Some Floridians weren’t drinking the koolaid laid out by the White House in their townhall meeting about the high speed rail project. One 22 year old decided to explain it to them….
While thousands showed up to support the president, just a couple of blocks away hundreds came together to protest his arrival. They lined up down Kennedy Boulevard hoping their voices would be heard.
The protest was part of the Tea Party movement. They were demanding less government and a different kind of healthcare reform, and hoping to derail the state’s high-speed train. Protesters believe spending billions on rail has no place in a state facing budget cuts.
“Not the high speed, we don’t need it. I mean, how many people are actually going to ride it? I mean, you can check a lot of trains that the government is running and there is no one on there,” said Marie Brown.
It was an opinion shared by many there — more protestors arrived as the day went on.
Obama supporter Thomas Nimmo decided to argue with dozens of the protesters. Little did he know, he was fighting a losing battle.
“I just think that these people don’t really understand. They listen to one source of media and they get their talking points from that and they will be against anything that they are told to be against and I think that’s really unfortunate,” said Nimmo, 22.
I am assuming Thomas is a product of our fine education system where we are behind almost everybody else in MATH and science.
For those that are interested, go here for a map of the rail system.
Now, the true engine of job creation in this country will always be America’s businesses. But government can create the conditions necessary for businesses to expand and hire more workers.
or
Rather than fight the same tired battles that have dominated Washington for decades, it’s time to try something new. Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt. Let’s meet our responsibility to the citizens who sent us here. Let’s try common sense.
So tonight, I’m proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat. I am also proposing a new small business tax credit — one that will go to over one million small businesses who hire new workers or raise wages. While we’re at it, let’s also eliminate all capital gains taxes on small business investment; and provide a tax incentive for all businesses, large and small, to invest in new plants and equipment.
Is he saying that he is proud of his country (for the first time)?:
Well I do not accept second place for the United States of America. As hard as it may be, as uncomfortable and contentious as the debates may become, it’s time to get serious about fixing the problems that are hampering our growth.
This next section was for the leftwing. And for my liberal readers; yes, I believe everyone should have health insurance, just not the way this administration wants to favor some and penalize the rest. Hell, I’d like for my son and myself to health insurance again someday if I can somehow get around Hawaii’s health care monopoly.
Also, as for Michelle Obama; you are a little late to the party as more and more children go without enough food in this country due to rising unemployment. DO NOT TELL ME it’s going down, because 661,000 people have been taken out of the official labor force numbers, and UI rose in 43 out of 50 states last month.
After nearly a century of trying, we are closer than ever to bringing more security to the lives of so many Americans. The approach we’ve taken would protect every American from the worst practices of the insurance industry. It would give small businesses and uninsured Americans a chance to choose an affordable health care plan in a competitive market. It would require every insurance plan to cover preventive care. And by the way, I want to acknowledge our first lady, Michelle Obama, who this year is creating a national movement to tackle the epidemic of childhood obesity and make kids healthier.
Our approach would preserve the right of Americans who have insurance to keep their doctor and their plan. It would reduce costs and premiums for millions of families and businesses. And according to the Congressional Budget Office — the independent organization that both parties have cited as the official scorekeeper for Congress — our approach would bring down the deficit by as much as $1 trillion over the next two decades.
Still, this is a complex issue, and the longer it was debated, the more skeptical people became. I take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people. And I know that with all the lobbying and horse-trading, this process left most Americans wondering “what’s in it for me?” (Because we are all not as smart as the elites – Editor’s note)
Something for the dems, and a bitchslap for the repubs:
As temperatures cool, I want everyone to take another look at the plan we’ve proposed. There’s a reason why many doctors, nurses and health care experts who know our system best consider this approach a vast improvement over the status quo. But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors and stop insurance company abuses, let me know. Here’s what I ask of Congress, though: Do not walk away from reform. Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people. (America let you know and you ignored us. 2 Million of us came to OUR HOUSE and you flew to over in M1 on your way to a healthcare campaign stop in Minnesota.)
Bush Bashing 101:
So let me start the discussion of government spending by setting the record straight. At the beginning of the last decade, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion. By the time I took office, we had a one year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program. On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget. That was before I walked in the door.Now if we had taken office in ordinary times, I would have liked nothing more than to start bringing down the deficit. But we took office amid a crisis, and our efforts to prevent a second Depression have added another $1 trillion to our national debt.
