Boy could we use this guy now....
Monday, February 16, 2009
so what is the rush?
Haven't posted in a while. I thought I would sit back and watch, listen and inhale all this stimulus. So, this huge pork filled bill passes...has to rush to pass....and where does President B. Hussen go? Takes the weekend off..takes the Mrs. out to dinner in Chi-town. OK. So let me see if I got this right. Pelosi has to have this done before she leaves on a junket. No one of the elected members reads this 1000+ package of b.s. Votes on it. (On purely non-partisan lines.) It passes after having to fly another Senator in (we won't even talk about the waste to the environment..sorry Al Gore) to get this vote a done deal. Incredible. We truly are the United Socialist States.
As of this writing, 1434 days, 3 hrs 33 minutes 20 seconds until this Presidency is over...
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
the only person not standing when Barack Obama was sworn in
He did once say he never could stand Obama. Being confined to a wheelchair for the swearing in ceremony due to a back injury...guess he got the last laugh....
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
great column by Michael Graham
A fable in the folly
As a leader seeks to become a legend . . .
By Michael Graham | Tuesday, January 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Op-Ed
As a card-carrying member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, I have a special Inauguration Day message for my fellow conservatives:
Shut up.
Just let it go. Let the Bush-bashers wave their “1-20-09” bumper stickers. Let fawning reporters swoon like teen girls at a “Twilight” cast party. Let Sheryl Crow babble on about Barack Obama saving the planet one roll of toilet paper at a time.
Today is their day, not ours.
So if you happen to work at one of the estimated 5 percent of U.S. businesses closed in observance of the inauguration, enjoy the day off. If, like UMass Medical School, your employer is setting up big-screen TVs so employees can watch the inauguration on the clock - grab a seat up front.
Don’t grouse about how your company never did any of this when Republicans were winning. You’re right - but nobody cares. Don’t whine about the same media demanding we rally ’round Obama today doing all it could to trash George Bush for eight years - old news.
Instead, just add a Bloody Mary to your breakfast menu, sneak one of the wife’s Prozacs into your lunch box and let the day roll on.
Don’t avoid Obama’s address, which will be impossible unless you’re Amish or own a sensory-deprivation tank. Just watch and listen.
No, I’m not asking you to drink the Kool-Aid and discover the joys of European-style socialism. With the Bush administration nationalizing banks and bailing out big business, there won’t be much left for Obama to “socialize” anyway.
Like it or not, Obama has connected with a large number of our fellow citizens. Already 65 percent of Americans expect him to be a great president, an AP poll says. More than 70 percent believe he’ll fix the economy in his first year, and 72 percent expect the stock market to rise.
All this, from a guy with no executive experience and less than one term in the U.S. Senate. It makes no sense, I agree. Which is why conservatives in particular need to listen to Obama today.
Because Obama’s message and persona are resonating with millions of Americans. To use a metaphor my fellow capitalists can relate to, Obama is increasing market share by meeting pent-up consumer demand. But demand for what?
It’s tempting to say that the only demand on Obama is that he not be Bush. Or you can attribute Obamania to the unique role he plays in the ongoing saga of American race relations.
But I believe President Obama will represent more than that when he stands behind the podium at noon and speaks to what Rolling Stone calls “an eager nation.” It’s a nation eager for a president who both wants to do great things and has the competence to achieve them.
What are voters saying with their support of Obama? I believe it’s that they want a president that can do both. Who can be a competent politician and a courageous leader at the same time.
There is no reason, by the way, to believe Obama will be such a president. But he has convinced Americans he can be, in part because that’s the leader we need him to be.
When Obama speaks today, these desires and demands will echo through his words. Smart conservatives who believe our ideas do the most to make the best America will listen. And learn.
the price and promise of citizenship....
My thoughts after the oath...
First off, President Barack Hussein Obama, now you use your full name. For many months you refused to use it. Wonder why?
Nice start off...flub and screw up the oath....
It was an eloquent speech filled with the customary Obama "risk takers", "doers", "makers of things", but bland and preachy.
(yeah preachy....)
Best part of the day so far...as reported by ABC News...the Carters snubbing the Clintons..
Nice to see Bush hug Obama before he left.
You see Mrs. Obama let out a big breath and sigh as former President Bush's helicopter took off?
Think they may of been thinking..."shit now what do we do...?"
Do you think Obama's chin will ever not be held high...you don't think he is that full of himself do you?
Obama's promises...
Just so you can keep track of what he promised...
Obama's Long List Of Promises To Keep, Obligations To Meet
Faced with economic collapse on the home-front and two wars overseas, the administration of President Barack Hussein Obama is signaling loudly and clearly that a substantial number of his costly campaign promises will have to be postponed or abandoned altogether. (hmmmmm...surprise?)
The incoming administration has already begun to take some flak for abandoning a commitment to impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies. (Obama spokesmen have defended the windfall profits tax decision, saying it was only to be used if oil prices exceeded $80 a barrel). Weightier choices involving larger proposals with bigger constituencies lie ahead.
Obama's frequent press conferences since winning office are designed, in part, to provide him running room to prepare voters for the postponement or abandonment of some of his more costly pledges. His campaign promises ran the gamut, and many involve large federal expenditures.
These promises include a commitment to "quadruple Early Start to include a quarter of a million at-risk children;" to "put $150 billion over 10 years into establishing a green energy sector;" to "invest $10 billion per year in [a] clean technologies fund;" to establish a "National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will invest $60 billion over 10 years;" to set up a "$2 billion global education fund to counter the radical [Islamic] madrassas;" to add "65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines to relieve the strain on our ground forces;" a "solemn pledge that I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president;" a "loan forgiveness program for doctors and nurses who work in underserved rural areas;" and the creation of "an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that would add as many as 112,000 new affordable units in mixed-income neighborhoods."
This list only touches the surface of a long inventory compiled by the National Journal -- an inventory which, using only brief summaries, runs to 10,350 words. A few of the campaign commitments might fit under the broad umbrella of a massive economic stimulus bill, including some infrastructure and green energy projects.
While refusing to concede neglect of any of the commitments made during the campaign, Rahm Emanuel, who will be Obama's chief of staff, told the Huffington Post that the President-elect will be constrained by the fact that he "inherits the worst economy since the great Depression and largest commitment of American troops overseas since Richard Nixon."
The Obama administration has the overall or "macro" goal of making America "more economically secure and safe than it is today" and that goal takes precedence over fulfilling every single campaign promise made over the past two years, Emanuel said. "I'm not read to concede" to the argument that the current fiscal crisis precludes the scope of expenditures outlined by Obama over the past year. But, Emanuel pointedly notes, if the choice is between achieving a more secure nation and fulfilling "promise x," there is no question the administration will choose the former.
In September, when the scope of the economic crisis was beginning to become apparent -- with a possible federal deficit of $1 trillion or more -- Obama conceded that he might have to delay his agenda.
in a September 23 Today Show interview, Obama said, "Does that mean I can do everything that I've called for in this campaign right away? Probably not. I think we're going to have to phase it in....and a lot of it's going to depend on what our tax revenues look like."
