Mr. Obama, see what you have done! Because your administration has passed a health care bill that a majority of Americans didn't want, took over two car companies that Americans didn't want you to do, spent a trillion dollars of stimulus money on several year old wish lists of Democrats which did nothing to create jobs. I have lost a good friend.
Those who support you are naturally those of whom you have helped: The school teachers, the policemen,
the firemen, and the millions of government workers who make and average of $20,000 a year over the average public worker. The unions were handsomely given a better deal than the shareholders of the companies that were taken over. These people and others on government welfare approve of your administration.
Then, to add salt to the wound, you supported the Muslim mosque to be built near the 911 site.
When our economy is at it's lowest and on the verge of a depression your vice president said, "The stimulus is working."
When I reminded my liberal friend of these things he was so upset he decided he no longer wanted to be my friend. I truly hope and pray that when we again control the house and the senate we don't treat the democrats as we were treated the last 4 years.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Senator Jim DeMint S.C. Republican
South Carolinas Senator Jim DeMints Senate Conservatives Fund has taken Washington by storm. The fund raising group has already helped eight underdog Reagonite candidates win Republican Senate primaries this year. In two years, the fund has raised and spent nearly $2million from nearly 50,000 individual contributors.
Mr. DeMint's mission is to bring more Jim DeMint's to the Senate--that is, people with an unfailing antagonism to big government. Over the past 5 years, Mr. DeMint has established himself as the pre-eminent conservative in congress--he has a near perfect National Taxpayer Union rating--with Tom Cobburn as a close second. Other victors helped by Mr. DeMint include Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mr. Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mike Lee of Utah. He says his goal is to raise $5million this cycle. That's a pittance in big-money politics, but, Mr. DeMint's strategic, targeted spending has flipped more races than even he thought possible. "I'm not a Kingmaker," he insists, even though that's exactly what many political pros call him. We've got too many Kings in Washington already.
"When I got to Congress in 1999 instead of working on the reforms that I ran on-wealth-creating personal
accounts and individually owned health Insurance and some simple tax, the things that I thought all of us believed in-instead we worked on redistricting and getting the vunerables on the right committees and getting earmarks to the people that needed them. Everything was about numbers and electing more Republicans. We'd always promise to get to the principals later." I was over there at the Senate committee making fund raising calls and so many people were saying, "I'm not giving you guys another dime until you start acting like Republicans." That's when I got the idea of starting a committee to just help conservative candidates.
His frustration boiled over in 2009 when the Republican Senatorial Committee endorsed Senator Arlan Spector and Charlie Crist, neither of whom is a Republican one year later.
Mr. DeMint was the first major political figure to indorse Marco Rubio aagainst Govenor Crist in Florida. Although Mr.Rubio is embraced now as a rising star of the Republican Party, at the time people laughed.
Last week Lisa Murkowski apparently lost to Joe Miller in Alaska's Republican primary. She and her father have held that Senate seat for 30 years. Mr. DeMint said, "This should be a wake up call to Republicans politicans who go to Washington to bring home bacon aren't wanted."
When Mr. DeMint was asked what Republicans should do if they take back the House and Senate this year. He said, "First put a cap on spending." "Next, We may not be able to repeal Obama Care but we can cut off funding it." "Sell Chrysler and GM. get out of it. Privatise Freddie and Fannie so we can get out of the business of running the housing industry." He also is in favor of a low rate flat tax or consumption tax.
He has a personal crusade to end earmarks. He thinks Republicans can re-connect with voters by doing away with pork-barrel spending.
But, in a $3.7 trillion aren't earmarks trivial? He scoffs, "They always say, it's just a small amount of money, but earmarks always enlarge our budget and buy votes so that massive bills can go through." Members haven't been able to fight against these obese budgets, he says, because, "When we direct money back home through earmarks , it makes us complicit in the spending process, It's a killer."
"In the House John Boehner and the Republicans get it, I'm not so sure about the senate."
"I think we are in danger of doing the same thing we did before, where a lot of young conservatives come in who have been out there campaigning on the right issues, but then all the senior guys take control of the committees and it's business as usual." He warns, "This may be our last chance with voters because if we're given the majority---and don't reform Washington, everybody is going to say, what's wrong with these guys? We need a third party."
