The American People Already Know the Truth

The media is attempting to tame the angst of the voter. No one wants to blame BO for anything tied to the economy but the electorate isn't buying. Now I find an article that does a fair job at trying to paint Obama into a new era of presidency.

Such powerlessness in the face of economic free fall has emerged as a hallmark of the modern presidency. While Mr. Obama is facing a more acute economic crisis moment than his predecessors, characterized by a near depression, the truth is that every president going back to Jimmy Carter, at one point or another, has had to campaign or govern in an environment dominated by the same cyclical and stubborn factors — recession, unemployment, rising energy costs. And so perhaps Mr. Obama’s presidency, as it reaches its midway point, is best understood not in isolation, but rather as part of a longer and still undefined political moment.

The farther we get from presidencies, after all, the more we tend to view them as belonging to periods rather than individuals, as sometimes overlapping clusters along the country’s historical continuum. We’ve had pre-Civil War-era and Reconstruction-era presidents, Industrial-era presidents and Depression-era presidents. The last discernible era belonged unmistakably to the cold war and can be said to have encompassed every president from Harry Truman through Ronald Reagan, all of whom served under the shadow of Armageddon.

When historians look back 50 years from now, in what era will they place Mr. Obama’s presidency, and what does it say about the challenges he faces?

Projecting his ultimate greatness in the future, they attempt to create a special class or situation that will absolve him from his apparent failures. Oddly they start off calling his current situation part of a normal cycle. They don't bother showing how some of them over came the problems, while others only made them worse.

Historians have different ways of looking at the question. But in interviews, several hit on the same basic theme, which is that Mr. Obama and his immediate predecessors have been forced to contend with the erosion of self-sufficiency. In other words, until the end of the Soviet Union, America’s economic and national security were largely self-determined, thanks to its manufacturing might and its ability to negotiate treaties with other states. But the advent of truly global markets, along with threats from non-state forces like Al Qaeda, changed all that. Now we live in an integrated world where American jobs rely on the economic policies of governments in Asia or Latin America, while our security is subject to the whims of a cleric living in a cave.

In their attempt to confuse and remove blame from their leader, they inadvertently gave away the answer to the whole thing. The key, no one wants to talk about, fell out of their pocket. The Key, "the erosion of self-sufficiency", is the very issue that would be whole heartedly embraced by almost all Americans.
Our power came from self-sufficiency. We really didn't need anyone as much as they needed us. We mined it, made it, and even created it right here in the USA. Through regulation and environmentalism we have given away much of our independence and with it our freedom. Now we give away our wealth to those who don't like us. We negotiate deals with despots who have no intention of honoring them and no fear of penalty.

What we need is to fix the problem. The next election cycle is just the starting place. We want less government and less government regulation. We want to suspend a number of environmental policies and start using our own resources. We have plenty of oil, coal and gas. We have plenty of people who would be willing to start manufacturing if taxes and regulation made it possible again. We have driven business and manufacturing from our shores but we can bring them back as well.

Vote for candidates who are pro capitalism and pro constitution. Vote for candidates who want to restore independence to America. These are the candidates who will give you real "Hope and Change".

Quotes taken from: The Presidency, Chained to the World fm New York Times.

Doubts and the Dow

Everyone is going gaga over the Dow. Yes, I am talking about the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It has gone up everyday in September. There has only been three of them. It still hasn't topped where it started at the beginning of the year. People who are heavily invested are still in the red. But, Whoa Nelly, are we excited.



To be totally overtaken with enthusiasm, look we are stuck back at 2004. Nothing is happening here.



It is all a ploy to make us think things are getting better. To make us believe that our president is actually doing something to improve our economy. The truth is that nothing has changed and nothing is really better.

Okay, just so someone doesn't show up and claim that BO has actually improved the stock market since he has been in office. Here is the chart.



On the 17th of February 2009 the president signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Dow continued to plunge. When we started to come back, he signs another bill and we plunge again. If you look at each of the drops and then the dates he signs legislation, you will see a pattern. The pattern has some variation with pre or post bill blues and bliss.

The key here is that nothing has been dome to restore confidence in the market. There is always another bill on the block that will take more out of business. There is a constant supply of money draining bills that stop progress and stagnate the market.

Our organizer and chief has no idea what it takes to motivate business into action. You would think all politicians would want to understand this given that most of the tax revenue structure is based on earnings both personal and business. Instead, we see every means possible for closing up business and stopping income earning.

Bernanke Knows What We Need

With the Obama Administration passing mega bill after mega bill, everyone wonders what they will have left. The Bush Tax Cuts will expire and the Obama tax burdens are still being tabulated, will business have any money left to actually do business?

Bernanke Urges Congress to Renew Bush Tax Cuts

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke dropped a major bombshell on Democrats seeking massive new revenues to narrow the deficit, announcing Thursday that he favors preserving the Bush administration tax cuts in order to help a faltering U.S. economy.

“In the short term I would believe that we ought to maintain a reasonable degree of fiscal support, stimulus for the economy,” Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee. “There are many ways to do that. This is one way.”

Bernanke's statement put him directly at odds with White House officials and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who favors raising taxes on wealthy Americans by letting the tax cuts the Bush administration passed in 2001 and 2003 expire.

