Arrogant, dismissive, derisive? He's the worst president ever. EVER! George Bush never insulted the Europeans, and he certainly never insulted the people who elected him. Maybe Obama hasn't read our history, especially our recent history. He's only been reading WaPo and NYT. When have European countries gone to war on behalf of Muslims the way we did? (They like to keep their own Muslims immigrants unemployed and poor!) He commented on nothing Bush did that was positive. George Bush never insulted his predecessors, not even the really poor ones like Carter and FDR. Where did Obama learn his manners? In the slums of the third world? He is a disgrace to the office. Although it should be no surprise--this European "tour" is a summary of his campaign speeches. Does he not realize he's the President now? Of all of us? Why is he still running? Literally.
Obama Endorses Soros Plan to Loot America
"At the G 20 summit in London, President Barack Obama won rave reviews from reporters, many of whom clamored like school kids for the chance to ask him a question at his news conference, but the official conference document proves that plans are being made for what can only be described as the further looting of American taxpayers in order to feed unaccountable and corrupt global entities.
This is not “global cooperation,” as so many in the media described it, but a massive new expansion of the power and authority of international agencies and institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank." Read entire story here.
It won’t be in Katie Couric’s report--the real meaning of his words, that is. Paraphrase of the news conference I heard. "Yes, we (I) can insult America. Yes, we (I) can be dismissive of the USA." I'm furious that he runs after these sycophants whining and apologizing for breathing. He took advantage of the September "meltdown" (and who knows who engineered that), and has driven the economy even deeper down first by his gloom and doom speeches, then by raising taxes and taking over companies and violating the constitution. But who needs a Constitution when we'll have to report to the UN?
How will this help world peace?
It's nice I suppose to be idealistic, but I do wonder how holding hands around a pyramid built centuries ago with slave labor will help.
More than 1500 students, teachers and parents from 50 nationalities “formed a circle of peace that symbolized peace in the world” at the Giza Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, April 2, 2009, “delivering a message that young people from different cultures and religions can live together peacefully.” It’s hard to imagine what else that much money for the travel, food, hotel, etc. for 1500 might have done if these same students had just stayed home and helped their own countries. Perhaps that wasn't the purpose of the trip--maybe it was just Spring Break for rich kids and they needed a plan to get credit for it. However, tourism is Egypt’s number one industry, so I suppose they did help feed a family or two, just as we did during our recent trip.
Update, April 8: A reader has informed me this was an event of the New Cairo British International School. Upon checking the school's very nice website, I see nothing on the school calendar--no mention at all--but if you click to "parents" that's where you'll find the photos and the information which didn't appear in any of the news sources I checked. The school also celebrates Coptic Christmas holiday and has an Easter egg roll. The Prince of Peace you may recall, spent some time in Egypt when he was very young, and we celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Meanwhile, young people of a number of different nationalities, mostly sponsored by radical leftist organizations backed by Soros and various communist/marxist front organizations demonstrated against the G20 and U.S. capitalism (fast crumbling under the weight of Obama’s heavy hand to push us over the cliff into socialism/communism). All these countries are covering their own ineptitude and grabs for power with their "bash a banker" hooliganism, led by the likes of our own Barney Frank drooling and lisping in front of cameras for the world to see.
Update, April 8: You gotta love these capitalists. Some enterprising Frenchman is charging empty headed young people with full wallets $67 a piece to learn how to be street demonstrators against the evil capitalists. Saw it in today's WSJ--with photos of drop and roll.
And here is one of my husband's first paintings of our recent trip--he's moving faster than my blog which is still stuck on our first day in Israel.
Ritalin, Obama, and the economy
Murray observed yesterday thatIf my child behaved like Obama our family doctor would more than likely tell me he was suffering from *AD/HD. I mean, just look at what Obama's been up to since he's been in office.
He's at the White House for a press conference, then off to Ohio to give a speech, then over to Illinois to talk up HIS plan, then back to the White House to undo another Bush Policy, then off to Iowa to make some promises, then back to the White House to sign an unread bill. He holds a news conference every other day and hits the TV talk shows. His rapid fire, daily destruction of our country while breaking campaign promises doesn't seem to be enough since he is now over in Europe selling HIS plan. Why... the guy can't slow down or sit still. If that isn't hyperactivity then such a thing doesn't exist. It would be great if such activity was positive for the country, but quite the contrary; he is quickly sabotaging our country's finances and future. Foreigners know it but, out of fear, we seem to be slow to catch on. Even if he was stopped right now it would take years for this country to get back on its feet. We have a handful of legislators who know this, but unfortunately there are too many PORK lovers who are backing him.
