Filed under: Political Commentary | Tags: debt, debt clock, deficit, fiscal conservative, interest on debt, prejudiced comments, south carolina statehouse, tea party
Yours truly plans to emcee the Columbia Tea Party rally Thursday at South Carolina’s Statehouse. Now, while definitely a fiscally conservative bunch I didn’t realize being fiscally conservative also made one a racist, homophobe and moron to boot. But those are the prejudiced comments being hung around the necks of people who, on the whole, are simply saying city, state and federal big spenders need to SLOW DOWN and be accountable for how much they spend. Duh.
The national deficit is 1.4 trillion dollars. The national debt (take a look at the national debt clock and watch the numbers zoom by) is up to 12.8 trillion (OOPS! It just changed by more than 4 billion: the amount by which the debt is growing DAILY.) A few billion/trillion here, a few billion/trillion there; what’s the fuss? Oh, I forgot to factor in the INTEREST on the debt. Who can keep up?
Here’s where the media folks could help out. People who work for TV, newspapers and blogs should never use the term “the federal government” when referring the ga-zillions of dollars “the federal government” (sorry, I’m trying to make a point here) doles out to individuals, cities, states, entitlements etc. etc. etc., and for grants, grants, grants, etc. etc. etc.
All the media have to do instead is say “taxpayer dollars” will fund…blah, blah, blah (see the above). Too many Americans think the federal government has money. The federal government has no money, except yours.
I don’t think most people fuss all that much about paying their taxes (believe it or not, my tax preparer just e-mailed me what I owe as I write this: how cruel!) when they feel it’s fair and that their money is being used wisely. That’s just not the case anymore on a local, state or national level and people are just a tad fed up. Good for them.
Stay tuned for sasstoday’s first ever tea party experience. Now, I’ve got a check to write by April 15th to “you-know-who”.
Filed under: Political Commentary | Tags: deemed passed, doctor shortage, health care bill, medicaid, medicare, pre-existing conditions, rationing
New Update: House Dems drop ‘deem and pass’ in favor of separate vote on Senate health bill. (Score one for the American people.)
Now back to my original post on 3-19-2010 which I still deem quite worth the read.
As we move forward on the health care non-debate and the House prepares to pass the Senate bill by voting on it, or not, they may just “deem” it passed, at that point I guess they can just beam the deemed, virtually unseen, bill to the President. He will deem it wonderful and voila! A new entitlement unlike any we have dared deem possible takes over one-sixth of the American economy (keep those presses rollin’…rollin’…rollin’…rollin…we need that paper money….your hide!!!!). And then we’ll all find out what government deems best for us.
It’s the compassionate thing to do afterall; we’re talking about people’s lives here. Deem, I mean dern, straight! Problem is government is a “thing”; “things” do not have compassion. People have compassion. But even said people, once named to a board that has to make decisions based on available monies, well, may not “deem” you deserve the health care you need. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (Rahm’s brother btw, known as “Zeke” to his peeps, and a key health advisor to the President) advocates for a “whole life system”. So, some Medicare board would decide based on statistics, life expectancy, etc, whether let’s say “you” are worth life prolonging procedures. Those most at risk are people who are sick, have special needs, are elderly or suffer from conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Parkinson’s.
When government’s in charge, when the doctor shortage hits crisis stage (one survey indicates nearly half say they’ll get out of medicine entirely or retire early if Obamacare passes) and you throw in 30 million more people, that’s called “rationing”. That’s called nobody’s happy. And the most vulnerable patients are going to be the pricey ones: the ones who just cost too much money and statistically might not be “deemed” such a great bargain.
And let’s go over this… very… slowly….and…. carefully….and… clearly. Yes, the health care system is broken, yes, it needs fixing, and yes, we need something like high-risk insurance pools for people with pre-existing conditions; how-many-times-do-people-have-to-say-that-before-it-gets-through.
But we have this itsy-bitsy problem. We don’t have any money. Medicare alone has 36-100 trillion (can you write out 100 trillion dollars? How many zeros do you see? Lots and lots of zeros) in unfunded liabilities (ie: no money to pay for all those baby-boomers comin’ into the system, like, ALREADY).
Now the President LOVES to talk about cutting Medicare fraud and waste by 500 billion and then (this just slays me) spending it on something else to save. Savings? Zero (duh). And sasstoday wonders why the President never talks about reforming or cutting Medicaid, which anyone can tell you is rife with rotgut waste, fraud and abuse. And Americans again have an itsy-bitsy problem believing that the government can spend 900 billion to 2 trillion dollars and save money and cut fraud, waste and abuse in programs it created and from which it has yet to cut fraud, waste and abuse.
