want to thank………where do I begin?
I’d like to thank all my friends at First Read; NBC News; Mad Magazine; Cracked Magazine; National Lampoon; Stiller and Meara; The Smother’s Brother’s Comedy Hour; The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour; Laugh-In; The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; The Flip Wilson Show; The Carol Burnett Show; The Bob Newhart Show; The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast; Saturday Night Live; In Living Color; The Man Show; Richard Pryor; George Carlin; Lily Tomlin; Steve Martin; Bill Cosby; Woody Allen; Jonathan Winters; Robin Williams; The Beatles; Charo; The Harlem Globe Trotters; Dick Clark; Seinfeld; John Stewart; Stephen Colbert; Dave Chappelle; South Park; Eddie Murphy; Chris Rock; Adam Sandler; Will Ferrell; Jim Gaffigan; Brian Regan; the entire cast of The Big Bang Theory; Clark Griswold; Eddie Griswold; Al Gore (for making the internet possible); George Clooney; Susan Sarandon; Sean Penn; Lady Gaga; Bugs Bunny; my second-grade teacher Miss Mastroeni (who I had a HUGE crush on); my architecture professors who hated everything I ever did; Chuck-E-Cheese, where their over-priced/under-cooked pizza and deafening noise drives me crazy but my five-year-old granddaughter LOVES it;
And finally my wife of twelve years! She’s my rock, my soul mate, my better half. I LOVE YOU HONEY!!! THIS IS FOR YOU!!!
We now interrupt this program to bring you the following message:
“I’ll be here all week…don’t forget to tip your waitresses and waiters, and please, try the veal.”
Anonymous
Salud
CAN'T FIX STUPID!!!!!!
Morning Jolt – February 26, 2013
By Jim Geraghty
John Kerry Was For 'Kyrzakhstan' Before He Was Against It
This is kind of an http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/9892297/John-Kerry-invents-country-of-Kyrzakhstan.html">easy lay-up for mockery . . .
(All of that wacky capitalization reflects that we're reading the Telegraph of London.)
All the kings men and all the kings horse's cannot put the GOP party back together again. It is broken and a Friday without a compromise and targeted spending cuts and revenue increases the republican party will be put on classic fail.
STexan, "non-nonsensical"? Gee, in algebra, a double negative makes it positive. So, it makes sense? Sheesh!!! "Grammar" isn't the mother of one of your parents!!!
So true Tom. It's sad that the Extreme Right Wing hates the President so much that they want the Nation to fail, no matter the cost to the average American. It's down right Shameful !!!
SCARE-QUESTRATION -- The president signed it -- he owns it. Spin it any way you like -- Barack "Jim Jones" Obama owns it.
That pleasure belongs to each and every American. He was hired by the American people to do a job just like you and me. We don't do what the employer asks, when he asks, we don't work there anymore. Perhaps he should, as the GOP is suggesting, get off the campaign trail and get back to Washington and get something meaningful started.
Take a bow Tomas! lol
PS: What is a POC?
Funniest part is Donny "douche-bag" wanting to "kick" people out of "his" country! LMAO
Lord, you just cannot make their crazy crap up!
Salud!
CAN'T FIX STUPID!!!!!
Sequestration's Powerful Cuts Can Overcome the Time-Space Continuum!
Sequestration: It's working already, as http://reason.com/blog/2013/02/25/white-house-report-claims-sequestration">Reason's Mike Riggs notices:
If sequestration is powerful enough to eliminate programs in the past . . . now I really like it.
@TomasGrande, you forgot to thank MAD Magazine. The Usual Gang of Idiots went a long way toward shaping my political views back in the '60s.
Thomas and Fiesty - he really meant POS, and I agree.
Up Yours
The Republicans in Congress could probably fix the problems in this country but they would have to give a half million bucks to Obama to get him to meet with them. PATHETIC man in the White House.
The Weeper of the House is now being held hostage by his own captors LMAO!
50 tea bagging dumbfux governing this country by one manufactured crisis after another;
Yeah! That's what I call leadership...
Backhouse, amazing numbers. In that Pew Research Poll, I believe it was 73% of Americans name deficit reduction at the top of the priority list, support spending cuts as a general idea BUT, as in so many other issues including ObamaCare, when specific questions are asked--they no longer support or oppose what they thought they supported or opposed.
My own observation is that the reason nearly 3/4 of Americans list deficit reduction as a #1 priority is because it is been hammered into their minds by the media and mostly by the GOPTPers near daily rants on the deficit and debt for four years. The same thing happened with health care reform, the GOPTPers lied about it whether it was death panels or government take-over or socialism or whatever else they could think up. The people did not like ACA in nonspecific poll questions as a result BUT when asked about specifics within ObamaCare, a majority overwhelming supported it.
The debt is a long-term problem that must be resolved but the best solution to deficit and debt reduction during an economic recovery is to first do no harm; first get the economy humming not sputtering. I fully support cutting defense spending and have no doubt there are general funding programs which would not suffer great harm if the budgets were cut. However, 10% across the board spending cuts with a hatchet and no ability of those government agencies to use a scapel is simply crazy.
Once again, Barack Hussein Obama is playing the fear game and he is running to campaign his thoughts instead of actually working with Congress ! Surprise ! Surprise !! Surprise !!! (Where is Gomer Pyle when you really need him ?)
Of course, if SEQUESTRATION actually becomes reality ... it is Obama who will decide where the cuts are to be made ! I can't wait for OBAMA to make the decisions and then try desperately to blame the Republicans !! After all, it WAS Obama's idea, and he is on record just last year of saying he would not back away from sequestration ... imagine that !
Obama has flip-flopped yet again !! Obama contradicting Obama... but somehow, some way, he will blame Republicans !! LOL !! The Democratic Senate approved and Obama signed it, but the blame game will be directed at Republicans !!!!
I really feel like the Academy snubbed Thomas for too long. He should have been bestowed that honor a long time ago. It was definitely his year. Now all he needs is a "baby killer" and "abomination" and he'll have the trifecta.
Why would Barry even consider compromising? He has his tax INCREASE (on EVERYONE, not just the wealthy) and now he'll be able to gut military spending while blaming Republicans.....
A skillful community organizer is always able to manipulate the masses to attain his goals
Don't worry, everyone. The President will meet with his big donor buddies and all will be well!
Let Chuck Todd explain it to you how the President is no better than anyone else who occupied the oval office (and may be worse for reasons of hypocrisy).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uF0_W99J-Q
Let the sequester happen!
Ben-636050
Oh good. Nothing like "put the buck on the plate of the signer. After all, it's not like the Republicans put it through the House first. What happened was Barack HOOOOOOOOOOOOOSAAAAIN (did i get that right?) Obawma sat down at his desk, drafted some legislation and sidestepped Congress and signed it into law himself - socialist dictator style.
Ben, are you sure you're not a Democrat? That sounds like the same thing they do when they blame Bush for everything. Since I'm not a Democrat, I'm still allowed to mention him. :)
It's good that you can block out a lot of what happened and just put this squarely on one guy. Kind of like how people like to blame all of Dodd-Frank on two guys. But since Bush signed it, it's his fault --- and everything that the Senate and House pass during Bush's term... his fault, because he signed it.
Awesome. I like this game. It's a good way to just point a finger and blame rather than try to figure out what went wrong and how to prevent it in the future. But thankfully pointing a finger and saying "NUH UH! HIS FAULT!" is much easier and faster than actual critical thinking would be.
Sequester is NOT like a Government shutdown.
The sequester does NOT allow funds to be moved around. The President and his cabinet do not get to select where the money is spent.
Do not think that unessential operations can be shut down or cut back to fund essential operations according to the wording in the Budget Control Act of 2011.
Don't see anything about 10% across the board cuts in the Budget Control Act -- now dubbed SCARE-QUESTRATION.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3635
@Feisty - no kidding, including people like Talk and Ben that believe we voted President Obama into office to play the role of their personal assistance. So Talk, when you be telling the president to serve your lunch and pick up your dry cleaning?
FR:
The Senate Democrats are no more liberal now than they were twenty years ago. The recent extreme polarization is 100% due to Republicans moving to the bat crap crazy right with wackos like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.
Are Liberals crazy? The Government has to be cut, it is a bloated tick sucking the life out of the economy, and we have a POTUS who refuses to lead. He should be leading not campaigning! Blame game politics are all we get from this guy. Why on Earth would anyone want to surrender 50-60% of YOUR Property to the Government unless you are crazy. That is what wages are, your property,you earned it,spent hours away from your family doing work to obtain it then have it confiscated by someone who spends it like a drunk in Vegas, then comes back and wants even more of your money/property.Yeah, Liberals are crazy.
Ben,
The $85 Billion in cuts is 2.4% of the entire budget however since the cuts only apply to 36% of the budget (Defense & Discretionary) the $85 Billion becomes a 6.6% cut to those areas. In addition, just like any company there are fixed costs that cannot be cut. The focus will then be on the labor portion of the budget that will result in layoffs, furloughs and reduced services.
The end result will feel like about an 11% cut.
Ms. Redhead
Thank you, Luv.
Holly-457482
At the top of my list.
Sarah-3043284
I'm working on it. Thanks Sarah!
Salud
FR:
So, Woodward was full of crap when he accused Obama of torpedoing a "grand bargain" in 2011. Why is Woodward's shoddy reporting given any credence by anyone? As I noted yesterday, Woodward is just a Republican shill trying to pretend to be impartial, and failing badly at the pretense.
Well it appears the GOP is getting what it wants. The markets are really tanking. This is what I find so idiotic. These TP's and other Far Righties want the economy to go into the dumper and are doing everything they can to make it happen. These people aren't all retirees and many of them regardless have retirement savings in the market. Proof they will cut their own throats in pursuit of power for their leaders. They have afterall been doing this for years. Of course they will blame this mornings drop on Europe but the big one is coming. Our government is no longer functioning and there will be a terrible price to be paid. How hypocritical are these people? They mocked the amount the tiny raise on taxes for top income earners would raise yet they now say that's it on taxes, not a dime more. No loopholes will be closed, no exemption undone. Did these people recently win a national election? Or is the GOP the party with a 20% favorable rating?