Bernanke's views also conflict with those of his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, who just last week told Bloomberg TV's Judy Woodruff that lawmakers should allow the Bush tax cuts to expire as scheduled at year's end.

Greenspan conceded however that doing so probably would slow growth.

Bernanke emphasized the importance of giving the economy a boost. But he also told the House that dealing with the deficit, which has ballooned during the Obama administration, remains a major consideration.

“We need to be taking steps to reassure the American people and the markets that our fiscal situation is going to be well controlled,” Bernanke told the committee members. “That means that if you extend the tax cuts, you need to find other ways to offset them.”

Bernanke's comments came on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 201 points, in part on reports of strong corporate profits.

But the markets were also encouraged by the news that two more Senate Democrats — Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. — are joining the growing number of voices urging an extension of the tax breaks enacted under the Bush administration, in order to stave off the possibility of a double dip recession.

Read More Here

My Favorite Quote From the Article:

Neil Cavuto said the market's reaction was telling. "Don't you find it a tad odd that among the many reasons the Dow soared more than 200 points today was this talk that some Democrats want to delay the tax hike for the rich. Telling, don't you think? Government stands down," he said, "stocks shoot up."

Doing what will work seems to still escape the great one.

Need a Shirt

I don't wear T-shirts but these make it tempting.

See Them and buy them HERE.

The Dumbest President...EVER!

By Stuart Schwartz


Barack Obama is the dumbest president...EVER.

That is a reasonable conclusion once you've assessed the first nineteen months of his presidency and compared it to the definition of intelligence put together by researchers in the field. Although the mainstream media have spent the last two years proclaiming Obama "super-smart" or, as Newsweek put it, "sort of God" in stature and brilliance, the 44th president of the United States is poised to surpass our 15th president, James Buchanan. Jr., as the White House occupant who has made the dumbest moves while in office. With two years left, he is on the fast track to last.

That takes some doing, for the leadership of the hapless Buchanan prior to the Civil War "has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of the worst Presidents." This is the president who vetoed a college funding bill because "there were already too many educated people" in the young nation. Buchanan's judgment was so wretched that he thought anti-slavery forces could be convinced to give up their opposition by his personal assurances that slaves were "treated with kindness and humanity" and that poverty could be ended by simply printing more money. Sound familiar?

Barack Obama is dumb. How dumb? Alfred E. Newman dumb, says columnist David Limbaugh, who labeled him "President Alfred E. Obama" because of his blithe disregard of the basics of fiscal responsibility. Alfred E. Newman is the Mad magazine mascot, whose answer to every problem is his signature statement: "What, me worry?"

How dumb? How-many-Obamas-does-it-take-to-screw-in-a-light-bulb dumb. And in the answer lies the answer, the key to his pole position in the race to last: It takes 242. One to hold the light bulb, four to turn the ladder, eighteen to assess conformity to OSHA workplace requirements, four to assess the environmental impact of the burnt-out bulb disposal, twelve to participate in a task force to evaluate green energy solutions for a replacement bulb, eight to script his actions, four to script instructions and work the teleprompter, 23 to work with the justice department to sue the light bulb manufacturer...you get the picture. And, à la Buchanan, Obama never does get that light bulb changed.

That James Buchanan "fiddled while Rome burned" seems to be the consensus of historians. His approach to the raging controversy over slavery in the decade preceding the Civil War was based on ignoring evidence and acting upon events as he wished them to be, not as they were. Fast-forward to the present: Obama responds to the Gulf crisis by trying to move us toward the collapsed centralized green economy of Spain, ignoring the fact that even Spain acknowledges that "every 'green job' created with government money...came at the cost of 2.2 regular jobs, and only one in 10 of the newly created green jobs became a permanent job."

In all areas of his presidency, Obama has demonstrated a striking disregard of facts, lack of good reasoning, and inability to function at an executive level, all at the core of the textbook definition of intelligence derived from more than a half century of research. Intelligence, the experts tell us, comes down to understanding the meaning of the world around us, and then using that understanding to live skillfully and appropriately (i.e., to get stuff done). One survey of more than fifty researchers in the field of intelligence offers the following definition:

A very special mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings---"catching on", "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.

Obama is Buchanan-esque in his inability to function as an executive, a key part of intelligence. Even a cursory analysis of history shows that limited government and free markets have produced prosperity; so Obama expands government and takes over private businesses, causing one observer to throw up his hands at another Buchanan moment from Obama and exclaim, "It isn't rocket science, Mr. President!" Hands-on executives and laser focus are business school basics for solving problems; so Obama parties rather than roll up his sleeves, unleashes federal regulators on hapless Gulf state residents rather than cutting through the red tape, and appoints study panels even as the oil washes ashore (e.g., see video timeline). Radical Islamists are waging war against the United States; Obama does a full Buchanan -- or, if you will, an Alfred E. Newman-style "What, me worry?" -- and, denying the existence of Islamic terrorism, asks whom are you going to believe -- me or your lying eyes?

The ability to draw reasonable conclusions from everyday life and then use those conclusions to adapt is fundamental to high intelligence, says cognitive psychologist Robert J. Steinberg, the award-winning Tufts University dean and University of Cambridge fellow. In other words, the scientific community has established good reasoning, learning from past experience, and acting according to those experiences as integral to high intelligence.