And now the House finally has a final (maybe) bill. The Senate has a final (maybe) bill. Now the American people will get to hear a lively and in-depth debate about what’s actually in these bills, how they work and how the American people will pay for all this; it is a new era of bi-partisanship and transparency. NOT! The thing most transparent to the American people is the corruption of government. There are a few undecided Democrats out there who could decide to vote “no”—that is, if they don’t a quick ride on Air Force One first.
(Disclosure: there are some snarky comments about sasstoday and how she gets her health care. They are in my comments box. I will answer them in six months, so said readers can get used to waiting, Canadian style, for non-essential health care concerns to be addressed.)
Obamacare Chart: Philip Klein
Filed under: Political Commentary | Tags: abortion, debt, fog of controversy, health care, life and death decisions, Obama's Thelma and Louise moment, Pelosi quote, President Obama, Rasmussen poll, virtual colonoscopy
UPDATE: Bill O’Reilly leads his show with story sasstoday first wrote about Nov. 15, 2009 (Refer to “Docs in a Box”; I love vindication.)
Now back to the main story:
President Barack Obama has said passing health care is a “Thelma and Louise” moment. So I guess that means we’re all going over the cliff as Gina Davis and Susan Sarandon did in the movie? Maybe so. Americans are getting increasingly used to Big Government taking care of all their ills but when it comes to a government takeover of the entire health care system at least the American people are stopping, pausing, asking themselves: “Do we really want government to get this big? Do we really want our children, and children’s children, and children’s children’s children’s children…(could go on and on) to be saddled with inconceivable debt?” And do we want Big Government, which can’t run any solvent program, to be in the hospital room with us when decisions are being made about whether we’re allowed certain procedures, that involve, oh… things like whether we live or die?
The latest Rasmussen poll indicates Americans get it, God bless ‘em. We care not just about our immediate, personal health care and its costs but about the long-term implications for the nation as a whole. 57% of voters believe that passage of the legislation would hurt the economy. Only 25% believe it would help. And 81% of the American people, God bless ‘em, say it’s likely the plan will end up costing more than projected. Wonder where they get that idea? Only 10% say the official numbers are likely to be on target.
And, and, OMG! Is there any wonder the American people don’t trust Big G to do the right thing by them when it comes to health care when Nancy Pelosi says this week (“I kid you not” as we liked to say in high school, a phrase that could aptly preface just about everything the Democrats are doing in Washington and that I think we should revive in popularity); so anyway, Madam Speaker’s quote (I kid you not!) was, “…we have to pass our bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.” I kid you…sorry, nevermind, you get my point.
I’d prefer the fog of controversy stay in Washington where it belongs and not in our doctors’ offices and in our hospital rooms: preferably not the places for “the fog”. I know plenty of people, myself and many friends and relatives included, who, on paper, don’t look very procedure-worthy (ie: we’d be told to take a painkiller instead of getting a pacemaker as the President urged at a town hall meeting for one woman’s elderly mother). We’re not talking little procedures here, we’re talking life-saving procedures that we might desperately want and need, thank you very much. By the way, the “virtual” colonoscopy (approximately 15 minute) procedure the President had recently is not allowed for ordinary Americans on Medicare. Two days of dealing with colonoscopy prep and procedure, like everyone else his age and older has to endure, is worth a whole lot o’ speech giving time on health care bills that I still don’t think anyone in Congress has read. Based on Pelosi’s comment we won’t know what’s in the final bill until it’s too late. Say what? (Another phrase that should come back.)
For those of you living completely healthy lives and thinking government-run health care is just dandy keep in mind somethin’s gonna get ‘cha: old age, accident, disease, whatever, sooner or later. And somebody, somewhere, in some agency who could care less who you are or how much you want to live and thrive and experience life, making decisions about said life, scares the bejesus out of me. If you think insurance companies are bad (which by the way make whopping profits of 3-6% but the President’s got to demonize somebody at this point) wait ’til government’s calling the shots on your life.
No one’s saying we don’t need changes in health care; we just don’t need THESE changes, whatever they are, which after a year of debate on C-span (hahahahahaha!) are still 4500 pages of mysterious, legalistic gooble-dee-gook.
By at least a two-to-one margin the people are saying “Stop, No, Don’t Go!” to the President’s Thelma and Louise over the cliff health care debacle. But the President isn’t listening, doesn’t want to listen or is too arrogant to listen, take your pick, and will send a few Democrats over the cliff and parachute out of the car just in time for his own re-election bid in 2012. I just wish the American people weren’t in that car and had parachutes too. And darn it, I want a 15 minute, virtual, no-prep colonoscopy next time!