When confronted, the backers usually claim that Obama "inherited" all these problems from the Bush administration. Well, that's nothing but a cop out that only separates the two parties even further. Besides, if you take the time to examine the chain of events you will find not only did the Democrats promote sub prime mortgages, Obama himself was part of it.
I've said it before: the only way to get this country back on its feet is to abolish our two party system. First, Obama must be stopped! It ought to be evident to everyone by now that the Democrats and the Republications are never going to agree on anything. Contrary to what Obama promised in his campaign speeches time and time again, that he would bring them closer together, he has done just the opposite. Every day he and his cohorts fire another arrow into the Republican crowd by blaming the crisis on them. Our legislators have lied to us so much that it's impossible to separate the truth or if truth actually exists anymore. Dr. Murray
*The most common symptoms of ADHD are: Impulsiveness: acting before thinking of consequences, jumping from one activity to another, disorganization, tendency to interrupt other peoples' conversations. Hyperactivity: restlessness, often characterized by an inability to sit still, fidgeting, squirminess, climbing on things, restless sleep.And Tom Barrett who writes for Conservative Truth has a similar theme. He first wants to stop putting kids on Ritalin; he then wants our President to stop ruining the country through his own “hyper” behavior.Which brings us back to the problem I mentioned earlier. If we stop turning our kids into drug users, what will we do with all the Ritalin?
Because the NEA (National Education Association, the national teacher’s union) and most school systems have jumped on the Ritalin bandwagon, it has become a huge cash cow for the drug’s maker. As a result, huge stockpiles of the drug have been produced based on projected demand. So, even if the schools came to their senses, what could be done with all these drugs? I may have an answer.
I say we give it to Obama. He has all the classic signs of ADHD. He can’t stay focused on anything. He’s hyperactive. He can’t stay on one subject for more than a day. And he definitely can’t keep his hands to himself. And his staff shares his problems. The White House is crawling with ADHD!!
Let’s focus just on Obama, and examine his symptoms. The nation is in the midst of a major financial crisis, which he has acknowledged. The problem stems from policies instituted by his party 31 years ago which have resulted in a wave of foreclosures and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. So you would think he would focus on fixing the credit problems and job creation. But he can’t seem to stay focused. In fact, during his first eight weeks in office he has constantly jumped from one priority to the next, while ignoring the major problems. Sure sounds like ADHD to me.
He told us he would focus on dealing with the so-called “toxic assets” held by financial institutions. Instead he has forced healthy institutions to take bailout money when they didn’t want it and didn’t need it. The president of Wells Fargo said that he when he tried to refuse the money he was told to take it and buy up smaller banks with it! That obviously won’t help the credit crunch, so why is Obama pushing it? Simply because if a few big banks absorb all the smaller ones, it will be easier for him to nationalize the banking system.
Ninety-five per cent of new jobs are created by small businesses. Helping them would be the single best way to stimulate job creation. And the best way to help them would be to reduce the unconscionable federal tax burden. In all of his trillions and trillions of dollars of proposals he has not thrown a crumb to small business. In fact, he has said that he will increase their tax burden, making it difficult for them to just survive, much less create jobs. (Obama has been hearing Republicans complain about him ignoring small business, so in the last few days he has come up with some half-hearted proposals. But they’re all bureaucratic in nature, and will result in more government control over businesses.) and there's more.
Our Bishop's Testimony doesn't reflect that of many Christians
Callon Holloway, Bishop of the Southern Ohio Synod for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), testified before Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce committee."I am here today representing both the ELCA, the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States representing nearly 5 million people, and the National Council of Churches (NCC), an organization that represents 35 Christian denominations, 100,000 congregations and approximately 45 million people in the United States."In my opinion the NCC is a "just us" social justice organization that couldn't find the great commission if someone opened a Bible to it. Even in the 1970s when I was a Democrat (although an evangelical Christian recently converted from humanism), I had no use for the NCC's no-cross, no-salvation gospel. Furthermore, the ELCA for 7 years has been struggling to fight off the gay-marriage, gay-ordination cult, and so far has been unsuccessful. Rather than look at what Scripture says about marriage, it has reinterpreted numerous verses, proof texting to fit a different agenda. So I'm not surprised some in our leadership have fallen for this "Gospel is greener on the other side" with the unbelievers. So Cal doesn't speak for me, or many Lutherans. Nor do I approve of his being part of the testimony (NCC and NWF) of organizations that are falling for this.