It does not include, as David Brooks, tells us, having an exceptional and "perfectly creased pant [leg]" or -- in what Hot Air's Allahpundit calls "a loathsome expression of elitism" -- being able to "talk like us," Brooks, and others of the "smart set." If that were the case, all we would need to increase intelligence in the U.S. Congress is to provide our elected representatives with dry cleaning services. As for the "talk like us" part, it doesn't take intelligence to talk like a self-styled intellectual, a.k.a. a New York Times columnist. Hawkeye Pearce has already shown us the way in the classic "Love Story" episode of television's "Mash." He teaches Radar, the shy Iowa farm boy who has a crush on a nurse who reads the classics and enjoys Bach, to reply with, eyebrows uplifted, "Ahhh...Bach" when she discusses music and throw in the occasional "That's highly significant."

Want to impress David Brooks and others of the media engaging in what Bernard Goldberg calls "a slobbering love affair" with the president? Simple. Reply, as Obama has done, "Ahhh...Burke" to David Brooks, enthralled by a president who expressed appreciation for the "finer points" of political philosophy; or flash your degree to Christopher Buckley, formerly of National Review, awestruck by Obama's "Harvard intellect"; or simply present Marxism and mainline elegance as typical of the academic life, and media academics like Michael Beschloss will gush on mainstream news, "he's probably the smartest guy ever to become President."

But intelligence is as intelligence does, as Forest Gump might remind us. Harvard has produced more than its share of great men and women, but it has also produced the Unabomber, Barney Frank, and Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling...and now, the next James Buchanan.

So the next time Brooks or others in the mainstream media firmament tell you that Barack Obama is a towering intellect, the smartest president ever, just nod your head wisely and say, "Ahhh...pant leg."

Link

The Solution to the Oil Spill

Our sit around and pass the blame administration should be jumping at the chance to rid themselves of this problem. Well here is the solution.



The only issue I see now is recognizing that is private industry and not government mandates that have provided the solution. How does a president of "government has the solution" accept the fact that it doesn't? Will he continue to sit back and push blame around or will he take a large swollow of pride and take the solution? The problem is only getting worse while we wait. And Wait.......



More animals are dying.
More businesses are dying

Still Waiting.........

Muslims, The Next Frontier

Anybody catch this in the news?

NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World

What kind of idiot would have a space/science program placate to violent, third world nations of Muslims?

Bolden said in an interview with Al Jazeera that strengthening those ties was among the top tasks President Obama assigned him. He said better interaction with the Muslim world would ultimately advance space travel.

"When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering," Bolden said in the interview.

Can anyone think of a significant science discovery in the last hundred years that was found by a Muslim?

I'm not kidding. Here is the Link.

Three Years of Wisdom from Joe Biden

-- On June 25, 2010, Vice President Biden was visiting a custard shop outside Milwaukee when the shop manager told him his dessert would be on the house if he lowered taxes.

"Don't worry, it's on us," the manager said. "Lower our taxes and we'll call it even."

Biden replied: "Why don't you say something nice instead of being a smartass all the time?"

-- On May 6, 2010, Vice President Biden said in an address to the European Parliament in Belgium that Brussels could be the "capital of the free world."

The comment came at the top of a speech used to discuss the threats of nuclear proliferation, climate change and international terrorism.


"As you probably know, some American politicians and American journalists refer to Washington, D.C. as the 'capital of the free world,'" Biden said. "But it seems to me that in this great city, which boasts 1,000 years of history and which serves as the capital of Belgium, the home of the European Union, and the headquarters for NATO, this city has its own legitimate claim to that title."

-- On March 23, 2010, Biden stated the obvious when he told President Obama, "This is a big f---ing deal," during the bill-signing ceremony for the health insurance overhaul. Biden apparently thought the exchange was private, but the television microphones picked it up. The president must have realized what happened -- Biden later said in an interview that Obama was "laughing like the devil" after the event.

-- On March 17, 2010, Biden used a St. Patrick's Day celebration at the White House to honor the memory of the Irish prime minister's mother -- though she was alive.

"God rest her soul," Biden said as he introduced Brian Cowen and Obama. Biden quickly corrected his mistake, noting that Cowen's father, not mother, was dead.

"Wait ... your mom's still, your mom is still alive. It was your dad (who) passed. God bless her soul. I gotta get this straight," Biden said.

-- On July 16, 2009, Biden gave a blunt summation of the administration's approach to stimulus spending.

"People, when I say that, look at me and say, 'What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?" he said at a stop in Virginia. "The answer is yes."

-- On July 5, 2009, in an interview with ABC's "This Week," Biden conceded that the White House team "misread how bad the economy was." His confession came as unemployment hit 9.5 percent, despite the administration's insistence that it would hold to 8 percent with the stimulus plan.

-- On April 30, 2009, Biden gave advice on dealing with swine flu that seemed to contradict President Obama's warning not to panic. Speaking on NBC's "Today," Biden, a longtime Amtrak rider who has commuted for decades daily from Delaware to Washington, D.C., said he wouldn't advise family necessarily against going to Mexico, the source of the H1N1 outbreak, but he wouldn't tell them to get into any small area like a subway car, automobile, classroom or airplane.