Filed under: Political Commentary
Since the Obama Administration doesn’t seem to get the whole “anger” thing among millions of Americans, Sasstoday is willing to help explain it. Here’s a list of a few things that have turned and are turning the people against the President and his Liberal, ie: Progressive ie: Democratic pals in power. They can thank me later.
Creating a health care nightmare
Spending trillions
Calling concerned citizens “mobs”
Spending trillions
Siding with Honduras’s unconstitutional president
Spending trillions
Kowtowing to Iran while protestors die
Spending trillions
Snubbing the Dalai Lama
Spending trillions
Handing out cash for clunkers
Spending trillions
Dithering on Afghanistan
Spending trillions
Golfing while dithering
Spending trillions
Dithering on N. Korea
Spending trillions
Campaigning instead of governing
Spending trillions
Blaming instead of governing
Spending trillions
Bailing on The Czech Republic & Poland
Spending trillions
Believing China
Spending trillions
Believing Russia
Spending trillions
Believing Iran
Spending trillions
Avoiding calling terrorism terrorism
Spending trillions
Criticizing Israel
Spending trillions
Not criticizing brutal Arab regimes
Spending trillions
Growing government not jobs
Spending trillions
Denigrating America
Spending trillions
Funding abortions via health care
Spending trillions
Funding health care for illegal aliens
Spending trillions
Planning to rob, not fix, Medicare
Spending trillions
Fining and/or jailing people over health care
Spending trillions
Saluting the fallen for a photo-op
Spending trillions
Bailing on transparency
Spending trillions
Granting civilian trials to KSM
Spending trillions
Mirandizing the Christmas Day bomber
Spending trillions
Taking credit for ending the Iraq War
Spending trillions
Mentioning Ft. Hood massacre after “shout outs”
Spending trillions
Going on TV (ad nauseam)
Spending trillions
Bowing to foreign leaders (ad nauseam)
Jumping to conclusions about police officers
Not jumping to conclusions about terrorists
Sasstoday hopes it’s enlightened the President and Co. a bit but somehow we doubt it. And aside from copious amounts of “sass” we also generously and willingly offer “sensibility”; therefore, the President gets big bravos for listening to his Commander in Afghanistan and sending the reinforcements requested. Wonder where he got the idea for a “surge”?
Was anyone else’s head spinning listening to the POTUS during his State of the Union address last night? He obviously did the jobs spiel (only about ten months too late) and what the heck does he want to do? Essentially another stimulus, this time for jobs. Duh, I thought that’s what the first, or second, or was it third several hundred billion of stimulus (can we now call it stimuli?) spending programs were all about. Remember all those “shovel ready” jobs that still aren’t jobs? The U.S. unemployment rate remains at 10%.
People aren’t buying Obama’s oratory any more. So about ten minutes into the speech, there I was trying to take notes of a few salient points, but he was all over the place. I felt like a watching a farmer, albeit in a designer suit, feeding the chickens and scattering feed everywhere to cover everyone: “Here chick, chick, chick, chick, chick, here chicky-chicky chick.” Throw in the old Obama charm and grin and we just spent another several billion dollars, and who knows where the heck it’s going, who’s writing the bills, what they’ll say and what they’ll do to us.
It’s the same tactic the Democrats and Obama are using with our world-renowned health care system: here’s a multi-billion dollar health care bill (literally and figuratively) no wait, here’s another one, no you can’t read it, now here’s another one, believe this one, no you cannot read it, and we have to get this done right away, right away! No wait, here’s another bill and no you can’t know what’s in it either. Why? Because we in Congress don’t know; which means we the people will just have to wait and find out when premiums skyrocket and the doctors (those who decide to stay in medicine) start turning away Medicare patients. And forget all that stuff promised about transparency and C-span coverage of all those behind-the-scenes, no public allowed, negotiations. Progressives don’t want us to worry our little American heads over any of the complicated legislative jargon, “We’ll take care of all this for you; you don’t need to bother yourselves with the minutia of trillion dollar debts and taxes and worries over whether you live or die.” And just in case we’ve forgotten let’s remind ourselves that 90% of Americans have health care coverage and most like it. To go with another chicken analogy, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
Obama just cannot get out of the “Here’s a great bunch of Joe Cool sound bites and what I think everyone wants to hear” campaign mode. There was a lot in his speech about jobs and things getting better and they’re not. We’ve lost 7.2 million jobs since the recession began. But the President proudly points to a factory in North Carolina creating about a thousand green jobs, as is a plant in California. Let’s see: if each state produces a thousand new jobs this year, why that’s 50,000 jobs! Getting close Mr. President.
