Quick hits time again

How does everyone, particularly the people that voted for Obama, feel about the “stimulus” package now?  Obama promised the unemployment would go up to 9% unless it was passed immediately, but it is up to 9.5% with no real sign of letting up.  What will it take for the left to realize Obama’s policies leave a lot to be desired?  Inconceivably, now Obama is considering a second stimulus package as the first one apparently hasn’t done anything for unemployment.  Even Clintonista Roger Altman says Obama will have to raise taxes and that “the problem is the deficit's sheer size, which goes way beyond potential savings from cuts in discretionary spending or defense.”

The G-8 summit was a disaster for our citizen of the world despite Obama’a claim that “economic disaster had been averted” due to government action.  Obama did not get any support from Russia, India, or China on his idiotic “cap and trade” plan to stop global warming.  He can’t even decide if it is a jobs, climate change, or global warming bill, but unilaterally subjecting the US economy to this disastrous plan would be greeted by our competitors in the global market with glee as it would wreak havoc with our standard of living.

Obama went to Russia to “reset” our relationships; what happened?  As  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, it is easier to talk to Obama than it was to talk to Bush; surely somethings of great importance were solved.  Probably the reason it is easier to talk to Obama than Bush is that Bush actually had a concept of power politics and didn't wave with the wind.  The list of accomplishments is actually very short—they agreed (preliminarily, nothing final yet) to cut down on the number of nukes in the US and Russia; this is a good thing.  That is it.  However, no agreement was reached on a way to keep Iran from continuing their bomb development.  The missile defense system in Poland that the US is planning (now thinking about?) to put in place to defend against the inevitable Iranian missiles is still a thorn in Russia’s side; they have not abrogated their statement that they would point nuclear missiles at Poland if the defensive system went in.  The “backpedaling” on Russia’s human rights and democracy was not addressed.  As far as Russia’s redrawing the borders of a US ally, Georgia, Obama said "We had a frank discussion on Georgia and I reiterated my firm belief that Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.”  Wow, that sure made the Georgians happy as it was sure to return their stolen land to Georgia and got the Russian troops out of their country.  He followed that up with “Yet, even as we worked through our disagreements on Georgia's borders, we do agree that no one has an interest in renewed military conflict.”  Let’s see; a country invades with overwhelming military force and it is a “disagreement on Georgia’s borders?”  Appalling.

It got even worse when Obama talked about Putin; Purtin of “the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, Stanislav Markelov, and a host of other opposition figures stretching back to Galina Starovoitova and Putin’s first days in the Kremlin? Or were you referring to the obliteration of independent TV networks, opposition parties in parliament, and elected governors? Or did you mean the Russian economy’s implosion, with double-digit unemployment and inflation and three-quarters of the stock market’s value gone?”  Obama said “I’m aware of not only the extraordinary work that you’ve done on behalf of the Russian people in your previous role as prime minister — as president, but in your current role as prime minister.”  A murderous thug is praised by our President?  In Obama’s defense though, it is totally consistent with his support of Honduras’ former president Zelaya.

What is going on with the CIA and the June meeting where Leon Panetta apparently said the CIA did in fact “lie and mislead” Congress about a program that either was or was not operational between 2001 and 2008?  I do hope Congress, or someone reliable, looks into this and fully finds out if this corroborates Nancy Pelosi’s claim or if this is totally different.  Something about this totally stinks.

GM came out of bankruptcy in near record time; I’m hoping this is a good thing but I’m curious how they will be able to develop products that people want faster and better now.  I guess with a new car czar and a new Chairman who knows nothing about cars we can “hope” for better things.  I find it appalling that GM is caving to pressure from Barney Frank and others to keep specific car dealerships open when they had been slated to close.  I guess that is what happens when the government owns 60+% of GM and the unions own 17+%.  I suspect this is going to be a drain on the taxpayers for a long time.