"I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places right now," Biden said. "It's not that its going to Mexico, it's that you are in a confined aircraft when one person sneezes, it goes everywhere through the aircraft. That's me."

-- On March 13, 2009, Biden addressed a former Senate colleague by saying, "An hour late, oh give me a f----ing break," after he arrived on Amtrak at Union Station in Washington, D.C. The vice president's expletive was caught on a live microphone.

-- During a Feb. 25, 2009, interview on CBS' "Early Show," Biden encouraged viewers to visit a government-run Web site that tracks stimulus spending. When asked for the site's web address, Biden could not remember the site's "number."

"You know, I'm embarrassed. Do you know the Web site number?" he asked an aide standing out of view. "I should have it in front of me and I don't. I'm actually embarrassed."

-- At a Jan. 30, 2009, swearing-in ceremony of senior White House staff, Biden mocked Chief Justice John Roberts for his presidential oath blunder on Inauguration Day.

"Am I doing this again?" Biden said, after Obama asked him to administer the oath. When Biden was told the swearing-in was for senior staff -- and not cabinet members -- the vice president quipped, "My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts," prompting a stern nudge from Obama.

-- On Inauguration Day, Jan. 20 2009, Biden misspoke when he told a cheering crowd of supporters, "Jill and I had the great honor of standing on that stage, looking across at one of the great justices, Justice Stewart." Justice John Paul Stevens -- not Stewart -- swore Biden in as vice president.

-- When criticizing former GOP nominee John McCain in Athens, Ohio, on Oct. 15, 2008, Biden said, "Look, John's last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs."

-- In a Sept. 22, 2008, CBS interview, Biden misspoke when he said Franklin D. Roosevelt was president when the stock market crashed in 1929.

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened," he said.

Herbert Hoover -- not Roosevelt -- was president in 1929, and television had not yet been invented in 1929.

-- During a Sept. 12, 2008, speech in Columbia, Mo., Biden called for Missouri State Sen. Chuck Graham, who is wheelchair-bound, to "stand up."

"Oh, God love ya," Biden said, after realizing his mistake. "What am I talking about?"

-- At a Sept. 10, 2008, town hall meeting in Nashua, N.H., Biden said, "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me."

-- Biden mistakenly referred to Alaska governor Sarah Palin as the "lieutenant governor" of her state during a town hall meeting on Sept. 4, 2008 at George Mason University in Manassas, Va.

"I heard a very, by the way I mean this sincerely, a very strong and a very good political speech from a lieutenant governor of Alaska who I think is going to be very formidable, very formidable not only in the campaign but in the debate," Biden said.

-- Biden said he was running for president -- not vice president -- during a Sept. 1, 2008, roundtable discussion in Scranton, Pa.

"Today is the moment for me as a United States senator running for president to put aside the national politics and focus on what's happening down there," Biden said.

-- Biden referred to John McCain as "George" during his vice presidential acceptance speech on Aug. 27, 2008, at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Co. "Freudian slip, folks, Freudian slip," he explained.

-- Biden confused army brigades with battalions when speaking about Obama's plan for sending troops to Afghanistan.

"Or should we trust Barack Obama, who more than a year ago called for sending two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan?"

-- During his first campaign rally with Obama as his vice presidential running mate on Aug. 23, 2008, Biden introduced Obama by saying, "A man I'm proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States -- Barack America!"

-- On Jan. 31, 2007 -- the day Biden announced his presidential bid -- the Delaware Senator was roundly criticized for calling Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."


Remember this is our backup president should something horrible happen to BO. As bad as BO is doing, he is still better then his VP.

LINK

They Will Try Anything

Since the law was passed in Arizona, I have heard innumerable arguments as to why it is wrong. I have seen boycott after boycott trying to damage or punish all the American citizens who live in Arizona. We have even heard bold statements from the Obama Administration seeking to challenge the new law. (We also know none of them have read it.)

The law simply forces all agencies of the state to uphold and enforce federal immigration law. Thats right, these people are complaining about a state who is actually enforcing the federal laws on the books. They didn't create any new laws or change the intent and purpose of any of the federal laws. They simply made it mandatory to enforce them.

This is a great law and other states are looking to adapt it as well. In fact, five states are seeking to do that right now. Five states - South Carolina, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Michigan - are looking at Arizona-style legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The group said lawmakers in 17 other states, including Texas, had expressed support for similar measures.

The haters hate this law so much they are trying other tactics. I found this guy who sees the law as anti-business. Others may argue that this is pro-business. As the boycotts cause cancalations, many are reporting as many as four or five reservations are coming in per one lost. Soon we should see unemployment numbers fall as Americans find work where illegals once held.

The law is working illegals are leaving. Pearce disagreed that the Arizona economy will suffer after illegal immigrants leave, saying there will be less crime, lower taxes, less congestion, smaller classroom sizes and shorter lines in emergency rooms. Boycotter's and sanctuary cities on the other hand are experiencing the opposite.

Arizona is on the Mexican/US border. I need to point this out because apparently there are those who don't know this and don't understand the scope of the problem.

Media Starting to See Past The Love

Panel Plus: 5/16

The video places a different perspective on the media and the administration.