I would prefer he fell in with the Evangelicals of the Cornwall Alliance and the Science and Public Policy group (see its journal here), neither of which are a denomination, but both of which have a far stronger Biblical view than the ELCA/NCC representative, Cal Holloway, a man I personally like and admire. Speakers at this March 25 event:* Tom Karl, Director of the National Climatic Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration * John Stephenson, Director of Natural Resources and Environment, Government Accountability Office * Bishop Callon Holloway, Evangelical Lutheran Church in American, On Behalf of the National Council of Churches * Larry Schweiger, President and CEO, National Wildlife Federation * David Waskow, Climate Change Program Director, Oxfam American * E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., National Spokesman, The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation * Lord Christopher Monckton, Chief Policy Adviser, Science and Public Policy Institute"The second International Conference on Climate Change concluded its 2-1/2 -day run March 10, 2009 in New York City after confronting the theme "Global warming: Was it ever really a crisis?"
More than 75 papers and keynote addresses were presented by some of the world's leading climatologists, economists, policy makers, and opinion leaders. You can access videos of many of the presentations here. New videos and audio versions will be added as they become available."
Unfortunately, Bishop Holloway didn't attend this one.
Friday Family Photo July 1972
We all used to be skinny--even the kids. My husband and I have added some weight and our children some height (6'1" and 5'8") since this was taken at my mother's farm near Franklin Grove, IL in 1972. At that time we were still buying his suits in the boy's department--I think his waist was 28". But he actually got thinner. There was a serious recession in the 1970s and he lost his job in 1976 after first going to 4 days. It was a very troubling time for us--the marriage, the family, the budget, and especially his weight and health. He was only out of work three weeks, but it really upset everything, and he wasn't that happy at the "new" place where he became an associate and then a partner, and then an owner. It started to show on his slender frame. I don't recall the exact figure, but I think it was around 120 lbs.
We're chubby and fine now--so take heart. Unemployment is a terribly wrenching experience with many layers--lost friends and colleagues, fear, health problems, . . . new opportunities, although they may be down the road a few years. On the bright side--I'm betting our children remember none of this except climbing that cherry tree and running barefoot on the lane.
July 2002
HAMAS fundraiser this week-end in Cleveland for CAIR
While Soros backed anarchists and jihadists link arms in the world's most peculiar street alliance to protest the G20 gathering (for some reason beyond my comprehension these not-so-bright and on-the-payroll young'ns confused our rookie-pres with an evil capitalist conspiracy), HAMAS will be raking in the dollars for more home grown terror activity (can't call it that at the White House) right here in Ohio. As if Cleveland didn't have enough problems of its own making. Read about it here and be sure to follow the links.
Here are the players: Holy Land Foundation (funneled $12 million to HAMAS)
Monzer Taleb, aka Munzir Taleb, Monzer Talib, (singer-fundraiser for HAMAS)
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) (unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial)
The full article reveals all sorts of links and familial relationships of the band members and the conspiratists. Maybe it's time to ask that hotel chain (Embassy Suites - Cleveland Rockside) why it is renting space to known terrorists?
Thursday, April 02, 2009
A Thursday Thirteen rerun from 2007
This was blog number 4206--I don't number them anymore--makes a mess when searching for an old one.
Thursday 13--what I do now I didn't do then
Carol at her blog had written a letter to herself of 10 years ago--the Carol of 1997; I couldn't think of anything for 1997, or 1987, so I dropped back to 1977. The children were 9 and 10, I was working a few hours a day in the main library at Ohio State, we'd joined a new and thriving church the year before. My parents and grandparents were alive, as were all my siblings. If it weren't for the fashions, it was a nice, pleasant decade. So what do I do now, I didn't do then?
1. I make lists. I resisted this for years--and still rarely do it, but if there is a time crunch, I do make a list. I didn't even make a list for groceries, most of the time in the 70s. I just kept a typed list in my purse (same list every week) and could remember what we did and didn't have. Whatever automatic list maker I had in my head, got all filled up.