My grandson son-in-law (who calls himself "conservative") will be losing his job Friday. And who will have to step in and help out? As is often the case his liberal grandfather. Not going to let my grandkids suffer. He has a civilian job at a naval base.
And does anyone realize how many government jobs have been cut in the last 4 years? More of the onus for employment shifts to the private sector that just is not going to hire in massive numbers. Corporations are running efficiently at current levels. And if you are a small business owner like myself you are also keeping payroll at a minimum for profitability reasons.
Sheesh -- How could you forget Mad Magazine. Why Alfred E. Neuman (sp?) is the spittin' white image of the president????? I am disappointed LMAO.
That's a most excellent question, Houston!
Along with all the right wing parrots who swore up and down this was "gospel"... lol
Nothing like some "egg" on their face to start the day!
JH-479998
Obama invited a bunch of them to a screening of the movie Lincoln for free. Not a single one showed up. Even though Lincoln was a Republican, the current crop of Republicans hate him almost as much as they hate Obama, because Lincoln's presidency made Obama's presidency possible. Plus, the Republicans wouldn't have to go through all that complicated gerrymandering and voter suppression to keep blacks from voting if it wasn't for Lincoln.
Tomas Grande, Congratulations! And welcome to the club although that was pretty tame compared to some emails leftie liberals receive from the bat-wacked ship of fools.
Terrific posts my liberal friends. I see GOPTPers like Ben are trying to change the subject but what I want to know is why the GOP House took a 10-day vacation which Ben ignores. I suggest we allow them to wallow in their words and we keep moving FORWARD.
Now award winning journalist Bob Woodward has no credibility????? Those of you who believe that have no shame nor intellectual honesty or integrity.
Houston -- The truth comes out! Cantor and his "merry band" decided it would be more POLITICALLY expedient to NOT sign on to something that would have put the country on the right path. Obstructing the governing process is apparently MORE important to them than the country itself.
Wonder if Woodward will have the guts to ADMIT he got it wrong. Very wrong.
Good morning Backhouse...
I have a question concerning your quote here:
How is federal spending being measured here? Inflation adjusted dollars? Absolute dollars? Thanks.
*** Attention Bob Woodward: In his profile of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and the House GOP caucus, the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza has this scoop, especially as it relates to the current sequester fight: Cantor admitted he talked House Speaker John Boehner out of accepting Obama’s grand-bargain deal during the debt-ceiling battle of 2011. “Cantor told me that it was a ‘fair assessment’ that he talked Boehner out of accepting Obama’s deal,” Lizza writes. “He said he told Boehner that it would be better, instead, to take the issues of taxes and spending to the voters and ‘have it out’ with Democrats in the election.” Lizza adds: “The bet failed spectacularly. Just as Cantor had urged, Obama and Romney spent much of the campaign debating tax and spending policies that the House Republicans had foisted on the Romney-Ryan ticket. What’s more, by scuttling the 2011 Grand Bargain negotiations, Cantor, more than any other politician, helped create the series of fiscal crises that have gripped Washington since Election Day.” So this reporting -- which Boehner’s and Cantor’s offices dispute, saying that they walked away from the 2011 talks after Obama asked for more revenue -- begs the question: If Cantor and Republicans decided to let the election determine the spending/budget debate, why are revenues off the table for them, even after the fiscal-cliff deal?
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Rarely do I agree wholeheartedly with an entire paragraph within the article, but on this occasion, it hits the mark. Let the record state that Speaker Boehner is beholden to the Tea Party wing of the GOP and when they told him to get to steppin', he did exactly as he was told to do.
If the sky does fall it will fall on the republicans heads, the president can take any heat that comes his way, he won his election and does not have to worry about political consequences, the republicans will own this politically. Boehner is the weakest most ineffective Speaker of the House in my lifetime, his legacy will be that he presided over the worst, most unproductive Congress, with the lowest approval ratings ever recorded.
Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL
They'll do what they always do: act as if they don't have egg on their face, even though most of them are walking omelets by now.
The debunking of Bob Woodward is a very serious blow to the media's Cult of the False Equivalency for which Obama must always be given at least as much blame as Republicans for any crisis the Republicans manufacture, and preferably more blame, like Woodward tried smear Obama with for the sequester. My guess is that Woodward's debunking won't get 10% of the news coverage as Woodward's bunk did.
Jody -- I expected a little more intellectual honesty and integrity from you. The whole damn Congress was on vacation. Slow blow it out your ear.
Man its funny how Republicans are now saying its Obama Sequestor.. Oh really, so why over 100 republicans in congress voted FOR IT..
But in 2013, they wanna hide and run from it.
Jody
Keep moving forward to what? What is it your moving forward to. Record Debt that you have no way to pay off. Decreasing the military which is so not a good idea. Record unemployment, Gas prices. Inflation rising and millions more on assistance. A nation wide insurance ponzi scheme that has tripled in cost and has not even been implemented yet. America is the laughing stock of the world now. The fools have taken over the kingdom so just what the heck are you marching forward to except the collapse of the greatest nation there was.
1) political betrayal is a worse sin than being a member of the opposing party;
=======================
I would argue with the wording of point 1, exactly what "betrayal" did Chuck Hagel perform?
DCIA,
Not a chance in hell!
Gotcha Gregory will have him on next Sunday to stroke Bob's already over-inflated ego and soothe his hurt fee-fee's! lol
Houston!
Of course not, they must protect their own! Could you imagine any one of these *cough* journalists asking him how he was so wrong?
If Woodward had an ounce of integrity he would either apologize or just fade into the sunset...
I don't see how ANYONE would take what he says anymore as truth full.
Dont_carry_it_all
I think it was pretty obvious from the start that the extremist Republicans were totally responsible for preventing the so-called grand bargain between Obama and Boehner in 2011. They just wouldn't admit it until Cantor slipped up. Actually, I'd have to give Cantor some credit for telling the truth, as opposed to Woodward's lies.
Nah. Woodward is far too important to ever admit he was wrong about anything. He's infallible, like the Pope. Unlike the Pope, Woodward doesn't know when he should abdicate the throne and retire from public life.
Mitch McConnell needs to go. He is one of the main sources of GOP lies and obstructionism.
I'd gladly donate money to the campaign of his Democratic challenger.
I hope the good people of Kentucky are as fed up with this sorry b@stard as I am.
you're right 797, its all the GOP's fault. which goes back to proving how the majority being the democrats are completely ineffective against the minority GOP. Wait, I thought the DNC played chess and can surely outmanuever the candyland playing GOP? Say it aint so. Great strategy with blame.. Unfortunately for the DNC and Oblamo, they will eventually have to ante up.
Leading from the Rear...FORWARD
Caesar, its obvious you can't read an comprehend to well. Where in my last post did I blame republicans. Come on smart ass, tell me where in my last my post.
My point was clear, I think its Funny how a bunch of people VOTE for something 2yrs ago and now start running from it saying OH, its Obama Sequestor now... Try to keep up this time Caesar,
Barack Obama = Alfred E Neumann ? LOL !! Best post of the Day !!! I had the same thought myself on Saturday while on a long drive through another state !!!!! ROTFLMAO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is an intelligent Republican and his name is: Chris Christie.
Whether meant to slight the Governor for embracing President Obama during a time of REAL crisis for the nation, or a realization that Gov. Christie, at this point in time, does not care about CPAC, the reality is that THE leading contender for the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States will NOT be speaking to these self important wanna be's.
MAYBE this is the start of a trend where intelligent Republican people who actually want to govern ignore the far right extremists and get elected anyway. One can only hope and we can go back to the days of leadership, which we have not had in the GOP since Eisenhower.
right, kinda like it's poor leadership to raise the debt ceiling and then do it right...so you get my drift...you blame republicans while never acknowledging the shortcomings of the party you appear to support. Sequestor was Oblamo's idea, it was a quid pro quo thingy but like the forked tongue liar, he 'evolved'.
and yes the repubs have their hands dirty with Sequestor too. they went along with it...
Talk to the Hand
That pleasure belongs to each and every American. He was hired by the American people to do a job just like you and me. We don't do what the employer asks, when he asks, we don't work there anymore. Perhaps he should, as the GOP is suggesting, get off the campaign trail and get back to Washington and get something meaningful started.
=============
Sorry sir, but kind of a silly statement here. If the President is the President of the American people, then there is nothing wrong with the President traveling the Country to be with and speak to the American People. That makes no more sense to say that the President should only be in Washington, than it is to a member of the House or Senate should not be in their District or State, they should only be in Washington.
And if the person who occupies the Presidency is the 'employee' of the People, then please make the correlation once again of what exactly did the People want that was accomplished by President Bush 43, President Clinton and President Bush 41? What exactly did the People demand, that these employees then turned around and did?
I don't want the sequester but I will sign off on it. Now that it is in place, I don't want the sequester but I will veto any legislation that will side step it. - BHO, utterly confused.
Bring on the sequester, I hope it burns the entire government to the ground and they have to rebuild from the ground up. Worthless POS. Every one of them.
Backhouse started this thread with some pretty strong statements. Unfortunately, He/she needs better information.
He/she CLAIMS that federal spending will fall to 50-year lows if sequestration occurs. Does ANYONE on here really believe that? Come on people, wake the hell up! Our government spends more than double what it did just since Clinton's last year, and somehow $85 billion in cuts will equate to 50-year lows in spending????????
If THAT one bald-faced lie doesn't make you question everything else he posted, what will?
More scare tactics by the liberals and the slanted reporting by MSNBC.
The American people are slowly but surely waking up to what is really taking place in government which the very reason we go from one crisis to the other.
Our only hope is that the GOP will finally stand for what is right and will not be influenced by more of this propaganda and deception that is running rampant in this administration and the supporters.
It's no surprise to learn that NBC has gone from being No. 1 in reporting to dead last just recently.
Well here is the deal Caesar, the president has no authority to spend, tax, or legislate, it takes both houses of Congress to pass those policies, so you can blame the president all you want, but it is not within his scope of power. If you say he should lead the House, well hell that is Boehners job, and he can't lead them or stand up to them, if he was smart he would cut a deal and get it passed with the sensible republicans and the democrats in the house. Problem is he is not that smart, and he is scared to death of the Tea Party types in his house. When Senate republicans start to feel the political heat, then McConnel will make a move and put Boehner in the trick bag as he has done twice before. I kind of feel sorry for Boehner, he wanted the Speaker position so badly and now he is in so far over his head it's is not even funny. Instead of asking Nancy for her big gavel he should ask her to lend him her balls for a few days.
