Your opinion on the job that President Obama is doing so far (1 Viewer)

[BoneYardDog]

Applications for jobless benefits rise to 462K; trade deficit widens; inflation stays tame Jobless claims have been stuck near 450,000 all year. Few employers see much reason to create many jobs, and some are still laying off workers. Rail operator CSX Corp., for example, said Wednesday that it can lengthen its trains to handle rising shipments, reducing its need to hire more employees.Cash-strapped state and local governments are cutting jobs, adding to the ranks of those out of work and likely driving up the initial claims for unemployment aid.State and local governments shed 83,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate remained stuck at 9.6 percent.Local governments cut the most jobs in 28 years last month, most of them teachers and other school employees.Total unemployment benefit rolls, meanwhile, fell last week, most likely because many of those out of work are using up their benefits.Layoffs are continuing in some sectors. Sanofi-Aventis SA, the world's fourth-largest drug maker, said last week that it is eliminating 1,700 jobs in its U.S. pharmaceutical business due to growing generic competition.And insurance conglomerate Aon said Thursday that it will cut 1,500 to 1,800 jobs over the next three years

.Good job obama...

 

[videoguy505]

"Even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us--the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of 'anything goes.' Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America--there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America--there's the United States of America."--state senator Barack Obama, Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004

"A Republican majority in Congress would mean 'hand-to-hand combat' on Capitol Hill for the next two years, . . . President Obama warned Wednesday. Speaking on Michael Baisden's syndicated radio show, Obama also made a direct appeal to African Americans. . . . 'The reason we won [in 2008] is because young people, African Americans, Latinos -- people who traditionally don't vote in high numbers--voted in record numbers. We've got to have that same kind of turnout in this election,' he said."--Los Angeles Times, Oct. 7, 2010

Black people don't watch Meet the Press

 

[Statorama]

Chilean President shows Barack what leadership truly means

Pinera is different. He focused on avoiding conflict and laying blame while the rescue was still on. He took accountability himself by firing incompetent inspectors on his own side, but didn't condemn business or shut down an entire industry, as Obama did with his Gulf moratorium, only now being lifted.

Pinera worked with local officials instead of bickering with them or throwing up bureaucratic obstacles because they belonged to the wrong party. Sadly, that's what Obama did with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who had to take matters into his own hands in building berms when Louisiana's coast was threatened by the April spill.

Chileans, by contrast, said the crisis united them as never before. That takes leadership, and it comes about only because Pinera believes in openness, free markets, transparency and putting himself last.

 

[videoguy505]

Chilean President shows Barack what leadership truly means

Pinera is different. He focused on avoiding conflict and laying blame while the rescue was still on. He took accountability himself by firing incompetent inspectors on his own side, but didn't condemn business or shut down an entire industry, as Obama did with his Gulf moratorium, only now being lifted.

Pinera worked with local officials instead of bickering with them or throwing up bureaucratic obstacles because they belonged to the wrong party. Sadly, that's what Obama did with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who had to take matters into his own hands in building berms when Louisiana's coast was threatened by the April spill.

Chileans, by contrast, said the crisis united them as never before. That takes leadership, and it comes about only because Pinera believes in openness, free markets, transparency and putting himself last.

Swear to God, Chris Matthews on MSNBC said 'If the Tea Party was in charge of the miner's rescue, they would have just told them to start eating each other, and the last man alive gets to come out.'

 

[Statorama]

Democrats raise more than $1 million from political action committees affiliated with foreign companies

Barry, your hypocrisy is stunning.

 

[Fennis]

Chilean President shows Barack what leadership truly means

Pinera is different. He focused on avoiding conflict and laying blame while the rescue was still on. He took accountability himself by firing incompetent inspectors on his own side, but didn't condemn business or shut down an entire industry, as Obama did with his Gulf moratorium, only now being lifted.

Pinera worked with local officials instead of bickering with them or throwing up bureaucratic obstacles because they belonged to the wrong party. Sadly, that's what Obama did with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who had to take matters into his own hands in building berms when Louisiana's coast was threatened by the April spill.

Chileans, by contrast, said the crisis united them as never before. That takes leadership, and it comes about only because Pinera believes in openness, free markets, transparency and putting himself last.

Swear to God, Chris Matthews on MSNBC said 'If the Tea Party was in charge of the miner's rescue, they would have just told them to start eating each other, and the last man alive gets to come out.'

They wouldn't approve of the government spending to rescue them.

 

[jon_mx]

Chilean President shows Barack what leadership truly means

Pinera is different. He focused on avoiding conflict and laying blame while the rescue was still on. He took accountability himself by firing incompetent inspectors on his own side, but didn't condemn business or shut down an entire industry, as Obama did with his Gulf moratorium, only now being lifted.

Pinera worked with local officials instead of bickering with them or throwing up bureaucratic obstacles because they belonged to the wrong party. Sadly, that's what Obama did with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who had to take matters into his own hands in building berms when Louisiana's coast was threatened by the April spill.

