Monthly Archives: December 2010

Economy, Europe, Immigration, Media, Politics

Obama To Focus On The Economy; Believe It, Or Not

Breaking news from the Associated Press, ‘Obama pledges economic focus during next 2 years.’ Sounds eerily similar to his presidential campaign doesn’t it?  Two years later, there remains only a marginal, if any, net increase in full-time permanent jobs, and unemployment is still going up.

Providing zero analysis, not only is this story nothing more than a press release from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, but it is apparent that the Associated Press has no memory of its own either.

‘What do you mean no memory?’ you ask?

Aug. 1, 2009 – May 7, 2010: “I Will Not Rest . . .”

Dec. 4, 2009: Obama puts renewed focus on job creation

Jan. 21, 2010: Obama to focus hard on economy after Democratic loss

Dec. 22, 2010: Obama pledges economic focus during next 2 years

That President Obama is still working on the economy is evident. What is becoming more evident is that the American people mistakenly thought he was going to create jobs and stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, his goal to ‘remake America’ is a longer term project.

He must first dismantle our free-market economy which necessitates unemployment going higher, which necessitates unemployment compensation going longer, which creates a growing population (not counting millions of undocumented Democrats from Mexico) more dependent on the government. That, coupled with more industries coming under the control of the federal government and viola, we’ll be just as broke and socialist a nation as any one in Europe. Under Obama, the days of unemployment under 5 percent are over and gone. The new norm will be somewhere between 10-15 percent. And if he can do it in one term, all the better. To him, that would be Mission Accomplished.

How long does it take before hearing what you want to hear takes a back seat to seeing the results that you want to see?

Uncategorized

aSide Order

Take a look back to what it might have been like if Joseph and Mary had some of today’s social networking technology.

The younger folks may not know of Buddy Hackett, but his comedic genius in telling jokes is evident in this clip from an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. A city guy and a farmer settle an argument ‘country style.’

A car of the future? Maybe so. But certainly it is the energy source of the future. Or at least one of them.

It was entertainment night at the Senior Center.

Claude the hypnotist exclaimed: “I’m here to put you into a trance; I

intend to hypnotize each and every member of the audience.”

The excitement was almost electric as Claude withdrew a beautiful

antique pocket watch from his coat. “I want you each to keep your eye on

this antique watch. It’s a very special watch. It’s been in my family

for six generations”

He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly

chanting, “Watch the watch, watch the watch, watch the watch. . .”

The crowd became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth, light

gleaming off its polished surface. Hundreds of pairs eyes followed the

swaying watch, until, suddenly, it slipped from the hypnotist’s fingers

and fell to the floor, breaking into a hundred pieces.

“SHIT!” said the Hypnotist.

It took three days to clean up the Senior Center.

~DEATH~
WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY TO EXPLAIN IT ….

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, ‘Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.’

Very quietly, the doctor said, ‘I don’t know..’ ‘You don’t know?  You’re, a Christian man, and don’t know what’s on the other side?’

The doctor was holding the handle of the door. On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining. And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, ‘Did you notice my dog? He’s never been in this room before. He didn’t know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened,  he sprang in without fear.

I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing… I know my Master is there and that is enough.’

China, Immigration, Media, North Korea, Politics, Russia, Venezuela

Hugo Chavez, Dictator For A Year

In a lame duck session that upstaged (as in much worse) our lame duck session here in the United States, the Venezuelan lame duck session just gave Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (the hemisphere’s idiot) the power to make laws by decree for one year. As in, without the input from the legislature. This action totally undermines the newly elected legislature set to take over in three weeks. A legislature with enough power to put the brakes on some of Chavez’s socialist initiatives.

First on his agenda is to get control of the internet, having already taken over broadcast media. Saying that his government should protect citizens against online crimes. In his little communist mind, an online crime would be disagreeing with him and/or his policies. Like this blog post for example.

Chavez’s congressional allies are considering extending the “Social Responsibility Law” for broadcast media to the Internet, banning messages that “disrespect public authorities,” “incite or promote hatred” or crimes, or are aimed at creating “anxiety” in the population.

Whether or not they will admit it, the folks in Washington have a huge problem with Chavez and his band of gypsies and anti-capitalists. With his proclaimed disdain for the Unites States, supporting the world’s worst regimes and making way in Venezuela for a combination of a hostile Russia, Cuba, Iran, China, and North Korea in our own hemisphere does not portend for a peaceful (by any measure) future. Toss in an extra boost for the drug lords, al-Qaeda, and a lack of border security at home, and we are looking at a future of unrest and tumult.