I think he actually said we need to follow China’s lead on factories producing green jobs. Are you kidding me? Are we both talking about that huge country overseas with more than a billion people where they’re firing up an average of two coal-fired plants per week? And did he say we’d drill for oil? Nope. Double checked that. We’ll be exploring offshore oil and gas “development”. Which means? Probably not much once his environmental supporters start screaming. The same goes for his reference to nuclear power plants.
And what’s with the President dissing the United States Supreme Court at a State of the Union address? South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson got reamed for his emotional outburst of “You lie!” last time the President spoke before Congress. But the PRESIDENT of all people puts down the United States Supreme Court, his invited guests, with them sitting there all dignified in their black robes as the entire nation and world watch and that’s okay? Ssssoooo unpresidential and evidently, unprecedented! He didn’t understand or was just reading what the teleprompter said about their recent decision on campaign spending. Justice Samuel Alito was actually wincing and mouthing “Not true” as Obama spoke.
But more than anything he said it was what he did not say that revealed so much. He did not even side swipe the issue of confessed, obvious terrorists going on trial and being given the same rights as an American citizen. And foreign policy dangers that threaten maybe, oh, the future of the planet were addressed vaguely, if at all.
Of course he did the usual, “I’m not responsible for any of this mess because it’s all W’s fault”, to a fault, again. It’s so incredibly unbecoming, so classless for the President to be the Whimperer-in-Chief instead of the Commander-in-Chief. And if he keeps using “I” (97 times in the State of the Union speech) someone in his administration just needs to shake him and say, “Barack, get over yourself! It’s not about you anymore!”
Then he actually said, get this: he, Barack Obama, is ending the war in Iraq! I kid you not. He said, “I promised I would end this war and that’s what I’m doing”. Barack, sweetie, we all know you have had almost nothing to do with the war in Iraq and that the American withdrawal was announced well before you were even sworn in. And the only people ending the war are the men and women who’ve been fighting it!
Listening to Obama takes me back to my childhood when my younger brothers and I would squabble and whine: “You started it!” “Nuh- uh, you did!” “Did not!” “Did to!” “It’s not my fault!”
Who does that when you’re grown up? Our President, that’s who.
01/28/10
Filed under: Political Commentary
When the Time magazine I was flipping through opened to the double page spread of one of its pictures of the year my heart dropped and brimming tears glazed my visibility; I was looking at a picture of newly, shallow dug graves in the barren Afghanistan soil with our Marines lying in them. Then a closer, clearer-eyed look revealed what a first glimpse had not. The bodies were those not of dead, but of dead-tired young Marines. The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines were photographed by David Guttenfelder in Helmand province in July. Each lay in his earthen bed, in eerily death like slumber in the rectangular fox holes they’d dug for themselves.
One Marine lay on his back, his neck bent uncomfortably sideways, his dirty, worn boots and striped wool socks atop the boots he had taken off and set close to his bed of dirt. I wondered whether those thick socks were sent by a mother or girlfriend to make the long treks through the harsh and dangerous Afghan countryside easier on his feet? It’s the seemingly little things that make life easier, appreciated, during war: something as simple as thick socks to keep your feet from blistering or freezing. The socks had been stripped off but one sat on top of one boot, one on top of the other. If they had to be put back on quickly there’d be no time wasted. Another Marine was curled on his side, his machine gun his sleeping mate, his mouth gaping slightly in the unconsciousness of sheer exhaustion. A third Marine had covered himself completely in a dark blanket or tarp, only his forehead and crew cut visible above his covering. And a fourth lay cramped in a fetal position in his hastily dug, coffin-like dirt bed. Turned up clots of earth surrounded the shallow dirt rectangle that was only about half as long as he was.
Guttenfelder, the photographer, wrote of the scene:
“We’d stopped in this farmer’s field for the night. It took me an hour to dig my own firing position in the dark, and it feels like you’re sleeping in a shallow grave. But you do feel safer—and sleep better—protected by those few inches of dirt. I got up at dawn and was able to get the guys enjoying the first full night’s sleep they’d had after marching for six days in temperatures up to 135 degrees, carrying 120 pound packs.”
The picture caught just one moment in time for one small group of Marines and it caught a rare peaceful moment, despite its initial disturbing visual impression of graves, empty boots, bodies and death which is the heart wrenching end for many of our troops wherever and whenever there is war.
Time Magazine, Dec. 21, 2009
The truth is I worship them. I look at that picture and others I see of them in magazines and on the internet: the ones of them rushing away from an explosion cradling a bleeding child, the ones of them kneeling in front of two empty boots and a rifle, heads dropped, a hand over their eyes to hide tears while paying last respects to a buddy, the pictures of the medics tending the aches and pains of old Afghani men and the scrapes or illnesses of Afghani children, the pictures of the solider dropping to his knees then garnering the strength to somehow stand again under the staggering weight of the backpack he carries in hellish heat or unbearable cold.