By reading the MSM, it is clear that the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is a mere formality.  Despite the fact she doesn’t believe the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution is applicable to states and her latest ruling to go before the court was overturned (she is 0 for 3 in this term), no one seems to think the Republicans have the guts to oppose her.  I suspect they are right; Republicans in Washington have proven to be spineless creatures.  Mitch McConnell did release the following statement “all nine Justices on the Supreme Court said that Judge Sotomayor got the law wrong. She ruled that the government can intentionally discriminate against one group on the basis of race if it dislikes the outcome of a race-neutral exam and claims that another group may sue it.”  While the vote to overturn was only 5-4, all 9 of the justices disagreed with her analysis.  She is unquestionably a “quota” selection for the court and should not be confirmed.

"The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights––are not simply words written into aging parchment. They are the foundation of liberty and justice in this country, and a light that shines for all who seek freedom, fairness, equality and dignity in the world" are words spoken by Obama in a speech on May 21, 2009.  His actions totally bely this nice sentiment as he consistently overreaches government policies and laments over the fact that the Constitution is a restrictive document.  Hogwash.  Who can believe anything he says?  As Rush Limbaugh said, the two most meaningless words of the 21st Century to date have become “Obama said.” 

The gullibility of the public and the continuing support for Obama’s policies, although it seems to be abating somewhat, is astonishing.

Comments

[Andrew Smith]

I fear that the end of the world will come before our liberal friends admit that perhaps the Holy One is just another big government, tax, spend, and borrow lying hypocritical politician with delusions that he and his administration can save the entire world from every real or imagined ill. I also notice nobody is going around claiming that if McCain would have won, things would be totally different. The love affair with OBJ is ending and I am hopeful that sanity will return and perhaps we can actually elect people who understand the Constitution rather than ignoring it.

Until then, however, it's important to continue to point out what the boneheads in the federal government are doing as their power trip shows no signs of slowing and our friends to the left are apparently along for the ride, blissfully ignorant of the very real consequences of all this spending, expanding, and interfering by our government. Things will undoubtedly get a lot worse before they get better. I only hope we can survive this President and Congress with our money, property, and health intact.

[Jon M.]

Timo - 2 blogs in one day, you sure are making up for lost time.

[Jon M.]

Smith - Until I saw the names, I thought that you were talking about W and his administration.

[EmersonsZen]

As Louis Armstrong, a.k.a. "The Great Sachmo," once opined, "What a Wonderful World."

Phew. The cauldron is indeed a full one. Did Obama's mentor Saul Alinsky mention going "all in" in the first 150 days?

Does Obama really believe that he can control the Earth's temperature? The Messiah really thinks he is a God. Maybe not *the* God, but definately *a* God.

Timo--The continued support really is not support, it's just ignorance. The MSM is totally whitewashing Obama's idiodic policies. Obama's numbers are headed due South, and the MSM seems to have missed that story. Imagine that...

The Annointed One's comments on Russia/Georgia are nothing short of despicable.

In the not-too-distant future, when you buy a car from Government Motors, each time you start said vehicle, CEO Obama's voice will eminate from the dash, thanking you for your purchase, and he will remind you to vote Democrat in the upcoming.

[Ricky]

I'm not saying Judge Sotomayor's selection is not based on some kind of racial preference. I just think quoting Mitch McConnell's disingenuous statement is preposterous.

The Court voted 5-4 for Ricci, and Sotomayor followed established precedents. A judge who wrote several hundred opinions has all of 3 overturned...which means she had hundreds either directly or indirectly affirmed. That's not exactly terrible.

Cap and trade is junk. At some point I think it had the proper interests, but it's junk now. Any bill that big is going to be junk, of course.

Presidents routinely say things about other leaders that are flattering and not exactly truthful. Do you want him to go to Russia and say "Putin sucks"? I'd love to see a chart where Presidents who "understood power politics" did that versus Presidents who didn't. I also remember a President who apparently understood power politics talking about seeing the man's soul.