He says he has more faith in voters than the people they elect. "I'm getting optimistic, I think as I talk to people around the country---they seem to get it. They want to return to those things that made America different and great. They understand that what the government has done is so harmful, in terms of spending, and takeover's, the debt, it has made the people who are not normally political and not generally interested in it alarmed."
Mr. DeMint's mission is to bring more Jim DeMint's to the Senate--that is, people with an unfailing antagonism to big government. Over the past 5 years, Mr. DeMint has established himself as the pre-eminent conservative in congress--he has a near perfect National Taxpayer Union rating--with Tom Cobburn as a close second. Other victors helped by Mr. DeMint include Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mr. Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mike Lee of Utah. He says his goal is to raise $5million this cycle. That's a pittance in big-money politics, but, Mr. DeMint's strategic, targeted spending has flipped more races than even he thought possible. "I'm not a Kingmaker," he insists, even though that's exactly what many political pros call him. We've got too many Kings in Washington already.
"When I got to Congress in 1999 instead of working on the reforms that I ran on-wealth-creating personal
accounts and individually owned health Insurance and some simple tax, the things that I thought all of us believed in-instead we worked on redistricting and getting the vunerables on the right committees and getting earmarks to the people that needed them. Everything was about numbers and electing more Republicans. We'd always promise to get to the principals later." I was over there at the Senate committee making fund raising calls and so many people were saying, "I'm not giving you guys another dime until you start acting like Republicans." That's when I got the idea of starting a committee to just help conservative candidates.
His frustration boiled over in 2009 when the Republican Senatorial Committee endorsed Senator Arlan Spector and Charlie Crist, neither of whom is a Republican one year later.
Mr. DeMint was the first major political figure to indorse Marco Rubio aagainst Govenor Crist in Florida. Although Mr.Rubio is embraced now as a rising star of the Republican Party, at the time people laughed.
Last week Lisa Murkowski apparently lost to Joe Miller in Alaska's Republican primary. She and her father have held that Senate seat for 30 years. Mr. DeMint said, "This should be a wake up call to Republicans politicans who go to Washington to bring home bacon aren't wanted."
When Mr. DeMint was asked what Republicans should do if they take back the House and Senate this year. He said, "First put a cap on spending." "Next, We may not be able to repeal Obama Care but we can cut off funding it." "Sell Chrysler and GM. get out of it. Privatise Freddie and Fannie so we can get out of the business of running the housing industry." He also is in favor of a low rate flat tax or consumption tax.
He has a personal crusade to end earmarks. He thinks Republicans can re-connect with voters by doing away with pork-barrel spending.
But, in a $3.7 trillion aren't earmarks trivial? He scoffs, "They always say, it's just a small amount of money, but earmarks always enlarge our budget and buy votes so that massive bills can go through." Members haven't been able to fight against these obese budgets, he says, because, "When we direct money back home through earmarks , it makes us complicit in the spending process, It's a killer."
"In the House John Boehner and the Republicans get it, I'm not so sure about the senate."
"I think we are in danger of doing the same thing we did before, where a lot of young conservatives come in who have been out there campaigning on the right issues, but then all the senior guys take control of the committees and it's business as usual." He warns, "This may be our last chance with voters because if we're given the majority---and don't reform Washington, everybody is going to say, what's wrong with these guys? We need a third party."
He says he has more faith in voters than the people they elect. "I'm getting optimistic, I think as I talk to people around the country---they seem to get it. They want to return to those things that made America different and great. They understand that what the government has done is so harmful, in terms of spending, and takeover's, the debt, it has made the people who are not normally political and not generally interested in it alarmed."
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Our "Moderate Muslim" Problem
The New York Times, Oct. 19, 2001: "Imam Anwar Al-Awalaki, spiritual leader at the Dar al-Hijra mosque inn Virginia, one of the nation's largest...Is held up as a new generation of Muslim leader capable of merging East and West."
NBC's nightly news with Brian Williams, Dec 9, 2004: "It's the TV industry's newest experiment, Bridges TV," billing itself the "American Muslim Lifestyle network." It's the brainchild of Aasiya Hassan, an architect, and her husband, Muzzamil Hassan, a banker, who are disturbed that negative images of Muslims seem to dominate TV,especially since 9/11.