Chileans, by contrast, said the crisis united them as never before. That takes leadership, and it comes about only because Pinera believes in openness, free markets, transparency and putting himself last.

Swear to God, Chris Matthews on MSNBC said 'If the Tea Party was in charge of the miner's rescue, they would have just told them to start eating each other, and the last man alive gets to come out.'

They wouldn't approve of the government spending to rescue them.

That is the problem with the liberal mindset, any call for cuts is immediately characterized as wanting to cut the few legitimate functions the government does. The reality is the governments consume 40% of our economy, and probably half of that could be better spent. Yes, there is a lot of useless government spending and those who wish to cut it do not wish to eliminate fire departments and rescue teams. That is a completely ridiculous characterization.

 

[Fennis]

Chilean President shows Barack what leadership truly means

Pinera is different. He focused on avoiding conflict and laying blame while the rescue was still on. He took accountability himself by firing incompetent inspectors on his own side, but didn't condemn business or shut down an entire industry, as Obama did with his Gulf moratorium, only now being lifted.

Pinera worked with local officials instead of bickering with them or throwing up bureaucratic obstacles because they belonged to the wrong party. Sadly, that's what Obama did with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who had to take matters into his own hands in building berms when Louisiana's coast was threatened by the April spill.

Chileans, by contrast, said the crisis united them as never before. That takes leadership, and it comes about only because Pinera believes in openness, free markets, transparency and putting himself last.

Swear to God, Chris Matthews on MSNBC said 'If the Tea Party was in charge of the miner's rescue, they would have just told them to start eating each other, and the last man alive gets to come out.'

They wouldn't approve of the government spending to rescue them.

That is the problem with the liberal mindset, any call for cuts is immediately characterized as wanting to cut the few legitimate functions the government does. The reality is the governments consume 40% of our economy, and probably half of that could be better spent. Yes, there is a lot of useless government spending and those who wish to cut it do not wish to eliminate fire departments and rescue teams. That is a completely ridiculous characterization.

Wait, you think its the federal governments function to resuce trapped miners?

 

[jon_mx]

Wait, you think its the federal governments function to resuce trapped miners?

Having rescue teams is a legitimate role of state or local government if the people decide that is what they want. I did not use the term federal government in my post.

 

[Chaz McNulty]

Chilean President shows Barack what leadership truly means

Pinera is different. He focused on avoiding conflict and laying blame while the rescue was still on. He took accountability himself by firing incompetent inspectors on his own side, but didn't condemn business or shut down an entire industry, as Obama did with his Gulf moratorium, only now being lifted.

Pinera worked with local officials instead of bickering with them or throwing up bureaucratic obstacles because they belonged to the wrong party. Sadly, that's what Obama did with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who had to take matters into his own hands in building berms when Louisiana's coast was threatened by the April spill.

Chileans, by contrast, said the crisis united them as never before. That takes leadership, and it comes about only because Pinera believes in openness, free markets, transparency and putting himself last.

I don't think it's fair to compare a rescue operation and an environmental disaster. A better comparison would be the miner rescue and the response to saving lives after Hurricane Katrina.

 

[gary mexico]

Chilean President shows Barack what leadership truly means

Pinera is different. He focused on avoiding conflict and laying blame while the rescue was still on. He took accountability himself by firing incompetent inspectors on his own side, but didn't condemn business or shut down an entire industry, as Obama did with his Gulf moratorium, only now being lifted.

Pinera worked with local officials instead of bickering with them or throwing up bureaucratic obstacles because they belonged to the wrong party. Sadly, that's what Obama did with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who had to take matters into his own hands in building berms when Louisiana's coast was threatened by the April spill.

Chileans, by contrast, said the crisis united them as never before. That takes leadership, and it comes about only because Pinera believes in openness, free markets, transparency and putting himself last.

I don't think it's fair to compare a rescue operation and an environmental disaster. A better comparison would be the miner rescue

In Chile?

 

[Statorama]

Obama calls voters irrational and cowardly

President Barack Obama said Americans' "fear and frustration" is to blame for an intense midterm election cycle that threatens to derail the Democratic agenda.

"Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we're hardwired not to always think clearly when we're scared,” Obama said Saturday evening in remarks at a small Democratic fundraiser Saturday evening. “And the country's scared.”

Obama told the several dozen donors that he was offering them his “view from the Oval Office.” He faulted the economic downturn for Americans’ inability to “think clearly” and said the burden is on Democrats “to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling.”

“You can respond in a couple of ways to a trauma like this,” Obama said, referring to the economy. “One is to pull back, retrench and respond to your fears by pushing away challenges, looking backwards. Another is to say we can meet these challenges and we are going to move forward. And that’s what this election is about.”

 

[Bronco Billy]

Obama calls voters irrational and cowardly

President Barack Obama said Americans' "fear and frustration" is to blame for an intense midterm election cycle that threatens to derail the Democratic agenda.

"Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we're hardwired not to always think clearly when we're scared,” Obama said Saturday evening in remarks at a small Democratic fundraiser Saturday evening. “And the country's scared.”