A longer sampling of the list of promises compiled by the National Journal shows how Obama will have to carefully navigate the shoals of the economy, and the inevitable disappointment of key constituencies as they learn that many of the expectations aroused during the campaign will not be fulfilled. The list of potential casualties includes:
Improve options for displaced workers
"Obama and Biden will also modernize and expand the existing system of trade adjustment assistance to include workers hurt by changing trade patterns. They will also create flexible education accounts that workers can use to retrain. And they will fully fund apprenticeship programs to help workers get credentials and skills in crafts that reward that investment with a middle class income and benefits."--BarackObama.com
Help community and small business development agencies
"Obama will provide additional resources to the federal Community Development Financial Institution Fund, the Small Business Administration and other federal agencies, especially to their local branch offices, to address community needs."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve rural schools and availability of doctors
"He will improve rural schools and attract more doctors to rural areas."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Help organic farmers and promote regional food systems
"Obama will help organic farmers afford to certify their crops and reform crop insurance to not penalize organic farmers. He also will promote regional food systems."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Give new farmers tax incentives
"[Obama] will also provide tax incentives to make it easier for new farmers to afford their first farm. Obama will increase incentives for farmers and private landowners to conduct sustainable agriculture and protect wetlands, grasslands and forests."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Provide farmers capital and help rural small businesses
"Obama will provide capital for farmers to create value-added enterprises, like cooperative marketing initiatives and farmer-owned processing plants. He also will establish a small-business and micro-enterprise initiative for rural America."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create rural revitalization program
"Obama will create a rural revitalization program to attract and retain young people to rural America."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve high school graduation rates
"When I'm president, we'll fight to make sure we're once again first in the world when it comes to high school graduation rates."--9/9/08, Dayton, Ohio
Double the number of high school students taking college level courses
"And we'll also set a goal of increasing the number of high school students taking college-level or AP courses by 50 percent in the coming years."--9/9/08, Dayton, Ohio
Double charter school funding
"That is why as president, I'll double the funding for responsible charter schools."--9/9/08, Dayton, Ohio
Include more technology in public schools
"We'll help schools integrate technology into their curriculum so we can make sure public school students are fluent in the digital language of the 21st-century economy."--9/9/08, Dayton, Ohio
Provide tuition assistance to students who perform community service
"And we will keep our promise to every young American -- if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education."--8/28/08, Denver
Recruit teachers and principals
"As president, I will recruit hundreds of thousands of new teachers and principals."--5/5/07, Baton Rouge, La.
Recruit science and technology teachers
"As president, I will recruit a new generation of science and technology leaders to teach our children the skills they will need to be competitive."--5/5/07, Baton Rouge, La.
Provide pay raises for teachers and principals
"Let's make a promise right now that if you're a teacher or a principal doing the hard work of educating our children, we will reward that work with the salary increase that you deserve."--7/5/07, Philadelphia
Pay tuition for students going into teaching
"I will make this pledge as president: If you commit your life to teaching, America will commit to paying for your college education."--11/20/07, Manchester, Iowa
Increase Head Start and Early Start
"We'll increase Head Start funding and quadruple Early Start to include a quarter of a million at-risk children. I will create a Presidential Early Learning Council to coordinate this effort across all levels of government and ensure that we're providing these children and families with the highest-quality programs."--11/20/07, Manchester, Iowa
Create Classroom Corps
"To help every American receive a world-class education, I will create a new Classroom Corps."--12/5/07, Mt. Vernon, Iowa
"Obama will launch a Children's First Agenda that provides care, learning and support to families with children from birth up to 5 years old."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Double funding for after-school programs
"Obama will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve a million more children."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve No Child Left Behind
"Obama will fund No Child Left Behind and improve its assessments and accountability systems."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Lower dropout rate
"Obama also will reduce the high school dropout rate and close the achievement gap by investing in proven intervention strategies in the middle grades and in summer learning and after-school opportunities."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Provide incentives for rural teachers
"Obama will provide incentives for talented individuals to enter the teaching profession, including increased pay for teachers who work in rural areas."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Increase assistance to land-grant colleges
"Obama will increase research and educational funding for land-grant colleges."--Obama's Blueprint for Chang
End American dependence on foreign oil in ten years
"And that's why if I am president, I will put the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector behind a single, overarching goal -- in ten years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela."--8/6/08, Elkhart, Ind.
Increase number of plug-in hybrid cars
"First, we'll commit ourselves to getting one million 150 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrid cars on our roads within six years."--8/6/08, Elkhart, Ind.
Double renewable energy within four years
"Second, we'll double the amount of energy that comes from renewable sources by the end of my first term."--8/6/08, Elkhart, Ind.
Reduce electricity demand by 15 percent in ten years
"Third, I will call on businesses, government, and the American people to meet the goal of reducing our demand for electricity by 15 percent by the end of the next decade."--8/6/08, Elkhart, Ind.
Cap carbon emissions
"As president, I will set a hard cap on all carbon emissions at a level that scientists say is necessary to curb global warming -- an 80 percent reduction by 2050."--10/8/07, Portsmouth, N.H.
Create new green-collar jobs
"My energy plan will put $150 billion over 10 years into establishing a green energy sector that will create up to 5 million new jobs over the next two decades, including jobs right here in Ohio that pay well and can't be outsourced. We'll also provide funding to help manufacturers convert to green technology and help workers learn the skills they need for these jobs."--2/24/08, Lorain, Ohio
Help U.S. automaker adapt
"I'll be a president who finally keeps the promise that's made year after year after year by providing domestic automakers with the funding they need to retool their factories and make fuel-efficient and alternative fuel cars."--5/14/08, Warren, Mich.
Reduce oil consumption
"Obama will reduce oil consumption overall by at least 35 percent, or 10 million barrels of oil, by 2030."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Help manufacturers go green
"Obama will establish a federal investment program to help manufacturing centers modernize and Americans learn the new skills they need to produce green products."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Double clean-energy funding
"Obama will double science and research funding for clean-energy projects, including those that make use of our biomass, solar and wind resources."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create Green Jobs Corps
"Obama will also create an energy-focused Green Jobs Corps to connect disconnected and disadvantaged youth with job skills for a high-growth industry."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Invest $10 billion per year in clean technologies fund
"Obama will create a Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund to fill a critical gap in U.S. technology development. Obama will invest $10 billion per year into this fund for five years."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Increase money for low-carbon coal technologies
"Obama will significantly increase the resources devoted to the commercialization and deployment of low-carbon coal technologies."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Push cellulosic ethanol
"Obama will invest federal resources, including tax incentives, cash prizes and government contracts into developing the most promising technologies with the goal of getting the first 2 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol into the system by 2013."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create energy-efficiency grant program
"Obama will create a competitive grant program to award those states and localities that take the first steps to implement new building codes that prioritize energy efficiency."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Provide universal health care
"I have made a solemn pledge that I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year."--6/23/07, Hartford, Conn.
Spend $10 billion a year on implementing electronic health system
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records."--BarackObama.com
Expand nurse-family partnership program
"Obama will expand the highly successful Nurse-Family Partnership to all 570,000 low-income, first-time mothers each year."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Help individuals purchase private health insurance
"The Obama plan will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals who wish to purchase a private insurance plan."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Expand eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP
"Obama will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs and ensure that these programs continue to serve as a critical safety net."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Address women's health issues
"Obama will invest in research to examine gender and health disparities. Obama will also establish community-outreach programs in underserved areas to help make sure women have health care and maintain healthy lifestyles."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Establish loan forgiveness program for rural doctors and nurses
"He will attract providers to rural America by creating a loan forgiveness program for doctors and nurses who work in underserved rural areas."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Help homeowners
"Obama will create a fund to help people refinance their mortgages and provide comprehensive support to innocent homeowners."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create an affordable-housing trust
"As president, I'll create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that would add as many as 112,000 new affordable units in mixed-income neighborhoods."--7/18/07, Washington, D.C.