During this Christmas season here in America and around the world for that matter, we sleep in safety and comfort because they, our American soldiers do not. Whether the world wants us there or even likes us does not change the fact that, even if they don’t admit it, they’re safer because of the American soldier, sailor, Marine, Air Man or Coast Guard member.
As Americans we have the blessed right to speak against and protest war. Sadly, in the past and still today it is our troops who have borne the cruelty of words unfairly, and as we have learned from horrendous media inaccuracies such as the reports that wrongly assumed Marines had massacred innocents in Haditha, Iraq, there are still those too quick to indict, literally, those who stand at freedom’s door to protect the very media scum who would blithely destroy a soldier’s or Marine’s career, integrity and livelihood.
Those critics: I hope they take a good long look at that Time magazine picture. I hope they get down on their knees every night and thank God for the American soldier before they (I’m thinking here of your average liberal Congressman) slip under their designer sheets and rest their heads on fluffy pillows as visions of sugar daddy lobbyists and re-election plans and jet-setting to Copenhagen dance in their heads.
They have a right to criticize, sure. But I can’t help but think of the quote by President Theodore Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
I fear the President will not allow our military to know victory. He’ll couch it or define it in some well-turned phrases and the job will be left undone, the work and sacrifice will unravel. And the President of the United States will go down in history as one of “those cold and timid souls.”
The President finally got around to announcing his strategy, after announcing his strategy eight months earlier, for Afghanistan when he delivered his lackluster speech at West Point. Iraq may yet unravel, we don’t know. Afghanistan may not be won. If I had to bury my friends and collect the pieces of their bodies after an IED explosion, if I had to sleep in a shallow grave-like bed of dirt, if I voluntarily left this great country because I loved it and its freedoms so much I’d die for it, I think I’d want one thing more than anything else. I’d want to know my President, my Commander-in-Chief, truly admired, respected and believed in what I was doing and sacrificing for freedom at home and around the world.
Barack Obama made a big deal of our military the day of his Inauguration. I thought then with relief that maybe he really did get it, he did understand the American military fighting men and women, the kind of devotion to freedom for which they would and do lay down their lives.
Now? Despite his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, I don’t think in his wildest dreams Barack Obama understands the love of country and devotion to duty of the American soldier. He can’t touch that. His midnight trip to Dover Air Base with the national media in tow for a photo op, oddly timed when he was under intense pressure because he couldn’t/wouldn’t make up his mind on Afghanistan turned my stomach. It was the most shameful publicity grab I’ve ever witnessed. Our soldiers deserve so much better. Mr. President: how about showing our men and women in uniform how much you think of them, how much you admire them and mean it, really mean it, before they come home in a flag draped coffin. That might mean a little less time on the golf course and a little more time in the White House.
12/17/09
Filed under: Political Commentary
There was something kind of pitiful, unseemly and troubling watching the clips from the President’s job summit. He’s been in office ten months; he won in large part because the economy tanked and people believed his pitch about keeping job losses down (there were 457,000 new applications for unemployment just last week by the way). To those not yet utterly familiar and disenchanted with the mainstream media spin: you’re stupid if you think that’s bad news. You see, it’s actually good news because 457,000 people out of work wasn’t quite as bad as expected. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate is at 10.2%, the worst it’s been in 26 years.
There he was, the President of the United States, almost pleading with a roomful of selectively invited participants to help him solve the job crisis, telling them and in the process all the rest of us that he’s “looking for ideas”. It reminded me of Tom Cruise’s great line in the movie Jerry Maguire when Jerry the sports agent is reduced to pleading with his only client, Rod Tidwell (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) to, “Help me…help you. Help me, help you. Help ME, help YOU.” After his desperate plea Gooding’s character bursts into giggles over Maguire’s desperately, dramatic plea. The President’s jobless summit was similar with his “Help me, help you!” concept, and it would have been comical if it wasn’t so sad. This is the best our Community- Organizer- in- Chief can come up with to help the estimated 17 percent of Americans out of work, who have given up looking, or can’t find full time work?
Well, he’s not supposed to be a community organizer anymore. He’s supposed to be the President of the United States for gosh sakes! Doesn’t he, hasn’t he had the best economic minds in the country available to him the entire time he’s been in office, even before hand? What the heck do he and his economic advisers, pay czars, job gurus, and progressive pals talk about when jobs are at a 26 year low? Geez. Unfortunately, it’s probably how to raise the taxes of those 50-60 percent of Americans who even pay taxes anymore. But it’s all so hard for the Prez. Quoting from Jerry Maguire again, can’t you just hear Obama using Maguire’s line: “I am out here for you. You don’t know what it’s like to be ME out there for YOU.” Tough job, Mr. President. You asked for it. You got it.