Caesar Augustus-
right, kinda like it's poor leadership to raise the debt ceiling and then do it right...so you get my drift...you blame republicans while never acknowledging the shortcomings of the party you appear to support. Sequestor was Oblamo's idea, it was a quid pro quo thingy but like the forked tongue liar, he 'evolved'.
and yes the repubs have their hands dirty with Sequestor too. they went along with it...
====================
Ah, so the President is a 'forked tongue liar' and the GOP just 'have their hands dirty'...how balanced of you.
First all, I dont just blame. I point out FACTS when right wing nuts like you come on here and start Bashing Obama and democrats. You bash the guy for 16 trillion in Debt but never acknowledge the FACT that this man became President when the Economy TANK under Bush. That's not blame its a FACT. The economy did not all of a sudden Tank on Jan 20, 2009.
But it doesn't matter what you think because you are a nobody, another newsvine blogger, Obama is the President and can't do @!$%# about it, You got that...
You got a vaild source for this? I can't seem to find anything to back up your claim...
Ok, Obama is not the one running from the Sequestor. It was his Idea and guess what Republicans join along and VOTED with him. All I'm saying is, Man UP and take responsibilitly. Stop running around holding up signs saying "Obama Sequestor". Sound like a bunch of little kids.
but Forrest, the President comes up with ideas, then uses them as a bully tactic and then says nope...Again Forrest, you have proven with your post that with all the genius of the DNC, they get punked so easily by the GOP knuckledraggers. How is it that a group of Encino men and women can out play the Overly Educated DNC Think tank? For a bunch of Chess players, the DNC seems to always open with the King's Gambit..DOH! wrong piece
As for Nancy. Yeah thats a good one...Best stimulus EVAR was unemployment...of course draining the swamp was another keen idea from the Botox Queen.
Leading from the rear..FORWARD!
yeah you dont. care to try again
really, well on the TEEVEE he claims he doesnt want it to happen. in reality he does. Stop running around sayin the GOP is the Obstuctionist, you look like an Occutard
how precious, interesting you find your self to be extremely relevant though. It's the DNC pompous thing. Unfortunately living in the dark sucks with your head up your ass
@ Mr. Grande
Hilarious that you would thank George Carlin.
There are thousands of species going extinct every day. We didn't kill them all
And he loved you too. lmao
First of all it is not Obama's sequester, he can't legislate, he does not have that power, Congress passed that deal, and even if it was, why pretend that congress can't undo what they have done, because the president won't let them. Maybe some of our elected officials spewing that BS should take an eighth grade test on US government. Congress and only Congress is responsible for what becomes policy, the president can only sign or veto what they send to his desk. They wish to place the blame on the president for their ineffectiveness, but he is doing a nice job of hanging it around their political necks, as well he should.
@David Walker#1.13: There is much elementary truth supporting your missive. Even so, one cannot escape the overriding primary expressions of deep seated and hateful bigotry among this body of republican puritanical representatives, who, true to their constituency, wish only to bring failure upon this Black President. Yes, these ugly deeds often are hidden behind and within contentious issues, yet none insurmountable to acceptable compromise, absent the presence of traditional racial prejudice, and, often as not, pure rage. I contend, the failings of the primary, versus sterile incompetence, and we can note much, feebly expressed through the veil of the obvious elementary, are of an even more stupid and dangerous threat to the continued existence of our Republic. Regards
Jason797
To be fair, it was his idea. The House just couldn't help themselves and agreed to vote for it.
What you can take away from it is this:
#1. It was Obama's idea. Act like the House had nothing to do with it. It will interrupt the narrative we are trying to sell you.
#2. The Republicans are against this. Continue to act like only Obama and the Democrats were involved. We don't want to compromise the version we are selling of the Obama Sequester.
#3. Obama is a socialist, with the middle name of Hussein who never showed us the birth certificate. He really wants to be a dictator.
absolutely right Allen..how silly of me...I suppose i could bust out the pom pom's and cheer all day like FR and the majority of it's bloggers. then i would be accepted into the 'cool' kids club...
That is Balance
TomasGrande -
I know you probably won't see this blog, but I just wanted to thank you for your great "Communist" blog. You brought back so many memories of the "Good Old Days" of Comedyy on TV.
Gacias mi amigo y salude.
"Forrest, you have proven with your post that with all the genius of the DNC, they get punked so easily by the GOP knuckledraggers. How is it that a group of Encino men and women can out play the Overly Educated DNC Think tank?"
Well Caesar once again I will point out that the DNC did not get punked as they won their elections, the RNC is punking themselves, they are as low politically as have ever been measured. Winners and losers in politics are measured by elections, and the RNC lost big.
BTW by all accounts sequestration was supposed to be a way of forcing the Congress to act responsibly towards the debt and not to continue to kick it down the road, nobody ever thought of it as policy but as a threat that would be so distasteful that sensible policy would be hammered out, so the president is exactly correct and not reneging on anything when he says "nope" to it as a matter of policy.
Lastly whatever you think of Nancy Pelosi she could speak for her house, something Boehner has not been able to do yet, talk about getting punked, poor Boehner has gotten punked several times by his own members.
Here's the truth about the sequester Caesar. IF there were tax increases on the middle classes, such as taxing their employer sponsored health care benefits, the Republicans would have ended their vacation last week to vote and PASS that bill. That's a reality. The replacement bill brought forth by Democrats ends corporate subsides and tax loopholes for the rich that's why Republicans will not sign on. That and in their mind it's more politically expedient to try and blame Obama instead of governing for the good of the country. Period.
Jason
The economy tanked under a DEMOCRAT Congress. I know Bush was still President and the boss gets the blame. So who do we blame for the sluggish recovery of the past 4 years? Bush?
Pathetic liberals never take the blame for anything. They follow the leader. A pathetic leader at that.
Backhouse....."Why would we go along with the Sequester cuts? Actually, we do not. Almost every interest group out there wants to stop the Sequester.".
Yep, most of the American taxpayers are AGAINST Mr. "Drama" Obama's sequestration.
Wait a minute....he is on the road AGAIN to get those same American taxpayers to change their minds, just like the State's Governors and the rest of the folks AGAINST Mr. "Drama" Obama's Progressive SPENDING agenda.
Yep, that will work.
Cannot show LEADERSHIP during a crisis. Yeah, I used LEADERSHIP.
So, if nothing can get accomplished in the Oval office, then the Senate
DemocrapsProgressivecraps need to get off the powder room seat.and they are still ineffective as I keep saying. they get punked by blaming the GOP for every little negative thing. Now this maybe in your eyes success. they won right, however long term it will prove to be disastrous for the Nation.
Forrest, the skirt and pom poms are cute. you've been a loyal hound im sure Hussein will present you with the Order of Lenin
Jason
no no no..its 797 who's got facts. LMAO
@ California
I'm surprised he could go back that far, being married for 12 years. He apparently has a great retro channel. He certainly must've waited for the right woman to come along say about 40 y.o
Ok idiot, get back with me when you can dispute what I said with FACTS.
JH,
Really!! So how did a bunch of members in the democrat party of congress led the Economy to a total Collapse. I know you must have some sort of source or something to back this up, right. I mean how stupid can these right wingers get.
Oh, so Caesar is the one with FACTS. Laughable.. Let me stop feeding this nutjob for today..
Mac Forrester:
Your post at 1.81 clearly addresses a point I avoid these days. That the right-wing has a huge component of racists and bigots is a given in my book. Bringing up that point simply brings out the racists and bigots denying that they're racists and bigots. There is nothing to be gained by restating what so many of us know to be true.
Jason797:
Caesar Augustus has been exposed as a functional illiterate on so many occasions, it's almost sad. He is dependent on labels, not facts. Leave it at that.
Tomas:
Congrats. A commie. Wow! It's a funny thing, about those commies. Apparently, they are immortal. I was just a wee-wunker when Joseph McCarthy was busy finding commies everywhere. Yes sir, they were every where. Now, his descendant, the hopelessly stupid Ted Cruz is finding them again. Commies, commies, everywhere, and you have risen above them all to receive accolades.
Again. Congratulations! Keep up the good work.
"Forrest, the skirt and pom poms are cute. you've been a loyal hound im sure Hussein will present you with the Order of Lenin"
Ha OK Caesar, I won't go there with you, frankly it makes me nervous that you imagine me as cute in a skirt.
I follow the politics mostly Caesar, and frankly Obama is one hell of a politician, especially when compared to the current crop of republicans who made it their top priorty to make sure he was not re-elected and failed badly.
As far as your claim as being ineffective, well honestly that is just laughable, he got Bin Laden, something Bush could do in 8 years, and he got a whole lot of others that harmed us. He got the AHC act something that has been tried many times before and was never accomplished. He got tax increases from republicans that vowed never to raise taxes. The list goes on and will continue to go on, and because republicans publicy stated that there plan was to villify him at every turn and never compromise, he gets all the political credit for the good and they get all the political fallout for the bad. Republicans have indeed punked themselves with their politics, they took ownership of the bad economy politically, the one thing that supposedly and historically would prevent Obama from being re-elected, they did him a nice favor with their politics of obstinence. They were so worried about letting this president accomplish anything on his agenda that they have deprived themselves from any accomplishments they can take credit for, and in the end he still accomplished a lot of what he wanted. Ineffective, not in the least, not even in the face of republicans doing everything they could to render him so.
California Tom
Thanks Tom. In my opinion, those were great times in TV, before cable and the internet.
ZappasUtopia
Right you are!
BTW, not sure what you ment about your George Carlin comment, other than he had biting satire and made fun of everybody and I loved his play on words.
Thank you for your posts.
David Walker
Thank you my friend. Back at you.
Salud
Jason797
FACT - Both dems and repubs were in Congress under Bush.
FACT - Both dems and repubs are in Congress under Obama.
FACT - Congress controls the purse strings in the United States of America.
FACT - Both parties are to blame for the economy tanking.