Obama told the several dozen donors that he was offering them his “view from the Oval Office.” He faulted the economic downturn for Americans’ inability to “think clearly” and said the burden is on Democrats “to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling.”

“You can respond in a couple of ways to a trauma like this,” Obama said, referring to the economy. “One is to pull back, retrench and respond to your fears by pushing away challenges, looking backwards. Another is to say we can meet these challenges and we are going to move forward. And that’s what this election is about.”

Wow. How stupid is this guy to makes these kinds of statements to an already pissed off electorate? There are times I think he does things out of political calculation and then I see stuff like this and realize he's simply not capable of generating any serious thought whatsoever. He's making Bush look like a member of Mensa.You need to make this it's own topic.

 

[videoguy505]

Obama calls voters irrational and cowardly

President Barack Obama said Americans' "fear and frustration" is to blame for an intense midterm election cycle that threatens to derail the Democratic agenda.

"Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we're hardwired not to always think clearly when we're scared,” Obama said Saturday evening in remarks at a small Democratic fundraiser Saturday evening. “And the country's scared.”

Obama told the several dozen donors that he was offering them his “view from the Oval Office.” He faulted the economic downturn for Americans’ inability to “think clearly” and said the burden is on Democrats “to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling.”

“You can respond in a couple of ways to a trauma like this,” Obama said, referring to the economy. “One is to pull back, retrench and respond to your fears by pushing away challenges, looking backwards. Another is to say we can meet these challenges and we are going to move forward. And that’s what this election is about.”

Obviously, anyone who dare disagree with Dear Leader is just bitterly clinging to their religion. And guns. We're just not as enlightened as Him. Must be very frustrating for Obama to have to deal with all us dolts.

 

[cstu]

He's right, but he needs to stop saying these things out loud.

 

[bueno]

Obama calls voters irrational and cowardly

President Barack Obama said Americans' "fear and frustration" is to blame for an intense midterm election cycle that threatens to derail the Democratic agenda.

"Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we're hardwired not to always think clearly when we're scared,” Obama said Saturday evening in remarks at a small Democratic fundraiser Saturday evening. “And the country's scared.”

Obama told the several dozen donors that he was offering them his “view from the Oval Office.” He faulted the economic downturn for Americans’ inability to “think clearly” and said the burden is on Democrats “to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling.”

“You can respond in a couple of ways to a trauma like this,” Obama said, referring to the economy. “One is to pull back, retrench and respond to your fears by pushing away challenges, looking backwards. Another is to say we can meet these challenges and we are going to move forward. And that’s what this election is about.”

Amazing that he doesn't realize that many Americans have looked forward down his path and don't like what they are seeing.....

 

[Statorama]

How Obama's ineptitude sabotaged middle east peace talks

Mad negotiating skillz yo!

How Obama sabotaged Middle East peace talks

For 15 years and more, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas conducted peace talks with Israel in the absence of a freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Now, it appears as likely as not that his newborn negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu -- and their goal of agreement on a Palestinian state within a year -- will die because of Abbas's refusal to continue without such a freeze.

The Palestinian president's stand has frustrated a lot of people -- including his own prime minister, Salaam Fayyad, and the president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, both of whom have said that the settlement issue should not be an obstacle to the negotiations. At a recent dinner in Washington, Fayyad pointed out that any building in the settlements during the next year would have no effect on the outcome of the talks or the future Palestinian state.

So why does Abbas stubbornly persist in his self-defeating position? In an interview with Israeli television Sunday night, he offered a remarkably candid explanation: "When Obama came to power, he is the one who announced that settlement activity must be stopped," he said. "If America says it and Europe says it and the whole world says it, you want me not to say it?"

The statement confirmed something that many Mideast watchers have suspected for a long time: that the settlement impasse originated not with Netanyahu or Abbas, but with Obama -- who by insisting on an Israeli freeze has created a near-insuperable obstacle to the peace process he is trying to promote.

A standoff between Obama and Netanyahu over settlements paralyzed Middle East diplomacy for more than a year, while Abbas happily watched from the sidelines. Netanyahu finally announced a 10-month, partial moratorium on new settlement construction. In July, following a meeting at the White House, it looked like the U.S. and Israeli leaders had overcome their differences. Obama said nothing about settlements afterward, and instead urged Abbas to begin direct talks with Netanyahu.

Yet to the surprise of both Netanyahu and some in his own administration, Obama reintroduced the settlement issue. First in a press conference and then in his September address to the UN General Assembly, he called on the Israeli government to extend the settlement moratorium, which expired on Sept. 26. In doing so, he made it impossible for Abbas not to make the same demand.

In his television interview, Abbas said that Netanyahu had told him that he could not extend the settlement moratorium without causing his right-wing government to collapse. So both leaders are trapped. Netanyahu is a hostage to his cabinet; and Abbas is the prisoner of Obama's misguided rhetoric.

 

[Statorama]

He's gonna pop!

 

[Statorama]

National Debt up $3 Trillion under Obama's watch

New numbers posted today on the Treasury Department website show the National Debt has increased by more than $3 trillion since President Obama took office.