The stimulus hasn't even had a chance to work. I've said before, and I'll stand by this, that government spending can stimulate the economy. Timo probably already knew that only 11 percent of the appropriated money has been spent when this post went to press. My county has about $36 million in projects lined up...and zero of the projects start before the end of the month. When the projects begin in earnest, we'll know if it worked. Also, saying the President is calling for a second stimulus disagrees with his calling for time for the first stimulus to work in his radio address today.

The President is still a work in progress. I supported more of his ideas than I did Senator John McCain's. I knew his programs were going to be expensive, and I've not been surprised. The general horribleness of the cap and trade bill has surprised me, and hopefully the red state Democrats in the Senate make passage really difficult.

[Ceart]

One more "quick hit".

How is it that Obama says one thing about investigating "torture" allegations from 2001-2008 ("We are looking forward and not backwards") and his Attorney General is now saying something else?

According to the AP: "Attorney General Eric Holder is considering whether to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation practices."

Tell me Obama knows nothing about this. Hypocrites, all.

[brynb2]

Ceart, probably has to do with new revelations. Or something.

Anyone hear about this not being Ricci's first at bat in discrimination law suits? Seems he's sort of an old pro at it. If he's not being reverse discriminated against, he's just being plain discriminated against. Must be nice being all different classes so you can have a corner on all the angles.

[Ceart]

Brynb2 - It is probably all about circling the wagons and saving Pelosi's from more embarrassment.

[brynb2]

Ceart, yeah, probably some trumped up information just to save Pelosi's behind. Holder would do that, they've been BFFs for years.

Or maybe something about Bush spying on ordinary citizens, in spite of saying he wasn't, and a super secret CIA program headed up by Darth Cheney hidden from even Congress, or something. Either one, I'm not sure.

[Timo Kokko]

brynb2,
Certainly it can't be about Bush or Cheney trying to protect the country?

[brynb2]

Timo. No. I doubt it. We were attacked and lost 3000 Americans under their watch.

[Andrew Smith]

Jon, I say exactly the same thing about W's administration. The difference is that the same people now who claim they were against his policies are supporting those same policies with a President of their own party.

Ricky, even if the spending does improve the economy, that still leaves us with mountains of debt that can never be repaid by those who created it. Our financial system is a house of cards that is ready to come down at any moment yet there has been no serious effort to address this. Our leaders are much more concerned about saving us from ourselves, forcing every American to carry health insurance, stealing our money and giving it to other nations (or groups within our own nation), and either bending to the will of international bodies or forcing other nations to bend to ours. Besides, if the stimulus hasn't had a chance to work, why do those in DC claim that jobs are already being created or saved? These guys talk out of both ends that I can't separate what they actually believe from their political posturing, hence their words are completely useless. I do not believe the stimulus will work in 2 months or two years. Any recovery which occurs will be completely unrelated and far too late than it would have been had the stimulus never been passed. Twenty years from now, I suspect that economists and historians will examine this recession (assuming we do recover within 20 years) and discover that just like 70 years ago, stimulus prolonged it to a far greater degree and did not benefit us at all. It's happened before and it will happen again.

Actually, if Holder does appoint a prosecutor and begin an investigation, it will be against the administration's wishes. I wonder how bad the headaches will be for our liberal friends who believe W should be tried as a war criminal. Will they support the President with his nonsense of looking forward and completely ignoring possible crimes? Or will they support his appointee, who wishes to dredge up the past? Either way, no easy choices there unless you're a completely blind partisan flunky. Then the solution is easy: they're both right because their Democrats.

[EmersonsZen]

Dredging the past is merely the strategy of diversion.

The stimulus is not working (they said it would), unemployment is soaring, and The Annointed One is facing criticism on multiple fronts.

So, do we deal directly with the problems that face us today, or do we start digging up the bones of the past?

The MSM and the dems (one in the same) are all-too-ready for feature pieces and lead-in stories on anything and everything that satiates their Bush-hate addiction, but suddenly become blind and deaf when it comes to being critical of God (Obama).

But in the end it will come back to bite the libs in the rear. It's just that the country will have to endure Obama's bad decisions for a long time to come.