Unfortunately for many Americans, Obama did not tell them that Clinton and the Dems created the housing bubble via a new and improved Community Reinvestment Act.
The Supreme Court:
But we can’t stop there. It’s time to require lobbyists to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with my Administration or Congress. And it’s time to put strict limits on the contributions that lobbyists give to candidates for federal office. Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.
This is Obama’s effort toward leadership:
Now, I am not naïve. I never thought the mere fact of my election would usher in peace, harmony, and some post-partisan era. I knew that both parties have fed divisions that are deeply entrenched. And on some issues, there are simply philosophical differences that will always cause us to part ways. These disagreements, about the role of government in our lives, about our national priorities and our national security, have been taking place for over two hundred years. They are the very essence of our democracy.
But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day. We cannot wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing headlines about their opponent – a belief that if you lose, I win. Neither party should delay or obstruct every single bill just because they can. The confirmation of well-qualified public servants should not be held hostage to the pet projects or grudges of a few individual Senators. Washington may think that saying anything about the other side, no matter how false, is just part of the game. But it is precisely such politics that has stopped either party from helping the American people. Worse yet, it is sowing further division among our citizens and further distrust in our government. (And you had absolutely nothing to do with any of that, right Barack? What about being called racists, right wing domestic terrorists, nazis?)
So no, I will not give up on changing the tone of our politics. I know it’s an election year. And after last week, it is clear that campaign fever has come even earlier than usual. But we still need to govern. To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills. And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions. So let’s show the American people that we can do it together. This week, I’ll be addressing a meeting of the House Republicans. And I would like to begin monthly meetings with both the Democratic and Republican leadership. I know you can’t wait.
When I heard “our citizens’ over and over again, my ears perked. Who thought it would be a good idea to address the American public as “our citizens”? I was under the impression that we were a free people, but between “The Master Class“, this speech, and China; someone owns us now. I may just be over-reacting, but it sure doesn’t sound like he’s talking about us like we are anything but numbers or subjects.
In the end, it is our ideals, our values, that built America – values that allowed us to forge a nation made up of immigrants from every corner of the globe; values that drive our citizens still. Every day, Americans meet their responsibilities to their families and their employers. Time and again, they lend a hand to their neighbors and give back to their country. They take pride in their labor, and are generous in spirit. These aren’t Republican values or Democratic values they’re living by; business values or labor values. They are American values.
Unfortunately, too many of our citizens have lost faith that our biggest institutions – our corporations, our media, and yes, our government – still reflect these same values. Each of these institutions are full of honorable men and women doing important work that helps our country prosper. But each time a CEO rewards himself for failure, or a banker puts the rest of us at risk for his own selfish gain, people’s doubts grow. Each time lobbyists game the system or politicians tear each other down instead of lifting this country up, we lose faith. The more that TV pundits reduce serious debates into silly arguments, and big issues into sound bites, our citizens turn away.
More lies, more rhetoric, more lectures, more of the condescending attitude; what we expected…
It has come to my attention that because numerous patriots have joined us over the course of 2009, many have not been exposed to a series of articles that were posted back in 2008 about Obama’s history and socialist agenda.
Glenn Beck has done a great job exposing the Alinsky disciples in the current administration, but massive amounts of information about Barack’s past still have not hit the MSM.
Here is an excerpt from the first article posted 10.19.2008. For those readers that have slogged through this page, move along, but for those that really want to understand the who and the what we are up against, hit the link or visit and re-visit the Socialism Page at the top of this blog.
A plethora of articles have been written about the death of the Democratic Party, or as some bloggers and Clinton Supporters state; the coup or hostile takeover by the liberal left wing of the democratic party. They cannot believe that their party has now become the party of violence, sexism, misogyny, racism, thuggery, deceits corruption, caucus fraud, and voter registration fraud. What is missing from the equation is that this is not the liberal left wing; far from it, this is a group of people with socialist/marxist beliefs, with a pinch of fascism thrown in, being led by the marketed messiah under the guise of “progressivism”, with a belief system that states the ends justify the means.
