Barack and Michelle—middle class kids going to Ivy League schools on your dime

Everyone agrees--Michelle Obama gave a flawless presentation. I've only seen a few clips, but I'd judge her a better speaker than her husband, with a rich, authentic voice. That said, some of it sounded a bit "hard luck" for such a middle class girl.

I had a nice life growing up in a small, midwestern town. My father owned a small business--2 trucks, one employee and a gas station, as I recall. What we called middle class in the 1950s, they call poverty today. No TV, no AC, one phone, one car, no health insurance, clothes made at home, and a garden for fresh produce. One thing I do know is Michelle and Barack Obama's parents/grandparents were far wealthier than mine, and I didn't finish my degrees at the University of Illinois (about a fourth the cost of Harvard) owing any money. What I couldn't earn in summers or after school, my parents paid. I know these "I came up from nothing and struggled and look what I've accomplished" memes are great for politics, but they really belong with those "I built that" stories. And neither one of them did that.

• 
  Fellow blogger LadyBug Crossing says:
  

  We were middle class, too. Dad worked as an engineer for a large company. Mom was a nurse - she worked weekends. We traveled the world with him. We lived in the same house (except when we were overseas and they rented it out) my whole life....

  We made do. We shopped the sale racks. Mom made our dress clothes. We kids didn't get cars when we turned 16. I went to public school. I went to college and graduated without debt thanks to Mom's nursing job providing the extra. I worked every minute I was home from school. I lived at home until I got married. My graduate degree was earned while i was working. It wasn't easy, but I did it! We scrimped and saved for our house. Our cars are 10 and 11 years old. We have no debt except the mortgage. If we can't pay for it, we don't buy it. imagine that? Will I apologize for having a great childhood? No. Will I apologize because I have a nice life? No. Will I apologize for giving my children a similar life? No. They know the value of a dollar, the value of their education, and that family is where it's at. :-)

P.S.
I won't show you photos of Michelle's wedding gown because there are probably copyright issues, but you can google. Gorgeous and she looked fabulous. Definitely the 1% type dress and the men wore tuxes, whether or not she had to skip a few school loan payments to pay for it.

Why Obama will have to tax the middle class even more

In a recent study of the Tax Policy Center (Brookings-Urban Institute, a liberal think tank) the researchers "looked at how high income-tax rates would have to rise in the top two or even three tax brackets to lower debt to sustainable levels under something akin to CBO's estimate if we continue the way we are. They conclude that even if the top rates hit 100%, the budget "cannot achieve the debt-reduction targets in some or any of the target years." Though conceding that near-total confiscation is "completely unrealistic," they report the results anyway "to indicate the infeasibility of achieving a high debt-reduction target simply by increasing top individual income tax rates." And this is from economists who favor higher taxes."

And undoubtedly, there are anti-life, anti-God Democrats in Charlotte today (the ones who booed at putting God and Jerusalem back in the platform) who would say go for it--100% rates for the "rich." But when the rich are gone, they'll come for you. The intention is not to have better social programs—it has always been about control.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444914904577615392065706990.html

The Clinton Tax Hikes and cuts

“It was not until after a 1997 tax cut, passed by Congress—a tax cut President Clinton resisted but ultimately signed—that the spectacular growth kicked in. While small in static revenue impact, the 1997 cuts included a reduction of the capital gains rate from 28 percent to 20 percent. This opened the capital floodgates necessary for entrepreneurs to develop, harness, and bring to market the wonders of the new information technologies.” from Heritage http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/clinton-tax-hikes-slowed-growth

Down the memory hole with the Democrats

From Mike Huckabee’s email update, Sept. 5, 2012

“You have to give the Democrats props for successfully sending the housing crisis down the memory hole. From their campaign rhetoric, you’d think the so-called “failed policies of the past” were all Republican ideas like smaller government and lower taxes. No, the economic crisis had nothing to do with the housing bubble that began with a massive Democratic push to force banks to give home loans to people who couldn’t qualify for them. But with terrible timing for the Democrats, that inconvenient truth has burst out of the crypt and back into the news, just as they were convening in Charlotte.

Yesterday, the Daily Caller revealed some previously unpublished court information about a landmark case that many consider the fuse that set off the subprime mortgage boom and eventually, the economic meltdown. It was a 1995 discrimination lawsuit against Citibank, on behalf of a group of African-Americans who claimed they couldn’t get loans because of their race. It was part of a coordinated effort at the time by progressive groups. The banks didn’t want to be sued or accused of racism, so they loosened requirements for credit history and down payments. What the Daily Caller discovered is that among the original plaintiffs in that case, there was a startling loan failure rate. Out of about 186 homebuyers, roughly half have since gone bankrupt or received one or more foreclosure notices. As few as 19 still own homes with clean credit ratings. Even some of the plaintiffs now say the banks never should’ve made those loans.

And here’s the kicker: the lead attorney on that case that prompted banks to start making home loans to people who couldn’t qualify for them was a young Chicago community activist named Barack Obama.”

Definition of marriage and spouse

US Code, Title 1, ch. 7: "In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word “marriage” means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."

What is she trying to figure out?