The National Debt stood at $10.626 trillion the day Mr. Obama was inaugurated. The Bureau of Public Debt reported today that the National Debt had hit an all time high of $13.665 trillion.

The Debt increased $4.9 trillion during President Bush's two terms. The Administration has projected the National Debt will soar in Mr. Obama's fourth year in office to nearly $16.5-trillion in 2012. That's more than 100 percent of the value of the nation's economy and $5.9-trillion above what it was his first day on the job.

Mr. Obama frequently lays blame for soaring federal deficits on his predecessor.

"By the time I got into office we already had a $1.3 trillion deficit and we had exploded the national debt," he said last month during one of his backyard chats with Americans.

Just last Friday, the Treasury Department portrayed it as good news when it reported that the federal deficit in the fiscal year that ended September 30th was $1.294 trillion. That's less than the $1.416 trillion deficit accrued in 2009 - the largest federal deficit ever recorded. It was also less than the $1.556 trillion that had been initially projected for 2010.

The soaring deficit and Debt is one of the reasons Mr. Obama is adamantly opposed to extending tax cuts for Americans earning over $250,000 a year.

The ten year cost would total $700-billion and Mr. Obama says it would needlessly add to the deficit and Debt.

"And then we've got to pay interest to China or whoever else is willing to buy our debt," he repeatedly argued in recent weeks.

President Obama and Congress await recommendations on ways to reduce federal deficits from the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

The 18-member panel will report December 1st - after the midterm election.

The Commission, chaired by Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson, was established by Mr. Obama to provide recommendations on how to "put the budget into primary balance, meaning that the federal government will pay for all of its programmatic obligations."

The federal budget was last in balance from 1998 to 2001.

 

[Statorama]

Obamacare means higher health plan costs for Boeing employees

Repeal.

Aerospace giant Boeing is joining the list of companies that say the new health care law could have a potential downside for their workers.

In a letter mailed to employees late last week, the company cited the overhaul as part of the reason it is asking some 90,000 nonunion workers to pay significantly more for their health plan next year. A copy of the letter was obtained Monday by The Associated Press. …

Deductibles, the share of medical costs that employees pay annually before their plan kicks in, will go up to $300 for individuals, an increase of $100. For families, the new deductible will be $900, an increase of $300.

In addition, Boeing is instituting a copayment of 10 percent after the deductible has been met. The copayment will rise to 20 percent in 2012.

Those changes will reduce the value of the Boeing plan, but it’s unclear whether that will allow the company to escape the tax looming in 2018

 

[Statorama]

American MalaiseLong column, but here's a good excerpt

A sense of malaise is pervasive. As the economist David Rosenberg points out, the list of statistics now available should scare everybody: 1 in every 10 American homeowners missed a mortgage payment in the first quarter, a record; roughly 1 in 6 Americans are either unemployed or underemployed or have left the labor force; over 4 in 10 unemployed Americans have been out of work for at least six months; 1 in 4 Americans with a mortgage have negative equity in their homes; only 1 in 10 Americans believe that their incomes will rise in the next six months; only 1 in 5 see business conditions improving during the same period; only 1 in 8 Americans believe that current government policy is actually helping the economy. And the consumer confidence index remains near or below its lows of the previous four recessions. Household debt, which was about 30 percent in relation to disposable income in 1950 and went to 60 percent in 1970, is now 125 percent. And it might take as long as a decade to return to the earlier, safer range. The public's aversion to risk is reflected in mutual fund flows, which indicate a substantial transfer of funds toward fixed-income securities and away from strategies that look for capital appreciation and assume higher risk.Normally in two-plus years after a recession starts, nominal GDP is in double figures and real GDP is up by 7½ percent. Currently, nominal GDP is up slightly over 1 percent and real GDP is down from pre-recession peaks. By some key measures, this is the weakest recovery ever—and as for employment, housing, and personal income, there has been no recovery at all. The expectation for the next several years is of even more financial trauma, chronically high unemployment, and poor economic performance reflected in constraints on discretionary spending and credit, and housing attitudes that will likely remain negative for many years.

 

[Statorama]

Obama stimulates the National Debt

...national debt has increased by $3,039,000,000,000, as in, that much more than it was when he took the oath on Jan. 20, 2009, in front of millions of excited witnesses and Aretha Franklin's huge hat.

Obama prefers to lay the blame or credit for this gargantuan spending increase at the cowboy-booted feet of his Lone Star Republican predecessor. During George W. Bush's Oval Office tenure, the national debt increased more -- by $4.9 trillion, in fact.

However, Bush took 96 months to do that.

Obama has accomplished his spending feat in less than 21 months. Under his spendership the national debt has grown about $4.8 billion every day since he took the oath of office twice, just to be safe.

 

[Jewell]

Obama Sends a Message?

First, a background story...

(CNN, August 28, 2010) - The Rev. Al Sharpton, who is spearheading the "Reclaim the Dream" march and rally Saturday on the 47th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, indicated that conservative forces will face a fight in the upcoming elections. "We're coming out to fight and we're not going to let you turn back the clock," he said.