FACT - The dems have had majority control of Congress for over 6 years and are pathetic in their leadership. Thus we see very little gain in our economy.
Liberals always say the the repubs are blocking everything so nothing is getting better. They also say that the poor economy is totally the fault of repubs. Where the hell were the dems when things were going so bad???? They had a much stronger minority at the time of everything going so bad why the hell didn't they block things? I'll tell you why, they are a bunch of idiots who spend all their time blaming others for their total stupidity. Now we have a community organizer running the show and he can't get anything done because the blame game has seen its day, except with his blind followers. You can look in the mirror and see who that is Jason. It is time to lead and quit blaming others. But I don't think Obama is capable of leading.
Ben, didn't say all of Congress wasn't on vacation now did I? You ignored the point which was you wanted to discuss President Obama taking 3 days away as if it was some horrible thing that he had the opportunity to enjoy himself for 3 days; he's with his family most every evening and weekend. Perhaps you'd care to explain why with the House off enjoying 10 days of R & R, there would be any purpose to the Senate being in session. It is the House which abdicated its duties; the Senate would have stayed had the House done so.
To whomever asked, my use of moving FORWARD was in reference to making my point and moving forward to another subject because arguing with those who close their eyes is an exercise in futility.
JH: FACT, the GOP controlled the House, the Senate and the White House from January, 2001 through December 31, 2006. Guess when the bulk of the UNFUNDED spending occurred? Hint, Jan 2001-Dec 2006. When democrats took over both the House and Senate, all they were able to do was stop some of the spending because whatever they tried to do, Bush threatened to Veto it.
Jody
Answer my question!!!
Why didn't the dems stop the spending if Bush was getting us into so much trouble??? If the repubs can stop Obama they should have been able to stop Bush.
And if you really believe that the dems tried to cut spending after they took control in January 2007 you need your head examined.
FACT - both parties got us into trouble. The dems want to continue. Pathetic liberals can only tax more to spend more. Can't they ever figure out how to cut something? Whatever happend to PAYGO? The libs were so proud of that, until they forgot about it.
Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL
You got a vaild source for this? I can't seem to find anything to back up your claim...
Wow seems to me this would have been your first choice. Not last of course in the whole scheme of things but behind Univision? Oh that's right, the illegals have pumped them up in the ratings since there are so many of them.
OMFG..seriously..yeah good lap dog...here's a bone
Fact, you didnt bring facts.. OWNED
David Walker - Ted Cruz is probably Caesar's new secret crush. Cruz being the new McCarthy and Caesar having this insane obsession with communists.
White House estimate spells out tough road for Washington region economy
By Donna St. George
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) pledged on national television to work together to persuade Congress to head off the worst of the sequester cuts that would affect the defense industry in their states.
“On both sides of the Potomac, we sit in the middle of a corridor of science and security, and this sequester stands to wipe out a lot of hard-fought job gains in Virginia and in Maryland,”O’Malley said during an appearance on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”
He said the cuts would “hurt a lot of moms and dads in our region who go to work every day, working in places like NIH and NSA, and also the people that work in the private sectors that support our federal government in these important missions.”
“So both of us hope that Congress will come together and find a way to avoid the sequester,” he said.
McDonnell, who appeared on the program with O’Malley and two other governors, said the sequester “was put in place to be a hammer, not a policy.”
“Our major concern, that Gov. O’Malley and I have, because we’re such defense states . . . is you have to cut, because we’re in bad shape,” McDonnell said. “Find another way to do it, and get it done now.”
In the Washington region, hub of the federal government, the upcoming automatic spending cuts the Obama administration detailed Sunday would strike a tough blow, with nearly 150,000 civilian Defense Department employees facing furloughs and an estimated average loss of $7,500 in pay.
Under sequestration, which is days away if a deal cannot be reached, funding for elementary and secondary education across the region would be slashed by $29 million, jeopardizing nearly 400 teacher and aide positions. Nearly 6,000 fewer children would be vaccinated for such diseases as measles, mumps and whooping cough. More than 31,000 fewer tests for HIV would be provided, and funds for local meals for seniors would be cut by nearly $2.3 million.
Scientific projects would be delayed at the National Institutes of Health, where research awards would be scaled back and several thousand people could lose their jobs. Across Maryland, Virginia and the District, job-search assistance would be cut, potentially leaving more than 33,000 people without such help.
Locally, the White House projected major cuts in military spending, with an estimated $95 million in Army base operation funding in Maryland and another $19 million in Air Force and Navy reductions. In Virginia, Army base funding cuts were put at $146 million, and Navy cuts included the cancellation of maintenance on 11 ships in Norfolk
The array of cuts outlined would include more than $7 million in reductions in clean air and water programs in the region and $673,000 in cuts for law enforcement grants that help with crime prevention and prosecution.
The region would lose a combined $4 million in funds for substance abuse, meaning 4,700 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs.
Head Start, a program aimed at preparing low-income children before they reach kindergarten, would be forced to serve 2,000 fewer children in Maryland, Virginia and the District, the projections said. And 800 disadvantaged children across the region would lose access to child care, the administration estimated.
Nearly $25 million in cuts would affect teachers, aides and staff who work with children with disabilities; at the college level, nearly 3,400 fewer low-
income students would receive aid and 1,790 fewer students would get work-study jobs, the White House said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/white-house-estimate-spells-out-tough-road-for-washington-region-economy/2013/02/24/6fd33004-7eb2-11e2-8074-b26a871b165a_story_1.html
__________________________________________________________
Gov. McDonnell and Gov. O’Malley are seen as on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
In fact some would say that they are both precursors to Political Fights to be waged for long time. So I would say that both are pretty well attuned to the Political Advantages of one position or the other.
However it would not be rare to find them in Agreement that there is no Political Advantage in Pursuing Policy’s that are going to hurt their respective States and what they are trying to accomplish in them.
There is no Political Advantage to be found in doing great Harm to We the People.
“MACHINATION, n. The method employed by one's opponents in baffling one's open and honorable efforts to do the right thing.
So plain the advantages of machination It constitutes a moral obligation, And honest wolves who think upon't with loathing Feel bound to don the sheep's deceptive clothing. So prospers still the diplomatic art, And Satan bows, with hand upon his heart. --R.S.K.”
Ambrose Bierce
Good morning IR, Great reporting that proves the republicans could care less about the Nations citizens.
It's sad that they can hate a President so much!!!
IR, when you cut to the bottom line, we now have a group of know-nothing idiots driving the sequestration. It is the Teabagger contingent that is pushing us into disaster. It is this same group that has accumulated their wealth thanks to World War II that left this nation with an incredible manufacturing base. Not only did they have the base, victorious Allied Forces and the losing Axis Powers had destroyed most of the world-wide manufacturing capability. Teabaggers had almost nothing to do with the economic boom of this nation, but they sure think they did.
So here comes the boomers, who have no clue that they are merely beneficiaries of the blood, sweat, and sacrifice of the previous generation. They were kids when the Interstate system was built. They were still in school when the government-funded space program created a booming consumer economy.
Today, those idiots actually believe they created this country. They truly believe they are entitled to the fruits of the labors of those who preceded them. And this is the group that is beating the hell out of their children and grandchildren. They got theirs and to hell with everyone else.
Damn, I hate Teabaggers.
Amen, David.
Hitler gained absolute power in Germany using the same tactics..... blame, blame, blame.....
Well David Walker, thank you for confirming that Obama and his advisors are know-nothing idiots ! We knew that all the time. Sequestration was an idea of the White House. You can masturbate your words all day long, but this simply amounts to weak-knee Democrats REFUSING TO CUT SPENDING as part of the fiscal cliff deal !
Taxes have already been raised twice, once through Obamacare and again through the "fiscal cliff deal". This administration does not have the balls to reduce federal spending !
The President’s Plan: $4 Trillion of Deficit Reduction Including the Last Offer to
Speaker Boehner
(in $ billions)
THE PRESIDENT HAS SIGNED INTO LAW MORE THAN $2.5 TRILLION OF DEFICIT
REDUCTION
Spending cuts to discretionary programs enacted over the past two years,
(not counting war savings) $1,400
New revenue from wealthiest in fiscal cliff deal More than $600
Interest savings More than $500
Subtotal, Deficit Reduction to Date More than $2,500
THE PRESIDENT’S LAST OFFER TO SPEAKER BOEHNER IS STILL ON TABLE: MORE THAN
$1.5 TRILLION IN ADDITIONAL DEFICIT REDUCTION
Spending Reductions
Even split between defense and nondefense discretionary savings $200
Non-defense discretionary spending $100
Defense discretionary spending $100
Health savings – could be achieved by: $400
Reduce payments to drug companies $140
Reduce hospital payments such as reimbursement for patients who don’t pay $30
Encourage efficient care after a hospital stay $50
Encourage beneficiaries to seek high value health care and ask the most fortunate to
pay more $35
Medicaid, Pay-for-Delay, IPAB, program integrity $25
Other health savings $120
Non-health Mandatory Savings – could be achieved by: $200
Eliminate certain subsidies for agriculture $30
Reform Federal retirement programs $35
Reform postal service and TSA passenger security fees $40
Strengthen solvency of UI trust fund $50
Other savings including Spectrum Fees, Sales of Excess Property, & Program
Integrity $45
Spending Savings from Superlative CPI with protections for vulnerable $130
Subtotal, Total New Spending Reductions $930 + $200 interest
Revenue
Limit tax deductions to 28% for the wealthiest and close other loopholes $580 billion (+$100 billion
from CPI change)
Temporary Growth Measures
Immediate investments in infrastructure -$50
TOTAL DEFICIT REDUCTION
Deficit Reduction to Date More than $2,500
New Deficit Reduction $1,800
Total Deficit Reduction More than $4,300
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/deficit_reduction_table_bucketed_r8.pdf
___________________________________________________________Reality and Truth kinda gives a lie to that little statement there doesn't it Jim. You better stick to the Facts cause what your making up don't quite cut it
I read comments every day from Republicans about how the Sequester is a "scare tactic" that barely reduces government spending, and will have no impact on our economy.
I then look at my local paper, where they are discussing furloughs that will impact 18,000 people at the local Air Force Base, cutting their pay by 20%. Local business owners (Republicans and Democrats) are genuinely concrned about the impact this will have on their restaurants, bars, repair shops, etc.