Her president is offering her free birth control so he won’t have to discuss the economy, but what she’d really like is a job so she can pay her bills.

Who’s Obama’s brother’s keeper?

"Barack Obama Jr. first met George [Obama] in 1987, when George was five years old.  He met George again in 2006 when he visited Kenya as a U.S. Senator from Illinois; George was then in his early twenties.  Had Obama helped George along the way, perhaps this young man would not have ended up dirt-poor and living such a degraded life. So what’s the real story here?  Where’s George Obama’s “fair share”?  George’s tragic situation exposes President Obama as a hypocrite."

Barack Obama is an extremely wealthy man--not as rich as Romney by any means, but he's in the 1% easily.  And even if he loses in November, he will probably draw a bigger speaking salary than Clinton, who has become enormously wealthy. He could be helping all his siblings and never miss it. Instead, he wants my money.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/16/how-became-george-obama-brother/

Catholics for Choice at the DNC

“There are just under 300 active U.S. bishops  . . .  and neither they, nor their lobbying arm, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, really speak for the 68 million U.S. Catholics who share the belief that the use of contraception and the decision to end a pregnancy can be moral decisions and rightly should be made by individuals in accordance with their own conscience,” says Sara Hutchinson, domestic-program director of Catholics for Choice speaking to 6 people who showed up for her talk at the DNC convention in Charlotte. 

Catholics for Choice are supported by foundations, are not considered Catholics by the church and do not represent any of the teachings of the Catholic Church.  And apparently they can't even draw much of a crowd, even with the anti-Catholic press on hand.

Maybe my math is weak, but I think the Bishops speak for many more than this organization.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/315896/planned-parenthood-s-little-army-katrina-trinko

What has Obama done for the poor?

We know what Obama has done to the wealthy; what he's done to the middle class. He's redistributed their income and passed the largest tax increase in our history. But what has he done for the poor, the minorities, the people who depend on coal mining, or the oil industry in the gulf; what has he done for women--really--other than tossing birth control like M&Ms at them? What has he done for small business, the engine of the economy, other than slapping them with more regulations and impossible to follow insurance laws?

Today’s Wall Street Journal Review and Outlook reported: "The food-stamp boom began with the George W. Bush Republicans, who expanded benefits in the appalling 2002 farm bill. But the supercharger was a 2008 bill out of the Pelosi Congress that goosed eligibility and rebranded the program as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to reduce the stigma of being on the dole. Then there was the 2009 stimulus, which expanded the program again. Liberals argued then and still do that food stamps are one of the most effective ways the government can juice the economy. Really, they claim to believe this. . . "
Since the recession supposedly ended three years ago (before the stimulus package could even take effect) and Obama floated a massive stimulus and still the rolls grow, that obviously hasn't worked.

A woman earning $29,000 a year with Uncle Sam as her live in lover, can receive many government benefits to bring her usable income to that of someone earning $69,000. Where is her incentive to kick Sam to the curb under this president?

The news about HIV/AIDS isn’t good

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) was introduced 25 years ago, and thus there are now millions living with AIDS rather than dying from AIDS. ART is even providing protection for those who don’t yet have HIV infection. That’s good, right?  Not so fast.

JAMA, July 25, 2012: “In the United States, 1.2 million people are estimated to be living with HIV infection—20% are unaware of their infection—and about 50,000 people are estimated to become infected each year.  The cumulative number of AIDS deaths is approaching 650,000.  The most severely affected groups include men who have sex with men, blacks, and Hispanics or Latinos.”

Plus, ART doesn’t remove the increase in heart disease, cancer, dementia, low bone mass, co-infections with other venereal diseases and psychological problems of AIDS patients, plus a sense of invulnerability has returned and young gay men are back to the irresponsible, casual sex habits of the men who spread the epidemic back in the 1970s and 1980s.

This is fuzzy, but the top blue line is those living with undiagnosed HIV infection. The flat red line at the bottom is AIDS deaths.

There are two articles in this special JAMA issue on HIV/AIDS (July 25, 2012) that deal with the future.  Would you believe neither suggest celibacy or chastity as weapons in this battle? Yet both are completely effective.  Monogamy and marriage will not eliminate this scourge as long as gay men continue to bring the disease to the marriage bed and infect women, who in turn infect children.

Decision and choice

…"The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay."

Some studies show that as many as >60% are coerced into this “decision” by parents, boyfriend, spouse.  Where does a 17 year old go if Mom says it’s either Planned Parenthood or no funds for college, or you’re out on the street, or I will take away your smart phone?

She’s is so done with liberals, progressives, socialists, etc.

“I started out as a working man’s Democrat gung-ho for Clinton back in 2007. But watching the sexist mauling of Clinton and Palin by Obama’s frat boys while the press hurled charges of racism against anyone who dared criticize the creepy community organizer made me mad. I was so angry I finally coughed up the liberal Kool-aid and purged my system of the rot-gut drink I’d been swallowing for decades.

It’s been liberating. After toeing the liberal line for so long with all that political correctness I felt like I was trudging through quicksand with twenty pound weights. Defending the parasitic, oppressed masses and their entitled cries for “more, more” while trying to feed my own family on less and less, was sheer insanity.