Protect New Orleans
"When I am president, we will finish building a system of levees that can withstand a 100-year storm by 2011, with the goal of expanding that protection to defend against a Category 5 storm."--2/7/08, New Orleans
Invest $60 billion in infrastructure
"I've proposed a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will invest $60 billion over 10 years. This will multiply into almost half a trillion dollars of additional infrastructure spending and generate nearly 2 million new jobs -- many of them in the construction industry that's been hard hit by the housing crisis we're facing"--2/24/08, Lorain, Ohio
Invest in rural infrastructure
"Obama will invest in the core infrastructure -- roads, bridges, locks, dams, water systems and essential air service -- that rural communities need."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Invest $1 billion in transitional jobs programs
"I will invest $1 billion over five years in innovative transitional jobs programs that have been highly successful at placing the unemployed into temporary jobs and then training them for permanent ones."--7/18/07, Washington, D.C.
Provide every American broadband access
"As president, I will set a simple goal: Every American should have the highest-speed broadband access--no matter where you live or how much money you have."--6/16/08, Flint, Mich. Boost R&D funding
Expand high-speed Internet access in rural area
"Barack Obama will ensure that rural Americans have access to a modern communications infrastructure. He will modernize an FCC program that supports rural phone service so that it promotes affordable broadband coverage across rural America as well."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Support a global education fund
"I will support a $2 billion global education fund to counter the radical madrassas."--8/1/07, Washington, D.C.
Increase funding to train police to gather intelligence
"I will increase funding to help train police to gather information and connect it to the intelligence they receive from the federal government."--8/1/07, Washington, D.C.
Expand Army and Marine Corps
"I will add 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines to relieve the strain on our ground forces."--8/21/07, Kansas City, Mo.
Provide soldiers with necessary equipment
"As president, I will ensure that every service member has what they need to do the job safely and successfully."--8/21/07, Kansas City, Mo.
"Obama will give our troops new equipment, armor, training, and skills like language training."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Target every source of fear in the Americas
"That is why there will never be true security unless we focus our efforts on targeting every source of fear in the Americas. That's what I'll do as president of the United States."--5/23/08, Miami
Create information declassification center
"He will institute a national declassification center to make declassification secure but routine, efficient and cost-effective."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Ensure military has enough training
"Obama will rebuild trust with those who serve by ensuring that soldiers and Marines have sufficient training time before they are sent into battle."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Strengthen civilian agencies
"He will also strengthen our civilian capacity, so that our civilian agencies have the critical skills and equipment they need to integrate their efforts with our military."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Give National Guard appropriate equipment, rest
"He will permit them adequate time to train and rest between deployments and provide the National Guard with the equipment they need for foreign and domestic emergencies."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create international anti-terrorism network
"As president, I will launch an effort across our government to stay ahead of this threat [bio-terrorism].... I've proposed a Shared Security Partnership that invests $5 billion over three years to forge an international intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure to take down terrorist networks." --7/16/08 West Lafayette, Ind.
Make cyber-security a federal priority
"As president, I'll make cyber-security the top priority that it should be in the 21st century. I'll declare our cyber-infrastructure a strategic asset, and appoint a National Cyber Advisor who will report directly to me." --7/16/08 West Lafayette, Ind.
Update Veterans Affairs hospital system
"I've pledged to build a 21st-century VA as president. It means no more red tape. It's time to give every service member electronic copies of medical and service records upon discharge."--5/12/08, Charleston, W.Va.
Ensure all veterans are covered
"I think it is important for all veterans to be eligible for the VA. And that is something that I'm going to reverse when I'm president of the United States."--5/26/08, Las Cruces, N.M.
Ensure adequate number of VA clinics
"What we can make sure of is that there are enough clinics out there that for basic checkups, you know, problems that are outpatient situations, that people don't have to drive two or three hours. And that's something that I'm going to make sure is budgeted when I'm president of the United States."--5/26/08, Las Cruces, N.M.
Increase housing assistance
"I'll expand housing vouchers, and I'll launch a new supportive services housing program to prevent at-risk veterans and their families from sliding into homelessness."--8/21/07, Kansas City, Mo. Improve VA administrative systems
Fully fund VA
"Barack Obama will fully fund the VA so it has all the resources it needs to serve the veterans who need it when they need it. Obama will establish a world-class VA planning division to avoid future budget shortfalls."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve military's mental health screening and care
"Obama will improve mental health care at every stage of military service. He will recruit more health professionals, improve screening, offer more support to families and make PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] benefits claims fairer."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve care for various injuries and women's health through VA
"He will improve care for polytrauma vision impairment, prosthetics, spinal cord injury, aging and women's health."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Reverse 2003 ban on enrolling low-income veterans
"One of Obama's first acts will be reversing the 2003 ban on enrolling modest-income veterans, which has denied care to a million veterans."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Obama's Long List Of Promises To Keep, Obligations To Meet
Faced with economic collapse on the home-front and two wars overseas, the administration of President Barack Hussein Obama is signaling loudly and clearly that a substantial number of his costly campaign promises will have to be postponed or abandoned altogether. (hmmmmm...surprise?)
The incoming administration has already begun to take some flak for abandoning a commitment to impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies. (Obama spokesmen have defended the windfall profits tax decision, saying it was only to be used if oil prices exceeded $80 a barrel). Weightier choices involving larger proposals with bigger constituencies lie ahead.
Obama's frequent press conferences since winning office are designed, in part, to provide him running room to prepare voters for the postponement or abandonment of some of his more costly pledges. His campaign promises ran the gamut, and many involve large federal expenditures.
These promises include a commitment to "quadruple Early Start to include a quarter of a million at-risk children;" to "put $150 billion over 10 years into establishing a green energy sector;" to "invest $10 billion per year in [a] clean technologies fund;" to establish a "National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will invest $60 billion over 10 years;" to set up a "$2 billion global education fund to counter the radical [Islamic] madrassas;" to add "65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines to relieve the strain on our ground forces;" a "solemn pledge that I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president;" a "loan forgiveness program for doctors and nurses who work in underserved rural areas;" and the creation of "an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that would add as many as 112,000 new affordable units in mixed-income neighborhoods."
This list only touches the surface of a long inventory compiled by the National Journal -- an inventory which, using only brief summaries, runs to 10,350 words. A few of the campaign commitments might fit under the broad umbrella of a massive economic stimulus bill, including some infrastructure and green energy projects.
While refusing to concede neglect of any of the commitments made during the campaign, Rahm Emanuel, who will be Obama's chief of staff, told the Huffington Post that the President-elect will be constrained by the fact that he "inherits the worst economy since the great Depression and largest commitment of American troops overseas since Richard Nixon."
The Obama administration has the overall or "macro" goal of making America "more economically secure and safe than it is today" and that goal takes precedence over fulfilling every single campaign promise made over the past two years, Emanuel said. "I'm not read to concede" to the argument that the current fiscal crisis precludes the scope of expenditures outlined by Obama over the past year. But, Emanuel pointedly notes, if the choice is between achieving a more secure nation and fulfilling "promise x," there is no question the administration will choose the former.
In September, when the scope of the economic crisis was beginning to become apparent -- with a possible federal deficit of $1 trillion or more -- Obama conceded that he might have to delay his agenda.
in a September 23 Today Show interview, Obama said, "Does that mean I can do everything that I've called for in this campaign right away? Probably not. I think we're going to have to phase it in....and a lot of it's going to depend on what our tax revenues look like."