Several black people have told me "turn back the clock" is code for whites reimplementing sacnctioned white racism.

Now, here's the message Obama has turned to in recent weeks to certain audiences...

WASHINGTON, September 19, 2010 — President Barack Obama implored black voters on Saturday to rekindle the passion they felt for his groundbreaking campaign and turn out in force this fall to repel Republicans who are ready to "turn back the clock."

So the President of the United States has taken to coordinating his message with Al Sharpton to suggest that Conservatives, Republicans, TeaPartiers (draw your own conculsion) will "turn back the clock" on black people? Man, that's a warped perspective and not very Presidential to assert without facts.

 

[DrJ]

He's right, but he needs to stop saying these things out loud.

If he's right, I'd say it applies to the same forces that got him and his Democratic supermajority elected in the first place. Unfortunately for him, his administration hasn't allowed any of this fear to subside.

 

[Statorama]

Some tips for Obama

Aside from Islamic terrorists, the greatest threat to America's future can be found right here in the nation's capital: professional politicians in both major parties who are spending the country into bankruptcy. No individual or family can chronically spend more than they earn, going ever deeper into debt, without eventually having to face financial reality. With President Obama and the Democratic Congress having run up more than $3.6 trillion in deficit spending in just two years, Washington has reached the moment of truth.

The federal government must realign its spending priorities because, as the Heritage Foundation recently said, "Washington taxes families, subtracts a hefty administrative cost, and sends the remaining revenues back to state and local governments with specific rules dictating how they may and may not spend the money. Instead of performing many functions poorly, Congress should focus on performing a few functions well. Most highway, education, justice, and economic development programs should be devolved to state and local governments."

The following are The Examiner's recommended starting points for that realignment:

First, freeze total federal expenditures and employment at 2008 levels. Second, create a Spending Realignment and Closure (SPRAC) commission to do for the federal budget what was done in the 1980s by the immensely successful Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) panel in closing unneeded military facilities. Implementation of SPRAC recommendations should start in 2013.

Several other steps are vital for the long-term fiscal health of the nation:

To prevent professional politicians from ever repeating the out-of-control government spending by both political parties seen in the past decade, Congress should approve and send to the states a constitutional amendment to require a balanced annual federal budget, a congressional super-majority for all future tax hikes, a line-item veto for the president, and term limits for senators and representatives.

Federal employee compensation, including salaries and benefits, is 30 percent to 40 percent greater than that typically paid to private sector workers in comparable jobs. Congress should act quickly to get federal compensation in line with market rates.

Congress should reassert its constitutional prerogatives as the first branch of government by aggressively overseeing how federal departments and agencies spend tax dollars, and by demanding measurable progress toward clearly defined goals for all federal programs. Measures should be taken to prevent federal funding of any tax-exempt organization that lobbies Congress.

This year, the federal government will spend $30,543 for every American household, compared to $21,875 in 2000. That represents a 39 percent increase in discretionary spending in a decade. The new Congress must restore fiscal sanity without delay.

 

[Statorama]

Obama By The Numbers

My favorite nugget

$43,000: Your Share Of The National Debt. (“The Daily History Of The Debt Results,” TreasuryDirect, Accessed 10/19/10; U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov, Accessed 10/19/10)

 

[Statorama]

Good rundown as to what's happened between now and 2008

It's all good, but I especially loved this chunk

Remember all the right-wing furor over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Father Pfleger, Rashid Khalidi, and a host of other Obama associates that suggested in 2008 he was well out of the American mainstream? In that context, the appointment of a Van Jones or an Anita Dunn made perfect sense. Sonia Sotomayor’s “wise Latina,” Eric Holder’s “cowards, ” and Van Jones’s white students engaging in mass murder and “white polluters . . . steering poison into the people of color’s communities”; the president’s own putdowns of the police, the Arizona law, and the opponents of the Ground Zero mosque; the apology tour, the bowing abroad, the snubbing of the British, and on and on were only elaborations of the same Chicago/Ivy League view of America as a largely racist, unfair, and deeply flawed society.

 

[Statorama]

Obama to leave country after mid-term elections

Na-na-na-na

Na-na-na-na

Hey-Hey-Hey

GOODBYE

 

[BoneYardDog]

Obama to leave country after mid-term elections

Na-na-na-na

Na-na-na-na

Hey-Hey-Hey

GOODBYE

obama must be going to France to see how to handle the riots that are going to happen here eventually...Besides he needs some help in figuring out how to get his socialist agenda going forward now that he cant get it done here...

He is more popular there than here so he might as well go where he is wanted...

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

I've been an Obama supporter, but I have to say that I'm pretty pissed off that the administration is fighting to reinstate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

 

[hutchins929]

I've been an Obama supporter, but I have to say that I'm pretty pissed off that the administration is fighting to reinstate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

WTF did you expect?