You know, the small businesses that Republicans claim to champion - funny how none of the Republican business owners are cheering about the sequester and the resulting spending cuts.
I also get a call from my brother, who lives with his family in Virginia. His wife is going to be forced to take off one day each week without pay, cutting her salary by 20%. His job at a Defense Contractor is in jeopardy.
Their lives and livelihood are at stake, all because the idiots in Congress can't do their job.
There are two points that seem to be missing in the Conservative comments on the sequester:
1) These are REAL cuts to the communities, businesses, families and people they impact.
2) No matter who thought up the sequester idea, if it is implemented it is a direct result of the Tea Party Republicans in Congress not being able to do their job and come up with a better solution. Shame on them for not being fit to govern.
What baffles me is the GOPTPers inability to admit to themselves that the sequester was not meant as policy but as a stimulus to get Congress to the bi-partisan table of common sense. As Ezra Klein pointed out last night, there were four goals listed by the GOPTP as being necessary for them to "bargain" yet the sequester negates all four of their goals; lessens the amount of cuts, causes economic harm, risks a double-dip recession....but they refuse to stop it, full-steam ahead.
The reality is that while both parties are to blame for the existence of the sequester LAW, the ability to put a fix into place rests firmly on the GOP. Since they control the House (and the Senate through the filibuster,) anything that does not get done is clearly due to their NOT doing anything.
The House Republicans can end the sequester at any time, the problem is that they won't. They are afraid of the Tea Party will come out and attempt to put even more extremist persons in place at the next primary. The people the Tea Party would like to put up make Joe Walsh, Tod Akin and Alan West appear to be rational moderates.
It will be a painful lesson to Republican voters, you get the representation you voted for. Since you voted to put lunatics in office, you get insane policies.
Unfortunately, the Republican plan to gain power by embracing the Tea Party has had the draw back of destroying the rest of the nation in the process.
@ david
And the country hates those golden showers the president is taking.
Both parties have had since August 2011 to put forward a plan to start to get the debt under control and as both parties lack true leadership neither has put forward a plan. Both parties could have embraced Simpson/Bowles as a structure or beginning point of negotiation but both parties declined to do so. You can cut everything and it still doesn't end the deficit spending or pay back the debt and both parties will have to comprimise. Revenues will have to go up, and the tax base will have to be broadened, meaning 50% of people paying federal taxes just doesn't cut it and programs including defense will have to be cut. The people laid off for short times should take this as a wake up call because the temporary lay offs will be permanent. All of the defined pension plans for feds, state, county and city employees will be changed, they are not sustainable. I didn't vote for Obama, I voted against the GOP because it has become a party of hate but he is fooling himself if he thinks he can tax his way out of this mess. At the beginning of these comments was a listing of how large majorities want every single program but large majorities aren't paying the bill.
Remember when the republicks were dead set against the stimulus. Only problem was the "job creators" from the Chamber of Commerce pulled the chains from around their necks and lo and behold stimulus happened. Now if Republicks get their way Shyte happens. Stimulus versus shyte, which would you choose, looks like the "job creators" are going to pull the chair out from the republicks again.
Polarization. False equivalency is to claim both sides suffer the same illness. The only polarization in Congress right now is within the Republican Party; the Tea Party extremists have the Republican Caucus incapable of functioning as the majority party. Sure there are some far left democrats but they do not control the Democratic Caucus, they do not obstruct.
The Art of Crises Creation. From January, 2009, through December, 2010, the House of Representatives functioned as it should and despite the fact that GOP Senators filibustered everything, the Senate accomplished a great deal. It was reportedly an historically effective Congress, the most legislation passed in decades.
Enter the Tea Party Parade of the Inept in January 2011. One thing is certain, beginning in 2011, the newly elected House GOPTPers were good at one thing and it was not creating the jobs they promised nor was it remotely effective at governing; in fact, about the only thing they accomplished was time off working fewer days than any previous House, repealing ObamaCare a record 33 times, passing anti-womens health legislation....and naming post offices.
The GOPTPers were, however, positively superb at creating unnecessary, self-inflicted, artificial crises. That first year, there was a GOPTP created crisis about every three months. All crises were due to one factor, the refusal to compromise.
April, 2011, brought the GOPTPers first near government shutdown because they insisted on de-funding Planned Parenthood which receives a pittance in federal money.
July, 2011, brought us the GOPTPers Debt Ceiling Debacle. For the first time in our history, one party held America hostage and threatened to default on the exploding debt these GOPers created during eight years of Bush/Cheney. Never had any Congress not raised the debt ceiling, always passed without strings attached. We know the result of this GOPTP self-created crisis because it gave America the first Super Committee charged with creating a bi-partisan plan to decrease the deficit, debt or else....Sequester. Thanks to the power of the GOPer King Grover Norquist, GOPTPers refused to consider increasing taxes on 1% of the wealthiest Americans and closing tax loopholes--government corporate welfare--was considered a sin.
September, 2011, brought us a second GOPTP House led threat of Government Shutdown. Remember those GOPTP Representatives at the Tea Party Rallies leading the chant--Shut It Down! We came within a couple days of inflicting more pain and suffering on a country and its citizens struggling to rebound from the worst recession since the Great Depression.
December, 2012, Fiscal Cliff Crisis #4. The only good thing about the July and September 2011 debacles was that the House GOPTPers realized there was an election in November, 2012, so they postponed their next self-created crisis until December 2012's Fiscal Cliff. After all, campaigning to be re-elected to Do Nothing was important. As is the GOPTP House's modus-operandi, they threw temper tantrums, demanded President Obama give them a plan (he had given them several) while refusing to provide their own plan...and headed out of Dodge for the Christmas holidays. After the new year, the GOPTP suffered their usual panic attack, and retroactively passed legislation to avert the Fiscal Cliff having allowed the USA to fall off the edge. Amazingly, they simply moved the crisis goal posts forward a couple months.
At any time during these various GOPTP created crises, they could have avoided the looming Sequester....but, why waste a perfectly good, self-created crisis when the GOPTP's goal is to cripple the House and once again engage in delay, deny, and obstruct. And here we are, the Sequester. In addition to the March 2013 Sequester Crisis #5, upcoming additional crises scheduled: Crisis #6, March, 2013, another threat of a government shutdown. Crisis #7, May, 2013, another Debt Ceiling debacle.
Be proud, GOPTPers for mastering the Art of Crises Creation. Sadly, it does not seem to concern them that they are causing economic harm, more unemployment, uncertainty for businesses, uncertainty for state governments--red, blue, and purple--and likely drag the USA back into recession. Worst, the GOPTPers make the United States look inept, incapable, and ignorant--democracy at its most dysfunctional.
Good morning Jody, How could anyone who supports the likes of the GOPTP, call themselves a Patriot? It's sad that these make believe Patriots get Great pleasure in opposing anything our President stands for.
As far as I'm concerned they all belong in a three ring circus.
Jody, phew, so good.
It would be GREAT to repeat this "little reminder" as a prescription against the Factless Fact Brigade.
"One thing is certain, beginning in 2011, the newly elected House GOPTPers were good at one thing and it was not creating the jobs they promised nor was it remotely effective at governing;"
The Tea Party was bought and paid for by the likes of Koch and Exxon to move the corporate conversation in their favor. And not for their skill, experience or intelligence.
(Romney was being positioned to close in, and finally shut the American people down for the Corporates.)
Jody:
It is chronologies like this and your stellar weekly wrap that keep the light on the Republican "Policy of Destruction". Please do not stop with your work. We are light years away from November 2014, and voter memories are very, very short.
We must continue to remind voters that Republicans are the party of destruction and must be reduced to minority status in 2014.
Many, many thanks for your labor and your excellent work.
Job1, good points. It is a circus.
I've watched politics for a lot of years and never have I seen a political party so incapable of governing, so devoid of working brain cells, so inept as the Tea Party has made the GOP. My view is that the Sequester cuts should furlough these TP yahoos so Congress can get to work solving the multitude of problems facing us.
David W, I do my best to keep the light shining!
Thanks, friends, for the kind words.
The GOP has hijacked our political process but until the voters punish them for it at the ballot box, nothing will change. These constant fiscal crises have worn everyone down and taken attention away from other important issues that need to be addressed. Unlike the rest of us, the GOP seems to derive energy from this as they never tire of it. Here is the pattern--when the Democrats are in power the GOP stalls, delays, obfuscates and creates false crises to stop anything progressive. When the GOP gets into power, they repay their base and screw up. It is up to the voters to stop the pattern.
You lefties love to have it both ways. Obviously the Republicans didn't want to "obstruct" Obama
on his sequestration plan so they helped him pass it. Pretty generous of them.
The gamble that the GOP is taking is one that will prove disasterous to them. The cannot win this argument as the American people for the most part have been told what thes cuts will mean to them in their state. The GOP has no place to go but down. The election of 5014 will not be kind to them, even with the gerrymandered districts designed to assure the republican ownership of the house of Representives. It just isn't going to happen as more and more real American discover that their policys have hurt America. From denial to denial they have came from the republicans and now they are in denile about the sequester and its impact on ordinary voters all to shelter the very rich and the large corporations from taking ill gotten tax breaks away from them.
Johntho, what is scary to me is Republicans don't care if the majority doesn't support them. They don't even care if the economy on the whole is damaged. All they care about is keeping the pork coming for certain red districts, and donations from the uber rich and powerful like the Kochs, and others. It really takes your breath away.
So true. The GOPTP always say "The American People have spoken." However, they the GOPTP never listen!!!
Actually, BJob1, Republicans listened to Obama and the "fiscal cliff" was averted ! Now, however, Obama wants to not keep his part of the deal and he has the 3 ring circus of media, Hollywood, and his continuos "campaigning" trying to SELL the American people that his former idea is now "BAD" !
Listening to Obama was a mistake ..... President speak with forked tongue !
Jim numbers, Please learn to read. There are so many facts out their that can help you out.
Johntho, well said.
However, GOP leaders aren't "in denial". They know what damage they're doing.
Despite President Obama soundly winning the election, with more votes than any previous Democrat:
GOP's sabotage plan for the U.S. Economy is still in effect.