Centrist dems and all other Americans must stop looking at the current Democratic Party through the perception they have of what the Democratic Party once meant. That party is dead and was buried on May 31st, 2008. Once this perception is shattered, these dems, undecided voters, former Clinton dems and possibly even some Obama dems may flip their votes, and more importantly, their loyalty away from the party that has become the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing. What is being uncovered may also explain why 90% of the African American population is voting for this candidate, and though some of it has to do with his race, more maybe because of his socialist philosophy.
Since so much of what our perception is can be taken from what we think certain terms mean, I am listing the definitions of political party concepts as a way to put everyone on the same page, and to facilitate the understanding of where this “alien” democratic party is actually heading with Obama in the front and his numerous radical socialist/marxist associates in the background. These quotes come from Encyclopedia2/The Free Dictionary.
Please be advised, it is a series of articles with unbelievable amounts of research culled from numerous sources. It will take some time to go through it all, and you will need a case of duct tape sitting next to your chair.
I am absolutely sick to death of an administration and a government that actually thinks that they can fix the problems they created. The insanity of allowing the District of Criminals to continue proposing legislation that will create even bigger problems than we have now is making my per day Advil intake increase. At what point are we going to be able to chop the federal government down to size? Obama and crew are now proposing limits on the big banks, and before you get ready to throw something at me because I’m not jumping on the “Kill Wall Street” bandwagon, hear me out. I can’t stand Wall Street, but I understand that what has transpired was because of the socialist laws that Congress passed back in the ’90’s, and the resulting drive for profits which the free market is based on. Do you realize the number of ‘little people’ invested in those banks for their retirement and how a congress (because of their economic and capitalist ignorance), sold those peoples’ futures down the river?
Would you agree or disagree that the same people that gave us the housing bubble, namely Congress, should be the ones to create even more legislation (with unintended consequences) to fix the problem? Can anyone explain to me why politicians are creating banking legislation? Other than becoming millionaires while in office, what actual real life experience do they bring to the table? Has Barney Frank been a CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Does he, in his heart of hearts, understand how business actually grows and thrives? No? Then why is the US Government, which is one of the largest corporations in the world being run by total economic morons. Is it okay with you to let them regulate the banks when you understand that they are just people who ran for political office, and are then able to vote to raise the credit card limit on the country anytime they want because the alternative is too frightening to even consider? The current and former congresses have brought America to the brink of financial collapse, and now they want to tell the banks how to ‘act right’ according to liberal left policies?
They brought us the Community Reinvestment Act that was beefed up in the ’90’s which required banks to make quotas on mortgages to low income buyers or suffer hefty fines. Nice 20/20 hindsight of what occurs when leveling the playing field according to socialist standards instead of capitalist standards.
They have added almost $3 Trillion in debt in the last year and are on the verge of adding $2 TRILLION more just to get through to 2011. AYFKM? The American Public told Bush, Obama, and Congress not to bail out the banks because we saw what was coming; us lowly simpletons. Now we are mired in a total clusterf*** with an administration that wants to abolish capitalism but can’t quite figure out how to kill it because 76% of the American People are CAPITALISTS!
Capitalism is not the enemy; socialist driven Congresses are. Small and large businesses are trying to survive the regulations being placed on them by the government by shipping jobs to other countries because of union legacy costs, insanely high taxes, expensive manufacturing, etc., etc., etc.!
Now, the socialists economic imbeciles are attempting to cage the beast again using socialist ideas, and the beast will just flow around the bars because capitalism isn’t against the law…yet.
Big banks have already begun poking the holes in Obama’s new rules—holes they expect their banks to pass through basically unchanged.
The president promised this morning to work with Congress to ensure that no bank or financial institution that contains a bank will own, invest in or sponsor a hedge fund or a private equity fund, or proprietary trading operations unrelated to serving customers for its own profit.
But sources at three banks tell us that they are already finding ways to own, investment in and sponsor hedge funds and private equity funds. Even prop trading seems safe.
A person familiar with the operations of one big Wall Street bank said it expects that new regulation will affect less than 1% of its overall business.
The key phrase is “operations unrelated to serving customers.” The banks plan to claim that much of the business in which it engages is related in one way or another to serving customers. Even proprietary trading, for instance, can become related to customer service if it is done through internal hedge funds in which some outside clients are permitted to invest.