I believe the media is starting to realize they have been manipulated. The tone and cover is less but the love is still apparent. Mistakes that were minor by previous administrations got top viewing. The Obama administration may start to lose the cover of the media. The bloggers have done more to expose the mistakes of the administration then the major media. Perhaps the tide is turning.

If the love is lost or starting to go, will it make a major difference in the November election?

Finally Someone Does Something

Arizona is the first in a long time to step up and say the obvious. "Illegal means Illegal!" They not only called a spade a spade but they are taking action. They realize that they can no longer wait for the federal government to do their constitutional duty of securing the border.

Arizona Governor Signs Tough Immigration Enforcement Bill


PHOENIX – Gov. Jan Brewer ignored criticism from President Barack Obama on Friday and signed into law a bill supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona, the nation's gateway for human and drug smuggling.

With hundreds of protesters outside the state Capitol shouting that the bill would lead to civil rights abuses, Brewer said critics were "overreacting" and that she wouldn't tolerate racial profiling.

"We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act," Brewer said after signing the law. "But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation."

Read the Rest Here

Once again we see Obama wanting to butt into state business when the federal government is the body that is failing. Americans have been asking for the federal government to take border control seriously for decades.

Once again we see "We The People" taking action. The People of America are rising up and taking action in more ways everyday. Obama's deceptive and costly presidency is waking the once slumbering giant. You can bet that more action by the people will continue to follow as long as BO is in office.

How is the SOTU Polling

Voter Views on State-of-the-Union Points
Wednesday, January 27, 2010

During his State of the Union address tonight, President Obama touched on a number of topics that Rasmussen Reports has current polling data on measuring the attitudes of the American people.
In his speech, for example, the president called for taxing banks to repay bailouts. Most Americans like the general idea of a tax on large banks to help repay the bailout money. Voters think that only banks that received the bailout should pay the tax though, and 72% believe that other financial institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should also pay the tax.
The president presented the $787-billion economic stimulus package as a success story. However, just 35% of voters believe the stimulus plan has helped the economy, while 31% believe it hurt. At this time, 39% are concerned the government will do too little to deal with the economy while 49% fear it will do too much.
Obama said the unpopular bailouts saved the economy. He’s right that they’re unpopular. By a two-to-one margin, voters still believe they were a bad idea. Voters are evenly divided as to whether they helped or hurt the economy in the short-term. However, voters overwhelmingly believe the bailouts are bad for the long-term health of the economy.
The president spoke about small business issues at a time when just 29% of small business owners say conditions for their businesses are getting better. That’s up seven points from a month ago, but 43% still say conditions for their business are getting worse.
On the housing front, just 55% now say buying a home is the best investment a family can make. That’s down from 79% in 2008. The public was way ahead of Treasury officials on dealing with the reality of the mortgage crisis
The president asked Congress to counter the recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance. However, public reaction is mixed: 26% agree with the decision, 34% oppose it, and 41% are not sure. Sixty-five percent (65%) also say corporations and unions should be allowed to buy ads to let people know how politicians voted on issues.
Voters still say deficit reduction is the most important priority laid out by the president last February. They also believe it is the presidential priority least likely to be achieved.
The president referenced the Congressional Budget Office analysis that suggested his health care plan would reduce the deficit. However, most Americans don’t believe the numbers. Voters overwhelmingly think the plan's costs will be higher than projected, and 81% say passage of the plan will likely lead to higher middle class taxes. Sixty-eight percent (68%) say it will increase the deficit
Most voters continue to oppose the proposed health care plan.
Sixty-one percent (61%) now want Congress to drop health care and focus on jobs.
On Afghanistan, the president reaffirmed the strategy he outlined a couple of months ago. Most voters agree with his plan to send more troops in, and a slightly smaller number support his plan to begin withdrawal in 2011. However, few agree with both aspects of the plan.
On Haiti, 74% of voters say the government response has been good or excellent.
Obama said he has cut taxes for 95% of Americans, but nearly half the nation’s voters expect their taxes will go up during the Obama years. Hardly anybody expects their taxes to be cut.
Americans strongly believe that cutting taxes is the best way to create jobs. However, few expect the nation’s elected politicians to follow that route.
The president said he has never been more hopeful about the nation’s future. However, a solid plurality of voters believe that the nation’s best days have come and gone.

Do You Believe Him?

It seems our president continually says one thing and does another. The State of the Union seems to be full of much more of the same. Looks like the facts are starting to cloud over already.

Fact Check: How State of Union Compares With Reality

WASHINGTON -- President Obama, who once considered government spending freezes a hatchet job, told Americans on Wednesday it's now part of his solution to the exploding deficit. He didn't explain what had changed.

His State of the Union speech skipped over a variety of complex realities in laying out a "common-sense" call to action.

A look at some of his claims and how they compare with the facts:

OBAMA: "Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will. Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don't."

THE FACTS: The anticipated savings from this proposal would amount to less than one percent of the deficit -- and that's if the president can persuade Congress to go along.


Obama is a convert to the cause of broad spending freezes. In the presidential campaign, he criticized Republican opponent John McCain for suggesting one. "The problem with a spending freeze is you're using a hatchet where you need a scalpel," he said a month before the election. Now, Obama wants domestic spending held steady in most areas where the government can control year to year costs. The proposal is similar to McCain's.