BJob1, Please learn to think. I am a financial guy and understand financial matters more than you libs are capable of comprehending. Try to bring something of relevance ... all clowns like you seem capable of doing is trying to attack me because my message is not idolatous love for the fiscal stupidity of Obama.
No President has ever gone through his entire first term of office without a budget !!
Johntho, well said. For the past week, the local evening news, which airs from the Quad Cities, has been featuring segments describing the cuts and how it will affect the local economies in both Iowa and Illinois...it isn't pretty. If republicans think they will not be blamed, they are mistaken because even the least interested citizen understands that Congress passes the legislation, not the White House.
jimbob#s, is that the best argument you have? President Obama has given Congress a proposed budget the past four years but he cannot pass a budget. That responsibility belongs to Congress, specifically the House which has not passed a "real" budget for the past two years; the prior two years, the GOP Senators blocked the democratic budgets by placing "holds" on them. If you want to debate, then bring something to the table worth discussing....to which I will add that the GOPTPers in the House should do the same thing.
I don't think you do. Because the real financial brains don't think like you.
You know JOHNTHO kiss my azz when you say "real americans" you are no different than the tea party trash thinking they can determine who is a "real american". That is what I have seen about the extreme left, they are NO different than the extreme right, and I get the feeling they are the same type of parasites. Maybe someday the radical middle will rise up.
jim#s, if you were a real "financial guy", you would understand that government is not a private business nor does it function in the same way a private business or a private household does. It never has. You could, however, be one of the Reagan Voo Doo economics gurus--ignoring Econ 101 principles for smoke and mirrors.
DM57, how "real" American is it to purposely sabotage the United States economy because GOPTPers refuse to compromise? How "real" American was it for Republicans to have met on Inauguration night in January, 2009, and pledge to oppose and obstruct everything President Obama tried to do to pull America out of the depths during the worst economic crisis since the 1930's? It might be easy to excuse it as "misguided" ideology run amok but the truth is, it was incredibly unpatriotic and un-American; it caused great harm and unnecessary suffering of the American people all because they lost the elections. Petty, childish behavior by a party which claims to hold a lock on Patriotism and family values.
Most republicans, independents and democrats are fit the latest TP description of real Americans. Too bad so many currently, who behave as if they hate this country while claiming to love it, are elected tea-party republican representatives to the House.
DM57, you would have to mark a spot, you are all azz. If you could read, I didn't define real American, I said and I quote myself. "It just isn't going to happen as more and more real American discover that their policies have hurt America." and in context I was talking about gerrymandered districts that favor republicans and what "real Americans" means in this context is republicans are going to see through their representatives utter disregard for what is good for their districts and the country and switch and vote democrat, or if primaries, they will vote moderate over detestable tea baggers whose only objective is for Obama to fail and the country with him.
Thanks Jody,Iowa I would hope that I am more knowledgeable then a tea bagger, there are real Americans both in congress and the general public, all republicans are not bad people but at this time they themselves are running scared because of the tea bag party, whose base consist of bigoted, self serving, irresponsible, low information people. Used to call them trailer trash.
The Sequestration was proposed not as an action but as a consequence. If Republicans and Democrats can't negociate a deal to make sane cuts or enhancements to the budget then the Sequester will go into effect.
Americans are watching and they will determine who is negotiating in good faith and who isn't. If one party refuses to come to the table and negotiate; if their refusal leads to drastic reductions in employment or services then those most impacted by the pre-determined consequence (the sequester) will certainly act in a manner that best serves their interests.
I do not claim to know what the American public thinks so I review opinion surveys conducted by reputable agencies. Of course, anyone can do the same....or you can just go to the top of the page and read the first post and draw your own conclusions.
The GOP still has not gotten the message. But they will when they are out of the Congress in 2014 and their bribes from the one-percent stop.
You dummycraps still have not gotten the message .... YOU CANNOT CONTINUE TO SPEND TRILLIONS BEYOND OUR INCOME !!!
Jayzus ..... can you clowns even balance a checkbook ???
Can you ever come up with an original thought?
How well did GW Bush and the Republicans "balance the checkbook" from 2000 to 2008?
Oh that's right, they lowered taxes then spent like drunken sailors on two unfunded wars and a prescription plan that benefitted mainly the pharmaceutical industry - "tax cut and spend".
Now they refuse to help clean up the mess they created.
Barack Obama has already run up more national debt in 4 years than Bush did in 8 ! But then again, going back to the "blame Bush thingy" seems to merely confirm you believe Obama is incapable of overcoming obstacles.
Sure he did - now lets subtract TARP, the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, and the auto bailout, all leftovers from the Bush years. The stimulus was necessary to try and clean up the mess Bush left the economy in. How does it look now?
The "blame Bush thing" happens to be the truth - Bush and his cronies ran up the bar tab all while cutting taxes, and Pres. Obama gets blamed for increasing the national debt.
Actually 94% of the national debt belongs to just 3 people, Reagan, Bush and Bush-Cheney
Obama needs to create some debt, in order to match these guys.
Obama has been pretty stingy about creating new debt.
http://reaganbushdebt.org/CalculationDetails.aspx
jim#s, repubicans haven't had the good sense to live by the words you preach; and they haven't since Reagan. Cheney repeated Reagan's "deficits don't matter" phrase. Yes, the bulk of the current debt belongs squarely at the feet of the GOP. Bush was handed balanced budgets with budget surpluses; our debt was on track to be paid down by 2016. Within one year of Bush's presidency, with his massive tax cuts and rebates, we had a trillion dollar deficit. Throw in two credit-card charged wars, a credit-card Rx program and NOT paying for any spending legislation the GOPers passed from 2001 through 2006--You bet it is Bush's debt and YOU KNOW IT.
Jody, Iowa... being from Iowa, you surely must know what horses are full of .... and so are you !
Congress approved the war in Iraq and Congress approved Afghanistan. Congress also approves the budget. If you are saying that Congress did not have the sense to put the cost of wars into their budget .... then for once in your life you might actaually be making a little sense !
But then YOU BLOW IT totally ! You blow it when you go back to the blame game. Your arguments run in circles and your concept of paying down the financial debt is a fairy tale ! All Presidents in recent decades have increased the national debt, but Obama will hold the record !! By the time Odumbo is finished, he will have doubled the national debt of ALL HIS PREDECESSORS COMBINED !!!
Christie's not invited to CPAC (Conservative People Acting Crazy)? Smooth move, CPAC! The only Republican with any appeal to anyone to the left of Genghis Khan and you snub him? In favor of - who? Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, two people who are 17 minutes into their 15 minutes of fame. What the hell is this, Has-Been Tour 2013? Hey, Gov, don't feel so bad! Your career still has a strong pulse. Romney's and Palin's are flat-lining!!
Remember when Caribou Barbie declared that there was a "real" America, which conversely means there is a "fake" America. I'm not a fan of Christie, and will vote against him, but the conservative crazy coalition probably considers him a RINO from the "fake" American blue state of NJ. This is why the Repub party is on it's way to obscurity - it only appeals to the lunatic fringe these days.
Oh yeas, Caribou Barbie, the WT Queen of America!!!
Gov. Chris Christie might want to consider leaving the GOP Party, and gain respect.
... within ten years Conservatives will be arguing for the greater economic efficiency of Universal Healthcare. That my dear friends is neither socialism nor capitalism, it is economic pragmatism.
This sequester- thing isn't funny anymore. I saw on the news last night that it will cut money to scientists who are the verge of breakthroughs in medicine. It will set us back in the quest to find cures for Alzheimer's, cancer and influenza. The NIH is sounding an alarm. The flu vaccine alone, they said, would save the country billions in healthcare costs, but the House is cutting their funding to save a paltry amount in comparison.
I'm starting to feel sick.
It's not just going to cut funding, it's going to cost thousands of professionals their jobs - something we really don't need right now is even MORE unemployment.
The sequester cuts to the NIH will delay the development of cures for diseases like Alzheimer's and flu. This rises to the level of crimes against humanity, in my book. This is no joke.
note the date - November 2011. THis is February 2013. Congress has failed to come up with a compromise and pass legislation to reduce the deficit while protecting the economy. I think President Obama has the patience of a saint for putting up with this, frankly.
Maureen,
He said that because the efforts were trying to eliminate the cuts primarily to defense. The President understands the need to deal with our Deficit and Debt and eliminating the sequester defeats the need. It was put in place to force Congress to come up with a realistic, sensible way to make the needed cuts.
Starting on March 1, 2013 the approval rating of Congress will be at 5%. How many people would keep their jobs with a rating such as this?
the house in the last congress sent a bill to the senate with alternatives to the sequester, reid buried it.
Actually two bills but hey, if they are going to be buried and forgotten, who's counting?
job -- i'd look at it like a sports team -- it is not reasonable to fire the whole team so you get rid of coaches and managers. a good start would be reid, boehner, schumer, cantor, durbin, cantor.
Dumbfux,
You do know those bills expired when the new Congress was sworn in last month?
Don't you?
Quick!
Call me a racist, I ♥ it when you showcase your stupidity! lol
rather than saying cantor twice....how about you replace that with pelosi...."We have to pass ObamaCare to see what's in it"
That Ladies & Gentlemen....is the all-time stupidest thing EVER heard in Washington D.C.
What would they have done to any Congressmen in Lincoln's era if they said something that stupid ?
Get the rope.....
ahh feisty -- clearly stated that it was sent by the last congress, folks understand what a session of congress means so your response is unnecessary and contributes not to a discussion.
but it is ok that reid sat on proposals rather than try to engage in negotiation? as the leader of the senate's party of "no" reid has proven to be an excellent patsy for barry.
nothing racist yet -- childish to be sure. stupid? on display in your posts on a regular basis -- where did you have to look to learn about bills not being valid in a subsequent session?
Maureen-
Why didn't you post the entire statement? You left out a key part, just like Fox News did:
Notice how the main emphasis is on trying to make Congress do their job and come up with a bi-partisan, balanced approach to deficit reduction, something they have failed to do because of the inability of the Tea Party to compromise.
Thank God he did. It screwed the poor people even more.