In a weird way it reminds me of the whole Afghanistan strategy (I’ve got one) lack of strategy (I’m thinkin’ about it) then, eventually, an announcement (I think I’ve got it! Let’s try this…) Months ago he supposedly had a strategy for saving American jobs, now he evidently doesn’t. So what does he do? He has a workshop. If you’ve ever been to a conference on, oh, take any sensitive topic: race, women in the workforce, diversity, race, women in the workforce, diversity… you usually have a gung-ho facilitator who walks about the stage, gets everyone pumped up, then you adjourn to smaller breakout sessions and spend a couple hours hashing out stuff which is just essentially letting everyone spout off (in a sensitive manner of course) to hear themselves talk (in a sensitive manner of course). Then you all come back together and all your wonderful earth-shattering ideas are scribbled on a flip chart and everyone goes home feeling good about themselves.
And so our President is now a Phil Donahue type guy facilitating a workshop packed with a room of people, many representing labor unions, liberal economists and academia (his peeps/supporters) but not the National Chamber of Commerce (some of the real job creators) or the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
And get this: he says he’s open to any good ideas (boy, does that just inspire tons of confidence or what?) even tax cuts. Even tax cuts? My god, he’s actually open, maybe, kinda, sorta, to something that could actually spur job growth? Mind you, he’s only open to the idea of tax cuts. “Shirley, jot that one down on the flip chart for consideration, or not.”
I’m not a small business owner. I was an English major for gosh sakes. I don’t recall taking any classes in economics (unfortunately). But here’s what I know. I ain’t spending money until the federal government stops spending money. I’m recycling Christmas gifts and I’m making it an overall goal to keep spending to an all time low this Christmas. So I’m making banana bread for gifts; I may go a bit over budget and throw in a few cranberries for more flavor so chew on that and enjoy it and I don’t want to hear any whining. The point being I, the consumer, am still not willing to spend nor do I have confidence in job workshops and President Donahue. If I don’t have any confidence (and I don’t own a business) do we really expect businesses, especially small businesses, to start hiring people when they don’t know whether the economy will recover anytime soon, what health care is going to cost them, what cap and trade is going to cost them, what a weakened dollar is going to mean to them, what inflation will do to them, what an unsteady stock market means, what another so-called stimulus could cost and what an anti-business administration may do to them when it comes to taxes?
The President says he’s open to tax cuts. I don’t believe it. It’s just not in his makeup. He may find some way to make the fewer and fewer people who still pay taxes feel better by cutting some obscure tax or giving some useless tax credit or promising not to raise taxes except on those mean ol’ nasty rich people (many who worked their fannies off to launch small businesses and who already pay most of the taxes and create jobs) but I don’t believe him. He does not seem to have the desire or determination to reign in federal spending gone wild.
Our deficit is at 1.4 trillion and counting. President Obama has been in office ten months and he’s quadrupled what George Bush spent in eight years and most Americans weren’t happy about how much Bush was spending! Since President Obama’s so-called stimulus, four million—four MILLION jobs have been lost. Now he’s reduced to begging for ideas. The answers are there, always have been; he just doesn’t like them.
Enjoy your banana bread.
12/03/09 (more…)
Filed under: Political Commentary
Who’d have thought it? Sarah Palin and Barack Obama together have done more to expose the left leaning media than decades of previous coverage by ditto writers and broadcasters. I use the term left leaning, but I know that’s not fair; actually, they’ve bent themselves backwards into contortions to destroy and demonize Palin and glorify and indulge Obama. And the American people, all too trusting, are waking up, noticing and getting angrier by the minute.
If we the people, the average Americans who for so many years trusted the big three networks, CNN and their demon news offspring (who, for as long as TV news has been around, have taken their marching orders from the badly discredited New York Times) hadn’t noticed the bias, had thought journalists were objective, had thought they were the watchdogs of big government and hot-shot politicians…well, we were wearing rose-colored glasses. We’ve taken off the shades and have seen the light and it’s a glaring, blinding light that leaves spots before our eyes.
It’s not that a lot of us didn’t know it and didn’t notice the liberal, Democratic bias of the national media. We’d get frustrated and then let it slide and go back to our trusting ways. Until we couldn’t ignore it any longer. Until it was sickening. Until it really slapped us in the face when we saw the blatant, over the top vicious cruelty intently and intentionally focused on Sarah Palin and worse, so much worse, against her children. I don’t think that prized voting block known as moderates and independents got just how awful, how prejudiced the mainstream media are when it comes to covering people who don’t fit in with “their” crowd: the liberal elites– until it came to Sarah Palin. Where was the equally tough coverage of Barack Obama? His background, his relatives, his associates and his children (who are off-limits to the obliging media).