2. I belong to a book club now--joined in 2000, and the group is in its 26th year. However, I think I read less, but I do have more variety because on my own I rarely read fiction or mysteries.
3. I'm more proactive about my health, but still hate to exercise.
4. I occasionally have a glass of red wine--didn't drink at all until after my heart ablation in 2002, and still have never tasted beer (I think it smells like something has been left in the laundry basket).
5. I wear glasses now--prescription. I think I purchased reading glasses at a drugstore in the late 70s or early 80s, but didn't get into daily wear until 1993.
6. I travel outside the country now, but for years travel meant driving with 2 kids in the back seat (Mahhhhhaaaam, she's looking at me!) to visit relatives in Indiana and Illinos. Actually, in 1978 we did drive to Florida. Boy, is that a treat with squirmy, quarreling kids.
River cruise Germany and Austria, 2005
7. I spend more money on myself now than I did in the 70s.
8. Now my kids can cook for me, instead of the other way around. That's really great, and they both seem to enjoy entertaining.
Christmas at our son's home, 2006
9. I control more electronic gadgets in a day than what I would do in a year in 1977--digital camera, scanner, printer, 2 computers, email, blogging, cd player, DVD and VCR, several remotes, microwave, etc. Not into I-podding, blackberry, cell phones or MP3-ing. We have 6 TVs--we had one in 1977. The little photograph printer I bought this summer is still in the box, however, and I haven't connected my new mouse.
10. I pay more attention to political, national and international news, and read several newspapers, business and medical journals, but pay less attention to what's happening locally with the schools and city, and only read the local paper a few times a week.
11. I write more--I always wrote a lot (letters, essays, work related things)--a few hours a week, but now it is several hours a day.
12. I drive an older car now--in 1977 I had a 1976 Buick; now I drive a 6 year old van. Of course, I kept that Buick until 1985--tip for you parents: old sedans are great for teenagers.
13. I eat out more--it's a social thing, and there are many more restaurants to tempt us than 30 years ago. I go out earlier now for coffee--used to wait until the kids were in school, now I'm often the first customer.
New York Times reports
Now that Obama is president and NYT helped put him there. . . "It turns out there are terrorists in Iraq, retreat does embolden the enemy, the U.S. military was not just locking up innocent Iraqis for no reason, and American troops have improved the situation in Iraq considerably, not made it worse, at least over the past couple of years.
Now they tell us! What's changed, of course, is that Iraq is no longer the partisan flashpoint it was between 2003 and 2008, when opponents of the Bush administration saw American failure there as the key to their own political success. As it turned out, they were able to succeed politically even as America was at last succeeding militarily in Iraq. But now the tables are turned. It is President Obama's responsibility to ensure that success does not turn to failure." James Taranto, Apr. 1, 2009
Small wonder that the print press is slowly dying.
Losing the game with a rookie
"Barack Obama is a rookie in a sense that few other Presidents in American history have ever been. It is not just that he has never been President before. He has never had any position of major executive responsibility in any kind of organization where he was personally responsible for the outcome.
Other first-term Presidents have been governors, generals, cabinet members or others in positions of personal responsibility. A few have been senators, like Barack Obama, but usually for longer than Obama, and had not spent half their few years in the senate running for President."
Soft on our enemies and hard on our allies; his "change" is a throwback to a very old, and tired regime no longer taught in our schools. Read the whole article about how rookies can lose the game for you, by Thomas Sowell.
Clinton White House or April Fools Day?
"Journalists seeking to talk a little foreign policy with high-profile Obama administration officials live from the G20 meetings in London this week were solicited for phone sex instead after ringing up the toll-free number given by the White House.
In a press release, the White House accidentally listed a sex line number for journalists seeking an "on-the-record briefing call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor Jim Jones to discuss the NATO summit."
But after dialing, a soft-voiced female recording that was clearly not Clinton asked for a credit card number if you "feel like getting nasty." " Fox News
And then someone who watched the G20 press conference wrote on a wiki (blog?): "First and foremost, why isn't the national and international media making fun of President Obama for being a stammering idiot with a puny vocabulary? I didn't believe it until I just watched for myself, but Obama is a stuttering fool and seems to barely be able to manage a coherent sentence. He speaks worse than I write!
After President Obama's G20 press conference was over, I was stunned. Again he made numerous gaffs and can't seem to answer a question without going off on some tangent that has nothing to do with the original question. Obama continually called on reporters that are allies to the socialist cause and Obama knew would ask softball questions that would make himlook good, which is know easy task.