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OBAMA: "I've called for a bipartisan fiscal commission, modeled on a proposal by Republican Judd Gregg and Democrat Kent Conrad. This can't be one of those Washington gimmicks that lets us pretend we solved a problem. The commission will have to provide a specific set of solutions by a certain deadline. Yesterday, the Senate blocked a bill that would have created this commission. So I will issue an executive order that will allow us to go forward, because I refuse to pass this problem on to another generation of Americans."

THE FACTS: Any commission that Obama creates would be a weak substitute for what he really wanted -- a commission created by Congress that could force lawmakers to consider unpopular remedies to reduce the debt, including curbing politically sensitive entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. That idea crashed in the Senate this week, defeated by equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. Any commission set up by Obama alone would lack authority to force its recommendations before Congress, and would stand almost no chance of success.

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OBAMA: Discussing his health care initiative, he said: "Our approach would preserve the right of Americans who have insurance to keep their doctor and their plan."

THE FACTS: The Democratic legislation now hanging in limbo on Capitol Hill aims to keep people with employer-sponsored coverage -- the majority of Americans under age 65 -- in the plans they already have. But Obama can't guarantee g point of contention for the president. In December, the administration reported that recipients of direct assistance from the government created or saved about 650,000 jobs. The number was based on self-reporting by recipients and some of the calculations were shown to be in error.

The Congressional Budget Office has been much more guarded than Obama in characterizing the success of the stimulus plan. In November, it reported that the stimulus increased the number of people employed by between 600,000 and 1.6 million "compared with what those values would have been otherwise." It said the ranges "reflect the uncertainty of such estimates." And it added: "It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package."

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OBAMA: He called for action by the White House and Congress "to do our work openly, and to give our people the government they deserve."

THE FACTS: Obama skipped past a broken promise from his campaign -- to have the negotiations for health care legislation broadcast on C-SPAN "so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies." Instead, Democrats in the White House and Congress have conducted the usual private negotiations, making multibillion-dollar deals with hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders behind closed doors. Nor has Obama lived up consistently to his pledge to ensure that legislation is posted online for five days before it's acted upon.

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OBAMA: "We will continue to go through the budget line by line to eliminate programs that we can't afford and don't work. We've already identified $20 billion in savings for next year."

THE FACTS: Identifying savings is far from achieving them. If the past is any guide, little will result from this exercise because Congress routinely rejects the White House's suggested spending cuts.

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OBAMA: "The United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades."

THE FACTS: Despite insisting early last year that they would complete the negotiations in time to avoid expiration of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in early December, the U.S. and Russia failed to do so. And while officials say they think a deal on a new treaty is within reach, there has been no breakthrough. A new round of talks is set to start Monday. One important sticking point: disagreement over including missile defense issues in a new accord. If completed, the new deal may arguably be the farthest-reaching arms control treaty since the original 1991 agreement. An interim deal reached in 2002 did not include its own rules on verifying nuclear reductions.

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OBAMA: Drawing on classified information, he claimed more success than his predecessor at killing terrorists: "And in the last year, hundreds of al-Qaida's fighters and affiliates, including many senior leaders, have been captured or killed -- far more than in 2008."

THE FACTS: It is an impossible claim to verify. Neither the Bush nor the Obama administration has published enemy body counts, particularly those targeted by armed drones in the Pakistan-Afghan border region. The pace of drone attacks has increased dramatically in the last 18 months, according to congressional officials briefed on the secret program.


Anyone notice the "No Lobbyists in my Administration" comment?
"American Business is the True Engine For Jobs" - Could it be any more obvious.
Yes it can -- "We need to export more goods." - Sentences like this in speeches that are supposed to make an impact on America and set our course before the rest of the world only serve to demonstrate how little our leaders really understand about business and financial matters. Is it any wonder why we are in a recession given this obvious lack of basic economics. Any hope that might have been offered has been dashed by a completely stupid comment.

In case you missed it Obama wants people to step up and show him a better plan for fixing healthcare. My wife right away suggested I send him most of my blog articles for the past couple of years. He isn't going to listen. He already KNOWS what we need and no amount of facts of information is going to change his point of view.

Once again our nation missed an opportunity to move forward. Obama is still using the same lines and the same list. America needs to move forward but our leaders are still in the past. The people have become more vocal and our leaders have closed the doors and attempted to shut us out. We are only beginning to be heard. Massachusetts sent a clear message to congress. More messages are soon following.

Soon No One Will Accept Medicare

Medical clinics and hospitals are starting to refuse Medicare patients. The current "Public Option" is failing miserably and more failure is on the way.

Why Doctors Are Abandoning Medicare
By C.L. Gray - FOXNews.com
Physicians will not be bullied into bankruptcy. Our system needs reform, but what's being hammered out in Washington is not the answer.

Two weeks ago the Mayo Clinic shocked the nation when it closed the doors of one of its Arizona clinics to patients on Medicare. Just this past June President Obama himself praised Mayo as a model of medical efficiency noting that Mayo gives “the highest quality care at costs well below the national norm.” If Mayo feels compelled to walk away from this government-run program, others will surely follow. The nation must understand why.