 

[videoguy505]

I've been an Obama supporter, but I have to say that I'm pretty pissed off that the administration is fighting to reinstate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

It's practically the only promise he's kept.

 

[Phurfur]

I've been an Obama supporter, but I have to say that I'm pretty pissed off that the administration is fighting to reinstate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

It's practically the only promise he's kept.

He bought his kids a dog and took his wife to a broadway play. Both were promises made during the campain. (which I see is not over yet)

 

[videoguy505]

I'm probably going to end up posting this somewhere else, but didn't want to forget it before I found a better thread for it to call home:

Republicans Kind of Suck … Which Is Why They Will Win Huge in November

Because in the Democratic land of epic, mega, ultra, apocalyptic levels of sucking, those who kinda suck are king.

This election season has been hard on pundits. The Democrats are going to get massacred in November, and it’s really obvious to pretty much everyone exactly why — which makes writing political commentary like trying to come up with a long-winded explanation for why two plus two equals four.

Here’s my attempt.

Doesn’t it suck when you have a dog that barks all night? Everyone hates that. It’s annoying. It can even drive you pretty crazy if it goes on long enough. People hate that.

Know what also sucks? A zombie apocalypse. That’s when society collapses due to some spreading zombie virus, and most of your friends and family are dead, and you have to scrounge for food to survive while the walking dead threaten you around every corner. People also hate that.

So, we’re all agreed that a barking dog and a zombie apocalypse both suck. Everyone following so far?

Now let’s look at what led us to the political situation we’re in. During the second term of the Bush presidency people just got fed up with Republicans. They were idiots, they were no good at the whole fiscal conservatism thing (which is sort of the whole point of them), we had these wars that seemed to be going nowhere, and the economy was beginning to fail. They sucked, and people were sick and tired of them.

Thus people turned to the Democrats. And Obama.

Let’s just say they also sucked.

AMERICANS: “So, the economy is pretty bad and there’s high employment. You think you can do something about that?”

DEMOCRATS AND OBAMA: “We can spend a trillion dollars we don’t have on pork and stuff.”

AMERICANS: “No … that’s not what we want. We’d really like you not to do that.”

DEMOCRATS: “You’re stupid. We’re doing it anyway.”

AMERICANS: “That’s not going to help us get jobs!”

DEMOCRATS: “Sure it will; millions of them … though they may be invisible. You’ll have to trust us they exist. And guess what else we’ll do: We’ll create a giant new government program to take over health care.”

AMERICANS: “That has nothing to do with jobs!”

DEMOCRATS: “We don’t care about that anymore. We really want a giant new health care program. We’re sure you’ll love it.”

AMERICANS: “Don’t pass that bill. You hear me? Absolutely do not pass that bill.”

DEMOCRATS: “Believe me; you’ll love it. It has … well, I don’t know what exactly is in the bill, but we’re sure it’s great.”

AMERICANS: “Listen to me: DO. NOT. PASS. THAT. BILL.”

DEMOCRATS: “You’re not the boss of me! We’re doing it anyway!”

AMERICANS: “Look what you did! Now the economy is way worse, we’re even deeper in debt, and we have a bunch of new laws we don’t want!”

DEMOCRATS: “You’re racist.”

AMERICANS: “Wha … How is that racist?”

DEMOCRATS: “Now you’re getting violent! Stop being violent and racist, you ignorant hillbillies! And remember to vote Democrat in November.”

So the Democrats sucked. But not just plain old, usual politician sucked, but epic levels of suck where it’s hard to find an analogue in human history that conveys the same level of suckitude. It was sheer incompetence plus arrogance — and those things do not complement each other well. We’re talking sucking that distorts time and space like a black hole.

It’s Godzilla-smashing-through-a-city level of suck — but a really patronizing Godzilla who says you’re just too stupid and hateful to see all the buildings he’s saved or created as he smashes everything apart. Or, to use Obama’s favorite analogy, you have a car stuck in ditch, so you call the mechanic, but the only tool he brings with him is a sledgehammer. And then he smashes your car to pieces and charges you $100,000 for his service. Finally, he calls you racist for complaining. Obama and the Democrats have been so awful, it’s hard for the human brain to even comprehend.

But the Democrats will counter that the Republicans also suck. And while this is true, it’s not really going to help them. As I pointed out before, both a dog incessantly barking and a zombie apocalypse are things that everyone would agree suck. Yet no one during a zombie apocalypse, while hiding out in a boarded up mall, would turn to the other survivors and say, “We don’t want to kill all the zombies; then we’d have to go back to being woken up at night by that annoying dog next door.” But this is the best argument the Democrats can come up with. “Remember how awful the Republicans and Bush were? You hated them. You don’t want to go back to that.” Yes, why would people want to go back to when 6% unemployment was considered high?

People do remember how much the Republicans suck, and they know where it tops out … and that is nowhere near as bad as the Democrats are today. Like with the barking dog, it’s annoying, but you know it’s not going to cause the collapse of civilization as we know it. Not so with the zombie apocalypse; who knows how bad that could get if left to continue? Same with the Democrats and Obama; people have never dealt with anything this horrible their entire lives, and they aren’t that curious to see how much worse it can be.