Links: Venezuelan legislature grants Chavez decree powers | Chavez defends plan for Internet regulations

Uncategorized

Obamas Not Invited

Word is that President Obama and Michelle will ‘not be invited’ to the next royal wedding. Ostensibly because it will not be considered a ‘state occasion.’

Some consider it a snub of the Obamas. I would. And deservedly so.

President Obama showed Great Britain how much he respected them when, in his first month in office, he returned the bust of Winston Churchill to Great Britain.

In light of the Best Buy end-cap gifts that Obama gave the Prime Minister and the Queen, it is becoming obvious that Prince William has the class that Barack Obama lacks by not inviting them.

Link: President Obama not invited to Prince William’s wedding |   President Obama’s Gift For King Abdullah

Pensacola, Politics

Philly’s Takes A Hit, Stimulates Economy

Some jerk(s) decided to create their own stimulus program by breaking into my ATM machine last night. They found out the hard way that the machine had no money in it.

They totaled the ATM machine finding that out. That, and they made a big hole in the wall and destroyed all three of my neighbor’s doors.

So from the prospective of some in Washington, we have some economic stimulus going on. An increase in capital investment (an ATM machine) and jobs for the construction trade (3 new doors and a wall  repair). Kind of reminiscent of Cash For Clunkers.

All that with no government intervention and without increasing the national debt.

ABC Channel 3 TV was on the scene. 🙂

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_12791.shtml?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4d0c52f36a6efb54%2C0

Economy, Media, Politics

Dems Message For Food Stamp Recipients: Eat Less, part 2

The sequel to this post from four months ago was played out today, when President Obama signed into law a bill called the ‘Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.’ It is curious why the AP writer of this story did not offer up the name of the bill he signed and instead felt it necessary to justify it in her headline.’

In this audio capture of ABC News radio today. ABC’s spin on it is ‘It’s not costing anything.’ Well, not really ABC. What he said was it was fully paid for. I suppose that’s what they mean by a ‘free lunch.’ And dinner.

President Obama said ‘It won’t add a dime to the deficit. Some of the funding comes from rolling back a temporary increase in food stamp benefits. . .’

Audio clip from ABC News: Michelle’s feed the kids program

So where does the rest of it come from? The food stamp program.

So the self-proclaimed champions of the poor, the less fortunate, the working people, who continually whine about Republicans legislating on ‘the backs of’ the working people are actually taking food ‘from the mouths of’ the hungry.

One might ask, why can’t the president find a way to ‘pay for’ extending unemployment compensation?

Link: Obama: Nutrition bill vital to children’s future

North Korea, Politics, Russia

The Problem With START

What would you think should be the top priority in Washington today?

It’s a lame-duck session. Time is running out. Unemployment is high, the economy is dangerously weak, and, with five (now less than three) weeks to go, no one knows what tax they’ll be paying on everything from income to dividends to death when the current rates expire Jan. 1. And what is the president demanding that Congress pass as “a top priority”? To what did he devote his latest weekly radio address? Ratification of his New START treaty.

It just gives the world a warm and fuzzy feeling to know that the United States and Russia want to scale back their nuclear arsenals.  But like Charles Krauthammer says, in post-Soviet days, ‘the Russians are no longer an existential threat. A nuclear exchange between Washington and Moscow is inconceivable.’ It is the rogue nations of the world like Iran and North Korea that need our attention. What, we voluntarily disarm while the world’s rogues and psychopaths develop nukes in secret? START ignores the real nuclear danger.

Says Krauthammer, ‘Obama’s idea that the great powers must reduce their weapons to set a moral example for the rest of the world to disarm is simply childish. Does anyone seriously believe that the mullahs in Iran or the thugs in Pyongyang will in any way be deflected from their pursuit of nukes by a reduction in the U.S. arsenal?’

OK, besides Obama’s premise being all wrong, there is a real and substantive problem with the treaty, and it is a deal breaker for Russia if it is taken out. It concerns our defensive weapons technology. Usually, ‘arms control’ deals with offensive weapons. START however, includes defensive capabilities. Aside from warheads, and defensive technology, delivery systems are also included in the mix.

  1. One difficulty is that it restricts the number of delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons. But because some of these are dual-use, our ability to deliver long-range conventional weapons, a major U.S. strategic advantage, is constrained.
  2. The second problem is the recurrence of language in the treaty preamble linking offensive to defensive nuclear weaponry. We have a huge lead over the rest of the world in anti-missile defenses. Ever since the Reagan days, the Russians have been determined to undo this advantage. The New START treaty affirms the “interrelationship” between offense and defense. And Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has insisted that “the unchangeability of circumstances” — translation: no major advances in U.S. anti-missile deployment — is a condition of the entire treaty. {emphasis added}
  3. The worst thing about this treaty, however, is that it is simply a distraction. It gives the illusion of doing something about nuclear danger by addressing a non-problem, Russia, while doing nothing about the real problem — Iran and North Korea.