Americans have been be too complacent when it comes to media coverage: letting it wash over them, catching bits and pieces here and there as they go about trying to make a living, getting kids to school, unloading the groceries, chatting on the phone, checking their e-mail, talking over the day with their spouses as the TV news anchors chat away in the background. But you’d have to be living in la-la land or under a rock not to notice the extreme variance in coverage of Sarah Palin compared to Barack Obama, who has been practically worshipped by a pathetically fawning media. A few of the mainstreamers are starting to wake up but they’ve been embarrassed into doing so by critics on FOX and talk radio. And let’s face it, if FOX and Rush and Beck and Hannity are as popular as they are the reason is that the mainstream media haven’t done their jobs. So thanks ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc. You did it! You brought conservative programming to the airwaves: long may it play!
And since I mentioned Rush, who can forget the firestorm of controversy when he was doing a stint at ESPN and dared say Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, who is black, was “overrated” and that, “The media have been very desirous that a black quarterback can do well—black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well.”
We all know the hysterical overreaction that followed that comment. No wonder everyone tiptoes around all “ PC”; we’ll never have an honest dialogue on race because anyone who dares to say anything the mainstream media deem unacceptable is usually drummed out of a job.
Allen Barra writing for politically liberal Slate came to Rush’s defense:
“But the truth is that I and a great many other sportswriters have chosen for the past few years to see McNabb as a better player than he has been because we want him to be. Rush Limbaugh didn’t say Donovan McNabb was a bad quarterback because he is black. He said that the media have overrated McNabb because he is black, and Limbaugh is right. He didn’t say anything that he shouldn’t have said, and in fact he said things that other commentators should have been saying for some time now. I should have said them myself.”
So, isn’t it just as obvious as the nose on your face that the mainstream media are not covering Obama as toughly as they should have or could have because a.) he’s not conservative and therefore b.) they want the first black President to succeed? Would they want a black, conservative president to succeed? Of course not. Where is the praise from the liberal media for the brilliant, black conservatives like Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell and many others? I think some of the most courageous people in the political arena are black conservatives. But they are either ignored or vitiated by intolerant liberals. It takes a lot of guts and character to be a proud, black, conservative.
Even if Barack Obama wasn’t your or my candidate because of his policies and liberalism we were proud of the process that elected him the first black President. It also drew attention to the fact that America is not the racist country that much of the rest of the world seems to think it is. But then, alas, he started to govern– or try to. Within mere weeks of the collective national swoon over his election Americans were waking up hearing Da-da-da-da…da-da-da-da: the theme to the old Twilight Zone TV series. What the heck is he doing today? How much did you say he’s spending? What’s happening to our health care system? Why is he making speeches denigrating our country? Why is he jetting off to Copenhagen with Oprah and playing round after round of golf but he can’t find the time figure out what to do about our troops needing support in Afghanistan? Excuse my language but Jesus H! This is just getting to be too much and Americans, conservatives, joined by heretofore wishy-washy moderates and independents are finally seeing the blinding light and it’s not Obama coming down from Mt. Sinai. It’s the glare of the danger he poses to our freedoms and not even the mainstream media can cover for him anymore.
Who needs them anyway?
11/13/09
Filed under: Political Commentary
When a local, state or national election would roll around I was one of those people who would read the newspaper, listen to what candidates had to say and carefully consider each person’s merits. I’d cast my vote mainly for Republicans, but now and then a Democrat or two as well. If I couldn’t tell much difference between the two and one of the two was a black candidate, I’d press the button for the minority candidate. I felt it was important that our political system be as racially mixed as our population and it was high time qualified black candidates had just as much chance at election as a white candidate.
When it comes to politics I’ve tended to be naïvely trusting. I can recall being rather startled to learn how many people go into a booth to exercise their precious right to vote and simply pull a lever for one party or another. I had voted for Democrats for President; I had voted for Republicans. I suppose I was part of that coveted demographic called “the Independents”.
Well hell’s bells, never again! Like many Americans the election of President Barack Obama has pushed me over the fence; no, not just pushed me over–shoved me over. Don’t get me wrong I did not vote for him. But I did make a big mistake by taking for granted that whoever was elected President of the United States, no matter the policy differences elucidated on the campaign trail, loved the United States of America as much as I did: that he or she would always put America’s interests first: that once Barack Obama took on the heavy mantle and responsibility of the presidency he would realize the wisdom of moving to the center in order to be a President for all the people (or at least to get re-elected!)