So the Republicans kinda suck, and that’s why they’re going to win huge this November. Because in the land of epic, mega, ultra, apocalyptic levels of sucking, those who kinda suck are king. Or at least are going to win in a landslide.

Because once the zombie apocalypse is over, the annoying neighbor dog is going to be music to your ears.

For a little while, at least.

 

[Phurfur]

Obama By The Numbers

My favorite nugget

$43,000: Your Share Of The National Debt. ("The Daily History Of The Debt Results," TreasuryDirect, Accessed 10/19/10; U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov, Accessed 10/19/10)

Obama, the gift that keeps taking.

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

I've been an Obama supporter, but I have to say that I'm pretty pissed off that the administration is fighting to reinstate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

WTF did you expect?

Since repealing it was one of his campaign promises, I was hoping he would do that. At the very least I expected his administration not to fight against a freebie delivered by the courts.

It's practically the only promise he's kept.

No, his administration is doing exactly the opposite of what he promised.

 

[BoneYardDog]

He is doing a great job, at least we haven't started rioting in the streets yet...

To bad he doesn't realize that is where we are headed, except we have a lot more guns and ammo...

 

[Brett's Crocs]

He is doing a great job, at least we haven't started rioting in the streets yet...To bad he doesn't realize that is where we are headed, except we have a lot more guns and ammo...

Blouse....

 

[videoguy505]

As I'm sure many of you have heard, when Obama goes to India after the election, he's canceled an appearance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar because tradition dictates he wear a Sikh turban and he doesn't want to be photographed 'looking muslim'. Comment I read today: “That the president would cancel a Sikh temple visit over a knotted handkerchief shows the old, bold Obama is gone—he now governs in fear.” and "The president has shown, more than once, that he lacks the courage of his cosmopolitan convictions."

Just found it a bit silly.

 

[Statorama]

Bloomberg reports: Obama policies akin to child abuse

Article contains 3 suggestions to curb our debt I can get behind

This massive Ponzi scheme is turning the American Dream into the American Nightmare. Stopping it means dramatically limiting the growth of federal spending. Here’s how:

-- Scrap our health-care system and provide all citizens with a voucher based on pre-existing conditions to buy a basic health plan, and limit coverages so that the total cost of the vouchers is fixed each year at 10 percent of GDP -- what Germany now spends on care.

-- Freeze Social Security in place, pay off its accrued benefits and replace the system with mandatory saving in personal accounts whose assets are jointly invested, by computer, not Wall Street, at minimal cost, in a fully diversified global index fund. The government would match contributions of the poor to make the system progressive and annuitize account balances at retirement. This Personal Security System would take much of Social Security’s unfunded liability off our kids’ backs.

-- Finally, stop spending more than the next 15 countries combined on defense. Declare victory in our unwinnable wars and bring the troops home.

 

[HellToupee]

I definitely have buyers remorse

 

[jon_mx]

I am disappointed the poll only goes up to Strongly Disapprove.

 

[Statorama]

Going to post this here too, as it is as much of a failue of Obama as it is Holder's and the DOJ's.

Time for heads to roll in DOJ Black Panther dismissal

Today the Washington Post graces its front page with a long overdue expose on the dismissal of the New Black Panther case. The story is extremely bad news for the Eric Holder Justice Department. Through multiple deep sourcing within the Voting Section and Civil Rights Division, it confirms everything that Christopher Coates and I testified about before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. But that isnt the biggest shocker of the Post piece. It also has administration officials defending the dismissal by arguing that the civil rights laws werent intended to protect whites. Alas, they confess to their true beliefs after more than a year of lies and misdirection.

This is the worst possible news for the wrongdoers at DOJ, a week before the midterm elections. While purely anecdotal, I have received numerous emails from people around the country confessing their own mea culpa: that they once could not believe the DOJ could act in racially discriminatory fashion, but now they do. Mounting evidence moves minds.

The Post story is largely fair and factual. It does omit the fact that the New Black Panthers are a virulent anti-Semitic organization who routinely rage against the Jews! and who have called for the murder of cracker babies in their cribs. One can only presume that one of the two authors of the piece did not want to remind readers of the vilest views of this outfit.

It strangely renames King Samir Shabazz. Shabazz was born with a slave name of Maruse Heath. Shabazz calls it his slave name and thus he abandoned it at least a decade ago. Again, this editorial decision seems to insulate Shabazz. A friend commented to me that if the Post were covering a transvestite, say Walter, but who went by the phony name of Wendy, the Post would defer to Wendys wishes. This may be true or it may not. But as one commentator has pointed out, even Heath does not call himself Heath. Only the Post does.

Lastly, it also gives short shrift to the worsening predicament that various Justice Department officials are in regarding statements to Congress and the public, sometimes under oath. This is the real tragic part of the controversy. The cover-up is always worse. For example, administration officials told the Civil Rights Commission they were unaware of any hostile attitudes in the DOJ toward equal enforcement of the law. Others have run interference for them in communications to Congress and the Commission. In the old days, the Washington Post had a name for this behavior.