A longer sampling of the list of promises compiled by the National Journal shows how Obama will have to carefully navigate the shoals of the economy, and the inevitable disappointment of key constituencies as they learn that many of the expectations aroused during the campaign will not be fulfilled. The list of potential casualties includes:
Improve options for displaced workers
"Obama and Biden will also modernize and expand the existing system of trade adjustment assistance to include workers hurt by changing trade patterns. They will also create flexible education accounts that workers can use to retrain. And they will fully fund apprenticeship programs to help workers get credentials and skills in crafts that reward that investment with a middle class income and benefits."--BarackObama.com
Help community and small business development agencies
"Obama will provide additional resources to the federal Community Development Financial Institution Fund, the Small Business Administration and other federal agencies, especially to their local branch offices, to address community needs."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve rural schools and availability of doctors
"He will improve rural schools and attract more doctors to rural areas."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Help organic farmers and promote regional food systems
"Obama will help organic farmers afford to certify their crops and reform crop insurance to not penalize organic farmers. He also will promote regional food systems."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Give new farmers tax incentives
"[Obama] will also provide tax incentives to make it easier for new farmers to afford their first farm. Obama will increase incentives for farmers and private landowners to conduct sustainable agriculture and protect wetlands, grasslands and forests."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Provide farmers capital and help rural small businesses
"Obama will provide capital for farmers to create value-added enterprises, like cooperative marketing initiatives and farmer-owned processing plants. He also will establish a small-business and micro-enterprise initiative for rural America."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create rural revitalization program
"Obama will create a rural revitalization program to attract and retain young people to rural America."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve high school graduation rates
"When I'm president, we'll fight to make sure we're once again first in the world when it comes to high school graduation rates."--9/9/08, Dayton, Ohio
Double the number of high school students taking college level courses
"And we'll also set a goal of increasing the number of high school students taking college-level or AP courses by 50 percent in the coming years."--9/9/08, Dayton, Ohio
Double charter school funding
"That is why as president, I'll double the funding for responsible charter schools."--9/9/08, Dayton, Ohio
Include more technology in public schools
"We'll help schools integrate technology into their curriculum so we can make sure public school students are fluent in the digital language of the 21st-century economy."--9/9/08, Dayton, Ohio
Provide tuition assistance to students who perform community service
"And we will keep our promise to every young American -- if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education."--8/28/08, Denver
Recruit teachers and principals
"As president, I will recruit hundreds of thousands of new teachers and principals."--5/5/07, Baton Rouge, La.
Recruit science and technology teachers
"As president, I will recruit a new generation of science and technology leaders to teach our children the skills they will need to be competitive."--5/5/07, Baton Rouge, La.
Provide pay raises for teachers and principals
"Let's make a promise right now that if you're a teacher or a principal doing the hard work of educating our children, we will reward that work with the salary increase that you deserve."--7/5/07, Philadelphia
Pay tuition for students going into teaching
"I will make this pledge as president: If you commit your life to teaching, America will commit to paying for your college education."--11/20/07, Manchester, Iowa
Increase Head Start and Early Start
"We'll increase Head Start funding and quadruple Early Start to include a quarter of a million at-risk children. I will create a Presidential Early Learning Council to coordinate this effort across all levels of government and ensure that we're providing these children and families with the highest-quality programs."--11/20/07, Manchester, Iowa
Create Classroom Corps
"To help every American receive a world-class education, I will create a new Classroom Corps."--12/5/07, Mt. Vernon, Iowa
"Obama will launch a Children's First Agenda that provides care, learning and support to families with children from birth up to 5 years old."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Double funding for after-school programs
"Obama will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve a million more children."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve No Child Left Behind
"Obama will fund No Child Left Behind and improve its assessments and accountability systems."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Lower dropout rate
"Obama also will reduce the high school dropout rate and close the achievement gap by investing in proven intervention strategies in the middle grades and in summer learning and after-school opportunities."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Provide incentives for rural teachers
"Obama will provide incentives for talented individuals to enter the teaching profession, including increased pay for teachers who work in rural areas."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Increase assistance to land-grant colleges
"Obama will increase research and educational funding for land-grant colleges."--Obama's Blueprint for Chang
End American dependence on foreign oil in ten years
"And that's why if I am president, I will put the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector behind a single, overarching goal -- in ten years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela."--8/6/08, Elkhart, Ind.
Increase number of plug-in hybrid cars
"First, we'll commit ourselves to getting one million 150 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrid cars on our roads within six years."--8/6/08, Elkhart, Ind.
Double renewable energy within four years
"Second, we'll double the amount of energy that comes from renewable sources by the end of my first term."--8/6/08, Elkhart, Ind.
Reduce electricity demand by 15 percent in ten years
"Third, I will call on businesses, government, and the American people to meet the goal of reducing our demand for electricity by 15 percent by the end of the next decade."--8/6/08, Elkhart, Ind.
Cap carbon emissions
"As president, I will set a hard cap on all carbon emissions at a level that scientists say is necessary to curb global warming -- an 80 percent reduction by 2050."--10/8/07, Portsmouth, N.H.
Create new green-collar jobs
"My energy plan will put $150 billion over 10 years into establishing a green energy sector that will create up to 5 million new jobs over the next two decades, including jobs right here in Ohio that pay well and can't be outsourced. We'll also provide funding to help manufacturers convert to green technology and help workers learn the skills they need for these jobs."--2/24/08, Lorain, Ohio
Help U.S. automaker adapt
"I'll be a president who finally keeps the promise that's made year after year after year by providing domestic automakers with the funding they need to retool their factories and make fuel-efficient and alternative fuel cars."--5/14/08, Warren, Mich.
Reduce oil consumption
"Obama will reduce oil consumption overall by at least 35 percent, or 10 million barrels of oil, by 2030."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Help manufacturers go green
"Obama will establish a federal investment program to help manufacturing centers modernize and Americans learn the new skills they need to produce green products."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Double clean-energy funding
"Obama will double science and research funding for clean-energy projects, including those that make use of our biomass, solar and wind resources."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create Green Jobs Corps
"Obama will also create an energy-focused Green Jobs Corps to connect disconnected and disadvantaged youth with job skills for a high-growth industry."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Invest $10 billion per year in clean technologies fund
"Obama will create a Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund to fill a critical gap in U.S. technology development. Obama will invest $10 billion per year into this fund for five years."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Increase money for low-carbon coal technologies
"Obama will significantly increase the resources devoted to the commercialization and deployment of low-carbon coal technologies."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Push cellulosic ethanol
"Obama will invest federal resources, including tax incentives, cash prizes and government contracts into developing the most promising technologies with the goal of getting the first 2 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol into the system by 2013."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create energy-efficiency grant program
"Obama will create a competitive grant program to award those states and localities that take the first steps to implement new building codes that prioritize energy efficiency."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Provide universal health care
"I have made a solemn pledge that I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year."--6/23/07, Hartford, Conn.
Spend $10 billion a year on implementing electronic health system
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records."--BarackObama.com
Expand nurse-family partnership program
"Obama will expand the highly successful Nurse-Family Partnership to all 570,000 low-income, first-time mothers each year."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Help individuals purchase private health insurance
"The Obama plan will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals who wish to purchase a private insurance plan."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Expand eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP
"Obama will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs and ensure that these programs continue to serve as a critical safety net."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Address women's health issues
"Obama will invest in research to examine gender and health disparities. Obama will also establish community-outreach programs in underserved areas to help make sure women have health care and maintain healthy lifestyles."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Establish loan forgiveness program for rural doctors and nurses
"He will attract providers to rural America by creating a loan forgiveness program for doctors and nurses who work in underserved rural areas."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Help homeowners
"Obama will create a fund to help people refinance their mortgages and provide comprehensive support to innocent homeowners."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create an affordable-housing trust
"As president, I'll create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that would add as many as 112,000 new affordable units in mixed-income neighborhoods."--7/18/07, Washington, D.C.