Trouble -
Once again you Conservatives insist on taking things out of context and twisting their meaning - the full text of Speaker Pelosi's remarks were:
Why do you Conservatives persist in misquoting and taking things out of context? Are you so afraid of the truth? Are your arguments so empty that you have to resort to lies and distortion?
I guess that is why you nominated Mitt Romney, whose entire campaign was based on lies and distortions.
job -- thanks for acknowledging that the deal obama signed screwed the poor people, that is a start. i find reid's refusal to engage in legislative negotiation to be nearly criminal. why is he so afraid to discuss the nation's business?
tns -- so you believe that pelosi knew about all of the taxes in obamacare? she knew that jobs would be lost -- and have begun to be lost? that medical devices would get more expensive for all? that millions of people will lose their employee-provided insurance because of obamacare? that folks will not always be able to keep their doctors?
if she indeed knew all this then she might have to move near the top of the list of democrat liars on the subject -- not to the top as that spot will forever belong to the bill's namesake.
billybob-
Any more stories you want to make up? I am surprised you didn't mention "Death Panels". The medical devices tax was always part of the package, none of that was "hidden" or a surprise.
None of the other things you claim have happened or will happen in any significant numbers. Jobs have NOT been lost, "millions" of people will NOT lose their employer-sponsored healthcare, and almost ALL of the people who currently have insurance will be able to keep their doctors.
tns -- i did not say it was hidden just that nancy lied about many things in it -- possibly by not talking about taxes, etc. A couple of things you may have missed.
A Congressional Budget Office report estimates that within the next 10 years, about 7 million people will lose health care coverage from their employers. The economic outlook issued this week varied from the CBO’s prediction last August that 4 million people would lose their employers’ health insurance. The CBO says the largest factor for the change is the reduction in “tax benefits associated with health insurance provided by employers” due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Stryker is on track for the 5% workforce reduction that the company said it would conduct before the end of this year in anticipation of a $150 million tab for compliance with the medical device tax taking effect January 1.
that 5% is about 1000 jobs.
i believe it is your opinion, or maybe just talking points, about keeping your doctor. much of what i have read contradicts that statement. doctors moving to managed care companies which may not accept your insurance, doctors retiring, doctors not accepting medicare -- soon to be me; and other business related things that the democrats that wrote and passed the bill failed to consider.
so, in fact, what i said was true.
billybob, you do realize that democrats in the House and Senate WROTE the legislation, therefore, they knew exactly what was in it, don't you? You do realize that Speaker Pelosi was referring to the American people when she made that remark? I mean you write stuff here so that means you know what you wrote, right. Lordy, conservatives lack the ability to think logically.
Gremlins, post 9.17 disappearing and re-appearing, then disappearing again.
thanks jody. you have one interpretation of the facts and others have a different interpretation. i would doubt whether many serving members of the House knew what was in the bill though selected staff may have.
as an example -- the republicans offered an amendment to stop the tax on medical devices but democrats voted it down (because it was a republican idea?). now this tax is being passed along to all consumers of these medical devices regardless of their economic status. so the democrats knowingly passed a bill that penalizes the poor and middle class and forces layoffs in the medical device industry.
would you contend that the democrats thought logically about this? was their rejection of the amendment logical? was raising costs that are to be borne by the poor and everyone else logical?
billybob, you can't blame doctors going to HMOs which do not recognize one's health insurance; or moving out of your area on the passage of the health care law. Those things were pretty much normal PRIOR to the ACA just as was employers changing insurance carriers which also restricted who/where medical care could be obtained.
As for the tax on medical devices, republicans oppose all taxes at all times. Shoot, they refuse to close the corporate welfare tax loopholes.
It is one thing to interpret comments differently, it is another to take comments out of context and try to paint them to suit your narrative which is what you did with the Pelosi comment.
Thank you, TNSEVOL and Jody, for setting the record straight with respect to Ms. Pelosi's quote. Again.
Sadly, it appears that conservatives cannot comprehend full sentences, let alone paragraphs. Their comprehension extends only to a few words at a time. Thus, they miss the meaning of most things that are said.
Ms. Pelosi's quote is but one of a number of quotes that are consistently misrepresented by conservatives.
Tea Baggers, Rush, Beck, Faux News, right wing commentators, you bear a great deal of responsibility for the gridlock in DC and the hate you spew towards our government does more damage to our country and way of life then all of the terrorists combined. Every time you take to the airways to make your millions and slam our government the terrorist of the world celebrate. Constructive criticism is one thing, but spewing hate is over the line and you cross it continuously all in the name of GREED, your greed.
Once or twice a week, I listen to Rush and I can't believe how he can have a base so large. Stuck on Stupid. WOW!!!
It is called the "dumbing down of America" where people let the talking heads interpret the news rather than read more than once source and make an intelligent analysis.
sie -- is the talking head syndrome purely a "right" activity? don't the msnbc entertainers do the very same thing for the "left"?
Couldn't believe it when late last week, Limbaugh claimed democrats had dumbed-down America. That's a Karl Rove Rule, accuse the other side of what your side is doing. Seriously, a study proved that FOX and the Limbaugh crowd were more misinformed and uninformed that people who don't even watch the news.
billybob- yes there are "talking heads" on the left, but the right talking heads hold the record for "hate". They "hate" the government, they "hate" the President, they 'hate" the first lady, they "hate" the unemployed, etc etc. No way to win the moderates and independents. I want a strong two party system but the haters that make a living with hate speech are tearing the country and the GOP apart.
Jody,
Now, wasn't it the GOP who were screaming about removing "uncertainly" for all their precious "Job Creators" last year?
One thing is for certain: The GOPTP are obsessed with crises creating as their form of governing.
Northstar, correct, it is the GOPTPers who keep yelling about "uncertainty" while making sure they create a ship-load full of it. Hypocrisy, thy name is GOPTP.
The Republican-Tea Party-Right Wing Cartel is the "Party of NO!"; more accurately it is the "TURD BLOSSOM PARTY"; the sole cause of crippling our Democracy and endangering our national security. The "Party of Fraud and Corruption" will be removed from power....
Idiot...they are not in power, the left has 2/3 of the throne.
When they had it all for the first 2 years....THEY DID NOTHING....DID NOT EVEN PASS one budget
During that two years the Democrats never had a 60 Democrat vote power. That is a fact. Senator Phil Buster was in charge.
Don't distract them with truth, trouble1954..... this is a libbie website and their morning circle jerk is at full "steam" ahead ! LOL !!
Job1, Do you have a basic problem with reading ? The Democrats had control of all 3 branches... the House, the Senate and the White House. No budgets were passed !
It is so funny...like The Wizard of Oz...."Don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain"
"I am the great and powerful"....(you get the picture)
This Administration is going down as the worst ever.....the Just-Us Department has not even looked at Jon Corzine......HE STOLE OVER A BILLION DOLLARS...
and now......$500,000 gets you a lapdance with Moochelle....but Carney says "it's okay....everybody has done that"......transparent my a**
According to WHO?? I know you must have some evidence to back this bull@!$%# up, right JIM..
WHAT evidence do you need ?
NO budgets passed
Complete control of Congress.....you living under a rock ?
The Democrats did not have the Super Majority of 60 seats and that is a fact. After the 2008 there was a Senator named Phil Buster that held up the works.
FACTS!!!!!!!!
Uhhh, Jason, try using your brain, or Google or reading something.
The "wicked Witch of the West" (Nancy Pelousy) was Speaker of the House ! Why ? Because Democrats OUTNUMBERED Republicans and therefore "controlled" the House.
Harry Reid controlled the Senate. Why ?? Because Democrats OUTNUMBERED Republicans and therefore "contolled" the Senate.
Barack Hussein Obama (a Democrat) was in the White House as Chief Executive.
Therefore, Jason797, the Democrats had CONTROL of all 3 branches required to PASS and SIGN legislation into law !!! Are you really that dense to not understand the Supreme Court has nothing to do with passing budgets ? Wake up ! Have a cup of coffee !!
Uhh, BJob 1, no one said anything about a super majority but thanks for the attempted DISTORTION ! You clowns got Obamacare passed ! Why could you not get a budget ??
jim-
I don't know where you get your supposed "facts", but President Obama has submitted a budget proposal every year as required, and Congress passed budget resolutions for fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Why not 2011, 2012 and 2013? "Uhhh", because the Republican-controlled House refuses to compromise.
Congress has passed appropriations and other budget legislation every fiscal year. There is no requirement to pass a budget resolution, by the way.
jim#s gets his facts from the same bargain-basement clearing house where Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan bought theirs.
trouble, in the United Nations, it only takes a veto from the US, China, or Russia to put a cog in the wheel of action. The House GOPTPers are the equivalent of a veto on getting anything done so it does not matter if Democrats have 2/3 of the executive and legislative branches. Add the GOP Senators filibustering everything and.....we get dysfunction.
Oh my GAWD TNSEVOL, once again you "change my words" to cover up for Obama's incompetence !
Yes, Obama has submitted "budget PROPOSALS" ... proposals so damn asinine that NO ONE from his own party ever voted to support ! Obama has never received ONE, (1), any single voted from a Democrat for his budget proposals.
As President, Obama has sworn an oath to uphold the laws of the U.S. Those laws included a BUDGET ...yes, genius it is required by law ! As President, Obama is required to uphold the laws, and to see to it that a budget gets passed. Stop making alibis for the Incompetent One ! It only makes you look like a fool.
And Jody, you look like a bigger fool when you try to bring a United Nations argument into a budget discussion.
P.S. Nothing sux like a Big Orange !
Instead of leading this country Mr. Obama is dividing it nor is he focused on the real problems we face like the debt, the economy and jobs.
...yes, because we were all singing "Kumbaya" before President Obama took office.
Thanks, Rush. Now, run along to the fat farm!!
Sure Rush, you are living in the la la bubble!!!
I'll give Obama kudos for dividing one thing ... The Republican Party.
Granted, we weren't "singing Kumbaya" before President Obama took office, but I haven't seen any migration from the Left or the Right to come together and work on sensible solutions. Part of the President's appeal in the '08 election was that of the "charismatic leader who can bring the country/world together". I personally didn't believe at the time, but hoped I was wrong.
...and there it is...Congressman Eric Cantor admitted scuttling the Grand Bargain and doubled-down on winning in 2012...and now that it didn't happen here is where we are!
