All the News That's Fit to be Tied

I have an axe to grind, but unlike the New York Times, I freely admit it.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Roll Over Obama

If any bi-partisan ship was intended in the so-called stimulus package there wasn't very much. Most Republicans, except for a treasonous few, held their ground and did not take part in the rolling of the President. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi took Obama for the ride of his career and he doesn't even know it, unless his team does what the Congress did not do: read the bill. It contains every Democrat program that has not been able to pass the House or Senate since Ronald Reagan and will turn back some of the major reforms made by previous Presidents such as welfare reform, border security and immigration enforcement. In addition, already the bill is being criticized for not being enough to do the job. Some are saying at least another billion or two will be required in the coming months. America is being done a great disservice with the passing of this bill and it is very likely to aggravate a very unstable economy. Despite all of this gloomy news the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500 were sold out, all the mall parking lots are full and every restaurant is crowded. How is this possible unless someone is not telling the truth or people are just refusing to accept what they are being told?

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Broken Promise?

When President Obama was campaigning he said he would check every spending item and veto the ones that were wasteful. It's obvious that Obama has not done it so far. The wasteful, non-stimulating spending in the so-called Stimulus" package is every item ever offered by the Democrats and not funded. Using the Rahm Emanual method of crisis management the Democrats want to make sure they "never let a good crisis go to waste" by funding their wish list under the "crisis" umbrella. It is truly repulsive that the Democrats would do this at a time when Americans are spent out. Americans are gagging on their expenses and choking on their taxes. The 188 House members that voted against the bill included 12 Democrats. Opposition to the bill was bi-partisan compared to the straight line vote for the purely Democratic bill. Republicans in the Senate are making the right kind of noises but they have not been helpful so far. They are faced with the proposition there is little they can do because some Republicans want to be players in the Obama Revolution. So instead of screaming to every newspaper, magazine, and talk show in the country they are trying to make it better. Wake up. You cannot make it better unless you gut it or kill it. If the President, with the help of Republicans, does not veto these wasteful spending programs while the country is in recession, they will be exacerbating the current crisis.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Hey; The Joke’s on You

Just how much unethical behavior does a person have to take part in to be unacceptable to the American people as a cabinet secretary or high-placed official? It's as if Obama and his team are laughing at us by selecting a tax cheat to run the IRS. Do they get their jollies selecting a health care lobbyist and tax cheat to run HHS? I can understand how appealing to Judd Gregg’s vanity to get him to desert his party and give Obama a scapegoat in case his policies fail could give them a big rush. I can see the thrill they get when they think they put something over on the American people: Sort of stuck it in their eye big-time. Well for a man who says he wants to bring change it looks like the same old playbook to me.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Why Doesn't Obama Talk About Us?

President Obama’s recent declaration that he has family members who are Muslim and his declaration that he has lived in Muslim countries are things he never said while campaigning. His declaration that America is a "Christian nation" and a "Muslim Nation," did not go unnoticed and will not fade from the minds of fair Americans. When he made this statement he did not say Judeo-Christian, as is commonly the case. His claim that his job is to tell Americans about all the fantastic Muslims in the world says a lot about his point of view. I would have thought the job of the President of the United States would be to tell Muslim nations about all the fantastic Americans in the world. Tell Muslims about our widespread efforts worldwide to help feed and care for the poor. About our efforts to bring modern medicine and technology to the world's more unfortunate populations and to export freedom and democracy to other countries because people fair better under freedom and America is the shining example. We are not a country without faults, but they are far fewer than most of the fantastic Muslims and Muslim countries Obama wants to tell us about, the majority of which are feudal dictatorships run by single families. The President’s characterization of America as a county with a lot to learn about the Muslim way is curious. Unlike American Christians and Jews in Muslim countries, Muslims in America are completely free to practice their religion in peace and in the open. Unlike American Christians and Jews in Muslim nations, Muslims in America can depend on equal protection under the law. In America Muslims can criticize the government without fear of reprisal, a right not granted in most Muslim nations to Muslims, much less Christians and Jews. So before Obama spends too much time informing Americans about the fantastic Muslims in the world perhaps he should spend some time informing the Muslims world about America.

Analyze This, Stimulate That

The President has a few major issues this week that are likely to haunt him for the next few weeks. His 850B stimulus package is apparently short on stimulus and long on pork barrel spending, often referred to as earmarks. Almost 70-percent of the package will not be spent for at least eighteen months and the remainder will not be spent for at least six. By the time the money starts to reach the economy the recession will be 18 months in length and may well be ending. This completely overlooks the fact that most of the bill is every leftover Democratic proposal that has been squashed by sensible members of Congress or President Bush over the last eight years, as well as programs that even Bill Clinton rejected. In so far as the remainder of TARP funds is concerned I agree with Mr. Obama that firms that take taxpayer dollars should forego giving bonuses to their executives for whom bonuses are not part of their regular earnings, such as sales commissions, incentives, etc. The stimulus bill will meet some resistance in the Senate this week and while this will not prevent it from passing hopefully the minority can restore some sense to the Democrats who are so giddy over the prospect of funding all their pet projects they want Obama to nominate Hew Hampshire Republican Senator Judd Gregg to Commerce Secretary to get a Democratic replacement and inch them closer to a veto-proof majority in the Senate. Unfortunately Judd Gregg has paid his taxes, has never been employed as a lobbyist and never used services that he neglected to put on his tax return like Timothy Geitner and former Senate Majority Leader Daschle, so there is a good chance that if he wants the job he'll be confirmed. These issues will be gone in a few weeks and the best the American people can hope for is the return of sanity to the budget process and the so-called stimulus package