The Boston Globe editorial, August 4, 2010: "The simple fact is there is nothing threatening about the proposed Islamic center, which is being spearheaded by Feisal Abdul Rauf, one of the most respected moderate Muslim leaders in the country."
See where this is going?
Most readers probably know of Awalaki as the U.S. born Iman who presided over the mosque attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers, Awiaki also served as theological mentor to Fort Hood killer Nidal Malik Hasan, would be Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.
President Obama has authorized to assinate Awlaki, now thought to be living in Yeman.
As for Bridges TV, the saccharine story told by Brian Williams and reporter Ron Allen (complete with scenes of the family's domestic bliss in their modest home in Buffalo, N.Y.) came to an abrupt end in February 2009, when Mr. Hasan beheaded his wife after she filed for divorce, evicted him from her home, and won an order of protection.
Now, we have the controversy over the Ground Zero mosque, opponents of which are being wildely braanded as bigots. The argument here is that Mr. Rauf really is a moderate, unlike Awlaki. That might well be so_by the the standards of his native Kuwait. But, a man who claims to condem all forms of terrorism yet refuses to call Hamas a terrorist group is not a moderate by American standards.
"Moderate Muslims denounce terror that's commited in the name of Islam, but, they deny that religion has any thing to do with it." By contrast, reform-minded Muslims denounce terror that is committed in the name of Islam and acknowdledge that religion is used to inspire it.
When it comes to heralding the arrival of long awaited moderates, there's nothing more embarrassing than a case of pre-mature congratulation.
It's difficult to even concieve that New Yorkers will allow this to happen. I'll bet on N.Y.
NBC's nightly news with Brian Williams, Dec 9, 2004: "It's the TV industry's newest experiment, Bridges TV," billing itself the "American Muslim Lifestyle network." It's the brainchild of Aasiya Hassan, an architect, and her husband, Muzzamil Hassan, a banker, who are disturbed that negative images of Muslims seem to dominate TV,especially since 9/11.
The Boston Globe editorial, August 4, 2010: "The simple fact is there is nothing threatening about the proposed Islamic center, which is being spearheaded by Feisal Abdul Rauf, one of the most respected moderate Muslim leaders in the country."
See where this is going?
Most readers probably know of Awalaki as the U.S. born Iman who presided over the mosque attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers, Awiaki also served as theological mentor to Fort Hood killer Nidal Malik Hasan, would be Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.
President Obama has authorized to assinate Awlaki, now thought to be living in Yeman.
As for Bridges TV, the saccharine story told by Brian Williams and reporter Ron Allen (complete with scenes of the family's domestic bliss in their modest home in Buffalo, N.Y.) came to an abrupt end in February 2009, when Mr. Hasan beheaded his wife after she filed for divorce, evicted him from her home, and won an order of protection.
Now, we have the controversy over the Ground Zero mosque, opponents of which are being wildely braanded as bigots. The argument here is that Mr. Rauf really is a moderate, unlike Awlaki. That might well be so_by the the standards of his native Kuwait. But, a man who claims to condem all forms of terrorism yet refuses to call Hamas a terrorist group is not a moderate by American standards.
"Moderate Muslims denounce terror that's commited in the name of Islam, but, they deny that religion has any thing to do with it." By contrast, reform-minded Muslims denounce terror that is committed in the name of Islam and acknowdledge that religion is used to inspire it.
When it comes to heralding the arrival of long awaited moderates, there's nothing more embarrassing than a case of pre-mature congratulation.
It's difficult to even concieve that New Yorkers will allow this to happen. I'll bet on N.Y.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Dodd-Frank Bailout is Already Here.
On July 21, when Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, he promised; "There will be no more tax-payer funded bailouts period." How long will will this Obama promise last? Well. The N.Y. Times reported today that "The Obama Administration" on Wednesday pumped 3 billion into programs intended to stop the unemployed from losing their homes, "including a program announced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, "will draw on $1 billion authorized by the new financial overhaul law." Just one month ago Obama promised there would be no more bailouts!
Faced with the utter failure of it's Tarp funded mortgage bailout, the Obama administration is now turning to the Lefts old stand-in for housing market interference. The government sponsored Fannie and Freddie. Fannie Mae is now working with the National Council of State Housing Agencies to let people buy houses with little or no down payment, just like the GSE's did at the height of the housing bubble. Last week Freddie Mac was promoting no-down payment loans.