Boy was I wrong; I’m not Catholic but it’s enough to make me want to take comfort in a Catholic confessional. I’m tempted to sneak into a Catholic church, discreetly slide into a confessional booth (do they still have those?) and do that neat cross yourself thing and then say to a shadowed Priest, “Father forgive me for I have sinned”. “And what is that sin my child?” “Father, forgive for believing President Barack Obama would do right by America.” “My child, have you learned nothing about liberals?” “I have now, Father.” You are forgiven my child; say eight hundred gazillion million ‘Hail Mary’s’ and go in peace.” Boy, I need that!
Like many Americans, I confess (without a Priest) that I’ve allowed myself to get caught up in that whole concept of “Let’s just vote for change; sure, that sounds good, why not? A nice little dose of change is just what this country needs!” And then we got Jimmy Carter and then we got Bill Clinton and now, now we’ve got Barack Obama. (“Father, forgive me for…” Oh never mind! But I still have this desperate need for absolution for the sins of the past, for being so naïve!)
Now I have to watch and listen daily as the President of the United States of America (THE greatest nation on the planet, thank you very much) sells us down the river and runs around the world mealy- mouthing the country (have we apologized enough for EVERYTHING yet?) that elevated him to the most powerful position in the world, or at least it was when Obama was elected. I’ve been disappointed in past presidents, I’ve even despised past presidents, but I’ve never been afraid of a president: afraid that he would so dramatically change our nation (for the worse) that my grandchildren would not know the freedoms and opportunities Americans do today. The almost daily assaults on our nation’s values, freedoms, free enterprise system and Constitution by Barack Obama and his ilk, have left average Americans reeling in disbelief.
I was chatting with a darling 78-year-old woman the other day. She and her husband have run a successful small business for many years and are still vibrant and active. They are also now scared out of their wits. Like other decent, hard-working Americans they can’t believe how quickly this Administration is working to dismantle what so many Americans hold dear, how badly the economy continues to tank, how their health care may be affected and the mind-boggling amount of taxpayer money being spent (thrown away) by the billions and trillions. This couple was not anti-Obama when he was elected; they are about the sweetest, kindest people you’d ever want to meet. But these mild-mannered seniors are stock-piling food, have bought a safe, stocked it with several thousand dollars, hidden it away, and, and, bought a gun, illegally! That’s how scared they and many other Americans are.
I watched President Obama’s Inauguration with pride, pride in the fact that we had elected our first black, “post-racial”, whatever, President (although I think if Colin Powell had had the fire in the belly to run some 20 years ago, he would have been our first black President). Barack Obama’s color was never really a big deal to most Americans. As I recall the most disparaging remarks came from the likes of Bill Clinton and other liberals. But even those of us who did not vote for him still took pride in Barack Hussein Obama’s election (only in America could a guy with a name like that be elected just seven years after 9/11!) and in the elegant, natural and peaceful transfer of power from one candidate to another, from one party to another that is a hallmark of this incredible nation.
On Inauguration Day we saw the crowds, heard the cheers and speeches, we saw the intoxicated joy of his supporters, and we heard him praise our military and then we who did not vote for him, and those moderates who did, thought, “Everything will be okay; he understands what is at stake and believes in our great Constitution as we do.”
We were wrong and he doesn’t.
If we want to save the values and traditions of this nation now is the time for independents and moderates to get off the fence once and for all. And don’t just slide off or climb carefully down. Jump! Jump now! Take the leap! Get involved in conservative issues. Don’t live in fear of saying what you believe and don’t ever, ever, vote for “change” for change’s sake again.
11/12/09
Filed under: Political Commentary
One gets the nagging, uncomfortable feeling that President Obama is inconvenienced by the rigors of the job he so desperately sought: that he must somehow fit the “distasteful” aspects of the most powerful position in the world (dealing with wars and terrorism and a disastrous economy, for example) in between golf games, vacations, celebrity functions, dates and campaigning.
The President was in his element during his own campaign; the national news media pranced in his path tossing rose petals before him. His charm, his grin, his lanky physique, his ability to give a rousing, if not rather vacuous speech, gave him the platform in which he excelled. Then came the election. Then came the Inauguration. Then came the Presidency. Then came tough decisions about war and death, a bad economy, race issues, oil spills, foreign disasters, and those pesky Arizonans and other Americans who think laws ought to be enforced.
It’s unsettling to feel as if the President of the United States wants to be President for the perks; but the rest of the job? Just one big hassle. President Obama knows as well as any politician that appearances matter and in some cases they matter a lot.
President Bush gave up playing golf in 2003 out of respect for our war dead and their families. Barack Obama has played more golf in his first 18 months in office than President Bush played in eight years and Obama continues to play. The time for games is over, Mr. President.