Congratulations...I hope it was worth it!
DaNoid, all you can do is shake your head at the total incompetence. No wonder the House GOPTPers fail time and time again, they have fools leading them. Eric Cantor wasn't even smart enough to realize that the polls already showed voters supported raising taxes on the rich, supported a balanced approach to deficit and debt reduction with both spending cuts and increasing revenues. Cantor placed all his bets on a strategy that the public had already rejected and was doomed to fail......damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
The PROBLEM is that our President doesn't like to work; he can't (or won't stay in Washington) and do the work he was elected to do.
I have now heard that this 2% cut in spending....$.02/dollar !!!! is going to do all of this damage...
DO US A FAVOR Mr. President...if TWO CENTS ($.02) OF EVERY DOLLAR YOU HAVE SPENT IS GOING TO CAUSE THIS MUCH DAMAGE......
Keep your lazy azz in Washington and get a DEAL DONE....quit campaigning
You sir....are the WORST PRESIDENT in the history of this United States.
P.S. Maybe Jon Corzine can kick in a BILLION that he stole for the cause.....since Eric Holder seems to have ZERO interest in prosecuting him
You are a disgrace
Congress is the problem here, not the presidency.
You sir....Mr. Bush, are the WORST PRESIDENT in the history of this United States, and that is a fact.
You sir, apparently have your brain in a time warp .... Bush has been out of office for over 4 years now ! Obama OWNS this economy and all you Dems can do is make excuses for his incompetence and mismanagement. Grow up !
...so, tell me...if they aren't creating jobs can we stop calling rich guys "job creators"?
Job1: Actually history will eventually name Prs.O as the worst president ever because we'll continue down the road to NO RECOVERY and "huge"deficits created during this administration. No one will even remember who was in Congress.
Everything is a crisis with this clown in office; stay in the White House and do your damn job.
Obama is in his office way more than Congress is in theirs. I propose we start paying all of them by the hour with a time clock installed - maybe the minimum hourly wage with no benefits since that is just about the quality of work we are getting out of our "public servants."
that makes sense if you think America elected President Obama to be the Congress' punching bag.
Turn Texas purple! Here in Virginia a lot of people did not think we could turn this state purple but we did!!
Stand up and get involved is the best formula!!
True that, Tommy. Down in San Antonio we are purple and getting bluer by the year. Hopefully we all will do a better job when it comes time to electing the next governor.
Trouble1954 - And you sir, are a bitter, low-information racist that benefits everyday from the roads, airports, and food safety w/o a thought and could care less about children or the elderly that can't take care of themselves.
You have no idea who he is or what he stands for. You are just resorting to the usual libbie tactic of a personal attack !
@chucky:....ALL that damage from $.02 on the dollar.....who is low-informed now pal ?
and right away I'm a racist.....sorry son, that card is way over-played.....maybe your boy Obama should be addressing the 38% Black Unemployment rate.....instead of talking with "The Pimp with a Limp"
Well said chucky b.
trouble, your use of the term "boy" places your mindset where we can all see it.
grow up child.....my mindset was established in Vietnam defending this country, so kiss my grits
Trouble1954 - uses "son", "boy", "pimp" and "lazy" - and neither he nor JIM####s can understand why anyone would think he is a racist.
I thank you for your transparency.
Knew you must be from the South, grits, LOL. Guess that ingrained feeling towards people of color just got drummed into you when you were a "boy".
what....are there no WHITE boys, pimps, sons, and are only blacks lazy Chucky ?
Your defensive nature is telling....grow up
Being a Vietnam vet doesn't give you an automatic pass on either the facts or your prejudices.
Being a Vietnam veteran does earn you the respect of your countrymen though, in my opinion. Furthermore, somebody who was in Vietnam probably has a unique perspective. Not sure how you derive somebody is a racist from saying "do your damn job", maybe not overly tactful, but racist? I wonder if trouble1954 was in the service with anyone other than white males? Probably.
I pay (along with fellow taxpayers) for the roads, airports, and food safety along with social programs for children and the elderly. Of course we benefit... we are supposed to, it's our work that provides for these privileges.
Fire ALL of Congress. In fact I'm beginning to think it's time to overhaul the Federal government down the studs - clearly this 18th century system isn't working in the 21st.
Somebody (or a bunch of somebodies) should calculate what the tax rates should have been raised to under W to pay for Afghanistan, Iraq and Medicare part D. Instead we lowered rates. Now a tiny portion of the lowered rates have been restored to what they were in 2001. Doesn't anyone believe in math anymore?
The GOP hasn't used math skills for 30 years; I believe Dubya referred to it as "fuzzy math" even though he was trying to paint Al Gore as the culprit. Dubya missed the class lesson where Clinton/Gore balanced the budget using "arithmetic" and actually left George a surplus. George wasn't capable of comprehending the arithmetic so he cut taxes just in case, then started two wars and passed an unfunded Rx plan for good measure.
This must be getting serious - Boehner just said "ass."
Was he referring to Congress.
Yes - the Senate. We'll have to wait for Reid to respond for someone to use the term in reference to the House.
ANNIE good come back but I have to disagree when I say Congress I mean ALL of them.
Sequestration is the best thing to happen re spending in DC in years. It's the only way these idiots can get something done! Obama just wants to spend, spend, spend and not lay off those poor entitled federal government employees. The time is over for protecting those lazy, incompetent federal employees. It would have been better to make informed cut decisions, but everybody has their pet entitlements and nothing would be done for years. Across the board will have to do!
By federal employees do you mean the men and women who are building our defense elements, ships. planes etc. Or are they the food inspectors that keep your food supply safe, or the people that work in the airport towers that control the planes you fly, or the doctors and nurses at the VA hospitals that take care of our wounded, or the bridge and road inspectors that oversee the safety of our transportation network, or the inspectors at our ports that check the incoming cargo. Or perhaps the people at our embassies or the border patrol, how about the justice department we could get rid of the FBI employees. Be specific, what employees do you want to let go and do you even know what salaries they make? And once they are gone who pays their mortgage, car payments, buys food at the local grocery or supports local businesses. Easy to say hard to come up with facts. The loss of 700,000 jobs would really help our economic recovery wouldn't it. Naïve.
Congress is abdicating it's role in appropriating money for the various departments. It's their job to debate where and how the money should be spent. Instead, they throw up their hands and agree to across the board cuts. All, in order to protect tax loopholes the rich use to increase their wealth - gotta buy that vacation home in Europe, you know, build a garage for one's classic car collection, whatever, anything but contributing to building the greatest democracy on earth.
Big government Siestasis! All government should be cut. Many are lazy and incompetent and would have been weeded out of the private sector years ago - maybe they were and the government hired them. 700,000 less incompetent, grossly overpaid, worthless government employees sure sounds good to me!
Great, 700000 unpaid mortgages, unpaid car payments, unpaid utility bill, 700,000 more on unemployment. Think it through. And which ones are incompetent you did not answer my question. How many government employees to you know? None I bet. Well I work with govt employees every day and most of them are hard working intelligent people. Generalizations will not save your argument. You are clueless.
Our POTUS is really a POS....(love the acronyms)
Next on the Obama agenda, now that horse-face ruined the Academy Awards.....well next is the revelation that our "King" wants to abolish the 22nd Amendment....
For those of you on the left that can't count that high....it's the one where your boy Obama decides that two (2) terms just aren't enough....
That he needs MORE TIME to destroy this country......
I am so sick of seeing them. When she came on I changed the channel.
And you haters wonder why we in the middle don't vote for your candidates. Since you cannot make an intelligent comment you result to name calling and insults, how did that work for you in 2012?
Thanks Rush. For you fans, Mr. Limpball will be on air at 12 noon EST.
Oh yes, how did that one term thingie work out?
Where do you get this stuff??? Repeal the 22nd amendment?
Idiot. You're IQ must be lower than OJ Simpson if you believe that krap. Some infotainer/conspiracy theorist is raking in ad dollars that keep you listening to them using ridiculous predictions that feed your hatred. Do you think they believe what they're telling you? Thay are laughing at you all the way to the bank. You're just another victim of their scam and they thank you for making them rich.
Use your common sense instead of listening to those wackos. You couldn't get most dems to pass something like that much less ANY repubs - and then there's the filibuster.
And why do people attack the first lady? Horse face? Mochelle? When have ANY first ladies been attacked like this? Why is it suddenly ok to attack a presidents family?
Democrats are the party of DO NOTHINGS and Harry Reid is the leader in the Senate.
Empty Suit obama....All Hat.....No Cattle.....
Actually, Obama seems to have the biggest ranch in modern presidential history.
I don't know about the biggest ranch......but he has a cow sleeping next to him every evening....
Trouble: Out of line. I'm no fan of the President and dead set against Michelle Obama's crusade to regulate school lunches as it has limited the caloric intake that student athletes need and can no longer get because of her concern for obesity, but the personal attacks are BS.
Way to win the female vote for the Republican side, there, trouble1954
I hate to think what you have sleeping next to you every evening. Yuck!!!
I'll bet it's latex.
Quovadis, I actually liked your quote. Why would this program affect student-athletes? Aren't they looking for quality calories? Proteins and complex carbohydrates? You don't want to stick a lot of fat on wrestlers and gymnasts, among others.
Auntie: It's the amount of calories needed. When I am "off hours" with my duties as professor of history and languages, I coach high school athletes. High School age football lineman burn more calories than an overweight couch potato playing video games. Cross Country athletes need above and beyond calories or their bodies will break down. Schools are being forced to reduce the amount of food available to kids. It is supposed to be worse next year. In their "one size fits all" approach, they actually hurt athletes--especially lower income kids who can't afford to supplement school lunches that well. I actually have had to provide supplemental nutrition to athletes on my own dime. The school lunch policy has been used by me as exhibit A for what happens with government intervention. The situation is much more complicated than a "one size fits all" approach.
I take it that this is your school, specifically. How widespread is this?
I teach on the college level. The problem is on the high school level. Here is a link to the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel to give you an idea. The article hits my point well.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/students-strike-against-new-federal-school-lunch-rules-t96t7sp-170124676.html
Yeah. I applaud the goal, but this obviously needs to be re-worked.