[brynb2]

I really wish that people like EZ would stop worshipping Obama like he's God. It's really not healthy.

[EricD]

The stimulus plan is hardly functioning yet, little of the money has been spent, so you can't judge it yet. That has been widely reported in the media, have you not heard it, or are you lying again?

Warren Buffet supports a second stimulus plan. What do know that he does not?

Putin: Bush was buddies with him. Remember Bush's comment about looking into his eyes and seeing something good, I don't remember his exact words. Bush had a pet name for him, ole Putey Pute. Putin was already a murderous thug by then. Sounds like Obama's words are pretty mild compared to Bush's.

Sotamayor. I bet that if all of the white firefighters failed that test, the right would scream at how biased the test was. Be honest and admit that. How can a test be race-neutral when all participants of one race failed it?

Timo, Please refrain from writing anymore blogs. You say exactly the same things every time. We can write them for you.

[Andrew Smith]

Eric, again, your first four sentences make absolutely no sense. If we can't judge the stimulus because it hasn't had time to work or because the funds haven't been disbursed, then why would Buffet be calling for a second one? I know the answer: because Buffett is a Krugman economist who believes the stimulus was too small and that we should go even further into debt. This completely contradicts the popular logic from many economists who don't believe that debt is a good thing, no matter how you slice it, and most reasonable people who don't see piling debt upon debt as a solution to anything.

As for the frequency of Timo's blogs, I assume you don't want to read any blogs anytime soon then, since it would be weeks on end before another writer posted one. Most of those who hold opposing views can't be even be bothered to summon the effort to post one a month, much less one a week. They'd rather hang in the comments on the blogs than actually write coherent topics for us to discuss. The same is true for our Republican friends and unfortunately, it is not likely to change anytime soon, so I'd be happy with what we've got now. At least we have SOMETHING to provoke discussion.

[Timo Kokko]

EricD,
Somehow this doesn't sound like most of your other posts.

Your points in order:
If it takes so long for the stimulus money to be spent or to take effect, why did it have to be passed before House members had a chance to read it. I think that is appalling.

Andrew covered Buffet better than I could.

I don't know if you are aware of it, but Bush is no longer President. Keeping up the same refrain that Bush was as bad or worse than Obama does not elevate Obama at all. Let's work with the people that are in power now. BTW: Bush was totally wrong when he looked "into Putin's soul" and saw something decent.

I don't have a clue how a test is determined to be race neutral, but that is what the elitists who worry about race so much came up with. It seems to me a bell curve of the population that took the test with similar experience and effort applied should result in an analogous bell curve of people that passed. I don't know the population that took that specific test; I do know the Supreme Court disagreed with Sotomayor on her decision 5-4 and her logic 9-0. That means something.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I will write some more blogs.

[EricD]

Hey Andrew, My first 4 sentences aren't my own thoughts, just what others say. I am not an authorized representative of Buffet, so i can't elaborate on his comments, but he did say that. Plenty of economists say stimulus plans do work, of course you don't believe anything that disagrees with your narrow views. And you know better than a billionaire.

Regarding other bloggers not writing. A reason may be that they are less willing than Timo to say things that they can't verify, that they are suspicious of, that aren't clearly true. Timo just spits out opinions he hears from Rush et al, with cherry picked "facts" to justify his comments, while not fully exploring the topics. Doing it right takes too much time for amateurs and is beyond the expertise of most people (including Timo). The people on the left also might not like the belligerant attacks on them and the creepy cyber stalking of Caert.

[Timo Kokko]

EricD,
Gosh, I'd like to know what facts are incorrect in my post. I will gladly apologize for any mistakes made. Unfortunately, I can't listen to Rush as much as I'd like to as he is on here from 12-3:00 pm, which doesn't work with my schedule.