From day one, the American media attacked G.W. Bush for speaking exactly as Obama does, stammering and making little or no sense. I would readily admit that Bush was much worse at public speaking than Obama, but Obama clearly lacks the ability to speak without a teleprompter in front of him."
I was in the car, but I think I picked up a few -er, -uh, -um's during a news break and changed the station. That man hurts my ears. Even the sentences that do make sense, seem awfully elementary and repetitious. Doesn't he rehearse?
The city Easter Egg Hunt (Roll)
Maggie in Toledo writes:"The City of Toledo is facing a $27.7 million deficit. The mayor is talking about laying off police officers, cutting salaries by 10% and voiding all labor contracts.
But we've somehow got enough money for an Easter Egg Hunt????"Yes, Upper Arlington is having one too--Civic Association--probably not parks and rec. I have no idea how much it costs. They are awful. Just awful. I think our kids were about 5 and 6 when we finally decided they might be old enough for a little group fun. OHMYGOSH. It was a stampede--kids screaming and yelling and fighting. I'd never seen anything like it. My little ones were terrified and cried. I was horrified. Even 50 cents would be too much to contribute to watching spoiled suburban kids knocking each other down to grab a piece of smushed chocolate.
Dye and hide the eggs at home; it's a lot more fun and much safer.
How Obama has killed the economy and ambition in only 2 months
Fargo has it all. The Coast Guard crews in boats and helicopters were rescuing people from their homes in Fargo. There apparently was even a heroic sheriff's deputy [unnamed by USAToday] as the river crested near the stadium. Now, I know the line of responsibility between the North Dakota Governor and the President of the United States, but where are the lashings from the press and the ridicule from the comedians who should be reporting that President Obama doesn't like white people. After all, he is prancing around Europe while people in the midwest are fleeing their homes in blizzards and floods. Where are the movie stars in hip boots or do they only show up when NOLA floods?President Barack Obama has dispatched the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the region.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Nancy Ward is in Fargo and Obama has personally spoken with the governors of both states and with Fargo's mayor.
Gibbs said the federal government is working closely with state and local leaders to give them any help they need. He also implored citizens in both states to be vigilant in tracking flood conditions.The vacuous USAToday actually praised Obama for even noticing in a radio address that they were in trouble. Sweet.The stories of sharing and survival on the shores of the swollen Red River have mounted in recent days, almost as quickly as the flood waters rose. There was the sheriff's deputy who rounded up 2,000 sandbags and a college wrestling team to stack them, trying to save a stranger's rural home. And the thousands of volunteers who gathered in the domed stadium in Fargo, N.D., to fill 2.5 million bags with sand in a five-day race against the cresting river.
President Obama, inspired by their stubborn battle against nature, used his Saturday radio address to praise the sandbaggers and the college students who gave up spring breaks to help.
Pay for Performance
Neil Cavuto screams at the bill sponsor, H.R. 1664, who won't answer any questions except that Timmy "the Dodge" Geithner will be able to set the pay scale--probably of anyone, because this isn't limited to Wall Street. He sounds like a pouty teen (Alan Grayson), "Why would you say that? Why are you being rude?" Now that Obama has fired a CEO of a private company, which as President of the United States he had no constitutional authority to do, he has emboldened Congress to start their sneaky tricks again, ala Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and the country's melt down. They're pretending that salaries are the problem. That's a huge smoke screen. We've got lawless bandits in Congress who refuses to honor contracts.
Pew Report on the 2008 “Lessons of the Election”
Very little in depth journalism; little investigative punch; reporters drowning in information from various IT sources; newsroom cutbacks hurt.“But the bottom line is this: In 2008—and much the same could be said in 2000 with the election of President George W. Bush — we elected a president about whom we knew remarkably little, and most of it came from the impression they wanted to create, not from things the press uncovered. That was less true in the elections of Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush or Ronald Reagan.”Link here.
Obama--a race to the bottom?
Here's more from that The Obama Deception movie. I'm not familiar with any of the people interviewed in the film--except the former MN governor. Maybe talk radio personalities and "experts" far right of Beck and Rush? Lots of anti-Bush and anti-Iraq war stuff. But they definitely think Obama is worse than Bush, whom they also hate. (Note, this is not word-for-word)George Humphrey, economist and author: "They [there are a lot of "they" and global conspiratorial ideas in this film, but I think this refers to Wall Street Bankers] have created a power elite-- we are not talking about your millionaire down the street. You can't even be a member of their club unless you are a multi-billionaire. And friends, this is not about 'rich vs poor', this is about a very small handful of the worst criminal element on this planet, manipulating and destroying the good people of this nation and this world."