I’ve heard people in self-help programs say they are grateful for all of their troubles, grateful for their dysfunctional spouses, parents, children, employees and friends because those circumstances and people woke them up. Well, it took a sociopathic Marxist to make me a pro-life principled real grass-roots conservative.

There’s freedom in true conservatism: freedom from anger, resentment, victimhood, dependency on government and hatred. They say conservatives give more to charitable causes. I believe it. Ever since I threw off the chains of liberalism, I feel more giving. If a co-worker slaving away at three jobs needs something, I’m there. When the usher passes around the basket at church I put in a little more than I used to, and I’m checking out area organizations truly dedicated to those who can’t help themselves and seeing how I can be of service. “

http://potterwilliamsreport.com/2012/01/07/obama-presidency-exposed-creepy-cronies.aspx

Who would want to be middle class?

When I was young, or even when I was middle age, politicians talked about helping the poor.  Now they talk about helping the middle class.  Maybe it’s because if a woman earns $29,000 a year (low income) and has 2 children, she qualifies for enough benefits from the government that she’d need a job that paid $69,000 a year to leave poverty and move up to the middle class.  So if she took time out to go to college so she could earn more money, and then had to pay off loans too (supplied by the government), it’s possible she just couldn’t get ahead and would rather stay poor. 

Should women be allowed to vote?

Frankly, I'm shocked that Democratic women are falling for this war on women, free contraception, Mitt will put us in chastity belts meme. If anything makes it look like we didn't deserve the vote 90 years ago, it's this issue. Hello--$16 trillion in debt; expanding the wars; exploding the clutch of czars; removing consumer rights; making health care industry an arm of the federal government when it can't manage Medicare and Medicaid.

Just in time for the Democratic convention

2016 Obama’s America

We’re planning to see the documentary “2016 Obama’s America “today, although I'm not sure I want any more bad news about Obama than I already know. I realized in 2008 he was completely out of touch with the average American and that he didn't like us much. Finding out why won't help much.  You are called a racist if you say he isn’t one of us, but he doesn’t act or sound like any politician, black, white, or brown, liberal or conservative that I’ve known before, but he has all the slick tools to accomplish with his mentors and cronies what he wants. Whether it was the politics of his parents and grandparents or because he was raised in his formative years outside the U.S., I don’t know, but he doesn’t know us, doesn’t understand us, and he hopes to end the U.S. that has become his enemy.

Update: It was different than I expected. The New Yorker says it is propaganda, but believe me, I see way more anti-Obama propaganda than I care to report, and some is really awful and poorly researched. D'Sousa uses Obama's own words, the audio of his book and his political speeches--at length--he doesn't do snippets. He also uses our $16 trillion dollar debt to come to his final conclusion. Neither are propaganda.

American Airlines—needs to respond

I was listening to Glenn Beck's account on his radio show of his rude treatment by an American Airlines employee, who said he deserved it when Glenn mentioned it to him. Even other passengers where noticing. The guy didn't like his politics (libertarian), or maybe his religion (Mormon), or perhaps his state (Texas). Glenn often talks about the importance of good service, because his parents owned a bakery and he worked there as a teen. 

AA’s employee was not a good representative for a service industry that takes our money. A complaint has been filed. So we'll see. Glenn and his employees won't be flying AA anymore he said, and I'm guessing after that description neither will some of his 10 million listeners, users of his TV network, his book clubs, or buyers of his best selling books, or those books he publishes for others. He's a bigger communications phenomenon than Oprah (who hasn't succeeded in launching her own TV network, and he has).  There's a steward working for AA who needs some retraining on keeping his politics to himself.

Update: Glenn reported last night he had received a response and AA says they will investigate.

Gorgeous curls

I got my hair cut today.  Oh my.  It’s so easy now (gray).  15 minutes and I’m done.  Anyway, I was watching another stylist work on the most gorgeous head of white hair across the room. I could see nothing but the face in the mirror and the body was covered. She just fluffed and fingered and the result was lovely. Imagine my surprise when she took off the cape and it was a husky, tall, 50-ish man!

After he saw 2016, the movie

He thought some of the talk show hosts on the right sounded too scripted in their enthusiasm for the new documentary about Obama.  So he went to see it himself—some applauded when it was over, but he was upset.

“Those who have already decided to vote for Obama will probably not even see the movie. It’s sad but they probably don’t want to know the truth when it is laid out so clearly for them in this documentary. The independents who are still deciding who they are going to vote for ought to see this film. I’m quite confident that any undecided voter who sees this film will know who to vote for after viewing this documentary. If you know you’re not going to support the “left” in this coming election, see the film out of interest if you like. But, fair warning, it’s disturbing – and quite frightening – to say the least.

Scott Paulson writes political news and commentary for CBS Local and Examiner.com and teaches English at a community college in the Chicago area.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/08/17/2016-obamas-america-movie-is-disturbingly-necessary/#blogbio

Democrats require a photo ID for the convention

It is said that the Democrats will be bussing college students and union members into the convention in Charlotte,  because the seats won’t be filled.  In any case, they are very strict about IDs.  Just not for voting.