Protect New Orleans
"When I am president, we will finish building a system of levees that can withstand a 100-year storm by 2011, with the goal of expanding that protection to defend against a Category 5 storm."--2/7/08, New Orleans
Invest $60 billion in infrastructure
"I've proposed a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will invest $60 billion over 10 years. This will multiply into almost half a trillion dollars of additional infrastructure spending and generate nearly 2 million new jobs -- many of them in the construction industry that's been hard hit by the housing crisis we're facing"--2/24/08, Lorain, Ohio
Invest in rural infrastructure
"Obama will invest in the core infrastructure -- roads, bridges, locks, dams, water systems and essential air service -- that rural communities need."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Invest $1 billion in transitional jobs programs
"I will invest $1 billion over five years in innovative transitional jobs programs that have been highly successful at placing the unemployed into temporary jobs and then training them for permanent ones."--7/18/07, Washington, D.C.
Provide every American broadband access
"As president, I will set a simple goal: Every American should have the highest-speed broadband access--no matter where you live or how much money you have."--6/16/08, Flint, Mich. Boost R&D funding
Expand high-speed Internet access in rural area
"Barack Obama will ensure that rural Americans have access to a modern communications infrastructure. He will modernize an FCC program that supports rural phone service so that it promotes affordable broadband coverage across rural America as well."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Support a global education fund
"I will support a $2 billion global education fund to counter the radical madrassas."--8/1/07, Washington, D.C.
Increase funding to train police to gather intelligence
"I will increase funding to help train police to gather information and connect it to the intelligence they receive from the federal government."--8/1/07, Washington, D.C.
Expand Army and Marine Corps
"I will add 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines to relieve the strain on our ground forces."--8/21/07, Kansas City, Mo.
Provide soldiers with necessary equipment
"As president, I will ensure that every service member has what they need to do the job safely and successfully."--8/21/07, Kansas City, Mo.
"Obama will give our troops new equipment, armor, training, and skills like language training."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Target every source of fear in the Americas
"That is why there will never be true security unless we focus our efforts on targeting every source of fear in the Americas. That's what I'll do as president of the United States."--5/23/08, Miami
Create information declassification center
"He will institute a national declassification center to make declassification secure but routine, efficient and cost-effective."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Ensure military has enough training
"Obama will rebuild trust with those who serve by ensuring that soldiers and Marines have sufficient training time before they are sent into battle."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Strengthen civilian agencies
"He will also strengthen our civilian capacity, so that our civilian agencies have the critical skills and equipment they need to integrate their efforts with our military."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Give National Guard appropriate equipment, rest
"He will permit them adequate time to train and rest between deployments and provide the National Guard with the equipment they need for foreign and domestic emergencies."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Create international anti-terrorism network
"As president, I will launch an effort across our government to stay ahead of this threat [bio-terrorism].... I've proposed a Shared Security Partnership that invests $5 billion over three years to forge an international intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure to take down terrorist networks." --7/16/08 West Lafayette, Ind.
Make cyber-security a federal priority
"As president, I'll make cyber-security the top priority that it should be in the 21st century. I'll declare our cyber-infrastructure a strategic asset, and appoint a National Cyber Advisor who will report directly to me." --7/16/08 West Lafayette, Ind.
Update Veterans Affairs hospital system
"I've pledged to build a 21st-century VA as president. It means no more red tape. It's time to give every service member electronic copies of medical and service records upon discharge."--5/12/08, Charleston, W.Va.
Ensure all veterans are covered
"I think it is important for all veterans to be eligible for the VA. And that is something that I'm going to reverse when I'm president of the United States."--5/26/08, Las Cruces, N.M.
Ensure adequate number of VA clinics
"What we can make sure of is that there are enough clinics out there that for basic checkups, you know, problems that are outpatient situations, that people don't have to drive two or three hours. And that's something that I'm going to make sure is budgeted when I'm president of the United States."--5/26/08, Las Cruces, N.M.
Increase housing assistance
"I'll expand housing vouchers, and I'll launch a new supportive services housing program to prevent at-risk veterans and their families from sliding into homelessness."--8/21/07, Kansas City, Mo. Improve VA administrative systems
Fully fund VA
"Barack Obama will fully fund the VA so it has all the resources it needs to serve the veterans who need it when they need it. Obama will establish a world-class VA planning division to avoid future budget shortfalls."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve military's mental health screening and care
"Obama will improve mental health care at every stage of military service. He will recruit more health professionals, improve screening, offer more support to families and make PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] benefits claims fairer."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Improve care for various injuries and women's health through VA
"He will improve care for polytrauma vision impairment, prosthetics, spinal cord injury, aging and women's health."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Reverse 2003 ban on enrolling low-income veterans
"One of Obama's first acts will be reversing the 2003 ban on enrolling modest-income veterans, which has denied care to a million veterans."--Obama's Blueprint for Change
Monday, January 19, 2009
Inauguration Day 2009
Today we bring on a new President. I applaud and celebrate as the first black President is inaugurated. However, I cannot go without comment.
Today we install a new President who is unqualified, unaccomplished, a radical left with slight centrist hints, who has a (despite many who say otherwise) questionable citizenship issues. Barack Hussein Obama has pretty much dissed many of those who elected him..and this before taking the oath of office. He has promised so much and now retracted so much. He has made excuses of why, when many of those who questioned his promises during the campaign, including yours truly, had ample evidence to foresee that the Savior-elect was forecasting the improbable.
Obama's hyperbole is not a surprise to me. He has hired former Clinton cabinet failures and flip-flopped on closing Gitmo, pulling troops out of Iraq, has appointed the new boss to be of the IRS to get away with tax evasion and has promised a stimulus plan that is no sure fix at all. (Then again he hasn't really issued his full plan.)
The United States of America is slowly changing into the United Socialists of America.
And where is the Republican party in all of this? Kissing his ass all the way. I am afraid the supply of Preparation H will be out of stock in the coming days.
The disappointment and sadness of those Obama faithful who look at him through rose colored glasses and halos will bring out one thing....health care...mental health care. Question is...when will they see the light?
I do see some good features in Mr. Obama. Few.He seems to be a good father. His wife will be the new Gloria Steinem, in Oprah mode.
I believe the biggest fraud in America political history will be installed as President of the United States.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Obama mania....
Well well I am back. I took a time out to absorb all the b.s. about the Obama mania.
Yes, the liberal media will give this vision from Chicago all the wiggle room in the world. Or, maybe Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will pout. Oh, forgot about Barbara Boxer.
George H.W. Bush, Pres 41 made a comment in a recent interview that if you disagreed with B.Hussein Obama, P.I.D.E. (President I Didn't Elect) that I was to shut up and let him settle in. Give him a chance. Well 41, all I have to say is...if 1 plus 1 doesn't add up to 2, or in B.Hussein's case, 500, how long do you wait in the wings before one comments?
The last diss to President Bush was B.Hussein going out to dinner at the same time Bush gave his farewell address. Perhaps Mr. Bush should excuse himself at the time B. Hussein takes the oath? Or maybe he can fall asleep like Bill Clinton did at the Reagan funeral?
The only thing I can enjoy about this upcoming liberal disaster is to be able to say..."see." Even though Obama (oops I said his name) has had some centrist appointments, I still see shadows in the corner. (that isn't a "pc" term is it?
Where the heck as Biden been? The poor guy gets shipped out to Afghanistan. I did see in a pic that his hair still was appropriately coifed.
One funny of this week is Obama's appointment for Treasury Secretary...a tax cheat.
How wonderful.
But Hilliary is a go for Secretary of State. Did she look a bit "aged" at her confirmation hearing? Is this another Madeline Albright in the making?
Oh my!