Gerald Clemente, future trends forecaster: "Now this Obama with 'change'-- look at the people he's put in to 'mastermind' the economic recovery. Larry Summers-- I love it.. Every time they talk about Larry Summers, he's always 'brilliant', he's another 'brilliant' one.. he's the one that helped dismantle the Glass-Stegall Act.. the banking act that was put in place in the 1930's, so the banks couldn't become the gangsters that they have become."
Webster Tarpley: "In the 1990s, you have the beginning of the 'derivatives bubble', thanks to people like Alan Greenspan, Rubin, Summers-- people who are now back in the Obama administration. And the derivatives I think are the centerpiece of this entire problem today."
Gerald Clemente: "These are the same people.. 'Geitner' of the Treasury Department.. imagine that, we now have a US Treasury Secretary who also is a Robert Rubin Protege of the Larry Summers Group, that dismantled Glass-Stegall and broke apart the regulations that would have prohibited the banks and brokerages from becoming these criminals. He was the former President of the New York Federal Reserve and now he's our Treasury Secretary?. As we all know, the Federal Reserve is no more federal than Federal Express, it's a private bank. And now we've put this guy in charge of it? Wall Street has hijacked Washington in broad daylight."
. . . George Humphrey: "Every single one of his appointments support the status quo, every single one of his appointments are there to screw the American People, every single one of his appointments are people who are working to bring down the Republic and the Constitution of this country."
Alex Jones: "Even if Barack Obama was the most wonderful person in the world, he was groomed and brought to power by the global elite [yes, there's that term again--I think it's code for Jews] to carry out their agenda. Humanity [he has a very annoying habit of calling people "humanity"] must look past their agenda and realize that presidents come and go, but the shadow government and their program of global enslavement continues."
. . . Webster Tarpley: "Generally speaking, this [Obama] is already the biggest liar and the biggest disappointment that we have seen in recent history-- qualitatively beyond the rather low standards set by Bush the Elder and Clinton in terms of delivering on promises." [I'd certainly agree with this statement.]
Alex Jones: "Bottom line: Obama is a fantastic actor, and an even better liar. His track record is clear-- he has done the opposite of everything he told the people he would do."Someone said on the film, forgotten who, that if they cataloged all his lies, the film would never end, because they continue. Yes, I'd agree with that charge, too. It is truly amazing that a man who worked as a "community organizer" for nearly a decade, and never became a tenured law professor or wrote a law article or even practiced law, but wrote 2 autobiographical books, got hired by Illinois to represent a district for which he did nothing and which is still poor, and then got elected President on the basis of his looks and ability to speechify and talk black (something he had to learn as a foreign language as an adult). Call it a conspiracy against the American people if you wish, but really, Obama simply makes us look like a bunch of vacuous fools. . .if we're so great and wonderful and good, why would we let this happen?
Update: Apparently the conspiracy includes Google and YouTube, too: "YouTube is acting as a political police goon squad for the establishment, attempting to make sure as few people as possible see this important documentary."
April Fool--first new tax on the poor
As I noted yesterday, I have little sympathy with smokers, but Obama's new cigarette tax which will impact low-income smokers the most with an average of 13.3% increase and a decrease in state services which depend on those taxes, is really regressive. The SCHIP increase isn't helping those who don't have health insurance, it's pulling most enrollees off the insurance of the working parents' companies, which will cause other insured rates to go up, or companies to fail, so the government (Democrats and clueless RINOs) can further increase SCHIP to include 50 and 60 year olds not yet ready for Medicare. What a plan our great leader has for our low-income families.
This sin tax now is up from $.39 to $1.01 and the cigarette smuggling business is booming. See Brad Schiller article in WSJ. It really is a throw back to the days of FDR, taxing anything that was enjoyable like candy or movies, which hit the unemployed the hardest, and then enroll them in the WPA. Obama's new mandatory "volunteer" act to keep millions from working and on the dole just passed a few days before his April Fool tax--do you suppose they are related?