One insider at a bank pointed to JP Morgan Chase’s ownership of the hedge fund Highbridge Capital. It is thought that under a strict “no hedge funds” rule, Highbridge would have to be sold off. But under the rule proposed by the Obama administration, Highbridge can be retained by JP Morgan because outside clients are permitted to invest in it.
A still more devious way is to have a banks own employees be the customers who are invested in the internal hedge funds. That way trading operations can remain closed to outsiders while the regulatory requirement of relating the trading to customer service is met. Goldman Sachs is rumored to be considering this approach. (Goldman isn’t commenting on the regs right now.)
Why don’t we ask a bazillionaire (i.e. capitalist) what he would do with the big banks, and “too big to fail”? Warren Buffet, 1.21.2010
You know it’s bad when a liberal bazillionaire like Mort Zuckerman has turned on you. What surprised me the most was his statement of fact that the Democrats were behind the housing crisis. I did not think I would ever hear that out of the mouth of someone who supported Obama, and someone so connected to the web (check out his bio at the bottom).
What about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that got there with the support of the Democrats in congress. That’s what kicked off the great housing bubble; that’s what started this whole thing rolling down the hill. Did they ever talk about that kind of excess in the congress? No…..this isn’t something that is just due to the “wall street community”.
Mr. Zuckerman has penned an opinion piece in The Daily Beast that should set Obama back on his heels even more than the trouncing the dems just took in Massachusetts.
Obama punted on the economy and reversed the fortunes of the Democrats in 365 days.
He’s misjudged the character of the country in his whole approach. There’s the saying, “It’s the economy, stupid.” He didn’t get it. He was determined somehow or other to adopt a whole new agenda. He didn’t address the main issue.
This health-care plan is going to be a fiscal disaster for the country. Most of the country wanted to deal with costs, not expansion of coverage. This is going to raise costs dramatically.
In the campaign, he said he would change politics as usual. He did change them. It’s now worse than it was. I’ve now seen the kind of buying off of politicians that I’ve never seen before. It’s politically corrupt and it’s starting at the top. It’s revolting.
Mort seems to understand the old chinese proverb that the fish rots from the head. Take a moment and read the entire article. Might make your day to see someone other than bloggers making the same points you have been making for months.
Many of you have seen Burning Down The House about the Community Reinvestment Act which created the housing bubble; if not click the link. I dragged this video out of the vault from October 2008 and John Stossel about government’s involvement in the housing bubble.
Mortimer B. Zuckerman is chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report and publisher of the New York Daily News. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Boston Properties Inc. He is a trustee of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, and the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fewer Americans believe the presidency of Barack Obama, the first African American elected to the White House, has helped advance race relations compared with a year ago, a Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests.
Imagine that; considering the race card is pulled and thrown shuriken style every time the left does not like something or someone.
The poll, published on the U.S. holiday commemorating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., found 41 percent now say Obama’s presidency has helped race relations, compared with 58 percent on the eve of Obama’s inauguration a year ago who said his presidency would help race relations.
The decline was the sharpest among African Americans, with 51 percent now saying Obama has helped advance race relations, compared with 75 percent who, last January, said they expected Obama’s presidency to help.
A bit more than a little buyer’s remorse? I wonder what Peggy Joseph thinks now?
In a bill well over 2,000 pages, some of the insanity slips through the cracks. The Senate’s version of healthcare would allow insurance companies to set lifetime limits for benefits on existing policies while prohibiting those limits on new plans. Is this another “nudge” to get the American people to give up their current healthcare plans and go with the government exchange?
A cadre of Democratic lawmakers and patient groups is urging congressional Democratic leaders to abandon plans to permit health insurance companies to set lifetime limits on their customers’ benefits.
In letters sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the other senior Democratic lawmakers authoring the final version of healthcare reform legislation, 29 House Democrats and seven Senate Democrats press the leaders to adopt the House’s take on the bill, which would prohibit insurers from establishing a dollar cap on how much they will pay out during a policyholder’s lifetime.
Under the House-passed healthcare reform bill, insurance companies would be prohibited from establishing annual or lifetime limits on benefits. Although the Senate-passed bill also forbids annual limits, it would permit lifetime limits in existing insurance plans by “grandfathering” those policies while forbidding new plans from establishing them.