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
the night Chicago died.....(at least the political machine)
I am back from a self imposed silence due to being overcome with P.I.D.E. (President I Didn't Elect) Obama's move from left to the political centrist/right face.
(Also enjoying that he is running from some of his campaign promises....insert belly laugh here..)
Let me see if I got this right. Rezko, Blagojevich, Wright, Obama all from the same political Chicago machine.....but there is no "association" with Obama (aka the Big O) and these gents from Crook county (kudos to Drudge on the nickname).
Judicalwatch.org is reporting that Hilliary "The Big C" Clinton is ineligible to Secretary of State due to Article 1 Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution.
From the rag New York Times:
"Senate Democrats were working Tuesday to put together legislation making it possible for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to become secretary of state despite a constitutional clause that some critics argue should bar her from joining the cabinet...
Judicial Watch, a watchdog group that made a name for itself investigating the Clinton administration in the 1990s, raised the matter Tuesday with a statement asserting that Mrs. Clinton was ineligible to become secretary of state because of the so-called "Emoluments Clause" of the Constitution. By the end of the day, Senator Harry M. Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, was consulting with Republican colleagues in hopes of putting together a bill to address the issue."
Meanwhile on the P.I.D.E. Obama birth certificate legal wrestling match...the U.S. Supreme Court failed to look into the validity of this document. Another opportunity for the Supremes come up this Friday.
The Electoral College meets on Monday, December 15th to make this baby official.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
progressives getting nothing from Obama
This beauty piece from www.progressive.org. The blessed sway from the preachings of the P.I.D.E. (President I Didn't Elect) continue on. Of particular interest is the dead silence from the Big O's "Office of the President-Elect" regarding the auto industry begging on Capital Hill yesterday.
Let the show (about to) begin.....
Obama Throws No Bones to Progressive Base
By Matthew Rothschild, November 19, 2008
When is Obama going to appoint someone who reflects the progressive base that brought him to the White House?
He won the crucial Iowa caucuses on the strength of his anti-Iraq War stance, and many progressive peace and justice activists worked hard for him against John McCain.
So why in the world is he choosing Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State when she was one of the loudest hawks on Iraq and threatened to obliterate 75 million Iranians?
And it’s not just Hillary.
Obama’s OMB pick, Peter Orzag, is a Clintonite disciple of Robert Rubin.
Obama’s AG pick, Eric Holder, is a Clintonite who represented Chiquita Bananas.
And Larry Summers’s name is still being bandied about for Treasury, even though Summers, while Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, forced the deregulation of our financial markets and imposed disaster capitalism on Russia.
Worse still, heading Obama’s transition team on intelligence matters are two former deputies to George Tenet, of all people. (See Amy Goodman’s great story about this on Democracy Now!)
Look, there are a lot of talented progressives who could be in an Obama cabinet.
Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winner in economics and a critic of corporate globalization. He should be Treasury Secretary.
Senator Russ Feingold is a champion of civil liberties. He should be Attorney General.
Robert Greenstein is head of Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He would make a much better OMB director.
Arlene Holt Baker, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, would be a tremendous Secretary of Labor.
And if Obama really wanted change, if he really wanted to honor progressives who backed him early on and then did the grunt work against McCain, he’d nominate Dennis Kucinich as Secretary of State.
That sure would indicate a welcome departure from empire as usual.
But at this point, progressives are getting absolutely nothing from Obama.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Promises..promises....
While I await more appointments from the "Office of the President-Elect", it is becoming clear that all these promises are starting to catch up to Barack Hussein.
Besides my earlier posts about his back flipping on lobbyists, the Savior-Elect now has another issue to gray his dome.
From the London Financial Times...
Iran increases stockpile of uranium
By Daniel Dombey in Washington and James Blitz in London
Published: November 19 2008 18:01 | Last updated: November 19 2008 23:00
Iran is forging ahead with its nuclear programme, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog reported on Wednesday, deepening the dilemma facing US president-elect Barack Obama over his campaign promise to engage with Tehran.
The latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency reveals that Iran is rapidly increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium, which could be rendered into weapons-grade material should Tehran decide to develop a nuclear device.
The agency says that, as of this month, Tehran had amassed 630kg of low enriched uranium hexafluoride, up from 480kg in late August. Analysts say Iran is enriching uranium at such a pace that, by early next year, it could reach break-out capacity – one step away from producing enough fissile material for a crude nuclear bomb.
“They are moving forward, they are not making diplomatic overtures, they are accumulating low enriched uranium,” said Cliff Kupchan, an analyst at the Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy in Washington. “These guys are committed to their nuclear programme: if we didn’t know that, they just told us again.”
The IAEA report also says there has been a breakdown of communication between the agency and Iran over alleged research on an atomic weapon. “The Iranians are making good progress on enrichment but there is absolute stone-walling on past military activities,” said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International institute for Strategic Studies. “It’s very disappointing.”
The progress chalked up by Iran increases the difficulties for Mr Obama, who campaigned on promises of talking to America’s enemies, although during the election he scaled down his initial vow to meet Iran’s leaders to a more general commitment to consider doing so if it advanced US interests.
“Obama faces a real dilemma,” said the Eurasia Group’s Mr Kupchan. “He must decide whether to pursue diplomacy quickly in light of rapid Iranian progress or whether to wait in the hope of a more moderate Iranian leadership after Iran’s June presidential election.”
European diplomats have responded favourably to Mr Obama’s suggestion of US engagement with Iran, although they are keen to avoid unilateral US actions that would rip up the approach fashioned by the permanent five members of the UN Security Council and Germany.
IAEA officials said relations between the organisation and Iran had deteriorated so much there had been no contact between them for over two months, UN officials said on Wednesday.
”We had gridlock before but then at least we were talking to each other. Now it’s worse. There is no communication whatsoever, no progress regarding possible military dimensions in their programme,” a senior UN official said.
Ahead of Wednesday’s report, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the Iranian president, signalled that his country would press ahead with its nuclear program.
In a speech broadcast on TV, he said the US and its major allies wanted to deprive Iran of “honor and independence” by pressuring the country into halting its uranium enrichment work.
“Now the great powers are disappointed, as they have not the least bit of hope to break the Iranian people down,” he said. “If great powers seek to take over Iran’s rights, Iranian people will slap them so hard that they won’t find their way back home.”
Looks like we got some change.....
meet our new Attorney General...
Yes, as the P.I.D.E. (President I Didn't Elect) Hussein-Obama continues to pack his tribe with potential treasonous pals, I could not pass up this first in a while posts.
With Eric Holder at the helm, terrorism has just gotten a potential pardon.
Read on from the National Review:
November 19, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
Confirming Fears
By the Editors
That didn’t take long.
As we observed throughout the campaign, Barack Obama gave indications that his election would mean a return to the September 10 mentality, a national-security outlook marked prominently by its lack of seriousness about the terrorist threat. In choosing Eric Holder to be his attorney general, President-Elect Obama has taken a step toward confirming those misgivings.
Holder was the Clinton administration’s last deputy attorney general, succeeding Jamie Gorelick in 1997 under Janet Reno. That appointment marked the final elevation in a series of Clinton-era promotions that punctuate his résumé. Holder’s rise, like Obama’s own, is of symbolic significance, as he now has been nominated to be the nation’s first black attorney general. Symbolism, however, cannot camouflage the fact that Holder is a conventional, check-the-boxes creature of the Left.
He is convinced justice in America needs to be “established” rather than enforced; he’s excited about hate crimes and enthusiastic about the constitutionally dubious Violence Against Women Act; he’s a supporter of affirmative action and a practitioner of the statistical voodoo that makes it possible to burden police departments with accusations of racial profiling and the states with charges of racially skewed death-penalty enforcement; he’s more likely to be animated by a touchy-feely Reno-esque agenda than traditional enforcement against crimes; he’s in favor of ending the detentions of enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay and favors income redistribution to address the supposed root causes of crime.