Also, the duplicity is amazing. Stop smoking programs and drugs have been shown to do nothing, but they are still funded by the government. Even the "quit help lines" which may be private and non-profit, use government grants. Then the researchers get grants to study the drugs, to whine about how the drugs aren't getting to the low-income, and then to do studies on how they don't work anyway. See JAMA, March 11, 2009, "Setting the National Tobacco Control Agenda."There are now smoking cessation quit lines in every state, but because there are few resources, they can help only 1$ to 2% of smokers quit."Notice, it's always the money and not the method that fails? And then in the front of that issue you find,"Emerging evidence suggests the smoking-cessation drug varenicline is among a growing list of medications that might cause serious psychiatric adverse events."To say nothing of the weight gain problem that often results from the non-smoking programs.
How to use the new code words
USAToday and WSJ editors are struggling with the new terrorism language in English. It's come down from on high--don't say anything mean about those guys threatening to blow up the White House--if we act really weak maybe they'll choose another target. Here's what appeared in the USAToday story about the terrorist attact (Taliban/ Mehsud) on the Pakistani police station."deadly assault" "retaliate" "militant bases" "Mehsud plans to attack Washington and White House" [this was said twice in both articles; apparently repetition for emphasis is good if you can't use plain English about terrorism, and if you live in DC] "striking targets" "killed Benazer Bhuto" [the WSJ didn't get the memo, and used the more volatile "assassinated" "harbor foreign fighters" "revenge" "launch and attack" "sparked a stand-off" "stormed a compound" "some gunmen blew themselves up" [good-bye suicide bomber language] "seige-style approach" "seige of Mumbai" [remember when this story first came out before the language revision rules?] "men arrested" but here's the phrase that replaced EVIL, TERROR, etc. "cancer of extremism"The WSJ actually used "terrorist attack on the U.S. capital" twice and called it Bhuto's assassination, but then downgraded to"assault on a police academy" "raided" "avenge" "attack" "retaliation" and it calls al-Qaeda "a group," "loyalists," "growing power of Taliban factions."And so the U.S. print media, waiting for its bailout from Obama, continues on the search for wimp-out words. Do you suppose fewer would fail if they weren't just megaphones for the Democrats?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The GIVE Act. Does it violate the 13th amendment?
The bill, HR 1388: The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act otherwise known as the "GIVE Act," has already passed. Here’s the roll who voted for it.
Did Congress read this bill? What was missing in VISTA, AmeriCorps, Peace Corp, Foster Grandparents, and the bazillion of local opportunities, funded by government, non-profits and churches? Is there an area not already covered by Sertoma, or American Legion, or the Lung Association, or Rotary or AARP? I never had the feeling that Points of Light was mandatory, did you? And didn't Democrats ridicule Bush I or is that why--because he didn't make it mandatory?
Did we really need another massive stack of federal dollars bundled in acres of paper co-opting volunteerism? Surely, they can't call this a "stimulus." Something like $22,000 per volunteer--but then, it takes a bunch of bureaucrats to run a program like this. And what in the world is a "social entrepreneur?" More people to join the unions that get out the Obama vote. More people to look to Obama has their savior in the White House. It makes them that much more dependent on the government.
The bill, promoted by the Obama administration as a means of “encouraging America's youth to participate in voluntary community service,” (if you read it, you’ll see it goes far beyond “encouraging,” that it opens the door to conscription) has received little scrutiny from Congress or the public. It provides funding for Obama’s favorite leftist organizations, especially ACORN, but starves out the churches that have traditionally been vehicles for volunteerism--in fact, the almost 50 year old Peace Corps was modeled after what the Mennonites, Brethren and Quakers did after WWII.
Did the RINOs read this bill before they voted for it? Time to call them home. Next time the Republican Party head guy sends out that envelope pleading for money, ask about the voting records of the RINOs. Senator Voinovich voted Yay, as usual; when anything wasteful or socialist comes along, he's all for it.
So the Senate will allow funding to ACORN, but they won't allow any religious expression in the "youth brigades?" Gateway Pundit And to think we spent American lives and money to free the women of Afghanistan from the fundamentalist Taliban, only to conscript our own.
Oh yes, “Requires states to develop comprehensive plans for volunteer and paid service by Baby Boomers and older adults.” (from summary of text)
Preferring truth to custom, the better to the good, adapt to adopt, reform to revolution, solutions to goals, knowledge to awareness, faith to spirituality. The rules.
Posts