The utter irrelevance of New START to nuclear safety was dramatically underscored by the revelation of that North Korean uranium-enrichment plant, built with such sophistication that it left the former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory “stunned.” It could become the ultimate proliferation factory. Pyongyang is already a serial proliferator. It has nothing else to sell. Iran, Syria, and al-Qaeda have the money to buy.

Iran’s Islamic Republic lives to bring down the Great Satan. North Korea, nuclear-armed and in a succession crisis, has just shelled South Korean territory for the first time since the Korean armistice. Obama peddling New START is the guy looking for his wallet under the lamppost because that’s where the light is good — even though he lost the wallet on the other side of town.

UPDATE: 12/13/2010, 4:00 PM, and for today’s headline. . . ‘North Korea threatens South with nuclear war’   Any questions?

Link: The Irrelevance of START | North Korea threatens South with nuclear war

Politics

You Need A Deficit Commission For This?

The U.S. government ran its 26th straight monthly budget deficit in November, while arguing over a tax package that adds $55 Billion of unfunded pork upon Americans trying to recover from a recession.

The budget deficit for November was not the anticipated $126.5 Billion. It was $150.4 Billion. We’re going from worse to worser while the pinheads in Washington continue to look the other way.

Link: U.S. Posts $150.4 Billion November Budget Deficit – WSJ.com.

Politics

Bill Clinton Sends The Kid Off ‘Please Go’ From Presser

President Clinton takes over the tax bill presser because the kids had something more important to do. Given the fact that Obama is wanting to keep the rates where the Bush administration left them instead of reverting back to where the Clinton administration left them, seems to me that President Obama should have asked Bush to be there instead.

There’s a contradiction here that is unavoidable. Democrats have been berating Bush and his tax policy as being just ‘tax cuts for the rich.’ That there wasn’t any relief for the middle class. That’s what they said. Now, however, Obama is saying that the current rate represents tax relief for the middle class. And this makes any logical sense to who?

For those same years they berated Bush, they said that it was Clinton’s higher tax rates that led to all that prosperity, and Bush’s tax cuts that led to the recession. If you follow their logic, Bill Clinton and Obama should be saying they need to raise the taxes on everybody because, after all, it worked before. But they’re not saying that. They don’t have the honesty either to say that they were mistaken, misguided, or just plain wrong.

Then comes this question (at the end of the video), framed as though the recession is sluggish because people can’t get business loans for capital. I don’t know who asked that last question. It sounded like Ed Shultz. But talk about a non-issue, or a straw man issue. Idiots like that questioner fail to realize one simple fact. No one wants to go into debt to start a business or invest in same for the same reason that those who have the money are not. It has nothing to do with not being able to get a loan.

The administration has to first create a business friendly climate. Have a consistent tax policy. The FairTax would be nice. Eliminate the FUD factor. They can do that by not continuously berating capitalism, calling corporations greedy, and calling for raising their taxes and using the tax hammer to chase down private capital both here and overseas. Business owners don’t yet know how badly Obamacare will impact their operation. One thing is clear, it is not going to be helpful. And the effects are going to far outweigh the wisdom of starting a business with such an unknown out there.

Another thing is clear, the United States is not facing its unsustainable debt, inflation, and hyperinflation, because taxes are not high enough. They got there because Washington has been spending way more than they have.

If you want to face the truth, it is the government who is greedy. They just can’t seem to get enough of what does not belong to them, your hard-earned money. They’re so greedy that they want to reach into your grave and take over half of what you had left over, after taxes, when you’re six feet under. That, on its face, is immoral. This administration, with the cooperation of both political parties over time, has just got to stop looking to the few remaining people who are productive and working to bail out their sorry ass for spending money they don’t have and for keeping entitlement programs that are not sustainable.

If Washington wants to avoid the chaos we’ve seen in Greece, France, and Great Britain, they need to get out in front of it here and now. Stop demonizing ‘the rich’ and start calling on ALL  Americans to have their come-to-Jesus moment and, like our founding fathers had to do, and did it proudly, start making the needed sacrifices now, before it is too late.

Related Links:  Obama Ditches Tax Cut Presser, Bill Clinton Takes Control |  The State Of The Welfare State

UPDATE: 12/13/2010, Strengthening The Recovery