In any other time, Holder would simply be an uninspired choice. But these are not ordinary times — we face a serious, persistent threat from Islamist terrorists. At the same time, Democrats have expressed outrage over both the alleged politicization of the Justice Department and the reckless disregard of its storied traditions. For these times, it is difficult to imagine a worse choice for AG than Eric Holder.
Much has been made, and appropriately so, of Holder’s untoward performance in the final corrupt act of the Clinton administration: the pardons issued in the departing president’s final hours. Of these, most notorious is the case of Marc Rich, an unrepentant fugitive wanted on extensive fraud, racketeering, and trading-with-the-enemy charges — but granted a pardon nonetheless thanks to the intercession of his ex-wife, a generous donor to Clinton’s library and legal-defense fund.
Holder’s role was aptly described as “unconscionable” by a congressional committee. He steered Rich’s allies to retain the influential former White House counsel Jack Quinn (Holder later conceded he hoped Quinn would help him become attorney general in a Gore administration); he helped Quinn directly lobby Clinton, doing an end-run around the standard pardon process (including DOJ’s pardon attorney); and he kept the deliberations hidden from the district U.S. attorney and investigative agencies prosecuting Rich so they couldn’t learn about the pardon application and register their objections.
There’s more. In 1999, over the objections of the FBI, the Bureau of Prisons, and prosecuting attorneys, Holder supported Clinton’s commutation of the sentences of 16 FALN conspirators. These pardons — of terrorists who even Holder has conceded had not expressed any remorse — were issued in the months after al-Qaeda’s 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, when the Clinton administration was pretending to be the scourge of terrorism. The commutations were nakedly political, obviously designed by Clinton to assist his wife’s impending Senate campaign by appealing to New York’s substantial Puerto Rican vote.
Equally noxious were the stealthy pardons of Susan Rosenberg and Linda Evans — Weather Underground terrorists associated with Obama’s friends Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn — issued on the same day as the Rich pardon. Rosenberg and Evans had been serving decades-long sentences for bombings targeting American government facilities. With Holder again helping to circumvent the pardon process and to evade objections from prosecutors, the terrorists’ jail terms were commuted just weeks after the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole.
Under Holder’s stewardship, moreover, the Justice Department chose, in the Dickerson case, to oppose its own prosecutors and seek reversal of the conviction of a bank robber whose voluntary confession had been elicited without Miranda warnings. Taking the Justice Department's signal, the Supreme Court overruled the lower courts and vacated the conviction, upending 30 years of precedent which had held that Miranda was not part of the core Fifth Amendment guarantee. Thanks to this ruling, rendered in the comfort of pre-9/11 complacence, terrorists tried in civilian courts — which is where Obama and Holder want them to be tried — will enjoy a powerful argument against the admission of critical confession evidence.
To be blunt, Holder is a terrible selection. If there’s any Obama cabinet nomination that Republicans feel moved to oppose, this should be it.
Dick Morris adds this from June 2008
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Obama's VP Search Mistake
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
Thursday, June 05, 2008
On his first day as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama made his first clear, serious mistake: He named Eric Holder as one of three people charged with vice-presidential vetting.
As deputy attorney general, Holder was the key person who made the pardon of Marc Rich possible in the final hours of the Clinton presidency. Now, Obama will be stuck in the Marc Rich mess.
If ever there was a person who did not deserve a presidential pardon, it's Marc Rich, the fugitive billionaire who renounced his US citizenship and moved to Switzerland to avoid prosecution for racketeering, wire fraud, 51 counts of tax fraud, evading $48 million in taxes, and engaging in illegal trades with Iran in violation of the US embargo following the 1979-80 hostage crisis.
Seventeen years later, Rich wanted a pardon, and he retained Jack Quinn, former counsel to the president, to lobby his old boss.
It was Holder who had originally recommended Quinn to one of Rich's advisers, although he claims that he did not know the identity of the client.
And he gave substantive advice to Quinn along the way. According to Quinn's notes that were produced to Congress, Holder told Quinn to take the pardon application "straight to the White House" because "the timing is good."
And once the pardon was granted, Holder sent his congratulations to Quinn.
In 2002, a congressional committee reported that Holder was a "willing participant in the plan to keep the Justice Department from knowing about and opposing" the Rich pardon.
It is one thing to reach back to Obama's pastor to raise doubts about his values. But it is quite another to scrutinize the record of his first appointee.
It couldn't be a bigger mistake.
I can't wait for Ted Kennedy to take over the Coast Guard!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Obama's first fudge up
If you may recall, President I didn't elect (P.I.D.E.)Obama had promised during his campaign that lobbyists "won't find a job in my White House." The Boston Globe reported today that P.I.D.E. Obama "would allow lobbyists on his transition team as long as they work on issues unrelated to their earlier jobs."
Obama's transition chief laid out ethics rules -- which also bar transition staffers from lobbying the administration for one year if they become lobbyists later -- and portrayed them as the strictest ever for a transfer of presidential power.
But independent analysts said that the move is less than the wholesale removal of lobbyists that he suggested during the campaign -- and shows how difficult it will be the lessen the influence of more than 40,000 registered lobbyists, who have become almost a fourth branch of government. (I believe P.I.D.E. Obama will find other difficulties to enact his Messiac (new word) message of "change." Instead the word may be changed to veer.)
"That is a step back and there is no other way of seeing it," said Craig Holman, who lobbies on governmental affairs for the watchdog group, Public Citizen.
During his campaign, Obama declared: "I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race. I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House."
That left unclear (how conveniently) whether he was referring to the relatively small number of staffers in the West Wing or to the hundreds of political appointees throughout an administration. Obama campaign's website said a lobbyist could join the administration as long as they didn't work on "regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." He also proposed that political appointees would be prohibited from lobbying the executive branch for the remainder of the administration if they left.
During the campaign, Obama's anti-lobbyist rules also weren't ironclad. (But his flock were too enamored with his blinding aura.) His staff included some lobbyists, though his aides said they stopped all such activities once they joined the campaign full-time. He accepted fund-raising help from lobbyists registered with states and took money from associates and family members of federal lobbyists.
Hmmmmmmmm...sounds like the change may need a voucher....
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Veteran's Day, November 11, 2008
A fellow blogger had this on his blog. I thought it was quite appropriate to post on this special day.
General Douglas MacArthur's Farewell Speech
Given to the Corps of Cadets at West Point
May 12, 1962
General Westmoreland, General Groves, distinguished guests, and gentlemen of the Corps. As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, "Where are you bound for, General?" and when I replied, "West Point," he remarked, "Beautiful place, have you ever been there before?"
No human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this, coming from a profession I have served so long and a people I have loved so well. It fills me with an emotion I cannot express. But this award is not intended primarily for a personality, but to symbolize a great moral code - the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land of culture and ancient descent. That is the meaning of this medallion. For all eyes and for all time, it is an expression of the ethics of the American soldier. That I should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal arouses a sense of pride and yet of humility which will be with me always.
"Duty," "Honor," "Country" - those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you want to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.
The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.
But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation's defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.
They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness; the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.
They give you a temperate will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, an appetite for adventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman.
And what sort of soldiers are those you are to lead? Are they reliable? Are they brave? Are they capable of victory?
Their story is known to all of you. It is the story of the American man at arms. My estimate of him was formed on the battlefields many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then, as I regard him now, as one of the world's noblest figures; not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless.
His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give. He needs no eulogy from me, or from any other man. He has written his own history and written it in red on his enemy's breast.