[Andrew Smith]

EricD, and Aubrey Marron's last blog post, 10 days ago, was an excellent example of that research and thought-provoking effort? A blog is not usually a scientific paper; it's an op-ed piece designed to stimulate discussion. I wouldn't hold up any People's Politics bloggers as anything other than amatuers and equals to all of us here. As for Timo not fully exploring the topics, I'd say that at least he cites sources more often than not, publishes factual material, and draws a conclusion with which we may or may not agree, but cherry-picking the facts? I don't think so. The facts he cited do indicate a recurring theme with the President and whether or not we come to the same conclusion is entirely the point of the post. Many of the facts cited are entirely verifiable so I'd ask what facts you would provide to counter the assertion that Obama is not employing the strategy suggested by Timo, or do you have any?

As for Buffett, I don't know the man from a hole in the ground, but the Keynesian position is well-known and I don't think its a misnomer to call Buffett a Keynesian, given his support of the stimulus. I don't claim to know better than a billionaire about anything and despite the majority embracing Keynes misguided ideas on the issue of economic stimulus, I find legitimate reasons to disagree and since when did a majority confer a better understanding of the facts? That only matters in games. Oh, and Congress, where it's rarely the case that they have a better understanding of anything than the rest of us. That is not even their job. As for my view being narrow, I suppose that's true. I have read the US Constitution many times and never have a read a section which gives the federal government the authority to redistribute wealth in the way that it has. It has rather... narrow restrictions on the purposes for which the government may raise funds. But that's just my narrow thinking I suppose, and of the guys who wrote it.

[Ceart]

EricD - Normally I just ignore the ignorant, but I am just about fed up with this "cyber-stalking" s**t from you, brynb2 and Bob K.

All I did was to google a name and post FACTS from the first page of returns. Everything was factual. One of my jobs is teaching computer literacy to adult job seekers. Part of my curriculum is to talk about online information and social networking sites. If you do something that is public or posted under your own name on a web site, be sure it will turn up in a Google search. In the case of the LSJ bloggers, it goes toward transparency and context for your writing position. If you have nothing to be ashamed of, so be it. Facts about a career, politics, or even family should not be a threat to the average adult. If it is, then they shouldn't put themselves in that position or apply to the LSJ to be a public blogger.

We need more people like Timo, from all political positions, who are educated, articulate, and not afraid to defend their position in light of the name-calling and nastiness that comes with the job. I thought we had some here, but apparently they are afraid (or lazy).

[brynb2]

Ceart, do you also teach that when you post on a political blog people will pull up your personal information as a way to try to intimidate you? Because that is exactly why it's done. As a person who claims to teach computer literacy and social networking, you should be teaching people that there are people like you out there who will do that, and who will likely use any personal information they find for intimidation and/or personal gain.

[Ceart]

brynb2 - If your information is on the Internet, it is public and accessible. If you or anyone else is intimidated by the discovery of such information, that is tough. A public figure is a public figure. Once you take the blogger job, people have every right to know from what slant you are writing. I notice from perusing past blogs that you didn't come to the defense of David Harns when information was posted about him the first time he posted. He has posted the same amount of times Penelope has - ONCE. Too bad that both a lawyer and a county political party head can be intimidated by the likes of us, huh? You are so hypocritical.

[Bob Kelley]

Little C- B.S. You looked up and posted personal data on Penelope for the purpose of intimidating her. Looks like you succeeded. Maybe that's one of the few ways you can make yourself feel adequate.

Eric B- some of us take some pride in our writing and won't put up an OP unless it is well thought out. You've heard the theory that a thousand chimps typing for a thousand years will pound out Hamlet- most original posts here could have been produced by a single chimp typing for fifteen minutes. I'd do more posting if my photo did not have to appear along with a half-witted xenophobic bigoted coward. As it is, I have other outlets for my writing and don't need a gig where cowards can hide behind an alias while intimidating those with the courage to use their real names.

[brynb2]

Creat David Harns has posted FAR more than ONCE. He's posted more like 10 times. He was quite obsessed with Barb Byrum for a while. And Penelope has posted twice. You're quite the accurate reporter there.