All this despite the fact that last week Fannie Mae announced a $1.2 billion loss in the second quarter and this week Freddie Mac announced a 4,71 billion loss. Both companies were also forced to ask for more Obama bailout cash, including $1.5 Billion for Fannie and $1.8 billion for Freddie. All your tax dollars. In total we have spent 150 billion bailing them out and they are starting out again.
By allowing the above, the Obama administration is only prolonging economic hardship.
Faced with the utter failure of it's Tarp funded mortgage bailout, the Obama administration is now turning to the Lefts old stand-in for housing market interference. The government sponsored Fannie and Freddie. Fannie Mae is now working with the National Council of State Housing Agencies to let people buy houses with little or no down payment, just like the GSE's did at the height of the housing bubble. Last week Freddie Mac was promoting no-down payment loans.
All this despite the fact that last week Fannie Mae announced a $1.2 billion loss in the second quarter and this week Freddie Mac announced a 4,71 billion loss. Both companies were also forced to ask for more Obama bailout cash, including $1.5 Billion for Fannie and $1.8 billion for Freddie. All your tax dollars. In total we have spent 150 billion bailing them out and they are starting out again.
By allowing the above, the Obama administration is only prolonging economic hardship.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
More Stimulus
To treat Washington's spending addiction, the November's election's are the Republicans best chance to stage an intervention. But until then, President Obama and the Democratic congress are determined to keep pushing strung-out state governments to take one more fix. Witness yesterdays 247-161 largely party-line House vote to approve a Senate bill shoveling another $26.1 billion out to state education and Medicaid programs.
Maintaining the salaries and generous benefit plans for members of the teachers unions is indeed a top Democratic priority. That's why $10 billion of the bill's funding is allocated to education, and the money comes with strings that will multiply the benefits for this core Obama constituency.
Specifically, the bill stipulates that Federal funds must supplement , not replace, state spending on education. Also, in each state, next year's spending on elementary and secondary education as a percentage of total state revenues must be equal to or greater than the previous year's level.
Governor Haley Barber did the math and figured the state would be worse off. The $98 million of the needed additional funds would have to be taken from public safety, human services, mental health and other state priorities and given to education. "There is no justification for the federal government hijacking state budgets, but that's exactly what congress has done.
Texas Governor Rick Perry is also apposed to this new "assistance" from the federal government. He understands that one-time payments that force permanently higher state obligations are a windfall for government employees. But if given the choice, taxpayers would just say no.
The other reason is that 1% to 1.5% of the teachers salary is taken out for dues, so, the teachers union will reap nearly $100 million extra dollars from this new stimulus. Much of these dues will flow immediately to endangered democratic candidates in competitive House and Senate races this year.
So, in the name of still another "Stimulus" Democrats are rewarding their own political funders, putting the most fiscally responsible states into even greater distress, and postponing the day of reckoning for spendthrift states.
The only way for voters to stop such fiscal abuse is to run this crowd out of town!
Maintaining the salaries and generous benefit plans for members of the teachers unions is indeed a top Democratic priority. That's why $10 billion of the bill's funding is allocated to education, and the money comes with strings that will multiply the benefits for this core Obama constituency.
Specifically, the bill stipulates that Federal funds must supplement , not replace, state spending on education. Also, in each state, next year's spending on elementary and secondary education as a percentage of total state revenues must be equal to or greater than the previous year's level.
Governor Haley Barber did the math and figured the state would be worse off. The $98 million of the needed additional funds would have to be taken from public safety, human services, mental health and other state priorities and given to education. "There is no justification for the federal government hijacking state budgets, but that's exactly what congress has done.
Texas Governor Rick Perry is also apposed to this new "assistance" from the federal government. He understands that one-time payments that force permanently higher state obligations are a windfall for government employees. But if given the choice, taxpayers would just say no.
The other reason is that 1% to 1.5% of the teachers salary is taken out for dues, so, the teachers union will reap nearly $100 million extra dollars from this new stimulus. Much of these dues will flow immediately to endangered democratic candidates in competitive House and Senate races this year.