But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements.
In twenty campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation, and that invincible determination which have carved his statue in the hearts of his people.
From one end of the world to the other, he has drained deep the chalice of courage. As I listened to those songs of the glee club, in memory's eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs on many a weary march, from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle deep through mire of shell-pocked roads; to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of God.
I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always for them: Duty, Honor, Country. Always their blood, and sweat, and tears, as they saw the way and the light.
And twenty years after, on the other side of the globe, against the filth of dirty foxholes, the stench of ghostly trenches, the slime of dripping dugouts, those boiling suns of the relentless heat, those torrential rains of devastating storms, the loneliness and utter desolation of jungle trails, the bitterness of long separation of those they loved and cherished, the deadly pestilence of tropic disease, the horror of stricken areas of war.
Their resolute and determined defense, their swift and sure attack, their indomitable purpose, their complete and decisive victory - always victory, always through the bloody haze of their last reverberating shot, the vision of gaunt, ghastly men, reverently following your password of Duty, Honor, Country.
The code which those words perpetuate embraces the highest moral laws and will stand the test of any ethics or philosophies ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind. Its requirements are for the things that are right, and its restraints are from the things that are wrong. The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training - sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when he created man in his own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of the Divine help which alone can sustain him. However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country, is the noblest development of mankind.
You now face a new world, a world of change. The thrust into outer space of the satellite, spheres and missiles marked the beginning of another epoch in the long story of mankind - the chapter of the space age. In the five or more billions of years the scientists tell us it has taken to form the earth, in the three or more billion years of development of the human race, there has never been a greater, a more abrupt or staggering evolution. We deal now not with things of this world alone, but with the illimitable distances and as yet unfathomed mysteries of the universe. We are reaching out for a new and boundless frontier. We speak in strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy; of making winds and tides work for us; of creating unheard synthetic materials to supplement or even replace our old standard basics; of purifying sea water for our drink; of mining ocean floors for new fields of wealth and food; of disease preventatives to expand life into the hundred of years; of controlling the weather for a more equitable distribution of heat and cold, of rain and shine; of space ships to the moon; of the primary target in war, no longer limited to the armed forces of an enemy, but instead to include his civil populations; of ultimate conflict between a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy; of such dreams and fantasies as to make life the most exciting of all time.
And through all this welter of change and development your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable. It is to win our wars. Everything else in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication. All other public purpose, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishments; but you are the ones who are trained to fight.
Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory, that if you lose, the Nation will be destroyed, that the very obsession of your public service must be Duty, Honor, Country.
Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men's minds. But serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation's war guardians, as its lifeguards from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiators in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended, guarded and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.
Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government. Whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as firm and complete as they should be.
These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.
You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the Nation's destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds.
The long gray line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.
This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished - tone and tints. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen then, but with thirsty ear, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll.
In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield. But in the evening of my memory I come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.
Today marks my final roll call with you. But I want you to know that when I cross the river, my last conscious thoughts will be of the Corps, and the Corps, and the Corps.
I bid you farewell."
Friday, November 07, 2008
voting....hacking, security and more troubles ahead...
The Obama security team in place taking the Messiah to the gym....to work out the stresses ahead. (Many thanks again to Barney Frank.)
CNN reports:
"A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago — or at most has risen by less than 1 percent.With barely time to savour his triumph, Barack Obama has been confronted with various international crises to test his mettle. The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country."
Meanwhile, the Messiah aka The One faces threats from Russia, Israel and Afghanistan. I hear that his election team's computers were hacked by a 'foreign entity' during the election.
Officials at the FBI and the White House believe the hackers sought to gather information on the evolution of both his and Senator John McCain's policy positions with the idea of using that information in negotiations with the next administration.
Obama technical experts later speculated the hackers were Russian or Chinese, and security ended the intrusion, Newsweek reports.
A few more things on the paper plate (the Big O is conservation green ya know) ..After getting his first national security briefing, which was likely preceded with the Rev. Wright offering a prayer and Tony Rezko placing a contribution in the offering tray...came from the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
He threatened to base warheads along the Polish border if the Big O goes ahead with a Bush administration plan to create a missile shield in Eastern Europe. (I believe this will be eliminated and missiles replaced with super soakers, water rifles, or perhaps silly string boundaries so as to not offend anyone.)
Then Israel warned the Big O last night that his claim that he was ready to open talks with Iran could be seen in the Middle East as a sign of weakness.
Last but not least before meeting had to end due to the start of the Oprah show and the View, Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai demanded that Obama 'put an end to civilian casualties' by changing U.S. military tactics to avoid airstrikes in the war on the Taliban. He spoke out after seven wedding party guests were accidentally killed by an American airstrike. In the future the Big O will likely promise to drop leaflets from airplanes telling the Taliban to please be nice.
the Obama youth has been created.....
Ok Comrad..get ready to serve....
from his new website www.change.gov
"When you choose to serve -- whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood -- you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That's why it's called the American dream."
The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.
from his new website www.change.gov
"When you choose to serve -- whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood -- you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That's why it's called the American dream."
The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
some comments and thoughts....
Boy, it certainly did not take long for Hamas to celebrate the Obama's victory by firing 35 missiles into Israel.
Iran...During the campaign Obama declared they were not a big problem. I wonder just how much support they supply to the enemies of Israel. Also, how will they play their cards while Obama begins the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Will they wait until we are completely out to raise all hell with Iraq? Iran now hold the trump cards since Obama already announced what our intentions are.
(although I do recall that Obama made a statement once that it would take his first term to get all the troops out..)
Russia....Will an Obama administration take our current commitment to Ukraine and other bordering countries seriously or will he fall back on his original thinking during the Georgia crisis that the Georgians were culpable in Russia’s attack on them? Russia would never take Bush and certainly not McCain for granted on the question of involving American influence on how best to deal with Russian bulling in that region of the world. Maybe this is what Joe Biden had in mind when he said Obama would be tested within months of his Presidency.
Will we now invade Pakistan in search of Bin Laden as Obama suggested during the campaign? Will Mike Dukakis be at the tank's helm?
The Holy Trinity of William Ayers, Louis Farrakhan and Barack Obama voted just minutes apart at their polling station in Chicago. Hmmmmmmm (kudos to Mo Lauzier)
Iran...During the campaign Obama declared they were not a big problem. I wonder just how much support they supply to the enemies of Israel. Also, how will they play their cards while Obama begins the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Will they wait until we are completely out to raise all hell with Iraq? Iran now hold the trump cards since Obama already announced what our intentions are.
(although I do recall that Obama made a statement once that it would take his first term to get all the troops out..)
Russia....Will an Obama administration take our current commitment to Ukraine and other bordering countries seriously or will he fall back on his original thinking during the Georgia crisis that the Georgians were culpable in Russia’s attack on them? Russia would never take Bush and certainly not McCain for granted on the question of involving American influence on how best to deal with Russian bulling in that region of the world. Maybe this is what Joe Biden had in mind when he said Obama would be tested within months of his Presidency.
Will we now invade Pakistan in search of Bin Laden as Obama suggested during the campaign? Will Mike Dukakis be at the tank's helm?
The Holy Trinity of William Ayers, Louis Farrakhan and Barack Obama voted just minutes apart at their polling station in Chicago. Hmmmmmmm (kudos to Mo Lauzier)
Below, "a video representation of a letter to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. this video compares not so much people but ideologies. However people come to power is not the point. It is how they use the power they have gained. Both men pomised utopias and one has failed. Utopias cannot be done no matter how you distribute the wealth."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYEiwR2KklM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYEiwR2KklM
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