Throughout the debate on healthcare reform, Democrats have routinely promised their legislation would free people from the anxiety that high medical bills would lead to financial ruin, prompting some lawmakers and patient groups to protest when the lifetime caps were introduced into the bill this autumn.
“By preserving lifetime limits, patients in grandfathered plans will be left behind as strong patient protections are extended to those who are newly insured,” the senators wrote.
Both versions of the bill are POS, and the final version being hammered out behind closed White House doors is going to be even worse.
CNN may have a problem with my opinion of MSNBC being the biggest cheerleader for Obama, but when I saw a trailer for an upcoming special entitled “Obama’s America: 2010 & Beyond”, I had to give the trophy to MSNBC. I bet most of you are going to have the same reaction as I did to this:
Obama’s America: 2010 And Beyond?
AYFKM?
It’s pretty evident what’s wrong with that title, and Chris Matthews’ devotion to Obama is just plain disturbing.
One year after the inauguration of the first African-American President, MSNBC will present “Obama’s America: 2010 and Beyond” Jan. 18, 2010, 10 p.m.-12 a.m. ET, an extended discussion surrounding race and post-racial identity in America. Moderated by Hardball’s Chris Matthews and featuring radio host Tom Joyner, live from Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, this two-hour special event on Martin Luther King Day will explore some of the most pressing and provocative issues connected to race and race relations in the U.S.
“…an extended discussion surrounding race and post-racial identity in America.” This should be very interesting; remember “Every Single Teabagger Is White”? I will be looking for the relevantly stupid comments on YT to post later.
The world seems to be on fire this morning with all the events that are occurring from the outbreak of violence in Haiti, the Pentagon’s report on Ft. Hood, the Brown-Coakley race in Massachusetts for Dead Kennedy’s seat, but the White House working past 1am in the morning in order to make special deals with the top unions has to take top priority. Barack Obama and his cronies have so debased the office of the President with the continued prostitution over healthcare, that I think President Andy Stern should be giving the upcoming State of the Union address, don’t you?
A late night for President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders.
The president, top aides and a dozen key Democrats — six from the Senate, six from the House — met in the Cabinet Room until 1:25 this morning, according to a White House read-out; the meeting began around 9:15 last night.
Big Labor got some big love from President Obama and congressional Democrats yesterday after they agreed to exempt union workers from the whopping “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health-care plans until 2018.
The sweetheart deal, hammered out behind closed doors, will save union employees at least $60 billion over the years involved, while others won’t be as lucky — they’ll have to cough up almost $90 billion.
The 40 percent excise tax on what have come to be called “Cadillac” health-care plans would exempt collective-bargaining contracts covering government employees and other union members until Jan. 1, 2018.
Yes indeed, let’s continue to let future generations pay for our party.
Powerful unions were well-represented around the bargaining table.
Participants included AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Andy Stern, head of Service Employees International Union; Anna Burger, head of Change to Win; and the leaders of unions representing teachers, government workers, food and commercial workers, and electricians.
Stern has been among the most frequent visitors to the White House over the last year, showing up more than 20 times, according to logs.
Originally, the Cadillac tax included in the Senate bill was estimated to raise $149 billion through 2019.
But Trumka said the exemption would reduce that amount by $60 billion — money that negotiators will now have to find elsewhere, or reduce the coverage in the legislation. (emphasis mine)
What is it going to take for the Republicans to realize that desperate situations call for drastic measures. This bill is un-Constitutional, closed door deals are being made, Americans’ wealth is being redistributed, and this administration is acting like a Banana Republic. Are the Republicans going to wait until Obama or Stern declare themselves dictator to do something outrageous?
Neil Cavuto interviews Ed Koch on ‘Your World’ about the terrorist attack on Christmas Day. Mr. Koch has some scathing remarks about Obama not cutting his holiday short, Obama’s failing ‘make the world love us’ policy, and the fact the Michael Leiter, the director of the NCTC should be fired.
Mr. Koch also wants to know why we have not honored the Dutch hero of Flight 253 for saving his fellows passengers, or the police officers who stopped the Ft. Hood shooter. He also thinks Obama should start speaking the truth about Islamic Jihadists. Good luck with that, Ed.
As soon as I can locate the commentary that Ed Koch is speaking about, I will post it.