So, in the name of still another "Stimulus" Democrats are rewarding their own political funders, putting the most fiscally responsible states into even greater distress, and postponing the day of reckoning for spendthrift states.
The only way for voters to stop such fiscal abuse is to run this crowd out of town!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Why I cancelled my blog on Newt Gengrich
After listening to a video by (The John Birch Society President) I have completely changed my mind about him having anything to do with the presidency of this country. I was schocked as to how he voted in the past and the organizations he is a member of. If ever we needed a conservative in the White House it is in 2012. The guy we put in there has to be a true conservative, and one who lives and dies by our Constitution. We can't and our country can't afford another mistake! Newt Gengrich is claiming to be a conservative, however he has voted for and is an internationalist.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
It Isn't Working
Another month, another mediocre jobs report from the Department of Labor. This is consistant with the rest of the economic evidence that this is a lackluster recovery that so far is not turning into a durable expansion.
The economy shed 121,000 jobs in July and the number of jobs created in May and June were revised downward to 221,000 lost jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.5% but that does not reflect the fact that the number of discouraged workers is also up 389,000 from a year ago. The employment practices of the government also helped them show better results. They laid off census workers only to rehire them the next week! Private employment did inch up in July by 71,000 positions, with a nice 36,000 in manufacturing jobs, but even that number is deceptive. The vast number of those jobs were in the auto industry.
The problem is if you are still looking for work, because the private sector isn't feeling confident enough to create jobs. The declines in the household survey tend to reflect small business better than does the payroll survey, and small businesses in particular aren't creating new jobs the way they have in other recoveries.
So far, the Obama team has thrown the entire *Keyensian playbook at the economy. We have paid people to buy cars, purchase homes, pay off their mortages, weatherize their homes, and put solar paneling on their roofs. Of course there was the original stimulas package of $862 Billion, though some of that remains unspent. None of it has put America back to work.
The policy lesson is that you can't have a jobs recovery without private confidence and investment. The Obama crowd bet that you could force-feed private investment with government spending and politically directed credit, but the result has been to traumatize business instead. Why would a small business owner hire anyone new if he knows that taxes are going up, health care costs are sure to rise, and the cost of each new employee is uncertain? Nor can you inspire business confidence if you demonize bankers and business.
As the evidence mounts that government spending doesn't create new jobs, the White House insists we need to double down on spending and monetary stimulus. We've now had three years of this policy and it isn't working. Time to try a different economic model, one that worked in the 80's after another severe recession.
Come November we have a chance to try that new model!
*Keyensian: The theory that government must compensate for lack of business investment in times of recession.____________John Maynard Keynes 1936
The economy shed 121,000 jobs in July and the number of jobs created in May and June were revised downward to 221,000 lost jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.5% but that does not reflect the fact that the number of discouraged workers is also up 389,000 from a year ago. The employment practices of the government also helped them show better results. They laid off census workers only to rehire them the next week! Private employment did inch up in July by 71,000 positions, with a nice 36,000 in manufacturing jobs, but even that number is deceptive. The vast number of those jobs were in the auto industry.
The problem is if you are still looking for work, because the private sector isn't feeling confident enough to create jobs. The declines in the household survey tend to reflect small business better than does the payroll survey, and small businesses in particular aren't creating new jobs the way they have in other recoveries.
So far, the Obama team has thrown the entire *Keyensian playbook at the economy. We have paid people to buy cars, purchase homes, pay off their mortages, weatherize their homes, and put solar paneling on their roofs. Of course there was the original stimulas package of $862 Billion, though some of that remains unspent. None of it has put America back to work.
The policy lesson is that you can't have a jobs recovery without private confidence and investment. The Obama crowd bet that you could force-feed private investment with government spending and politically directed credit, but the result has been to traumatize business instead. Why would a small business owner hire anyone new if he knows that taxes are going up, health care costs are sure to rise, and the cost of each new employee is uncertain? Nor can you inspire business confidence if you demonize bankers and business.
As the evidence mounts that government spending doesn't create new jobs, the White House insists we need to double down on spending and monetary stimulus. We've now had three years of this policy and it isn't working. Time to try a different economic model, one that worked in the 80's after another severe recession.
Come November we have a chance to try that new model!
*Keyensian: The theory that government must compensate for lack of business investment in times of recession.____________John Maynard Keynes 1936
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