Then comes the bombshell. The Post article quotes an unnamed DOJ official defending the decision to dismiss the case because the civil rights laws dont apply to whites.

The Post reports:

The Voting Rights Act was passed because people like Bull Connor were hitting people like John Lewis, not the other way around, said one Justice Department official not authorized to speak publicly, referring to the white Alabama police commissioner who cracked down on civil rights protesters such as Lewis, now a Democratic congressman from Georgia.

This is an astonishing admission. It confirms what we have been saying all along. It is also the tip of the iceberg. The crooked defense of racially selective law enforcement has many more storylines, and I heard them all when I worked there.

I wrote at PJM last summer:

To the many who expressed such hostility, often thoughtful but wrong, it would be a help to all of us if they might engage the debate with the respectable tenor which they sometimes did when I was in the Department of Justice. After all, such opponents of race-neutral law enforcement surely werent cowards about discussing race in those instances, and we might all benefit from a full understanding of their views. So lets have the opponents of race-neutral enforcement of voting cases come out in the open and tell the American public why they oppose it.

In that article, I wrote how Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King told a meeting of the entire Voting Section, including Attorney General Eric Holder who was standing next to King, how glad she was that two black men are running the country. The inappropriate stupidity of that remark sounds a bit like the quote in the Post from the unnamed administration official. Whoever said that to the Post simply doesnt understand the rage the confession will unleash. Americans dont want to hear the law doesnt protect them.

The admission by an administration official that the civil rights laws were made to protect only minorities is nothing new to me. I have been speaking about it for months. Now lets see if the apologists for the administration who have attacked me and Christopher Coates admit error. Lets see if certain commissioners on the Civil Rights Commission seize this opportunity to take the intellectual high road instead of continuing along the gutter track shilling for partisan or personal advantage.

Christopher Coatess testimony offered the first chance at redemption. The front-page Washington Post piece containing confessions offers the second. The vote will be later this week on approval of the report. It will be very difficult to live with the reputation years from now that you defended racial discrimination and racially selective law enforcement. That stain on your reputation will follow you forever.

Lastly, the biggest threat to the DOJ spin, and the officials who have made incorrect statements under oath, is the fact that Justice attorneys inside the Voting Section are now talking to the Washington Post. Justice should be concerned they are also talking to Congress, which they have every right to do under the law and Constitution. Some might argue they have an obligation to do so considering the lies which have been pushed to Congress and the public about the Panther dismissal.

The many DOJ officials behind this debacle Tom Perez, Julie Fernandes, Loretta King, Steve Rosenbaum and others throughout the DOJ who have run interference for the wrongdoing should be very nervous. At least three DOJ lawyers still at Justice are starting to tell the truth to the Washington Post, and there is nothing now that can contain it. Expect more to follow if the lies continue and if heads dont roll soon.

With the election just a week away, the smartest thing the White House could do is to roll some heads. Consult the list above for suggestions.

 

[Statorama]

Democratic Candidate: Obama can take his endorsement and shove it

“I never asked President Obama for his endorsement and what’s going on here is really Washington insider politics at its worst,” Caprio said. “He can take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I am concerned.”

 

[Statorama]

Sixty Minutes reports : Unemployment numbers worse than you think

When you take into account the underemployed as well as the unemployed, the national rate hits 17% and California a staggering 22%.

To put a face on the realities of the underemployed in America under Obamanomincs, reporter Scott Pelley spoke with a fiber-optics engineering manager who has been looking for work for over a year. He just took a job working at a Target. 20% of the unemployed in America have college degrees.

According to the report, 1/3 of the unemployed have been out of work for over a year. This hasn’t happenned since the Great Depression.

Airing one week before the mid-term elections, this report explains better than anything, exactly what is at stake for our country on November 2.

 

[timschochet]

I still don't understand why we are blaming unemployment on Obama.

 

[DrJ]

I still don't understand why we are blaming unemployment on Obama.

Why did you start a thread suggesting that improved unemployment numbers would help him?

 

[timschochet]

I still don't understand why we are blaming unemployment on Obama.

Why did you start a thread suggesting that improved unemployment numbers would help him?

Because I believed it would.Let me be clear- I understand why the general public blames the guy in charge for bad times, and gives credit to the guy in charge for good times. In that thread I made a prediction that if the economy improved, Obama would benefit among the public. Unfortunately the economy hasn't improved.But the FFA is not the public. For one thing, most of the people who post in political threads here pay a lot more attention than the public does. Therefore I expect us to know more. And so my question was for us: why are WE blaming unemployment on Obama? Surely most of us know that there is not much the president can do about this, one way or the other.

 

[Statorama]

I still don't understand why we are blaming unemployment on Obama.

Because he's not doing anything to make it better, and in some cases his rhetoric is making it worse.

 

[Statorama]

Obama refers to fellow Americans as "enemies"

And if Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, we're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us, if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder — and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2," he said.