Doctors are leaving Medicare for two reasons: one obvious, the other more concealed.

The first is simple—the math:

1) For the past decade Medicare consistently paid physicians 20% less than traditional insurance companies for identical service.

2) On January 1, 2010 Washington made hidden cuts to Medicare by altering its billing codes.


3) Medicare will cut physician reimbursement by another 21% on March 1. The CBO said this cut must take place if the Senate healthcare bill was to “reduced the deficit.”

4) Even more, Congress pledged to cut Medicare by yet another $500 billion. Again, the CBO said this additional cut must take place if the Senate healthcare bill was to “reduced the deficit.”
Many physicians were operating at a loss even before this series of massive cuts. In 2008, Mayo Clinic posted an $840 million loss in caring for Medicare patients. No businesses can survive when patient care expenses exceed revenue.

The second is more ominous—Washington’s increasingly abusive posture toward physicians.
President Obama reflected this attitude last summer. On national television, he stated as fact a surgeon is paid between $30,000 and $50,000 for amputating a patient’s foot.

In reality, a surgeon is paid between $740 and $1,140 to perform this unfortunate, but often life-saving procedure. This reimbursement must cover a pre-operative evaluation the day of surgery, the surgery, and follow-up for 90 days after surgery—not to mention malpractice insurance, salaries for clinic nurses, and clinic overhead. It is frightening to think our president is so wildly misinformed even as he stands on the cusp of overhauling American health care. But it gets worse.

Read The Rest

Few would deny that Healthcare needs reform. The problem is our leaders don't have a clue as to what is needed. Worse yet, they refuse to listen to those who do.

Too Bad Tom Didn't Survive as Our Candidate

I was a big Tom Tancredo supporter for president. He has a much clearer view of the problems in the US. Our current president doesn't appear to have a clue about most issues we face. Tom wrote a opinion piece about Iran. Give it a fair read.


Obama: AWOL in Iran crisis

It is now abundantly and painfully clear that President Obama is clueless about America's national security interests in this dangerous world.

Obama is playing golf in Hawaii as the Islamist regime in Tehran shoots protesters in the streets and admits it has beaten to death scores of other protesters taken to jail. Obama's silence in not voicing support for the protesters is deafening.

Anyone who has watched events unfold in Iran over the past three months can see that the street protests have evolved from a protest against a stolen election to a wider protest against the regime itself. The protests are not only taking place in the capital but in major cities all across the country. The most recent protests featured banners and shouts aimed at America: "Obama, which side are you on?" is a chant heard often. Unfortunately, that's a good question.

Since the revolution in 1979 that overthrew the pro-Western shah, Iran has pretended to be a democracy, but its "fundamentalist regime" slowly concentrated power in the hands of radical clerics. So, Iran now pretends to be a democracy, and the world pretends to believe it. Last October, the regime pretended to have a presidential election but overplayed its hand by stuffing the ballot boxes.

In the last 27 years, over 120,000 citizens in Iran have been killed by the regime, executed after sham trials or simply shot or beaten to death in prison without benefit of a trial. The street protests are escalating because millions of Iranian citizens have decided they have no other recourse. The question is not, what do Iranians want? The question is, is the civilized world listening? Is Obama listening?

Go Read the rest.

We the people are forced to take a more active roll in directing our government. We somehow managed to vote an entirely incompetent group into office who needs to be lead around before they do something stupid. I have got plenty of evidence to prove they will head to stupidity very quickly if we don't constantly give them guidance through letters and calls.

More Jobs -- Where?

Yes, the seasonal job surge has once again shown up. Companies are not hiring as many as usual but an up tick was expected as sellers, mailers and marketers enjoy the Christmas rush. The slight improvement from 10.2% to 10% was used as a lifting point in a speech given by BO.

Once again nothing happened but everyone is making a big deal over it. These seasonal jobs are generally low in pay and high on inconvenience. They usually fall into odd times in the early morning or evening hours. Let me not diminish the fact that working and providing for ones needs at any job is better then being destitute over the holidays. So many suffer do to the economic conditions brought forward by Bush and magnified by Obama, that any help should be welcomed.

Instead of allowing big business to fail and small businesses to step in and rise up. They rewarded bad business practices with our money and then denied us things that we actually needed. These poor choices by our representatives have lengthened our suffering and prolonged our economic failings. Millions continue to be out of work while we witness more bank failures and more businesses closing.

To big to fail? Perhaps to big to save. How much more will they give away?

Continued Government Failure

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature, It is now official you are ALL corrupt morons: The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before.. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure. You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

Choose Your Battle Wisely

That expression has been an important part of my life. Some battles need to be won in a direct and open forum while others can be waged in subtle non confrontational methods. Great care needs to be taken when deciding what method best suits the issue. In many cases, agree to disagree and move on. Future facts and information may better win the issue at hand.

The White House doesn't seem to think the subtle method is the right option for FOX News. They have gotten out the heavy hitters. Apparently meeting the needs of your general in the theatre of operation in Afghanistan isn't as high a priority as battling FOX News. Our economy is in the tank and our unemployment is at near record levels, but which battle is the White House taking on with its full force?

Ironicly, the white house is trying to use FOX's competition as a tool in the battle. They obviously are oblivious of the fact that one day they too could be in the target scope. The second and perhaps even funnier note is the combined veiwership for all the other news networks don't match the outreach of FOX. With that level of reach, FOX is even promoting the White House message and disarming it with finesse.

Looks like another poor choice for our President and his advisors. Add this one to the list. Even liberal Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas on Monday advised the Obama administration to stand down and avoid further fighting with Fox News and its correspondents. Perhaps the Pide Piper of Politics is starting to loose its grasp.


Follow Up Reading:
Thomas to White House: Stay out of Fox News fight
Media Wars: White House Crosses the Line
White House Urges Other Networks to Disregard Fox News

Me, Me, ME, It's All About Me.

BO is starting to on everyones nerves. Even our closest allies are starting to worry. I just read an article that brings this into perfect clarity.

The World Wearies of the Narcissist-in-Chief
By Joy Tiz

“The beauty of being a narcissist is that even when disaster stares you in the face, you feel neither doubt nor remorse.” —Carl Vogel, A Field Guide to Narcissism

Politicians on both sides of the aisle are becoming perturbed about the president’s “I - ME” fixation - the manifest hubris of Obama. His opening line at the UN speech was “The world has great expectations of ME…” as though the force of his charisma is enough to tame maniacal despots - that his words are all we need – never mind that they are pure perfidy.

Obama is also causing angst among our allies. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is especially irked with him. On Greta van Susteren, Jack Kelly of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that at the UN general assembly, Obama’s advisors told him not to interfere with his “fantasy about global disarmament” by bringing up the incontrovertible fact that the Iranians were cheating. Kelly’s sources, close to Sarkozy, says Sarkozy thinks Obama is “incredibly naive and grossly egotistical - so egotistical that no one can dent his naiveté” which is making everyone jittery about what that means for the West. “The President of the U.S. is the leader of the free world; and if the President isn’t going to lead the free world, it isn’t going to be led.”

Former Senator Rick Santorum added, “The international community now is beginning to become aware that not only is [Obama] naive in his pursuit of a whole bunch of things including complete nuclear disarmament, but that his ego gets in the way of him learning anything about why he’s wrong on these things. That’s a very dangerous combination - to not know anything and to think you know everything.”

This is all seen by our allies as just a president who is incredibly naïve

He went on to describe “the fantasy of Obama foreign policy” in Iran: “Obama, we now know, knew about this other nuclear facility, which in all likelihood is developing a nuclear weapon, and stood on the sidelines and allowed that movement which would have taken away potentially a regime that was going to develop nuclear weapons that can reach Israel and parts of Europe… at the same time they’re doing that, he’s pulling out anti-missile defense shields… inciting further anger among our European allies. This is all seen by our allies as just a president who is incredibly naïve, that somehow his persona, his aura will convince people to do things that are not in their interest or not in their history of doing. This is scaring our allies away and at the same time making our enemies look at us as feeble and weak.”

“I think the ‘narcissist in chief’ is in over his head and is detrimental to our national security.
Former CIA official Michael Scheuer called Obama a perpetual adolescent and a dishonest man. Foreign policy expert Lawrence Eagleburger said he has no faith in Obama as a leader. Lt. Col. Jeff Addicott said Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing, that they need strategic clarity from him in Afghanistan. Another expert on FNC said he wishes Obama would make a decision about Afghanistan, saying, “I think the ‘narcissist in chief’ is in over his head and is detrimental to our national security.

A less qualified presidential candidate would have been hard to find. Yet Obama was not only a serious candidate and ultimate victor, but during his campaign, he pranced around, acting as if he already was president and the election was merely a ceremony to formalize his taking of the crown… even displaying his own seal which looked remarkably like the president’s official seal.

For the narcissist, nothing matters more than maintaining his narcissistic supply. From Obama’s perspective, being chided by a cable news commentator really is a more pressing exigency than the reality of Iran amassing nuclear weapons. Obama is already showing the truculence typical of narcissists when they sense a threat to narcissistic supply.

The current leader of the free world is not in touch with reality. The toady press gleefully accepts his fabrications and denials. And mental health professionals have shown a remarkable lack of curiosity about the mental health of the president of the United States.

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This came out of Canada. Few in America are willing to criticize the president. The world has a clear perspective on our leader and nearly half of America seem to be under his spell. No wonder why so many Democrats think the American people are dumb.

Thanks Heavy Handed for Pointing this out to me.

Play to Win - Talking About Iran

Perhaps not understanding what is really going on is part of the "problem". This isn't some low impact casual event that we can walk away and disagree, knowing that everything will be okay tomorrow. This is a world altering seismic proportion event that could change the lives of millions. It is a life or death action that needs to be dealt with before it goes that far.

Some serious action needs to come to bare on this issue and a "victory" is indeed in order. It would be nice if they would stop their actions and return to peaceful activity but the words that come out of Iran say that isn't a possibility. The actions both in and out of their country say this isn't a possibility. Perhaps having to sit through repeated conversations and lectures from BO may indeed help.

"Please, if you just stop talking to us we will stop making nuclear bombs. We can't take another speech from you. We'll give up anything."

I know that sounds pretty realistic given the number of speeches we have had to endure here in America, but I don't think it is going to turn out that way.

We need real results. And yes, we need a Victory.